Antigua and Barbuda passports for visa-free travelling to Europe

Palo turned to Immigrant Invest for advice on October, 21, 2021.

Before signing the contract with the investor, Immigrant Invest lawyers conduct preliminary Due Diligence. The check helps see all the investor’s application rejection risks for a Citizenship by Investment Program.

Zlata Erlach,

Head of the Austrian office

Our in-house Certified Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer carries out a preliminary Due Diligence check. The lawyers consider the legality of income sources and the investor and his family’s biography and warn them about any potential risks.

Palo gets his income only from his companies. He has a clean tax story and has had no criminal record or visa denials in the past. The Immigrant Invest team was 99% sure that any citizenship program would approve Palo’s application.

The leading investor’s goal was to have visa-free access to European countries. The family had not yet decided which country they wanted to settle in: first, they wanted to see the world.

Also, visa-free entry to European countries would help their eldest son, David, get to know European universities better and choose one if he finds them appropriate.

The investor’s budget was up to $300,000. Palo wanted his whole family to get the second passport — all six people.

Within Palo’s budget, there were five Caribbean Citizenship by Investment programs. The minimal investment is $100,000. The investor gets a Caribbean passport in 2—6 months.

The Caribbean passport holders travel visa-free to the Schengen area, the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and hundreds of other countries. They get a 10-year tourist visa to the US.

Dominica and Grenada citizens can stay in China for up to 30 days a year without a visa. Grenada citizens get a E‑2 visa to the US as well. An investor and his family can move to the US with a visa.

All programs have two options:

1. $100,000 contribution to a state fund;

2. $200,000 or more investment into real estate.

The investors’ costs increase if they add a family member to the application.

Antigua also offers an investor to contribute $150,000 to the University of the West Indies Foundation for a family of 6 or more. Saint Lucia — buy government bonds for $300,000 or more. Also, the investors can obtain the citizenship of Antigua or St Lucia if they invest $1,500,000 in a local business.

Antigua’s option of contributing to the University of the West Indies Foundation was the most beneficial for Pal’s family. Immigrant Invest experts suggested that Palo consider the option.

Palo no doubt chose a contribution to Antigua university.

The University of the West Indies was founded as a division of the University of London in 1948. The university uses British educational standards and cooperates with Harvard. The university diploma is quoted in Europe and the US.

Among the graduates and professors of the university are Nobel laureates and politicians. Alumnus Derek A. Walcott received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. Professors Anthony Chen and John Agard, and Dr Leonard Nurse were the Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2007. Prime ministers of Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Jamaica, Belize and other Caribbean countries have graduated from the university.

The family decided to send David to the university. If he likes the uni, he will continue his education there. If not — he will enter another university.

To be close to their son, the family decided to move to Antigua.

Palo,

The owner of several companies providing sports equipment

Up to now, we couldn’t decide which country to move to. But now it’s settled. If the chance comes up, why not try? Let Antigua be the first country we move to. David will be with his family, and we can explore the new country. We’ll just move somewhere else if we don’t like it here.

Participation in the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment program is a five-step process.

1. Preparing the documents. Immigrant Invest lawyers collected and uploaded the copies of the documents to the program unit’s secure online portal. They sent the originals to the Antigua and Barbuda CBI unit by mail immediately after the application submission.

The Antigua and Barbuda CBI unit begins to consider the application once the scanned documents are received.

The documents Immigrant Invest lawyers attached to Palo’s application.

1. Passports.

2. Police clearance certificates.

3. Constituent documents of Palo’s business — to confirm the legality of income and money for investment.

4. A letter of recommendation from the bank.

5. Palo’s bank statement for the last two years.

6. Marriage certificates.

7. Medical insurance.

8. Birth certificates of the children.

Palo paid the Due Diligence fee in advance to the program unit — $19,000 for himself, his wife, the eldest son and his daughter. There was no need to pay for the other three children, as they were younger than twelve. The lawyers attached a receipt for payment to the application as well.

2. Due Diligence in Antigua and Barbuda’s CBI unit takes typically three to four months. Palo received department approval four months after applying. There were no additional requests.

3. Fulfillment of the investment condition. Along with the approval, the Antigua and Barbuda CBI unit sent details to contribute to the University of the West Indies Foundation. The fee was $150,000 for a family of six. Separately, Palo paid a bank fee of $1,800.

Three weeks later, the program department confirmed the payments and began to produce naturalization certificates and second passports for Palo’s family.

Individual cost calculation for Antigua and Barbuda citizenship

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4. Oath. New citizens of Antigua and Barbuda over 18 take an oath before obtaining their passports. The investor can take the oath in Antigua or its official representations in other countries.

Immigrant Invest lawyers helped the investor book an appointment at the High Commission of Antigua and Barbuda in Zambia, where Palo and Nandi took the oath.

5. Naturalization certificates and second passports were sent by mail three weeks after the oath. Participation in the citizenship program took six months after contacting Immigrant Invest.

7 months took participation in the Antigua and Barbuda citizenship by investment program for Palo

1

1.5 weeks

Preparation of documents and submission of an application to the CBI unit

2

+4 months

Due Diligence in the CBI unit

3

+3 weeks

Investment condition fulfilment

4

+2.5 weeks

Oath of allegiance in the representative office of Antigua and Barbuda

5

+4 weeks

Obtaining naturalization certificates and second passports

1

1.5 weeks

Preparation of documents and submission of an application to the CBI unit

2

+4 months

Due Diligence in the CBI unit

3

+3 weeks

Investment condition fulfilment

4

+2.5 weeks

Oath of allegiance in the representative office of Antigua and Barbuda

5

+4 weeks

Obtaining naturalization certificates and second passports

The family lives now in Five Islands Village, which is 20 minutes by car from Saint John, Antigua and Barbuda’s capital.

Immigrant Invest keeps in touch with its clients. We are always interested in how their lives have changed with a second passport. So, we asked Palo and Nandi to tell us about their life in Antigua.

Nandi,

38 years old, Investor’s wife

We’ve settled in the village close to the sea and David’s university. We have a lot of time ahead to explore the island and get used to it. For now, I like everything: the comfortable and familiar to us climate, the local people, the infrastructure and the prices!

Especially for our clients, we asked Nandi to tell us about prices to show the average living standards in Antigua. She made a list of their monthly family expenses for us.

In the Immigrant Invest practice, it is a rare case. Palo’s family of six chose the contribution to the University of the West Indies Foundation. His son took advantage of a free year at the uni, and the whole family moved to Antigua. We are happy to change people’s lives for the better.

Immigrant Invest is a licensed agent for government programs in the European Union and the Caribbean.