In addition to quickly gaining a passport for as low as $145,000 (for a family of 4) the Caribbean countries offer the most affordable Citizenship By Investment programs. Best Citizenship by Investment Rankings for 2022 February 10, 2022 Today we are publishing our Best CBI rankings on citizenship by investment programs for a third year in a row. While St. Lucia, for example, will grant you (a single applicant) a passport for a $109,500 donation, you will need to cough up $287,500 if you choose to buy the new government Covid-19 relief bonds ($250,000 bond + $37,500 in government fees). You can get more details onDominicas official citizenship by investment website. Generally, you can apply for direct citizenship by investment programs, which grant citizenship within a few months in exchange for a foreign direct investment, usually in approved real estate projects. This visa is available to any senior executive of a foreign firm that did not previously have a commercial presence in the UK. While accepting cryptocurrency is a positive development, and we should applaud the countrys leaders in embracing new technology, there is a drawback that weve warned about. Its citizens cannot travel visa-free to the US, China, Japan, Germany, France or the United Kingdom adding barriers to entering countries with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2 trillion or more. WHO healthcare rankings If your passport doesnt allow visa-free travel to North America or Europe, youre severely limited in your ability to conduct business in many of the worlds largest economies. Uglobal host Salman Siddiqui sits down with Elmsbridge co-founder Kal Dobbin to discuss the Antigua and Barbuda . If you are interested in a Caribbean passport, countries to keep an eye are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia. The mandatory charitable donation of 10,000, which was already a requirement under the old version of the MIIP, will also still be in place. The program formally launched in November 2019, but shortly after was put on a four-month hold. Specialized firms with qualified advisors can help you make sense of the necessary paperwork needed to succeed in your application. Another option is to invest in Europe and get European residency in a country that can eventually lead to European citizenship. Within three months of arriving in the UK, investors are to purchase 2,000,000 worth of corporate shares or bonds issued by affiliated UK corporations. Antigua scored top marks for due diligence, CBI transparency. At Arton, we follow these developments closely and as committed advocates for good industry governance and innovative leaders, we applaud any move towards a more lenient management, transparency, security, and better governance. The last requirement is that for all options and unlike many citizenship by investment programs in the Caribbean, you'll need to spend 90 days every year for two years in the country. Cypriot authorities were swift to deny these allegations, claiming that previously lacking due diligence issues had been addressed. Antigua is the only country in the caribbean imposing 5 day residence condition (which is temporarily suspended due to covid), passport validity set to 5 years, and economic citizens do not get right to vote, for these reasons scored low points. For a $200,000 minimum (plus fees of $45,000 for a family of four), you can purchase a government-approved real estate property. Several countries would make excellent investment destinations for global citizens interested in acquiring citizenship in a second nation. Albanian citizenship by investment - new program on the horizon They might have fixed the problem already, but to be on the safe side, we encourage you to consider other options instead. After a certain period (typically 3 to 7 years), countries usually allow investors to sell the property. Citizenship by investment can benefit your business, family or both! The downside is that youre often investing in an overpriced, government-approved luxurious real estate development or hotel project. All applicants first obtain a Tier 1 visa for 30 days, followed by a biometric residence permit valid for 40 months upon their arrival in the UK. The donation amount is just $150,000, and it increases by an additional $15,000 for each additional family member past the sixth one. Antigua and Barbudas list of approved business projects. Eligibility requirements for the UK Investor Visa are as follows: A key perk of the investor program is that you dont actually need to pass any English language test to obtain the investor visa. The history of many CBI programs aligns with the history of storms. And your investment will suddenly become a very expensive donation.. As you can see Turkey, Malta and St Kitts are the richest nations to run a CBI scheme. 2022 The Caribbean islands of Antigua & Barbuda is an attractive option for people seeking citizenship by investment. To apply for the UK Innovator visa, you must satisfy the following requirements in your visa application: The innovator route can lead to UK settlement after three years if you are eligible. For $900,000, then $1.8 . St. Lucia now gives Antigua and Barbuda a run for its money when it comes to family applications: All total, government fees included, a family of four will pay a total of $167,500 for St. Lucian passports. After six months of an obligatory residency period, you could then have obtain the passport. Although a second passport makes sense for everyone, citizenship-by-investment may not be the right option for you. (Potentially you can renounce first and become stateless, but thats not something we recommend.). It has a fast-track application option, enabling investors to get a passport in 45-60 days. But there is still time to take