Hiring an accredited agent is an important part of the application process, to make things easy for you if you are out of the country. It is a must to appoint an government licensed agent with Citizenship by investment, however for golden visas, this is optional, you can directly apply apply at consulates or immigration office.
Citizenship by Investment
You cannot directly submit applications to the CBI Units of the Government. Instead you are required to file your application either through local agent or international agent. These companies can also be law firms who can give you proper immigration advice.. It is important to understand the difference between local agent and international agents. As per CBI rules, international agents work with local agents to file your application charging you higher fee. All CBI units publish full list of local and international agents.
For example if you want to apply for St Kitts citizenship, living in UAE, you may like to hire an international agent in Dubai who in turn works with local agent in St Kitts to handle your application process. It becomes more cheaper and makes sense to skip middlemen and directly work with local agent.
A decade ago you would only ask for agent where you live who will milk you with costs. Today online platforms can introduce you any local agent or law firm anywhere in the world.
This is what we do. Best Citizenships is an online platform, we assign you directly a local agent to handle your application free of charge.
Golden Visas
The Government does not require you to appoint law firms or agents – just directly book appointment with required immigration office to launch your golden visa application, if you have all the documents ready. If you are outside country, apply through consulates or if you have a schengen visa just visit immigration office directly. Remember you might need proper legal advise when dealing with property papers.
Application timeline
- Research on the best suitable program – 1 month
- Appointing agent / law firm – 1 week
- Eligibility check – 1 week
- Preparation of documents – 1 month
- Property acquisition – 1 month
- Application filing – 2 week
- Waiting / Processing – 3-4 months
- Residence cards / Passport – 1-2 weeks
Important documents
These are the Important documents
- Police certificate (not older than 6 months)
- Medical certificate (from doctor not more than 3 months old)
- Health insurance coverage
- Passport, ID card copies
- Birth certificate
- Marriage certificate
Note: All documents must have proper apostillation and translations accompanied by person who authenticated it.
Image Credit: LMI Waiver
