The views expressed are not those of ANN but those of the Writer and Contributor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economic citizenship is offered when an individual completes\nthe legal process to acquire citizenship in a second country on account of\nthe individual\u2019s financial investment into that country\u2019s economy. St. Vincent\nand the Grenadines can benefit tremendously from such a programme. The New Democratic\nParty will implement the Citizenship by Investment Programme which will assist\nto improve the economic situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following Caribbean countries have legislation authorizing the procurement of\ncitizenship after making a substantial investment: Antigua and Barbuda,\nGrenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and St. Lucia. Antigua Citizenship by Investment <\/strong>Programme<\/strong> was\nlaunched in 2012; <\/strong>Dominica started\ntheir programme<\/strong> in 1993; <\/strong>Grenada<\/strong>\ncommenced theirs in 2013; <\/strong>St. Lucia<\/strong>in 2015; and St Kitts and Nevis\nCitizenship by Investment <\/strong>Programme<\/strong> was\nlaunched in 1984. And all these islands economies are performing well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, the richest country in the world,\nthe United States of America (USA), allows foreign citizens to obtain green\ncards. The USA allows foreigners to\nobtain their green cards under EB-5 Visa once they meet the requirement of\ninvesting $500,000 in a specified employment area and can create a number of\njobs. Although there is an annual cap of\n10,000 with regards to the issuing of passports, the EB 5 programme alone has\nseen over $6.8bn invested into the US over the past years. It is of interest to note that in recent\nyears the USA reached its maximum of 10,000 immigrant investor visas before the\nend of its fiscal year. The IMF has stated that it is the wealthy, private\ninvestors from the emerging market economies that are driving the trend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Caribbean Citizenship by Investment\nProgrammes are appealing as the countries are all politically stable with\nWestminster-style democracies and well established legal and regulatory\nframeworks. Also, they have stable currencies back by the US dollar, and they\nare all located near major markets with daily direct flights to and from\nEurope, Canada, and the United States. Furthermore, the process is expedited.\nVia one of the Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Programmes, a second\npassport can be secured in three to four months after undergoing due diligence\nbackground checks and making a minimum investment of US$200,000 not including\ngovernment processing and due diligence fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n St. Kitts and Nevis had the vision of\nintroducing the Citizenship by investment Programme just over one year after\ngaining political independence in 1983. The primary objective was to increase\ntheir revenue after attaining independence from Britain. The International\nMonetary Fund (IMF) stated that in 2014 the Citizenship by Investment Programme\namounted to 14% of St. Kitts GDP and account for a substantial amount of the\ngovernment\u2019s revenue in recent years. \nThis is significant and has a positive impact on the economy and\ncitizens of that country. Moreover ,St.\nKitts has reduced its debt to GDP ratio to 60 % in 2018 from a high of 78% in\n2014, and the government has been able to pay its public sector workers double\nsalary for the month of December for the past three years; a sign of a blooming\neconomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grenada too is benefitting immensely from their\ncitizenship by investment programme. The island boasts of attracting investors\nof outstanding calibre and great wealth. For instance in 2017, the Grenadian\ngovernment cited fourteen (14) projects directly related to the Citizenship by\nInvestment programme. The tourism sector\nhas benefited tremendously, with a significant increase in hotel rooms. In\nfact, there have been more than ten (10) hotel projects in Grenada as a result\nof the citizen by investment programme. St Lucia, Antigua and Dominica are all\nbenefitting greatly from the programme. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Grenada, under the CBI\nProgramme there are two options for the grant of citizenship: a US$200,000\ndonation to the National Transformation Fund or a US$350,000 investment into an\nApproved Project. The prices are for a family of four as Grenada’s CBI\nProgramme is family focused. All persons granted citizenship under the\nProgramme enjoy the same rights as born Grenadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Programme is run\nby a Committee of seven persons with an administrative and operations unit. All\napprovals for the grant of citizenship are made by the Cabinet. In 2017\nGrenada’s Programme was highly successful with a 108% increase in received\napplications over 2016. 375 applications were received. Total receipts from the\nProgramme were in excess of EC$140,000,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the life of the\nProgramme some EC$150,000,000 has been invested into the Approved Projects\nwhich are categorized as real estate in the tourism sector and agribusiness and\naquaculture projects. Through the Approved Projects, thousands of jobs have\nbeen created and opportunities have arisen for service providers and suppliers.\nThe projects provide investment in key sectors which lead to economic growth\nand development. Developers of Approved Projects are both Grenadian and foreign\nnationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In one year, a\ntotal of EC$82,000,000 was deposited into the National Transformation Fund and\nused for social programmes, special projects, educational programmes, special\nneeds programmes, infrastructure and payment of sovereign debt. Grenada has in\nplace rigorous due diligence and security vetting measures to ensure the\nstrength and integrity of the Programme which has been lauded by the IMF as\nbeing the gold standard for transparency and strong legislative framework in\nthe region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The benefits of the programme to St. Vincent\nand the Grenadines will be incredible. We\nwill see an increase in foreign direct investment; an increase in government\u2019s revenue and most\nimportantly it will reduce the tax burden of Vincentians; thus, fuelling\neconomic growth and development which will ultimately benefit the people of St.\nVincent and the Grenadines. Our leader, Dr. Friday, had this to say on the\nsubject; \u201cI think this is something where we are losing a lot of opportunities\nand everyone else is moving ahead when we are falling behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nNew Democratic Party continues to express its commitment to implementing the\nCitizen by Investment Programme which will bring economic growth and\ndevelopment to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.\n\n\n\n\n\n;\\lsdprio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The views expressed are not those of ANN but those of the Writer and Contributor Economic citizenship is offered when an individual completes the legal process to acquire citizenship in a second country on account of the individual\u2019s financial investment into that country\u2019s economy. St. Vincent and the Grenadines can benefit tremendously from such a programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n