advantage of the second passport deals that are available now. Not all passports are equal. Dominica has been known to accept clients with less-than-pristine reputations, people whom other countries refuse to work with. The investment structure for the government-approved real estate project will remain unchanged. With the help of this list, youll get a complete picture of the countries offering CBI schemes, including European Union member states, and Caribbean nations, among other countries. For example, although these programs are collectively referred to as investments, in many cases, you wont actually get your investment amount back. In a resolution of 9 March 2022, calling on the Commission to make specific legislative proposals on citizenship and residence by investment schemes (2021/2026(INL)), the European Parliament welcomed the commitment announced by the Member States to take measures to limit the sale of citizenship to Russian nationals connected to the Russian . You could invest in real estate, a Cypriot business that employs five local citizens, bonds or securities of a Cypriot business licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a combination of these choices. And to renounce it, youll first have to get a second citizenship and passport. This is an especially apt point right now, with countries spending billions and trillions in pandemic programs and when countries that rely on tourism, such as those in the Caribbean, are suffering from the lack of travel. The country is landlocked in a conflict-prone region and lacks the lifestyle appeal of other countries offering similar programs. A family of four will now spend, thanks to the pandemic passport sale, $167,500 all-in (down about $40,000), making St. Lucias program much more competitive with Antigua and Barbudas for families (which charges about $145,000 for a family of four). And the NTF price for single applicants is $150,000 (plus fees of $8,000.). Bulgaria inching closer to shut its golden passport program and Montenegro sunsetting end of 2022 with last applications. And finally, the Eurozone is another union you need to know about. In 2020, Americans are more restricted than ever with a global pandemic, extreme lockdowns and travel restrictions. It is also worthwhile to mention that there is a pathway that leads to ending the whole procedure without adopting any act. There arefour waysto qualify for Antigua and Barbuda's citizenship by investment program, according to the official government website. Malta has the stringent process, with high refusal rates making it gold standard in the industry. But in 2021, families of up to four could get St. Kitts and Nevis passports for the entire family, for the same price: $150,000 plus $11,500 in fees (if your children were younger than 16), instead of the usual $195,000 for a family of four). Ancestry: If you are lucky enough to have parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents from the right country, you may already be eligible for a second citizenship, by descent. Only the main applicant can speed up the process of obtaining permanent residency by raising the investment contribution. Countries interested in increasing capital and bringing wealth across borders to pay for social programs and keep their economies afloat will hugely benefit from CBI programs. (Members of Total Access, our highest level of membership, can get passports from all five Caribbean CBI programs EVEN cheaper today. The 16 Best Citizenship by Investment Programs in 2023 Citizenship by investment can benefit your business, family or both! The limit on housing expenses varies depending on the country you live in (the IRS allows you to deduct more in Japan than in Nicaragua, for example), but usually it amounts to another $15,000-$20,000 per year. With fees, the total is $220,000. Structured Software. But the government now offers inexpensive Covid-19 Relief Bonds as part of its Citizenship By Investment program. This means that whenever you decide to travel from Cyprus to Greece (or to any other Schengen country), you will have to go through border controls. Applicants may not travel beyond the UK for more than 90 days within the frame of that year. Haitian Businessman Gets Life Sentence in Assassination of Haiti's Whether you choose a foreign residency or a second passport via citizenship by investment, youre on the right path. Its almost as good as a second passport. Even if you dont have Italian ancestors, this report will give you a better idea of how citizenship by descent works. 61 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking, Grenadas official citizenship by investment website, Maltas official citizenship by investment website, 48 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking, Bulgarias official citizenship by investment page, 83 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking, 17 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking, Article 10 (6) of the Austrian Citizenship Act, Turkish Citizenship By Investment Program, 97 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking, 136 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking, 86 out of 198 passports in our passport ranking. We will at the same time discuss with industry stakeholders and experts what are the most appropriate actions that could bring us closer to the objectives of the EU institutions while safeguarding the future of the investment immigration industry. you may already be eligible for a second citizenship, by descent. The plan will require US$134.7 billion in domestic and foreign investment by 2030 and lays a pathway for Vietnam to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Investors have a choice between donating to the National Transformation Fund (NTF) or buying real estate.