Dominica remains the most popular and favorite CBI program in the Caribbean.

According to the latest data published in the Gazette, the list of applicants who acquired citizenship under the citizenship by investment program, between Aug 2018 and Dec 2018, a total of 3,930 persons became new CBI citizens of  Dominica. These were approved of citizenship by the CBI unit under the investment scheme.

This figure represents on an average 786 persons (nearly 800) acquiring dominica citizenship every month under CBI.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has said that Dominica’s current Citizenship By Investment (CBI) program is “a very robust one and CBI  was able to generate revenue to repair homes, to build homes, to dredge rivers, to protect lives and properties and to restore the economy. Had it not been for the Citizenship By Investment program, after Hurricane Maria the country would not have been where it is today as a nation”.

The Dominica Citizenship unit (CIU) has published new information for applicants who apply for citizenship under the CBI scheme.

Due diligence

CBI applicants before applying must also clearly understand the vetting process and background checks involved in the scheme.

• Authorised CBI Agents perform initial due diligence checks on the applicant, establishing their identity and confirming he or she does not appear on criminal or present as high risk for the process. Applicants with visa denials are viewed as high risk applicants.
• Applicants must provide criminal record or police certificators in all the jurisdictions/countries they have lived in the past 10 years.
• Applicants must also pay $7500 due diligence fee (adults) and $4000 (children) for due diligence checks.
• The applicants file is passed on to CBI unit for further in-depth checks.  Screening begins within the Unit, where compliance experts familiar with international best practices and trained in open-source checks, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorism financing review applications. Applications are then delivered to private investigative firms that are independent of the Dominican Government and internationally renowned, including UK-based FACT and S-RM, Canadian-based Thomson Reuters, and US-based BDO and Exiger. These firms perform both online and on-the-ground research on applicants. Finally, Government and intergovernmental partners, such as Interpol and the CARICOM’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, are consulted. The CBI unit may request further evidence of documentation and in rare cases, may ask for an interview.
• After passing all checks, the applicant is issued letter of approval in principle, after that must make full investment within 90 days.
• The final citizenship certificate and passport is issued after completing the investment and other formalities.

In a recent Best CBI rankings study, Dominica citizenship by investment scheme took the fourth spot, behind Grenada, St Kitts and Antigua.

With recent signing of visa waiver with Russia and Ukraine, Dominica passport still remains the best in the Caribbean region. As of 2019, Commonwealth of Dominica had visa free access to 135 countries in the HPI 2019.