Last weeks Europe’s CJEU court ruling on Malta, will have far reaching effects on CIPs running in the Caribbean to reform their programs, in line with the EU law or risk losing visa free access to the Union.
The judgment has ruled Malta’s granting of citizenship against payments, without any genuine ties to the country has breached the EU laws and compromises the integrity of Union citizenship .
Next the European Union will be examining at the investor citizenship (CIP) programmes in the Caribbean posing as a security risk to Member states and Union citizens.
Genuine Link / Ties to the Country
As outlined in the judgment, The Commission may put additional pressure on Caribbean CBIP nations to implement necessary changes to CBI legislation, not to grant passports, without “establishing genuine ties” to the country. The changes could take in the shape of ..
- Personal visit requirement.
- Minimum Residence conditions.
- Heightening of vetting standards
- Introducing net asset requirement
- Quota on limiting citizenships granted every year
- Prohibition on name change.
- Prohibition on passports issued to sanctioned countries (eg. Iran, Russia etc)
- Establish higher transparency and accountability
Priced Visa-Free-Travel
The priced “visa-free travel” to EU, which is a major selling point of CBI/CIP programs. The EU is especially concerned about investor citizenship schemes that are “commercially promoted” as providing visa-free access to the EU. The purpose of visa waiver agreements is to facilitate people-to-people contacts between the EU and a third country, not to enable nationals of other visa-required third countries to circumvent the EU short-stay visa procedure through the acquisition of citizenship by investment.
Visa-free access is a privilege, not a commodity. It should not be commercially abused..
The Commission has been closely monitoring all visa-free countries operating investor citizenship schemes with a view to preventing and mitigating possible security risks for the EU including those related to infiltration of organised crime, money-laundering, tax evasion and corruption for the EU.
New Grounds for VSM Suspension
The EU is inching closer, adding new grounds in 2025, under Visa suspension mechanism (VSM) to third countries operating citizenship by investment programs. The new criteria now includes grounds of weak security checks, criminal offences linked to third country nationals, and non compliance with sanctions. The EU has maintained CBIP’s pose several serious security risks for Union citizens, such as those stemming from money laundering and corruption.
Clear Message
The Malta judgment sends a clear message to Caribbean CIP nations implement clean up their programs and get their houses in order. It is high time Caribbean nations running investor citizenship schemes introduce tougher reforms to “protect” their Visa-free regimes with EU/UK, which are crucial for people-to-people contacts, economic development, tourism, and cultural exchanges.
