CS Global Partners webinar discusses a decade of CBI evolution

The UK-based government media advisory firm – CS Global Partners conducted a webinar on “Citizenship by Investment Programme – CBI” of around 13 jurisdictions, in partnership with US-situated media house – Associates Times.

The webinar primarily focused on the aspects, benefits, procedures and differences between Residency and Dual citizenship offered by the Caribbean jurisdictions. CEO – Mica Rose Emmett and Director of CS Global Partners, Paul Singh, were the guests who joined the webinar and enlightened some crucial points of the CBI Programmes.

CBI Programme offers dual citizenship to an applicant of another nation in return for the significant asset for a time period, under various investment options.

On being asked by the Interviewer about the change faced by the CBI industry, Micha replied that, in the past decades, a significant transformation had been witnessed by the sector of the Citizenship by Investment programme, as it gathered attraction and an uptick in the number of applicants, especially among Ultra-High-Net-Worth individuals.

Further briefly describing the applying procedure to the CBI programme, the Director of CS Global Partners cited that it is the “most direct, clear-cut and most seamless process” of obtaining second citizenship. The average time period of the procedure is of around three months, he added.

While praising the CBI Programmes of Caribbean nations – Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Singh stated that both the countries “have got an excellent processing timeline and its’ actually very efficient”.

He added that the firm has been working with governments of these Caribbean island countries to ensure that the process of an economic citizen is as smooth as possible.

“Nonetheless, despite the swiftness of processing, it doesn’t undermine the integrity of the programme. It’s a comprehensive due diligence process, and all five Caribbean jurisdictions have an extensive due diligence process. They’ve all ranked very highly in the pillar of due diligence, conducted by the financial times CBI Index, which scored all five Caribbean nations quite highly there,” Singh underscored.

From the time an individual submits the application form to obtain the second citizenship, the UK-based company assures that application forms and supporting documents are complete to the appropriate standard; the Director replied while providing an idea about the steps involved in the CBI jurisdictions.

Micha then highlighted various investment options offered by the Caribbean jurisdictions, under which an applicant can obtain their citizenship. She noted that the majority of the applicants go with the “direct investment” option, as it tends to be quicker.

The Interviewer then asked the guests about how an individual can choose which Citizenship by Investment Programme is right for them; Singh answered that the applicants must look at the “longevity” of a country’s CBI programme.

He added, “St Kitts, for instance, being the cradle of citizenship, and the programme was launched in 1984 so of course almost four decades, Dominica in 1993 almost three decades so they have run for a long time they’re in held in very high regard by the international community”.

Further, Micha underlined the financial benefits of the CBI Programme to the host countries, saying that the asset or financing invested by an applicant assists the host nation in its development and nation-building.

Citing an instance of Dominica, Micha added that the CBI Programme’s investment had helped the country’s government in building and strengthening various sectors such as – health, education, tourism etc.

Significant infrastructure such as the climate-resilient housing project and the International airport project of the Dominica government is being funded by the revenue generated by the CBI programme.

“For interested applicants whose original documents are not in English, it is useful to note that they will need to obtain a certified translation of their documents. Documents will also then need to be certified and also depending on the international law. Also, depending on the national law of the country of which an investor is a national – they may or may not be able to retain dual citizenship status, so that’s a very important factor, and most Caribbean CBI countries, nonetheless, allow for dual citizenship so they will not need to worry about that aspect”, the Director replied, answering the Interviewer’s question of specific aspects which must be considered by an applicant before applying for second citizenship.

The CEO then underscored the global mobility facility (free visa-access) that an applicant gets when he/she obtains second citizenship of a country. She then applauds Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis for having a comprehensive due-diligence process, which ensures that the citizenship of their country is granted to a non-criminal applicant.