35 Years of Citizenship by Investment: St Kitts and Nevis PM Says Due Diligence Was Key to Success
LONDON, June 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- During a press conference last week, St Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister Timothy Harris announced that the islands' successful Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme had entered its thirty-fifth year of operation. While over three decades have passed, PM Harris said that the St Kitts and Nevis programme remains the first and the best in the world.
Since 1984, St Kitts and Nevis, a dual-island nation located in the Caribbean region, has been operating the world's oldest economic citizenship programme enabling investors to acquire its citizenship through a monetary contribution. The islands' CBI Programme is the longest-standing programme in the world and known as the Platinum Standard brand. Later this month, the islands will host large-scale CBI conference – the Caribbean Investment Summit – for the second year in a row.
According to experts at the Financial Times' Professional Wealth Management magazine, one of the features that allows St Kitts and Nevis to excel in the economic citizenship industry is its attention to due diligence. The islands' vetting procedures received full scores in a special report, titled the 2018 CBI Index. "Our due diligence is one of the best in the world, it is multi-layered and multifaceted, using international firms and agencies. We do not accept applicants from states labelled as uncooperative in the fight against terrorism or considered to be rogue nations," noted Premier Harris during his speech.
For 35 years, foreign investors and their families have been choosing St Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme for its unrivalled experience and longevity. Last year, PM Harris introduced a more straightforward route to acquiring second citizenship – the Sustainable Growth Fund – implemented as a means to channel investments into the national advancement of the islands. Revenue generated aims to sponsor key public and private sectors, like education, healthcare, sustainable growth policies, tourism and infrastructural developments. In exchange, successful applicants gain access to a number of opportunities, including increased global mobility, business and entrepreneurial prospects, access to better education for their children and the chance to pass the citizenship down to future generations.
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