The Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Magazine of the Financial Times on August 22, 2022, has released the sixth edition of “A Guide to Global Citizenship: The CBI Index.” It has ranked Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis as top nations in the list of countries running Citizenship by Investment Programmes.
Dominica, which has launched the programme in 1993, has remained a winner in CBI Index 2022 as it has scored the top rank for the sixth consecutive year. Whereas, the sister isle of St Kitts and Nevis has also scored the same as Dominica, by becoming the world’s best for the second year in a row.
Meanwhile, the newest in the CBI Industry, Saint Lucia, has stepped alongside Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis by making significant improvements in the Citizenship by Investment Programme. It jumped from fourth to the third position in the CBI Index 2022. Five countries from the Caribbean were included, with all of them securing top five positions. These programmes have maintained a perfect score of ten for the “Ease of Processing Pillar” for the sixth year in a row.
All the Caribbean nations which got featured in the report have a donation option, via which an investor can contribute a specific non-refundable amount of money to a government fund in exchange for economic citizenship.
The rankings are normally based on nine pillars. The researcher says that social & government developments around the world are also considered while preparing for the Index, which was launched in 2017. The Index provides a thorough note on how and what qualities does the respective nation mentioned in the list possesses so that an investor can make an intelligent choice based on the requirement.
As per the CBI Index 2022, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis has bagged score of seven in pillar Freedom of Movement. The report mentioned that St Kitts and Nevis has visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to the highest number of nations (156). Not only that, alongside Saint Lucia, it has access to 15 of the 20 key business hubs assessed in the CBI Index 2022, followed by Dominica with access to 14.
The Standard of Living pillar ranked Saint Lucia in the fourth position, while Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis secured fifth. Among all jurisdictions, Dominica has the highest life expectancy of 78.2.
At the same time, Dominica & Saint Lucia has bagged the top spot in the pillar of minimum investment outlay with a perfect marks of ten due to their minimum investment outlay of just $100,000.
St Kitts and Nevis hold the top position of the “Citizenship Timeline” pillar with a perfect marks of ten, while Dominica & Saint Lucia secured the second position because of the processing time of three months.
The five(5) Caribbean jurisdictions of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia have retained the perfect score of ten for the Ease of Processing pillar for a 6th consecutive year. It is based on the straightforward application processing offered by most CBI jurisdictions based in the Caribbean.
In this year’s Index, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis retained perfect scores for the “Due Diligence” pillar because of their multi-layered, comprehensive background checks on applicants and their dependants over the age of sixteen. The rigorous process helps in assuring that national and global security remains maintained. These two nations also demand police certificates from both an applicant’s country of residence as well as their country of citizenship. Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis expressly ban or order enhanced due diligence on applicants from some nationalities & also require detailed supporting information to understand the applicants’ source of funds.
The scores of all nations, including Dominica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, remained the same in the “Family” pillar as the last year’s Index. The report has clearly added that the family eligibility criteria remain unchanged around all the programmes.
Because of its longevity, popularity & stability, Dominica received a perfect score of ten(10) this year along with St Kitts and Nevis in the pillar “Certainty of Product.”
According to the report, Dominica’s consistency in maintaining the top position for six consecutive years is on the basis of combination of things such as an affordable minimum investment outlay, thorough due diligence, a streamlined application process & sustainable development projects funded via CBI funds.
Alongside Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis remain the fastest, due to its processing time among all CBI jurisdictions. However, it falls behind Dominica in due diligence.
While the newest Caribbean programme, Saint Lucia, has made a lot of progress over the years. It has spiked into third overall in the CBI Index 2022 mainly due to major improvements in due diligence, more preferrably with the introduction of a biometric passport & minimum investment outlay that is in life with Dominica at $100,000 (for a single applicant).
The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Dominica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis use the funds generate from CBI to meet their economic requirements. These citizenship by investment programmes are important for these nations to keep their sustainable development projects running. These nations are often the victim of climate change that is accelerating natural disasters; using CBI revenues; these nations curtail the impacts by building resilience. The economic citizenship programme has a sizeable impact on economic activity. The CBI Index mentioned that in Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, the inflows have improved the fiscal outcomes and stimulated economic growth.
