How to Obtain Free Caribbean Passport in 5 Months Only?

How can you get a free Caribbean passport remotely within just 5 months? The Caribbean government has come up with 5 economic citizenship schemes whose participants can obtain local citizenship by making business, real estate, or security investments that you will get back after the holding period is over. Please mind that the latter may last 3 to 7 years though. 

Second passport for free within 5 months instead of years

Market analysts and even immigration agents promoting Caribbean citizenship by investment schemes, promise their customers the latter can obtain a free passport within 3, 5, or 7 years. The term varies depending on the financial route you choose and the potential host country.

In reality, though, immigrant investors receive their passports in a matter of months and not years. True, it takes years to get your money back. The capital return is normally guaranteed by the state. Due to this, investors actually get their Caribbean golden passports for free. This happens, unless a candidate decides in favor of the donation option, with donations made to a certain government fund. Although cheaper, the option eventually results in a money loss.

As of today, 5 Caribbean jurisdictions listed below offer the above services:

• Antigua
• Grenada
• Dominica
• Saint Kitts 
• Saint Lucia.

Where can you purchase real estate and get your free Caribbean passport as a bonus?

All 5 jurisdictions mentioned above offer free Caribbean passports to buyers of real estate therein, with investment amounts and holding periods in respect of the assets purchased being the only difference between their CBI schemes.

The terms of the latter provide for investments to be made only in government-approved development projects in the sphere of resort and spa real estate. Allowing to purchase any residential properties the buyer chooses, Saint Kitts and Nevis is the only exception. Please, find further investment info as to the approved projects in the table below.

In Saint Kitts, investors can get their citizenship by investment passports if they purchase residential properties upwards of USD 400,000 in the country, with a 7-year holding period. The next real estate buyer won’t have the right to apply for a Saint Kitts passport. Below, you will find additional terms to meet:

• property valuation shall be carried out by an independent valuator or valuation report copies shall be prepared for taxation purposes (a corresponding certificate shall be produced that is issued within the last 6 months)
• when valuing assets, the land plot value is not taken into account
• sellers aren’t allowed to transform real estate units that foreigners purchase in order to obtain their Caribbean passports into apartment buildings or otherwise divide them to be later on sold in parts
• property sale through a company or payment with shares therefor is not allowed
• money paid for the purchased real estate shall be deposited in an escrow account with a local bank and then transferred to the seller.

Free Caribbean passports for bond investors

Saint Lucia is the only jurisdiction in the Caribbean that issues economic citizenship to government bond investors. Applicants are supposed to invest in interest-free government bonds and hold them for 5 years. The amount to invest shall be upwards of USD 300,000.

Investors about to purchase the above government bonds in order to finance their Caribbean citizenship should apply to the Saint Lucia Ministry of Finance or any of the licensed brokers below:

• First Citizens Investment Bank (FCIB)
• East Caribbean Global Investment Solutions Limited.

After you have purchased the said securities, information thereof shall be submitted to the Government of Saint Lucia. The term to notify the Saint Lucia authorities of the above purchase makes 21 days.

When you purchase Saint Lucia securities on the expectation of full payback after the mandatory holding period expires, be sure to take note of whether Saint Lucia is capable of paying its debts and mind the default probability. Stats indicate that the ratio of total debt to GDP has grown steadily in recent years, with the reason therefor being the economic downturn amid the pandemic that resulted in the closure of local resorts. Caribbean officials were forced to borrow capital to remedy the situation.

Period	Public debt of Saint Lucia (% of GDP)
2017	59.99
2018	60.38
2019	62.15

Launching a Caribbean business to obtain a second passport for free

Saint Lucia and Antigua offer free Caribbean passports to business investors. In both jurisdictions, you shall invest in pre-approved government projects and are allowed to exit after 5 years. In Antigua, immigration laws do not contain any eligibility criteria for investment projects, while in Saint Lucia, the following businesses welcome investment, as provided for under the local laws:

• research facilities and educational institutions
• port and transport infrastructure facilities
• agricultural processing companies
• pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities
• restaurants.

Both Antigua and Saint Lucia offer group discounts to applicants for Caribbean citizenship programs. To learn about their financial terms, please, refer to the table below: 

Jurisdiction	Investment threshold for individual candidates	Investment threshold for investor groups
Antigua	USD 1,000,000	USD 400,000, if all group member contribute the total of USD 5,000,000
Saint Lucia	USD 3,500,000 + 6 permanent jobs	USD 1,000,000 + 6 permanent jobs

Additional payments

Regardless of what investment route you choose, be it a property purchase in Grenada or business investments in Saint Lucia, you will pay administrative fees together with the fees your licensed immigration agent charges. Neither agent fees nor any other commissions are refundable. Here’s what the above administrative fees include:

• adding relatives such as your spouse, children, parents, grandparents, and minor siblings to the application. Please mind that you are not allowed to include underage siblings in your citizenship application in Dominica
• background checks for each applicant
• application processing
• issuing a citizenship certificate
• passport issue
• expedited application processing (only applicable to Saint Kitts, where your citizenship application will be processed in 2 months instead of 6, if you are ready to pay extra).

As for the fees of your licenced immigration agent, they depend on the prices a particular company charges. In general, the amount makes USD 20,000 to USD 40,000. The more applicants the citizenship application has, the higher the price. In other words, singles pay less in agent fees compared to families.

Advantages for holders of free Caribbean passports

If successful, a foreign investor applying for Caribbean economic citizenship will enjoy the following benefits:

• Fast track citizenship application processing: Caribbean officials will process citizenship applications submitted remotely within 3 to 6 months
• Visa-free travel: you will enjoy an opportunity to visit over 150 countries with no visa formalities, including, inter alia, the United Kingdom, the EU, China, and Ireland (available for Grenada and Dominica citizens only)
• Favorable tax regulations: no wealth, capital gain, inheritance, and income taxes (applicable to Antigua and Saint Kitts tax residents only)
• Plan B: with a free Caribbean passport, holders thereof enjoy an opportunity to visit their new homeland whenever they wish and stay there as long as they please, no matter what (neither lockdowns, nor any unpredictable situations in the country of departure, etc. may prevent it).

Expert assistance with obtaining a second Caribbean passport for free

We would all like to believe 2023 will be the year not clouded by any new crisis or instability. Even staying hopeful, it still makes sense to change your life for the better without waiting for the bright future to arrive. The best way to prepare a backup plan and kill two birds with one brick is obtain a second passport. In the Caribbean, you can do it without wasting your precious time and paying very little or virtually nothing at all in related expenses.