A webinar on “Citizenship by Investment Programme” was conducted on Thursday by Zebvo Newswire in collaboration with the UK-based government citizenship advisory firm – CS Global Partners. The key focus in the webinar remained on the significance of the CBI Programme and its benefits to the investors.
The discussion of the webinar came with the outcome that at least 13 countries in the Caribbean region offer economic citizenship in return for significant investment, but Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis has the oldest as well as the world’s best CBI Programmes in terms of their cost, security, due-diligence and several other aspects.
The UK-based firm noted the Real Estate and Economic Diversification Fund offered by the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica is the direct passage to a second citizenship.
CS Global Partners also highlighted that the CBI Programme of Dominica provides citizenship within minimal processing time. On the other hand, the Real Estate option offered under the CBI Programme of St Kitts and Nevis is a bit complex and takes time, which relucts an individual to invest in the dual citizenship of the twin-island Federation.
“The citizenship programmes of Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis are the world’s fastest as well as a straightforward route to obtain the citizenship of the country,” CS Global Partners cited.
The firm outlined the CBI INDEX report published by the PWM Magazine of Financial Times, which has described Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis Caribbean countries as the “best” in CBI Programmes. Besides this, many other reports were released by international organizations, who applauded the economic citizenship programmes of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis.
These reports include Smith and Williamson, Ernest and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
The CS Global Partners CEO – Micha Rose Emmett, and Director – Paul Singh, noted that there are five nations in the Caribbean region that offers CBI Programmes along with outstanding multi-layer due diligence as well as security checks.
The economic citizenship programme of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis are not only the oldest but also best in their services, CS Global Partners noted.
Questions & Answers – Interview
Welcome of the guests
Micha: CS Global are the world’s leading Government Advisory and Marketing Firm specialising in Citizenship by Investment
Interviewer – Let’s start with a brief overview of Citizenship by Investment. Micha, can you explain what CBI is and which countries offer this programme.
Micha:
- Let’s start with a brief explanation of Citizenship by Investment – what is it? CBI is where an investment is made to acquire citizenship of a certain country. There are 13 countries offering CBI throughout the world. The basin of CBI is in the Caribbean where Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis.
- Today, we are witnessing a contemporary world marked by recurring conflict and instability; therefore, CBI is super popular amongst high net worth individuals.
- Citizenship by Investment provides a path to benefit from a safe and stable environment to call home if need be, increase global mobility and provide financial planning.
- The benefits to individuals as discussed are life-changing for both the individual and or family and for the country in which an applicant successfully gains citizenship from. Housing, schools and hospitals change lives of people in small nations.
Interviewer – Paul, Micha has mentioned the Caribbean being the cradle of CBI. Can you please expand on this.
Paul:
- Certainly, the birth of CBI was in 1984 when St Kitts and Nevis launched the very first CBI programme. There are now 5 CBI programmes in the Caribbean, all differ slightly with their offerings but largely, the overall concept is similar.
Interviewer – How established are these programmes?
Paul:
The programmes are very established and have stood the pace of time, look at the longevity, look at the citizenship laws in these countries which safeguard the investor, look at the investors who have for almost 4 decades now enjoyed the rights of having citizenship where their global mobility, security and opportunities for their families has changed their lives.
Interviewer – Micha, choosing one of these CBI jurisdictions from the Caribbean-which one would you suggest?
Micha:
There are 2 particular islands which shine through being Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis. Reputationally, ranked no 1 as the best CBI programmes in the world in 2021 by The Financial Times CBI Index is quite an endorsement.
- Investors often tend to opt for the programmes that are reliable and trustworthy, and the Caribbean is a special basin of citizenship by Investment also for this reason. Established in 1984, St Kitts and Nevis CBI Programme is the longest-running, and therefore considered as the cradle of citizenship by Investment. Similarly, Dominica is also of note as a trusted option due to its longevity, both programmes being in successful existence for between 30-40 years says it all.
Interviewer – Okay, so we narrow down the actual CBI jurisdiction of your recommendation-what are the investment options?
Micha:
In Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis, there is the option of a donation route where funds are used by the respective Governments to improve the investors new country of choice. There is also the real estate option where Investment can be made.
Interviewer – Very interesting Micha, Paul a question for you, which investment option do you recommend.
Paul:
In Dominica, you have a fund option being the Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) and a Real Estate investment option. Both provides equal benefits to the investors, including application processing period and ease of the process. Investors can choose any of these two options of Dominica.
St Kitts and Nevis also has the fund option such as Sustainable Growth Fund (SGF) as well as the Real Estate option. Both are essentially used for the same purposes as Micha explained. However, there are fundamental differences when it is the real estate of St Kitts and Nevis. Firstly, the process is longer than the SGF. One is dependent on the developer to complete the project in a timely and quality manner.
Interviewer– If opting for real estate from Dominica or St Kitts. Is there any particular benefits of applying in one island rather than the other?
Paul:
Absolutely, in St Kitts and Nevis, real estate is quite complicated opposed to the fund option (SGF) which is secure and quick.
Interviewer: How an investor can initiate the process of CBI Programme and how to choose a perfect agent for that?
Paul:
Investors may begin with contacting an Authorised Agent, who assists the applicant with the submission of their application, by ensuring that application forms and supporting documents are complete to the appropriate standards. The official Government websites of many Caribbean CBI jurisdictions usually include a list of the Authorised agents to facilitate the process.