Caribbean and Vanuatu Citizenship Programs: Detailed Guide for Investors

With passports of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Vanuatu, you can freely visit at least 95 countries.

The number of countries you can visit without a visa is not the main advantage of the Caribbean passport. It is important that the second passport opens up the possibility of free travel to countries where citizens of many countries need a visa.

Where you can get without a visa with Caribbean and Vanuatu passports

• Schengen zone — up to 90 days within six months with a Caribbean passport.

• United Kingdom — up to 180 consecutive days.

• USA — tourist visa for 5 or 10 years, business visa E‑2 with the passport of Grenada. According to the US government, 40 citizens of Grenada received E‑2 visa in 2019.

• China — up to 30 days per year with thes passport of Grenada and Dominica.

• Singapore — up to 30 days per year.

• Hong Kong — up to 90 days per year.

Alexey,

Investor

Grenada passport for free travel and study in the USA

Alexey owns a business in the US. He lived there for a long time with his family with a L‑1 visa and decided to develop business in Georgia. Alexey wanted to move to Georgia and keep the ability to freely visit the United States in order to control his company there. He also wanted to give his children an opportunity to study in American universities, and then the possibility to stay and work in the country.

Alexey with his wife and children received the citizenship of Grenada and the US E‑2 business visa. He promptly applied for a visa through the consulate in Singapore. Now Alexey is developing an enterprise network in Georgia and remotely manages a company in the United States. He and his wife can freely visit their children with the passports, obtained for investments.

For more details check detailed Investor’s Guide to the Caribbean and Vanuatu Citizenship Programs

Citizenship programs in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Vanuatu are popular for their simplicity of requirements and minimum investment amounts. For example, Saint Lucia’s passport can be obtained in exchange for an investment of $100,000 or more. In case the due diligence report provides positive results of the investor’s status.

What is important to know about due diligence

As already mentioned, with the passport of a Caribbean country or Republic of Vanuatu, you can stay in the Schengen area for 90 days within six months.

Let’s compare: Maltese Passport allows you to live in the European Union without restrictions, but it requires much higher expenses. The minimum investment for the program is €700,000 if you are ready to wait for citizenship for 3 years, and €850,000 to get a passport within a year.

Expenses for one applicant. Program participation costs include not only investment but also administration and government fees. Therefore, when planning expenses for participation in the program, we recommend focusing on a $150,000 budget. The following chart will demonstrate the participation budget for one investor.

The key stage of any program is Due Diligence. This is an assessment of the integrity of the investor and his family members, that require careful and detailed preparation. For example, it is required to confirm the legitimacy of the funds required to participate in the program.

We recommend showing an amount that exceeds the costs of the program by $200,000—300,000. This is necessary to confirm the availability of funds for the family allowance, to help avoid additional questions and expedite the process.

Our certified anti-money-laundering compliance officer will review your documents and inform you about possible risks. Based on the results of the verification, our lawyers will suggest a personalised list of documents needed to obtain citizenship. This approach reduces the probability of application rejection to 1%.

Expenses for the investor and their family. Most often, our clients apply for the programs with their families. The expenses for a family are higher than for one investor. Depending on the family, the final budget may be lower in a program with a higher initial investment.

To estimate costs, we recommend checking if your family members can participate in the program. The main criteria are age and relationship to the investor.

* According to the conditions of the Dominica program, children over 18 years old can live separately from an investor. It is important to show financial support in this case. In addition, even if only one parent or grandparent is 55 years old, and the second is not, both can join the program.

By choosing the program right for your family, you can compare the costs and associated expenses. We calculated the costs for an investor with a spouse and 2 children of 12 and 25 years old.

* Until the end of 2020, the family subsidy has been reduced from $ 190,000 to $ 150,000. Taking into account the associated costs, family participation in the program is $ 165,500.

You can also choose a program based on the investment type. Our experience shows that investors prefer areas they know well. Real estate specialists choose real estate investments, stock market players choose securities. All programs, except Vanuatu, have several investment options.

Non-refundable fee. The most popular option in all Caribbean programs is a government fund subsidy. This is the only option for the Vanuatu program.

The minimum non-refundable investment for participation in the program only for one investor:

• $100,000+ — for programs in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia;

• $130,000+ — for Vanuatu program;

• $150,000+ — for Grenada;

• $250,000+ — for Saint Kitts and Nevis program.

Antigua and Barbuda are also inviting families of six or more to make a non-refundable $150,000 contribution to the University of the West Indies Foundation. At the same time, one of the family members can study at the university for a year for free. If there are fewer than six applicants, then there are three other investment options.

Retu able investment. 30% of citizenship program participants invest in real estate in the Caribbean. When investing in real estate in the Caribbean, the return on investment is desirable.

You can purchase real estate within the terms of all programs, except for Vanuatu.

The purchased object is a share, apartment, or villa in a large five-star hotel complex. The most inexpensive option is to buy a share. It is important that the minimum investment in real estate covers the participation in the program of all family members.

