St Kitts and Nevis to adopt strict action against cross-cutting, issues notice to individuals

In a landmark move, the St Kitts and Nevis has set another bold example in the Citizenship by Investment Industry.

An individual who received St Kitts and Nevis citizenship under the Public Good Infrastructural Project has been served with a notice by National Security for paying less than the lawful investment sum.

In a letter dated 3 December 2024 the Ministry noted that the questioned individual acquired citizenship under the Public Good Infrastructure Project through a well-known developer. 

The bold action has been taken after the Ministry of National Security, Immigration and Citizenship received an allegation with the supporting documents. The Ministry added that as per the documents recovered, it is evident the recipient of the citizenship was aware of the investment sum associated with the application, and invested less than the lawful investment sum. 

Notably, the government has issued a notice, in order to proceed with the revocation process if the individual fails to meet certain regulations 31 December 2024. 

As per law, any individual who gets citizenship through a lesser investment sum than the threshold is subject to scrutiny which can further lead to the revocation of the citizenship. 

The action from the St Kitts and Nevis Government is a testament in their fight against the underselling of citizenship applications by certain developers. 

Serving the notice under section 10 of the Citizenship Act, the National Security Ministry has asked the recipient to provide documentary evidence establishing that they paid investment sum as stated on their citizenship application including bank statements, cheques, wire transfers and other documents evidencing the payment. 

The Ministry, further added that the person in question must also pay the remainder of any unpaid investment by 31st of December, 2024. 

MOU Signed against Underselling 

The action taken by the government of St Kitts and Nevis is derived from the historic MOU which was signed by Caribbean CBI jurisdictions earlier in March. However, the MOU was spearheaded by St Kitts and Nevis through which the countries agreed to set a minimum investment threshold to enhance integrity and mitigate the security risk. 

Through these actions, individuals and developers involved in discounting practices are under scrutiny, aiming to protect the reputation of the economic citizenship programme. Over the years, such issues had been violating the principles of fairness and transparency of the CBI, but now the government has taken proactive measures to protect their integrity. 

St Kitts and Nevis is pioneer in CBI Industry

With such steps, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of St Kitts and Nevis has been setting a bold benchmark for others. While leading the industry, the country has always come forward to maintain and protect the reputation of the CBI industry through initiatives such as transforming CIU into a statutory body. 

Even, St Kitts and Nevis was the first ever country to increase their minimum investment threshold, solidifying its position as an ideal option of alternative citizenship.