On 29 August 2024, the five Eastern Caribbean countries that offer Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programmes and the United States Department of the Treasury held a productive Roundtable in Grenada to discuss the status of implementation of the Six CBI Principles.
The Caribbean countries concerned are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Saint Lucia.
The CBI countries were represented by delegations comprising the Chairs, Chief Executive Officers, and technical staff from the CBI Programmes. Also represented were delegations from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank led by Governor Mr. Timothy N.J. Antoine and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission led by Director General Dr. Didacus Jules.
Governor Antoine and U.S. Treasury Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Warren Ryan co-chaired the Roundtable.
This was the third US-Caribbean Roundtable on CBI and the delegations discussed progress made and challenges remaining to address the Six CBI Principles agreed to by Caribbean Heads of Government in February 2023.
The first was held in St. Kitts and Nevis in February 2023 and the second was held in Miami in October 2023. The Principles are geared toward strengthening the governance of the CBI Programmes and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
The parties at the third US-Caribbean Roundtable acknowledged the concerted regional efforts toward full implementation of the Principles. Of note, all CBI countries have worked to fully and continuously implement the following four Principles:
Principle 1 – Collective agreement on the treatment of denials: Not to process applications from persons whose applications have been denied in any of the other five CBI jurisdictions.
Principle 2 – Interviews: Conduct interviews with applicants.
Principle 3 – Additional checks: Run checks on each applicant with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the relevant country.
Principle 6 – Treatment of Russians and Belarusians: Suspend processing applications from Russians and Belarusians.
The CBI countries are assiduously progressing towards fully implementing the remaining two Principles (Audits and Retrieval of Revoked Passports).
The “principles” do not appear to include any requirement that the new citizen ever live in the country issue the passport, or even set foot in the country for interview purposes.
These efforts progress in parallel with other regional initiatives outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) of March 2024, now signed by all the CBI countries.
The United States delegation welcomed progress by the region in establishing an independent regional regulator, as envisioned in the MOA, to set standards, regulate and supervise the Programmes and, if necessary, take corrective actions. The region will soon announce the appointment of an Interim Regulatory Commission, which will be tasked with establishing the regional regulator.
The CBI countries remain resolute in collectively enhancing the risk management and mitigation for the Programmes and are appreciative of the ongoing support by the United States Treasury for its efforts.
The United States also has a competing Visa by Investment program called EB-5 which gives visas leading to Green Cards, and eventually potentially to citizenship, but the requirements are a great deal tougher than the Caribbean Citizenship by Investment programs as they require minimum capital of $1,050,000, which cannot consist simply of a certificate of deposit in a bank.
Ecuador offers permanent residency leading to citizenship for an investment of a certificate of deposit to the value of US$47,500 or more, however to become permanent or obtain citizenship, the investor must be physically present in Ecuador for an extended period, whereas owners of the Caribbean passports by investment have no such requirement.
Source: ECCB News Release.