Citizenship With Investment Program

Several Caribbean countries offer a program known as Citizenship with Investment, which basically means you can invest your way into becoming a citizen of that particular country. There are a number of reasons someone may want to take advantage of this program, but the obvious ones revolve around travel and taxes. Here are 4 Caribbean countries that offer this program and the requirements in order to qualify.

1. St Kitts and Nevis – Their program was launched in 1984 and has been very successful. By having a passport you would have visa-free travel to 132 countries and territories. This is ideal for those who maybe from countries where visa free travel is more complicated or restricted. We won’t get into the investment requirements too much as these can change, but you would not need to be ultra rich in order to settle in St Kitts and Nevis.
2. Antigua and Barbuda – Their program was launched in 2012 to encourage investment into the islands after the down turn in the world economy. By having a passport, you would have visa free travel to 132 countries. The amount of time required to maintain your residency is just 5 days over 5 years, so really just one vacation every 5 years. their is a larger investment required with Antigua and Barbuda than with St Kitts and Nevis however, as they are looking to attract higher net worth individuals.
3. Dominica – Their program was launched in 1993. By having the Dominica passport you would have visa free access to 91 countries. There are absolutely no time required in the country to maintain your residency and the investment required to qualify is not significant.
4. Grenada – Their program was just launched in 2014, and it allows for visa free travel to 91 countries as well. There are zero time requirements for maintaining your residency and the investment again, is not significant.

This program has not been as successful in North America as it has in the EU, however this has to do a lot with the taxation systems of both Canada and the US along with the relative ease at which these countries can travel. Overall however the programs have been a great success, and they show a lot of initiative by these Caribbean countries to grow their economies.