With things becoming ever crazier, having a second passport is more important than ever. It is the ultimate insurance policy against one’s government policies.
St Kitts & Nevis is widely known as the “best” Caribbean Citizenship by Investment program. And good news, they are giving a special $25,000 discount for all applications lodged between January 1st 2023 and June 30th 2023.
The new prices are:
- $125k + fees for a single applicant
- $150k + fees for a couple
- $175k + fees for a family of four
Pros of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment
- Visa-free access to over 150 countries including the EU, the UK, Ireland, and Russia
- One of the few Citizenship by Investment countries where taxes for local tax residents is 0%. If you were to live in your new country you could do so tax-free.
- Can be obtained in as little as 4 months
- No need to travel to St Kitts & Nevis – can be done entirely remotely
- The whole family can be included, including spouse, dependent children, dependent parents and grandparents
Cons of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment
- Access to the Shenghen zone is visa-free for St Kitts & Nevis passport holders, but for how long? I don’t know. Potentially the EU could start making a distinction between “normal St Kitts & Nevis citizens” and “Investment St Kitts & Nevis Citizens” as the US started doing for some countries whereby it differentiates between various types of people within a country. I’m not saying this will happen, but it’s a risk. Ultimately, I don’t think it is necessarily that important. It’s a plan B, not a plan A.
- Children and grandchildren born after the naturalization process have extra fees to incur to become citizens. It is not a “pure citizenship” with the same rights as existing citizens such as with the Turkish Citizenship by Investment.
Discussion with my immigration agent Laszlo on obtaining the Saint Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment
or send an email to laszlo@thewanderinginvestor.com.
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The Wandering Investor
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Full transcript of “Pros and Cons of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment”
LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello, everyone. Ladislas Maurice from thewanderinginvestor.com. So today, I’m really excited to be speaking with Laszlo about the latest changes to the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Program. Essentially, there’s a sale going on. Laszlo, how are you?
LASZLO: Good, good, good. Happy to be with you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Always a pleasure, Laszlo. So can you tell us about the changes that the St Kitts and Nevis government are implementing to attract investors?
Price decrease to obtain the Saint Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment
LASZLO: Well, there are five countries in the Caribbean which offer citizenship by investment programs. And, as in real life, there is always a kind of a competition between these countries. So occasionally, sales are being announced, like now, that the 1st of January 2023 till June the 30th, so for six months, the necessary payment, donation to the Sustainable Growth Fund, where the clients need to pay in the amount and they will not get it back, so basically, it is a donation, then it would be 25,000 US dollars less for a family, for a single applicant, whichever version we are using, then it’s $25,000 less per application, what the clients need to pay for the next half a year.
So what we are saying that then it would return to the old one. So for example, a single applicant has to pay 150,000 US dollars now as a donation, it would be $125,000 for this half a year. So that’s a difference of $25,000. Basically, that is a 20% decrease. So all in all, it’s a considerable amount if I calculate it. The same applies with a family application, also $25,000 less for the next half a year, and then it would be going up by $25,000 so that the old prices are back. So all in all, that is a window of half a year, and the St Kitts government promised again that the processing will be done in three, three-and-a-half months’ time, meaning that, all in all, it will be definitely within the timeframe. But if you file it on the 1st of July, then unfortunately, you will be out of luck.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, cool. So essentially, now for a single applicant, $125,000 plus fees, for a couple, $150,000 plus fees, and for a family, $475,000 plus fees.
LASZLO: Yes.
Is Saint Kitts and Nevis the best Citizenship by Investment in the Caribbean
LADISLAS MAURICE: So big discount going on. So a lot of people always say that, you know, St Kitts and Nevis is the gold standard of Caribbean passports. Do you agree? Do you not agree? What are your thoughts on this compared to the other Caribbean passports?
LASZLO: Some people say it’s a platinum standard.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay.
LASZLO: I mean it’s a kind of a marketing ploy, which is understandable, as I’m saying there five countries are competing with each other on the world market, so all in all, it is definitely true that St Kitts and Nevis started this citizenship program in 1984. I do not know when you were born. Okay, let’s forget it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs]
LASZLO: But how long time ago really it was when they started. And since then, especially with the increase of visa-free travel, they worked hard to really strengthen the program and offer more possibilities. And therefore, because it’s ’84, it’s really a long time ago, they are the longest, they have the most experience, and they try to keep it in order. And that is why occasionally there is a sale.
But also, in addition to it, if you do not choose the donation route but the property route, then the rules of nonperformance, the rule of playing little games, of decreasing the required amount are over because there will be huge penalties for the people who would like to game the system and who do not really want to keep according to the rules and the regulation, which by the way, I think, is a good sign that knows that these kinds of shady deals will not be permitted period. Which is good for the investor, because the value they would receive when they invest in a possible property, then, all in all, it would be much more stable than with who knows where these developers came from and whether they would be happy to finish the construction and so on and so on, these kind of cases, which quite often come up when somebody chooses not the donation route for which there is a sale, but the property one.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, cool. Fantastic. Very interesting. And yeah, just as a reminder, St Kitts and Nevis passport gets people visa-free access to the EU, to the UK, to Ireland, even to Russia. So for people, for Westerners who want to travel to Russia, for example, they can’t right now. But with the St Kitts and Nevis passport, they would be able to. So we’re really entering a world where the world is essentially being split into two, into two different sides. You have to pick sides, essentially your passport decides the side that you’re on. So having a passport of a neutral country like a St Kitts and Nevis allows you to do business, allows you to travel to the other side with a lot less pressure and a lot more ease. So that’s one of the use cases nowadays of having such a passport.
Cool. Fantastic. So Laszlo, thank you very much. So everyone, if you’re interested in potentially making an investment to receive a St Kitts and Nevis passport for yourself and your family, there is Laszlo’s email below. Laszlo, you’ve been in the high end immigration business for, what, almost 30 years? [laughs]
LASZLO: True enough. Yeah, that’s another way of looking at the time, how it flies. Yes, true. [laughs]
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, so almost three decades of dealing with passports and residency permits and the likes, so you’ll be in good hands with Laszlo. All right, Laszlo, thank you very much for your time today, and Happy New Year’s.
LASZLO: Same to everybody. Thank you very much for your time.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cheers.
LASZLO: Cheers.
