Citizenship by Investment programme has become an efficient source of boosting the economy of any country. For outlining the significance of the CBI programme, Zebvo Newswire has conducted a webinar with a leading UK based citizenship advisory firm CS Global Partners, on Thursday.
Micha Rose Emmett-CEO and Paul Singh – Director of CS Global Partners, joined the webinar who have discussed various aspects of the CBI programme.
The webinar highlighted the most notable economic citizenship programme offered by the various countries and remarked that around 13 countries run the Citizenship by Investment Programmes across the globe.
However, both the dignitaries recognized the CBI programme offered by the countries such as Dominica, St Kitts, and Nevis have the world’s oldest, longest-running, and best in pricing CBI programme maintains security and other essential aspects.
While emphasizing the best features of the CBI programme of the Caribbean nations, both Micha Emmett and Paul Singh underscored that five countries in the Caribbean are efficiently running the Citizenship by Investment Programmes as they have rigours and multi-layer due-diligence and security checks. They further cited that with the efficient vetting process, the countries offer citizenship to the most respectable and eligible investors, which further enhance the security and safety features of the programmes.
CS Global Partners further explained the various investment options of the CBI programmes of Dominica, such as Real Estate and Economic Diversification Fund Option and applauded that the country offer the most straightforward route to the investors to get the second citizenship in the minimal processing time.
However, St Kitts and Nevis have time-consuming Real Estate options due to their complexity. The firm further stressed that the Sustainable Growth Find Options of St Kitts and Nevis facilitate its investors with the fastest and most explicit process.
Earlier, the CBI Index published by the PWM Magazine of Financial Times also applauded Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and renowned them for having the best CBI programme. Besides this, various internationally acclaimed organizations have published reports such as Smith and Williamson, Ernest and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) that have commended the countries for offering CBI programmes with rigorous background checks. They have remarked that the countries have always offered citizenship to eligible investors.
Questions & Answers – Interview
Welcome of the guests
Micha: CS Global are the world’s leading Government Advisory and Marketing Firm specializing 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 provide equal benefits to the investors, including the application processing period and ease of the process. Investors can choose any of these two options of Dominica.
- St Kitts and Nevis also have 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. Are there any particular benefits of applying to one island rather than the other?
Paul: Absolutely, in St Kitts and Nevis, real estate is quite complicated as opposed to the fund option (SGF), which is secure and quick.
Interviewer: How an investor can initiate the process of the CBI Programme, and how to choose a perfect agent for that?
Paul: Investors may begin with contacting an Authorized 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 Authorized agents to facilitate the process.
