Citizenship by investment program – What does it have in store for you?

There are several countries which allow an individual to acquire a citizenship if you invest in the country or make some direct contribution to the State in order to ensure the development of the country. These are most commonly known as investment citizenship program and are found in a handful of countries. One of the most popular is the program offered by St. Kitts, an island in the West Indies.

What are the legal considerations?

Established in 1984, the Citizenship Program of St. Christopher and Nevis requires you to make an economic contribution to the country in the form of real estate investment. In order to qualify for such a citizenship, you should either make an investment in the country which is worth US $400,000 in any approved real estate development. Along with this you have to pay government fees and other fees and taxes or alternatively make a contribution to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF) starting from an amount of US $ 250,000 for a single applicant.

What are the requirements and procedures?

In order to qualify for citizenship under the option of real estate, the government would require you to make an investment which is in a designated and officially approved real estate. This should have the least value of US $ 400,000 along with paying government fees and any other fees that is involved with taxes. Since the application of this procedure under the option of investment in real estate involves purchasing of real estate, the process can be lengthy depending upon the chosen property. The real estate that you purchase cannot be re-sold until 5 years of having purchasing it. However, according to the new regulations introduced in 2012, the next person to buy might also qualify for citizenship. In order to find the real estate developments which are approved, you can visit the website of the Citizenship-by-Investment Unit of the Government of St Kitts and Nevis. If you want to acquire citizenship under SIDF option then you would require a contribution to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation. This contribution has to be in the form of onetime payment and there are four different categories for this:

• Single applicants have to make a non refundable contribution of US $ 250,000.
• Applicants who have up to 3 dependants, that is, a spouse and two children who are aged below 18 have to make a contribution of US $ 300,000.
• Applicants who have up to five dependants, that is, one spouse and four children need to pay US $ 350,000.
• Applicants who have up to seven dependants require paying US $ 450,000.
• You have to make an additional contribution for each dependant above seven an amount of US $ 4,000 per dependant who is aged 16 or older.

The documentation that is required for this kind of application is similar to the real-estate option and the procedure for application is quite straight forward.