On March 20, 2024, historical memorandum on the issue of obtaining a golden passport was signed between CIPs. Main agenda is the integration of new rules for investing funds. Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada supported it, as well as two other island countries of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, joined them. The refusal to sign was received from Saint Lucia.
The memorandum is aimed at optimizing several areas in which close cooperation of interested parties will be carried out. Main efforts will be carried out on the investment programs implementation. The most important issues that were raised:
- Pricing: Four of the 5 participants of the MoU have reached an agreement on the need to put on minimum investment thresholds for CIP programs up to an investment amount of at least $200,000 by June 30, 2024. In the future, changes to the specified minimum can only be accepted unanimously by all parties to the agreement. In addition, the threshold amount will determine the following indicator: “the actual amount that was received to confirm the qualification level of the applicant”.
- Improving the efficiency of data exchange. Last year, an agreement between the five countries and the U.S. On the basis of its agreement, the signatory countries provide each other with complete data about the applicants. At the MoU, the four States agreed to create and fund a digital portal in conjunction with the organization JRCC in Barbados. The participants in the memorandum commit to work on increasing the transparency of the program. It is planned to introduce an innovation on providing detailed info on income and payments.
- Methods for regulating processes. The parties agreed to establish a common regional body. It will be used to set standards that meet accepted international requirements. They will introduce effective practices in order to regulate immigration processes. The implementation deadline is June 30, 2024.
- Security check: In addition to the previously accepted approvals with the US Treasury Department, which relate to the verification of applicants’ data, the four participants of the MoU will cooperate in conducting mandatory checks of CBI citizens after issuing a positive response to the assignment of citizenship and during the procedure for restoring passports that have been canceled.
- Standards of agent activity. Marketing services and promotion of programs: The signatories of the agreement will develop common standards to regulate the activities of agents and
marketing support. Special programs will monitor and prohibit attempts at “visa-free access”, this will minimize the risks of illegal migration processes.
This agreement will show other countries that Caribbean CIPs is responsible and serious about implementing investment migration programs.
Statements by Prime Minister of Grenada indicate that this week were made in front of the media and participants of the memorandum on the occasion of the rebranding of Grenada CIU. He reported on his participation over the past six weeks in very intensive discussions with his colleagues, the result of which was the signing of the MoU.
This problem was also widespread in Saint Kitts and Nevis before the change of government. It caused one local owner of a business project to appeal to the former authorized administrative body with the involvement of the US judicial authorities.
Refusal to sign
It came as a surprise to many participants that the signature of the official representative of Saint Lucia was clearly missing from the list. The state has not participated in it. Initially, it was assumed that the agreement would be signed by 5 countries.
The experts IMI contacted today indicate that this decision may be related to Saint Lucia’s obligations to the major developer CBI Caribbean Galaxy. Due to this, the interested party gets the experience of self-financing escrow accounts from their clients. This allows receiving an investment that does not correspond to the official rate and is much lower than it. But at the same time, apparently, it was possible to raise the amount equal to the minimum threshold specified in the memorandum.
Recently, the CIU of Saint Lucia, which organizes fees of $ 30,000 and above for each real estate investment made. There are doubts that it will become attractive to investors who are ready to receive a gold passport for an amount exceeding this minimum by almost 7 times.
Login with Google