St Lucia, the latest of the citizenship by investment schemes launched in the Caribbean has received 97% of applications for donation contribution, only 5 applications for government bonds and no applications for real estate according to the CIP annual report for the years 2016-2018
For the financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18, a total 205 applications for citizenship have been granted.
Not a single application for government bond option approved for 2017/18. The government bond option requires $500,000 to be invested in government securities in five years but paid back fully after 5 years without interest, plus also requires a fee of $50,000.
As with donation option, requires only $100,000 plus fees for CIP. Real estate option requires $300,000 and as of today one real estate – Canelles development approved for CIP
| 2016 – 2017 | 2017 – 2018 | |
| Approved applications | 17 | 188 |
| Donation | 12 | 188 |
| Government bond | 5 | 0 |
| Real estate | – | – |
“I don’t think it’s a matter of concern,” said the CIP’s CEO Nestor Alfred, “because you can develop the programme and generate significant revenue by the donation mode. However, you’d appreciate that the programme is very price sensitive. You’d also recongise that the donation contribution amount is not as significant as compared to the other routes for the grant of citizenship.”
Mr. Alfred says he believes this route is more popular not only because it’s the cheapest, but also because individuals like the notion of their investment going into a national economic fund, which goes towards assisting in the country’s development.
On the other hand, said Alfred, “if any country is to make a success of this programme, the entry for the grant of citizenship cannot be simply by donations. I have no grave concern that where we are concerned the main route is via donation. However, I believe we have to explore the other routes as a means of creating a more attractive programme.”
As with real estate, He says there are a number of approved projects but “we have not gone the route of offering them to investors simply because we’ve taken the position that everything must be in order before such a product is made available”. He revealed that in recent days a real estate project was approved for the south of the island and that from all indications it should start this year. Alfred says that for a jurisdiction which has just come on the market, Saint Lucia’s CIP programme is holding its own “but there’s always room for improvement”.
Source: St Lucia STAR