Members of the programs can only buy certain properties. These are projects approved by the government. On the one hand, the choice of objects is limited, on the other, it guarantees the safety and reliability of investments. With the purchase, the investor receives a pleasant bonus — the opportunity to stay at the hotel for free for 1—2 weeks.

When purchasing an apartment or a villa in a hotel, you can negotiate the lease during your absence. The rental yield is 3—7% per annum.

At the same time, consider the fact that according to the programs of Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, real estate investors pay an additional state fee in the amount of $25,000—50,000.

Other investment options. In our experience, these options are not in high demand due to the investment amount.

You can invest in a business:

• from $1.5 million — under the Antigua and Barbuda program;

• from $3.5 million — under the St. Lucia program.

Saint Lucia Citizenship for Visiting the UK without a Visa
The owner of a company with international branches in different countries attended business events in the UK. The businessman was concerned that, due to the special geopolitical situation in his country, the UK might refuse to issue him a visa. In this case, meetings with partners would be postponed and the company could lose profit.

To mitigate the risks and freely visit the UK, the businessman received a Saint Lucia’s passport by making a donation to the government fund.

For more details check the case study about the passport of Saint Lucia for free travel to the UK.

Citizenship of Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Vanuatu is issued remotely. Program participants receive a passport at their preferred location.

The easiest way is to prepare a package of documents for Vanuatu. More documents are needed to participate in the Caribbean programs.

When all the necessary documents are prepared, our Due Diligence department will perform a reliability assessment.
The duration of this procedure mainly determines the timeline for obtaining citizenship.

The Vanuatu program is the fastest, you can actually get a passport in 4 weeks. Among the Caribbean programs, Dominica is the most rapid. Due to the possibility of expedited application processing, the citizenship of this countrie can be obtained in 60 days.

For Antigua and Barbuda’s passport, you must visit the country to take the oath. In addition, under the terms of the program, you need to stay in Antigua and Barbuda for 5 days during the first 5 years. Investors who participate in the program combine taking an oath and fulfilling the necessary stay requirements. There are no residency requirements for other programs.

Vanuatu does not disclose the names of applicants rejected by the program. Unlike Vanuatu, Caribbean programs disclose this information. If you are refused in one program, you will not be able to participate in another. The Vanuatu Program considers all applications.

Vanuatu passport in 6 weeks
Eduard underwent heart surgery in Germany, and doctors prohibited his travel by air for a long time. Long journeys by car were also uncomfortable due to his health conditions. However, his authorization to stay in the Schengen zone was valid only for two months since the day of the surgery.

We prepared a package of documents while Eduard was recovering in Germany. He got his Vanuatu passport in 6 weeks even taking into account the winter holidays. Eduard could go through rehabilitation in Germany and then stay with his daughter in the UK for several months.

For more details, check the case study about the Vanuatu passport to visit Europe and Great Britain.

As we have already mentioned, free travel around the world is the main benefit of the Caribbean and Vanuatu passports. But there are also other aspects.

Citizens of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Vanuatu can open accounts with European banks. It’s not always easy with the passports of some other countries.

Austrian banks have denied access to the citizens of some countries due to the complicated and long Due Diligence procedure. President of the Association of the Large Investment projects in Cyprus Andreas Demetriades recently asked the country’s banks to simplify the opening of accounts for citizens of third countries. Today, when opening an account in Cyprus, they pay up to € 25,000 for Due Diligence.

An account in an EU bank solves two key tasks:

• ensures the safety of assets, protects funds from depreciation rate of your countries' currency;

• expedites and simplifies currency transactions.

Another point is that the listed countries offer optimal taxation systems. The residents, private persons do not pay taxes on capital gains and inheritance. Residents of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Vanuatu also do not pay income tax. But to become a country tax resident, you have to live there 183 days a year.

Companies registered in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Vanuatu do not pay share capital increase tax. International companies in Vanuatu are exempt from taxes for 20 years and only pay an annual fee of $300.

Caribbean passport for opening EU bank account
The business owner wanted to save money and optimise taxes by opening an account with one of the reliable European banks. European bankers are reluctant to open accounts for some countries, including CIS.

To solve the problem, the businessman obtained Dominica’s passport and chose the Bank of Europe, loyal to the Caribbean countries’ citizens.

For more details, check the case study about the path to reliable European banks.

Timing.

The fastest way to get a Vanuatu passport is 1 month. This program stands out by the least bureaucracy. Second place in terms of processing time take the programs of Dominica and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Expedited application processing service in these countries takes only 60 days.

Investment amount.

The subsidy is the most popular investment choice, although the real estate option gradually takes the lead. If an investor is the only one who plans to participate in the program, the most favourable conditions are offered by Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Saint Lucia. If we are talking about a family of up to four people, the minimum investment for Antigua and Barbuda is the same — at least $100,000.

A number of participants.

For large families, we recommend programs in Grenada, Dominica, Saint Lucia. Grenada has the largest list of relatives who can participate in the program together with an investor. The second place takes Dominica and Saint Lucia.