With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting every aspect of our lives, specifically financial, several countries had to resort to additional measures to generate some revenues. For instance, in the Caribbean islands tourism had immense potential but due to the virus spread the sector suffered badly. Resultantly, some of the islands started offering economical citizenship schemes to boost revenues. Hence, today we will explore those islands in the Caribbean that are offering easy citizenship programmes.
St. Lucia
Shaken by the after-effects of the pandemic, St. Lucia introduced in 2020 a fresh scheme under its Covid-19 Relief Bond to acquire citizenship via bond investments. As per the scheme, the interested parties are required to invest $250,000 (for a single applicant) or $300,000 (for a family of four) in bonds to get citizenship. Prior to this, the criteria to gain citizenship happened to be $500,000 (for a single applicant) and $550,000 (for a family of four). As per this scheme, the bonds are kept for five years at 0 percent interest with extra service fees. These apart, applicants can also gain citizenship by donating 100,000 and investing 300,000 in real estate, which involves a waiting period of three to five months. As per Forbes, St Lucia began to offer citizenship to foreigners from 2015 onwards.
St. Kitts & Nevis
Now let us find out what these islands have in store for foreigners. In 2020 July, sister islands St.Kitts and Nevis pronounced a “Covid-19 limited discount” on their Citizenship by Investment programme. Hence, starting from July 2020 till the end of 2020, the donation needed for a family of four to acquire citizenship was brought down from $190,000 to $150,000. However, the donation had to be made to a charity established by the St. Kitts-Nevis government. Also, an investment of $200,000 in real estate is mandatory. But there have been no tweaks in the donation fee for individuals, which is $150,000 plus real estate investment.
Antigua and Barbuda
In May 2020 itself, Antiqua and Barbuda also declared a discounted offer to its Citizenship by Investment Programme. As a result of the same, interested candidates can offer a donation of $100,000 to the islands’ National Development Fund for a family comprising four. Previously it used to be $1,25,000 aside from a realty investment of $ 200,000. However, the process of application is supposed to have a wait time of three to four months.
