CS Global Partners outlines a decade of significant transformation of RBI, CBI Programmes

Various countries are using the RBI and CBI programmes with the multi-layered due-diligence process and have witnessed new trends over the decade.

CS Global Partners outlines a decade of significant transformation of RBI, CBI Programmes
CS Global Partners outlines a decade of significant transformation of RBI, CBI Programmes

Caribbean: Residency and Citizenship by Investment programme has become an efficient source of boosting the economy of a country. Commonly known as Economic Citizenship, RBI and CBI Programmes allows people to obtain second Citizenship in return for significant monetary investment.

Various countries are using the RBI and CBI programmes with the multi-layered due-diligence process and have witnessed new trends over the decade. Outlining the new treads in the CBI programme, due diligence, the application process, different options available, and other significant aspects of economic citizenships across the globe, Associates Times has recently conducted a webinar with the globally renowned UK-based Government Citizenship advisory firm CS Global Partners.

The Webinar was hosted by Associates Times on the topic “Residency and Citizenship by Investment Programme offered by various countries” on Sunday-March 6, 2022.

Associates Times invited special guests Micha-Rose Emmett – CEO of CS Global Partners, and Paul Singh – Director of CS Global Partners in the Webinar. The expert duo discussed various new transformations and aspects in the CBI programme.

The Webinar has featured the experience of the dignitaries of CS Global Partners in the Citizenship by Investment industry in the past ten years, in which they stated the significant transformation that occurred in the industry.

Various questions have been discussed with them, such as the difference between Residence by Investment and Citizenship by Investment and the benefits of both options.

Citizenship by Investment Programmes offer second Citizenship to the investors, It also give an investor with a freedom of global mobility with ease of access to world’s leading economies. It also conducts rigours due diligence to verify each applicant under an application to ensure that only legitimate persons can obtain the dual citizenship.

The Webinar explains how one could take advantage of the programme and become a global citizen. Moreover, it also highlighted the importance of the programme for the host countries and the benefits to the applicants as the Webinar outlined various steps that applicants have to follow while applying for the programme.

Micha and Paul also discussed various investment options of the CBI programme and mentioned about the most direct-straightforward route for attaining second Citizenship.

The discussion was also based on the steps, importance and aspects of the due-diligence process. They highlighted the significance of the CBI programme for the economy of any country and how the various investment options aid the government to develop their country.

Guests also remarked about the CBI programme offered by the countries such as Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis and stated that the countries have the world’s oldest, longest-running, and best CBI programmes, which maintains safety, security and other essential factors.

While asking about the significant transformations that occurred during the last ten years in the CBI programme, Micha-Rose Emmette answered that over the years, she had seen a hike in demand for obtaining second Citizenship among people from different regions as they understood the importance of getting access to the world to do business and to educate children.

She further explains that the CBI programme is keeping strong desire among investors due to the chaos, which further creates demand in the industry and with the huge political conflicts, the industry witnessed huge uptake in the application.

Outlining the importance of the rigours due-diligence process and efficient background checks, Paul Singh noted that from the moment of submission to approval in principle is generally their month, applications usually feature seamless, streamlined processing, and they have worked with the governments to ensure the process of an economic citizen is as smooth as possible.

He further recognized the Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis Paul stated, “It’s normally three months that suits time-poor business people who are obviously very busy, and the Caribbean CBI jurisdictions such as St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica have got an excellent processing timeline and its’ actually very efficient.”

While applauding five countries of the Caribbean jurisdictions, the Director of CS Global Partners mentioned that Citizenship by investment is the most direct, clear-cut and most seamless process to gain Citizenship, and all five Caribbean jurisdictions have got a very thorough due diligence process, and they’ve all ranked very highly in the pillar of due diligence, conducted by the financial times CBI Index, which scored all five Caribbean nations quite highly there.

Paul also explained the various steps involved in the CBI jurisdictions, and he stated that from the submission of the application, the documentation and the relevant fees being paid on behalf of the agent. The process will ensure that the application forms and supporting documents can be completed to the appropriate standard.

In addition to that, the agents conduct an initial screening of the applicant, which will be their KYC, underscored Paul Singh.

While explaining the various investment options available for the applicants, Micha underlined that the CBI programme tends to have two options such as real estate investment and donation investment.

She recognized the investment as a non-refundable contribution that goes to the government or alternatively an investment in an approved project and stated, “Most of those approved projects tend to be real estate developments in some cases, specifically hotel room investments and then some islands; some countries have bonds; it really depends from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but the two main ones are real estate investment and a donation investment.”

Micha further explains that with the Citizenship by Investment Programme, the host countries gained a lot of benefits as the investment option is direct contribution to the government funds and it is non-tax revenue that comes into the country, which further aid the government of the nation to develop their country by building roads, building schools, hospitals etc.

She stressed the countries like Dominica were saved by CBI fund when Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, the programme also benefits individuals as it creates employment opportunities for the country, so the firm provided an win-win solution for other parties involved.

Paul also outlined the various aspects of the investment options and noted that the government fund contribution (Fund Option) is a more straightforward route as it can tend to be even a quicker route, while real estate is more complex.

He said that it depends upon the investor which investment suits them; for instance, some investors may choose the real estate route because they want to have a tangible asset, and they may well be looking for a return on it.

However, he stressed that the government nations route is the quickest, most secure and the fastest route.

Paul also said that the longevity of the programme determines the efficiency of the programme as St Kitts and Nevis launched the economic citizenship programme in 1984 being the first country in the world, while Dominica in 1993, so the people for over the decades get benefit from the programme as they have run for a long time and held in a very regarded by the international community and lot of people who gained Citizenship.

While applying for the CBI programme, a person needs to obtain a certified translation of their documents based on the international law or the national law of the country of which an investor is a nation when their documents are not in English, underscored Paul Singh.

Highlighting the importance of obtaining dual Citizenship, Micha said that she met a lot of people who feel unlucky not to have dual Citizenship as second Citizenship can give is an insurance policy that’s priceless.

Micha also stressed the difference between Citizenship by Investment and Residence by investment and stated that there are about 13 programmes in the CBI currently, including Egypt, Turkey, Vanuatu, Montenegro, Malta, Jordan and North Macedonia, Austria and Caribbean options, which includes St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada and St Lucia, and these different programmes all provide different routes to obtaining Citizenship and different time frames.

So, Paul cited that Citizenship by Investment has come as a great lifesaver and life-changing process for the investors and the host country. It provides various business opportunities educational opportunities and also provides better health care to the individual.

He stated that CS Global Partners have dealt with direct clients who have obtained Citizenship and proves as complete transformers their lives.

In the end, Paul explained that the Citizenship By Investment programme with the thorough vetting process always provides Citizenship to reputable investors to ensure the safety and security of the country. So, the CBI programme is a lifesaver for the individuals and the host country.