Caribbean: US-based media organization Associates Times has conducted a webinar on “Residency and Citizenship by Investment Programme” offered by several nations with UK-based Citizenship advisory firm CS Global Partners on Saturday.
The Webinar highlights the importance of such programmes and the outstanding Citizenship by Investment programmes around the globe.
The CS Global Partners was represented by CEO Micha-Rose Emmett and Director Paul Singh.
From spotlighting the recent trends that have kept the Citizenship by Investment Programme high in all the factors to provide details to the dual citizenship seekers, the Webinar highlights the general queries faced by all the applicants.
Furthermore, the Webinar also highlights the benefit of the programme to applicants as well as the host nation.
The discussions at the Webinar also focused upon the options available to the applicant under CBI Programmes and added the most direct-straightforward path for attaining dual Citizenship.
The guests at the Webinar revealed that almost 13 nations are offering economic citizenship programmes, including the Commonwealth of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, which they recalled as the oldest and longest-running around the world.
While highlighting the trends Micha Emmet faced during the recent decade, which has kept the CBI Programme highly desirable, she said, “I think the main thing is chaos, as soon as there is a world event or a regional event, we see an uptick of applicants coming from those regions, and it is much understood that with awareness, people realized the importance of getting access to global nations to do business and to educate children.”
During the Webinar, Director Paul Singh, while noting the significance of economic Citizenship, he said, “CBI offers the most straightforward, clear-cut, and seamless process. They further discussed the due-diligence process of all five Caribbean nations offering economic Citizenship, including Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia.
They further added that these five nations had been ranked highly in CBI Index 2021 in the Financial Times.
While stressing the types of investment options available to the applicants, Micha Emmett said, “CBI Programmes generally tend to have two options that are: a non-refundable contribution that goes to the government fund or alternatively an investment in a real estate approved project.”
She said that this depends upon the particular jurisdictions, which investment options suit them, but the two main ones are real estate investment and donation investment.
Micha Emmett, while focusing on whether CBI is only financially beneficial to successful applicants, the host nations also gain more advantages, in which she said, “The Citizenship by investment programme is really is a win-win solution in that the investor who is coming along and making the investment into the country and obtaining the second Citizenship as Paul rightly elucidated in terms of the benefits is also there’s an equal benefit to the country in that as I mentioned earlier about the two routes to investment.”
She further asserted, “The direct contribution to the government is so important because it’s non-tax revenue that comes into the country, and it’s so important in terms of building roads, building schools, building hospitals.”
“So, we’ve seen some amazing things happen through the government with the revenue that’s been raised by CBI, and, particularly a country like Dominica, it was almost saved by CBI finds when Hurricane Maria hit in 2017 and in terms of the real estate or the investment through the real estate option.”
“It’s both a direct investment for the country because it’s building hotels, it is building housing, but there’s also an indirect opportunity for the country, and it creates employment opportunities for the people and the citizens of that country. So all in all, what’s great about working in this industry is that really we are providing a win-win solution for other parties involved,” Micha Emmett said.
While concluding, Mr 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.
