The EU has published a paper on economic forecast on Cyprus for Spring 2019 and in its report said  Cyprus’ economic expansion is set to remain robust, driven by domestic demand, but risks are tilted to the downside. Inflation is forecasted to remain subdued and budget is expected to return to surplus with public debt to steadily decline from 2019 onwards.

Cyprus continues to enjoy a remarkable post-crisis rebound with real GDP growth of 3.9% in 2018.

The paper described investments in cyprus forecasted to be robust, with  overall economic activity coming from ongoing tourism-related projects. Half of all transactions in residential construction driven by foreign demand, supported by the Citizenship by Investment programme.

A major scale of investments arise from ship registrations.

The paper described tourism-linked services is clouded by the recent bankruptcies of several airlines servicing Cyprus, slowing global demand, fierce competition, and high Brexit related uncertainty (UK citizens account for more than a third of all tourists) and warns that heavy reliance on foreign funding also leaves Cyprus vulnerable to external developments.

Cyprus has already received excess over 6.6 billion euros through the citizenship investment scheme. From May 15th, the council of ministers implemented new measures were implemented strengthening the cypriot citizenship scheme which include requirement of schengen visa, increased holding of property for five years and addition donation of EUR 150,000 for the development of Cyprus. All applicants had to pass due diligence checks and have no criminal record

Cyprus remained the second best citizenship by investment scheme in Best citizenships rankings behind Malta. Currently Cyprus remains the most expensive citizenship schemes in the world requiring over 2 million euros.

You can read the paper here

CIP Saint Lucia invited prospective CBI applicants to invest in Government bonds under the citizenship by investment program.  Currently St Lucia offers four routes for investment citizenship, one of which is buying government debt through bonds.

While donation option remains the most popular route with $100,000, the government bond option repays full $500,000 paid after five years without interest. The deposit is guaranteed by the Government of St Lucia.

The Debt management unit of the Ministry of Finance, St Lucia is responsible for issuing debt instruments. Recently the government issued bonds and bills.

The Government of St Lucia also will be issuing treasury bills words ECD 20 million through bank of St Lucia on 26/May

A Treasury bill (T-Bill) is a short-term government debt issued in denominations ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Treasury bills do not pay interest, but are sold at a discount and mature at par (100% of face value). Treasury bonds are long-term investments that have maturities of 10 to 30 years from their issue date.

With Cyprus scrapping the issue of government bonds in exchange for citizenship from 15th May,  St Lucia and Turkey are the only CBI countries that offers full citizenship through government securities or bonds.

St Lucia since the launch of the scheme approved citizenship to 350 applicants for investment. St Lucia CIP remains popular among Chinese, Lebanese and also US citizens.  St Lucia received $37.3 million surplus from the CIP donation receipts as of 2019.

The Council of Ministers, during the cabinet meeting held on the 6th of May 2019, decided that investors, who have concluded agreement/agreements for the purchase of immovable property will be exempted from making  €150,000 donation provided until the 15th of May 2019  the sale deed/ purchase agreement stamped until the 15th of May 2019

The decision was made to extend the deadline due to certain investors, who have been informed on the Programme prior to 13th of February 2019, and will not be able to submit their citizenship applications prior to the 15th of May 2019.

The new exemption will be in force for applications that will be submitted until the 15th of July 2019.

The Government bonds/securities will not available from May 15th onwards for citizenship in cyprus. The new rules does not exempt applicants from schengen visa requirement.

The official announcement is available here

Hong Kong has received 1,805 cases naturalization applications  in 2018, a figure that has jumped up 17% compared to that of previous year. These figures were released by HK immigration department.

Although renunciation cases, are small, there has been an increase in applications for renunciation, to 188 increase about 17.5% from the previous year.

Citizenship laws in China do not recognize dual citizenship for any chinese national

Any person who meets the requirements laid down in Articles 7 and 8 of the CNL can apply for naturalisation as a Chinese national.

Foreign nationals or stateless persons  abiding  China’s constitution and laws and who meet  the following conditions may be naturalised as chinese national:

• Near relative who is a Chinese national with the right of abode in Hong Kong
• Right of abode in Hong Kong
• Habitual residence is in Hong Kong
• Principal members of your family (spouse and minor children) are in Hong Kong
• Reasonable income to support yourself and your family
• Paid taxes in accordance with the law
• Good character and sound mind
• Sufficient knowledge of the Chinese language
• Intention to continue to live in Hong Kong in case your naturalisation application is approved
• Other legitimate reasons

The Hong Kong passport is also one of the best asian travel documents in the world.

Antigua takes the first spot among the Caribbean CBI/CIP countries in the Best Citizenship Index (BCI) for 2019.  The study evaluated 18 important metrics for citizenship for 190 countries.

Antigua scored high scores for education, human development, freedom and access to visa free countries.

Antigua’s citizenship by investment program is one of the finest citizenship schemes in the Caribbean launched in 2014.  The Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) was established by the Honourable Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and is the Government authority responsible for processing all applications for Agent’s Licenses, and all applications for Citizenship by Investment by applicants and their family.

Caribbean

 Overall Rankings of CBI/CIP countries

Ranking metrics

• Dual Citizenship – 10 points
• GDP (PPP) – 10 points
• Human Development Index (HDI) – 10 points
• Global Peace Index (GPI) – 10 points
• Per Capita Income – 10 points
• Strong currency – 10 points
• Population – 10 points
• Education – 10 points
• Freedom – 10 points
• Healthcare – 10 points
• Naturalization time in years – 10 points
• Citizenship by Marriage – 10 points
• Birthright Citizenship – 10 points
• Military Service (compulsory) – 5 points
• Citizenship Renunciation – 5 points
• Citizenship on economic interest – 5 points
• Visa free countries – 10 points

Read the full report here

St Lucia has amended ection 36 to the Citizenship by Investment Act No. 14 of 2015 (the Principal Act) to include dependants within 5 years of granting citizenship.

This was announced officially by CIP Saint Lucia

According to the Citizenship by Investment (Amendment) Act 2019, it allows qualifying dependant to make an application for citizenship within 5 years after the grant of citizenship to main applicant.