The St Kitts and Nevis CBI programme enters its 35th year in 2019 and it remains one of the best citizenship by investment (CBI) in the world.
Birthplace
The Twin island of Federation of St Kitts and Nevis is widely known as the birthplace of citizenship by investment which started in 1984. St Kitts with just a population of 55,000 is known the land of ‘Golden’ passports.
The CBI scheme in St Kitts provided the intellectual underpinnings and foundations for Malta, Cyprus, Moldova, Montenegro and four other Caribbean countries all of which have their versions of CBI programs. Today there are 12 known countries have other own version of citizenship investment schemes with direct path to citizenship. Over 30 countries have permanent residence schemes in exchange for investments known as ‘Golden visa’
Economic Impact
In St Kitts and Nevis, CBI provides an alternative pathway for attracting foreign investments to spur economic growth, create jobs, build out resilience of our country to climate change and catastrophes and to allow our people the opportunity to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Vetting
The due diligence is one of the best. It is multilayered and multifaceted, using international firms and agencies. CIU do not accept applicants from States labelled as uncooperative in the fight against terrorism or considered rogue nations and cooperate with the EU, USA and Canada.
Further the SKN Government has excellent relationships with our regional and international crime-fighting agencies, including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC), and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). Our support is reflected in that we keep our contributions up to date.
Tax Cooperation
CBI is also largely compliant with respect to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) requirements for transparency in tax matters, compliant with the European Union’s (EU’s) requirements, which change ever too often, and the country is an excellent performer on the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index for 2019, placing 30 out of 126 countries assessed and 1st in the OECS and 2nd in the sub-region.
Significant Reforms
The SKN Government is satisfied that the significant reforms, which have been made to the CBI programme with high level of cooperation with international partners and the excellent quality of our due diligence have transformed our programme into an international leader amongst all programmes.
The Government will continue to be a very responsible member of the International Community in an open, transparent and democratic way.
The CBI programme provides the global platinum standard for its safety and security.
