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Two Citizenship by Investment Programmes of Caribbean countries managed to retain their top spot in the Index. The CBI Index, which was released on August 22, 2022, ranked Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis as the world’s best for having economic citizenship programmes. 

August 23, 2022

The Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Magazine of the Financial Times released its sixth edition of “A Guide to Global Citizenship: The CBI Index” on August 22, 2022. This year’s CBI Index has again remained incredible for two Caribbean countries, Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis.

Two Citizenship by Investment Programmes of Caribbean countries managed to retain their top spot in the Index. The CBI Index, which was released on August 22, 2022, ranked Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis as the world’s best for having economic citizenship programmes.

Once again, for the sixth consecutive year, Dominica has ranked as the topmost in the CBI Index 2022, while St Kitts and Nevis secured the same position for the second year in a row.

On the other hand, the newest in the CBI Industry, Saint Lucia, has shown significant improvement and managed to secure the third position while the country was fourth in the previous year.

Read Here detailed report of CBI Index 2022

Three of the Caribbean nations left behind ten other countries offering similar programmes in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and beyond and secured the top positions in the CBI Index 2022.

It is Dominica’s sixth consecutive year sitting atop of the overall rankings, and it once again maintains a perfect score of 10 in six of the nine pillars under assessment. The CBI Index report outlined the efficiency of Dominica’s CBI programme and stated that due to robust due diligence, a streamlined application process and sustainable development projects assisted by the CBI funds remained the strength of the programme.

The CBI Index stated,” Dominica’s consistency is a combination of an affordable minimum investment outlay, thorough and comprehensive due diligence, a streamlined application process, as well as its reputation for investing into the real economy of Dominica through ambitious, sustainable development projects facilitated by CBI funds.”

Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica scored 81 points and 90 percent in the report. The programme triumphed top spot in the following six out of the nine pillars of the CBI Index 2022.

• Minimum Investment Outlay
• Mandatory Travel or Residence
• Ease of Processing
• Due Diligence
• Family
• Certainty of Product

The index report added that Dominica continues to offer a minimum investment outlay followed by a smooth application process that provides certainty to the investors. First established 28 years ago, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica continues to lead the path in providing clarity in terms of usage of CBI funds, the report added.

The top place with perfect ten scores is retained by the Caribbean jurisdictions of Dominica, which has no travel or residency requirements from CBI applicants.

Dominica retained perfect scores for their family friendliness as, in addition to the main applicant, they allow the applicant’s spouse, children under 18 and over 18 in certain circumstances, siblings, parents and grandparents of both the main applicant or their spouse to be included in an application.

On the other hand, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of St Kitts and Nevis again joined Dominica in first place overall, making Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis the best CBI programmes the industry had to offer in 2022.

Since the inception of the report in 2017, this is for the second consecutive year that St Kitts and Nevis’ CBI Programme topped the Index, scoring ten marks in six pillars of the Index. Like Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis also scored 81 points and 90 percent in the report. The full marks in the six pillars of excellence reflected the priorities of the investors, which are as follows:

• Mandatory Travel or Residence
• Citizenship Timeline
• Ease of Processing
• Due Diligence
• Family
• Certainty of Product

Citizenship by Investment Programme of St Kitts and Nevis was the only programme to get full points in the “Citizenship Timeline” pillar of the CBI Index, where the report recognized its Accelerated Application Process as it offers for an additional fee, an applicant can obtain their citizenship within a maximum of 60 days instead of the standard processing time of approximately three months.

Read Here detailed report of CBI Index 2022

The report further added that Dominica is met this year by St Kitts and Nevis in attaining a perfect score for the Certainty of Product Pillar due to the programme’s longevity, popularity, renown, stability and adaptability.

The CBI Index remarked, “As the only programme with an accelerated application process ensuring a decision within 60 days, St Kitts and Nevis retains its title of having the fastest overall processing time of all jurisdictions, with a perfect score of 10 for the Citizenship Timeline Pillar. In addition, St Kitts and Nevis received perfect scores for minimum travel requirements, ease of processing, due diligence, family and certainty of product.”

“As pioneers of the citizenship by investment programme, St Kitts and Nevis has long since been an industry leader within the CBI realm, we’re extremely pleased that this is being reflected once again  in a report of such stature. This, in my view, is a tribute to the management by the St.Kitts-Nevis administration which I led as well as the  high-quality performance by our employees and key stakeholders who work hard to maintain the platinum standards associated with our widely respected Citizenship by Investment programme,” said Former Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris. Dr. Harris’ leadership has been hugely responosble for the SKN CBI’s resurgence, reputation restoration and tremendous success having reached the platinum standard as far as global CBI Programmes

This year, the CBI index witnessed significant modification with the securing of the third position by the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Saint Lucia. The country moved one step forward as it stood fourth in the Index, and the development has happened with the change of the administration.

The Citizenship by Investment Programme of Saint Lucia secured the third position as it remained at the top spot in three out of the nine pillars of the CBI Index 2022.

The Index mentioned, “As the newest Caribbean programme, Saint Lucia is now in its sixth year and jumps from fourth to third overall in this year’s CBI Index, ahead of Grenada’s score of 78. This increase in the overall score relates to improvements in due diligence — in particular, the introduction of biometric passports and increased popularity and adaptability while remaining competitive with a minimum investment outlay in line with Dominica of US$100,000 for a single applicant.”

Saint Lucia’s CBI programme scored 78 points and 87 percent in the report. The CBI Index 2022 report stated that Saint Lucia tops these three pillars of excellence:

• Minimum Investment Outlay
• Mandatory Travel and Residence
• Ease of Processing

The Caribbean jurisdictions of Dominica and Saint Lucia maintain the top spot with a perfect score of 10 due to their minimum investment outlay of US$100,000.

The report stated that Saint Lucia retained a perfect score of 10 for the Ease of Processing Pillar for the sixth year in a row.

The rankings released by PWM place Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis on the top with a 90 percent overall score. Saint Lucia received a creditable 87%, Grenada 81 %, Antigua and Barbuda 77%, Malta 67%, Montenegro 62 %, Vanuatu 61 %, Egypt 61%, Turkey 59%, Jordan 51, Austria 13%, and Cambodia 49%.

The CBI Index is an annual report published by the Financial Times’ Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine. The ranking is based on nine pillars: ease of processing, due diligence, citizenship timeline, family, and Mandatory Travel or Residence.

The CBI Index is the world’s most reliable comparison tool for active citizenship by investment programmes. It serves as a practical guide for individuals and entities wishing to learn more about Economic Citizenship, displaying a data-driven study of the CBI Industry.

The thirteen countries which were evaluated in the CBI Index 2022 were – Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Cambodia, Dominica, Egypt, Grenada, Jordan, Malta, Montenegro, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Turkey, and Vanuatu.