Zebvo Newswire conducted a webinar on “Citizenship by Investment Programme” with leading Uk based advisory firm CS Global Partners on Thursday, February 24. The motive to hold a webinar was to discuss some important programmes and outstanding ideas related to economic citizenship programmes globally.

During a webinar, they discussed that Citizenship by Investment Programmes are currently available in 13 countries of the world, but the CBI programmes of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis are the world’s oldest and best programmes in every possible way including, pricing, security, many others aspects.

Throughout a webinar, ‘Micha Rose Emmett’ CEO and Paul Singh – Director of CS Global Partners, stated that there are currently five major Caribbean Islands offering Citizenship by Investment Programmes with their unique multi-layer due diligence and security.

They further added that it does not doubt that the CBI Programmes of Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis are old, but in the matter of recognizations to these programmes, it is also good in the market, and it always considered as the best CBI Programmes by several international firms.

According to CS Global Partners, the Real Estate and Economic Diversification Fund under Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Programme offers the simplest path to second citizenship with the shortest processing time.

Concurrently, the Real Estate Option of St Kitts and Nevis is sometimes Complex and may take time. CS Global Partners emphasized that the Sustainable Growth Fund (SGF) option, which is facilitated by the government of St Kitts and Nevis, is the quickest and most straightforward route to get a second citizenship.

The CBI Index published by the PWM Magazine of Financial Times also recognizes Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis as the best in the field. In the CBI Index and several other reports published by internationally acclaimed organizations such as Smith and Williamson, Ernest and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) praised Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis in many of their studies.

Questions & Answers – Interview

Welcome of the guests

Micha:CS Global are the world’s leading Government Advisory and Marketing Firm specialising 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, Michahas 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 provides equal benefits to the investors, including application processing period and ease of the process. Investors can choose any of these two options of Dominica.

St Kitts and Nevis also has the 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. Is there any particular benefits of applying in one island rather than the other?

Paul:
Absolutely, in St Kitts and Nevis, real estate is quite complicated opposed to the fund option(SGF) which is secure and quick.

Interviewer: How an investor can initiate the process of CBI Programme and how to choose a perfect agent for that?

Paul:
Investors may begin with contacting an Authorised 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 Authorised agents to facilitate the process.