Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked concern in the minds of the entire world to focus on what it takes for an applicant to avail or invest in any of the economic citizenship-providing countries.
The primary key aspect for any nation providing citizenship is to ensure that specific individuals have a clean and clear image and must come from a nation that sustains a good reputation.
The following nations have already been focusing on improving due diligence and oversight procedures to minimize reputational damage to the nations offering citizenship by investment to the investors.
Several nations acknowledge the importance of the due-diligence procedure, while offering alternative citizenship to the High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs).
Recently Citizenship by Investment Index 2022, released by the Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Magazine of the Financial Times has shown that Small Island Developing States, such as Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and Malta has built their standard stronger by improving due-diligence background checks.
Moreover, it has been clearly mentioned in the CBI Index 2022, “Due diligence is an important step in the citizenship by investment (CBI) programme process. Host nations need to understand who they are bestowing citizenship on fully.”
The Index by the PWM Magazine added, “Caribbean nations that offer CBI, such as Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis, have developed an in-depth, six-step due diligence process to understand better the individual who is applying for alternative citizenship. Robust multi-layered thorough checks are vital to any successful CBI programme as it combines integral government checks with research by third-party specialist firms, and assessments by the regional and international bodies.”
The three island nations, Dominica, Malta and St Kitts and Nevis, have bagged 10/10 in the Due Diligence pillar. The CBI index has highlighted that as with previous years, Dominica, Malta and St Kitts and Nevis possess a perfect scores for the Due diligence pillar, due to their strict and thorough requirements. These nations require the provision of either fingerprints or a biometric passport, and have robust external due diligence procedures.
Notably, all the incredibly performing nations, including Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and Malta, have worked with the US-or UK-based independent international firms to carry out the background checks.
The CBI Index 2022, which was released by the PWM Magazine of the Financial Times on August 22, 2022, has ranked Caribbean nations- Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis as the world’s best Citizenship by Investment Programme. Dominica ranked the world’s best for the sixth consecutive year and St Kitts and Nevis topped the report for second time in a row.
Meanwhile, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Saint Lucia has bagged the third position. The report stated that as the newest Caribbean programme, Saint Lucia is now in its sixth year and jumps from fourth to third overall in this year’s CBI Index with overall 78 points, ahead of Grenada
The recent spike in overall scores is related to the improvements in due diligence- in specific the introduction of biometric passports and minimum investment outlay in line with Dominica of USD 100,000 for a single applicant. Furthermore, tightening of its due diligence requirements and/or the inclusion of grandparents as eligible dependants could see it become a serious competitor for the top position in the 2023 CBI Index.
The third famous nation which is recognized for offering thorough due diligence- Malta jumped up to sixth place this year with an overall score of 60. The CBI Index reported that, “Malta’s strict due diligence regime, which shows the requirements for the Caribbean CBI programmes, and its swift reaction to the restricting of Russian and Belarusian applications. Where Malta scores less highly is for its minimum investment outlay, which is currently priced at €705,000 (more than double all of the Caribbean programmes), its residency requirements and its citizenship timeline.”
