Some Eastern Caribbean countries – St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis are offering Nigerians and others from Africa incentives to continue to visit the Island nations.
The countries are offering individuals that can buy a property worth at least $200,000 (N300 million) citizenship and passport that grants the holder visa-free access to up to 150 countries including the UK and Europe’s Schengen area.
According to a BBC report yesterday, for the wealthy, the islands’ absence of taxes such as capital gains and inheritance, and in some cases on income too, is another major draw. And all five of the region’s schemes allow buyers to retain their existing citizenship. In Antigua, estate agents are struggling to keep up with demand, says Nadia Dyson, owner of Luxury Locations.
US citizens account for the bulk of CBI applications in the Caribbean over the past year, according to investment migration experts Henley & Partners. Ukraine, Turkey, Nigeria and China are among the other most frequent countries of origin of applicants, says the UK firm which has offices around the world.
It adds that overall applications for Caribbean CBI programmes have increased by 12% since the fourth quarter of 2024. Passports from the five island nations give the holder visa-free entry to most countries around the world. Everything from gun violence to antisemitism is putting Americans on tenterhooks, according to the consultancy’s Dominic Volek. “Around 10-15% actually relocate.
For most it’s an insurance policy against whatever they’re concerned about. Having a second citizenship is a good back-up plan,” he explains. Volek says the ease-of-travel advantages the Caribbean passports provide appeals to businesspeople, and may also present a security benefit.
“Some US clients prefer to travel on a more politically-benign passport.” Robert Taylor, from Halifax in Canada, bought a property in Antigua where he plans to retire later this year. He invested $200,000 just before the real estate threshold was raised to $300,000 last summer.
The European Union has threatened to withdraw its coveted visafree access for Caribbean CBI countries, while the US has previously raised concerns over the potential for such schemes to be used as a vehicle for tax evasion and financial crime. A European Commission spokesperson told the BBC that it is “monitoring” the five Caribbean schemes, and has been in talks with their respective authorities since 2022.
She says an ongoing assessment is seeking to substantiate if citizenship by investment constitutes “an abuse of the visa-free regime those countries enjoy vis-à-vis the EU and whether it is likely to lead to security risks for the EU”.
The Commission has acknowledged reforms carried out by the islands, which it says will have an impact on its evaluation. For their part, the five Caribbean nations have reacted angrily to claims that they are not doing enough to scrutinise applicants.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has described his country’s CBI programme as “sound and transparent”, adding authorities had worked hard to ensure its integrity. The government says passport sales have raised more than $1 billion since the initiative’s inception in 1993, paying for vital infrastructure including a state-of-the-art hospital
