Why Michael decided to obtain a second citizenship
Michael is a deputy director of a chemical factory in Canada. He is a widower with a son Stephan, who is 5 years old and looked after by Michael’s mother-in-law Irene.
Michael’s family of three
Michael travelled a lot when his wife Emma was alive. They visited most of the European countries, went on a safari in Africa, and cruised in the Caribbean. The couple thought about second citizenship to move to or make a holiday home in a warm country by sea.
When their son was born, the couple travelled less and put off the issue of second citizenship. After Emma's death in 2020, Michael thought he did not need a second passport anymore.
In April 2022, Michael’s factory, producing household chemicals, signed a partnership agreement with a Chinese production company. Michael had to visit China for meetings frequently and share best practices with the new business partner to develop and expand his production. Each trip required obtaining a visa, as Canada didn’t have a visa-waiver agreement with China.
Michael contacted Immigrant Invest on June 6th, 2022. Investment program experts advised him to consider Caribbean citizenship: with a Grenada or Dominica passport, he would be able to travel to China visa-free. In addition, those Caribbean islands were popular travel destinations familiar to Michael’s family.
Upon consideration, Michael chose Grenada as a well-developed country known not only for its resorts but for universities, too. The investor thought it could be an option for his son in the future.
With Grenada passports, the investor and his family can come to the country of citizenship anytime to have a vacation to live for as long as they wish. They also get the following new opportunities:
- Travel without visas to China for 30 days.
- Optimise taxes: Grenada has no taxes on inheritance, capital gains and global income.
- Reduce the cost of education for children.
Preliminary Due Diligence
The investor passes a preliminary Due Diligence check against international databases of legal and business information before signing a services agreement with Immigrant Invest. A certified Anti Money Laundering Officer carries out the check.
Immigrant Invest has its own Compliance Department. Such a check helps to identify potential risks, including sanctions.
The check took one day. Michael’s financial history was clean: he had no criminal records, paid taxes annually, and was not included in the sanctions lists. He entered into a services agreement with Immigrant Invest immediately after the check.
Preparing documents for the investor and his family
Immigrant Invest lawyers have compiled a list of required documents based on the preliminary Due Diligence check and the conditions of Grenada’s citizenship program.
Michael's case was slightly different from the standard one. The investor had been a widower for two years, but he decided to add his mother-in-law Irene to the citizenship application.
Adding a deceased wife’s parent was only possible if the investor had not remarried. Michael also had to confirm his relationship with his mother-in-law: provide his wife's birth and death certificates and prove that he supported his mother-in-law financially all that time.
Bank statements from the investor and mother-in-law confirmed regular transfers and the absence of other comparable sources of income. They showed that Irene’s pension was much less than her expenses. Michael also paid for his mother-in-law’s trips with his grandson on vacation more than once.
As soon as Michael had collected all the documents, Immigrant Invest lawyers translated them, certified copies, drafted affidavits, and filled out government forms. Then the package of documents was sent to the Grenada CBI Unit.
The main documents that Michael provided when applying for citizenship were the following:
- the investor’s questionnaire;
- copies of the passports;
- son's birth certificate;
- a marriage certificate;
- wife's birth and death certificates;
- bank statements from Mikhail and his mother-in-law's accounts;
- a statement of the mother-in-law's income from the pension fund;
- health insurance;
- certificates of no criminal record;
- photos;
- a form stating all investor’s assets and sources of income for the new banking Due Diligence.
Due Diligence and fulfilment of the investment condition
When the Grenada CBI Unit received the documents, Due Diligence began. Four months later, Immigrant Invest received a notification that Michael's application was approved. No additional questions arose during the audit.
Michael chose to make a non-refundable contribution to a state fund to participate in the Grenada CBI program. To transfer money to the Grenada state fund, he was given 30 days.
The investor transferred the money within three days after his application was approved. The investment for a family of three was $200,000. Additional costs for Due Diligence and payment of state fees were $20,250.
The payment confirmation was received in two weeks, and passports were ready four weeks later. On December 27th, 2022, Michael and his family received their naturalisation certificates and Grenada passports. Participation in the citizenship program took them about seven months.
$220,250 and 7 months were spent by Michael for obtaining Grenada citizenship
Michael and his family’s plans for Grenada citizenship
The investor has scheduled business trips to China in January and February 2023. If the epidemical situation in China allows, Michael will take his son and mother-in-law on one of the trips as the boy has been dreaming of seeing ancient palaces and the Great Wall of China.
In the meantime, Irene took Stephan to Grenada, where they rented a small villa on the coast. They plan to spend all the winter months and March in the warmth, sunbathing and swimming in the Caribbean Sea. Michael plans to visit them as often as his work will allow him to.
Investor’s opportunities before and after obtaining Grenada citizenship
| Before | After |
| ❌ Applying for a visa to travel to China | ✅ Visa-free entry to China for 30 days |
| ❌ Living only in one country | ✅ The right to live in Grenada |
| ❌ 15 to 33% of the personal income tax in Canada | ✅ 0% of the foreign income tax for Grenada tax residents |
| ❌ High tuition fees without deductions for studying at a university | ✅ Saving up to 90% on tuition fees when studying at universities in Grenada |
If Irene or Michael spend more than 183 days a year in Grenada, they will become the country’s tax residents. It’s an opportunity to reduce tax payments: in Grenada, tax residents are charged only on income earned in the country; foreign income isn’t taxed. In Canada, non-residents pay a flat income tax of 25% instead of a progressive scale of 15 to 33%.
Grenada citizens are eligible for scholarships and deductions for studying at local universities. Despite Stephan’s young age, Michael already thinks about his son’s future and considers all the opportunities to save on tuition fees.
Zlata Erlach, Caribbean Investment Program Expert
