Last Updated on August 25, 2022, 6:24 AM AST by Anthony Morris
There is an ever-increasing number of investors all across the globe who are looking for investment opportunities in government-authorised funds or real estate. In exchange, they seek to add the feather of alternate citizenship into their caps. To make the choices and options easier for investors, the Professional Wealth Management Magazine of Financial Times releases the CBI Index every year.
In this CBI Index, the magazine ranks the Citizenships by Investment Programme of thirteen countries in distinct parameters to make the selection process easier for the interested parties.
Further, the way these parameters are designed, all the questions and inhibitions of the investors regarding the usefulness of the various programmes can be resolved in one place.
The CBI Index for the year 2022 was released on Monday, August 22, and was entitled “A Guide to Global Citizenship: The 2022 CBI Index.” Like the year before, the CBI Index of 2022 has placed The Commonwealth of Dominica at the top spot, which the Caribbean nation is once again sharing with the twin island Federation of St Kitts and Nevis. The two countries sitting at the top of the Index are currently home to the world’s oldest and longest-running alternative citizenship programmes.
While the Commonwealth of Dominica managed to retain the top spot it had first climbed up to in the year 2017, when the CBI Index was first started, St Kitts and Nevis managed to secure a tied position with the country for the second year in a row.
Saint Lucia, another country in the Caribbean, managed to improve their standing in the CBI Index compared to the year before and dethroned Grenada from its position to claim the third spot.
Five of the thirteen countries featured and evaluated for the CBI Index were in the Caribbean region. All five of these countries claimed the top five positions while maintaining a perfect score in the “Ease of Processing” pillar for the sixth year consecutively.
Additionally, all the islands of the Caribbean featured in the Index offer the option for donation through which the investors may contribute a specific amount of non-refundable money to a government fund, in exchange for which they can secure citizenship for themselves and their families.
The rankings of the CBI Index are based on nine pillars. According to the researchers, the social and government developments worldwide are also observed while preparing the Index. The Index report helps investors look through the specifics of the investment programmes with a scrutinous eye so they can choose the programme that best fits their needs and requirements.
The top three countries on the Index, Dominica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, scored seven in the pillar Freedom of Movement. Additionally, the report states that St Kitts and Nevis provides Visa Free/Visa on Arrival access to 156 countries, the highest number of countries in the world.
Furthermore, Saint Lucia has access to 15 of the 20 key business hubs assessed in the 2022 CBI Index. Dominica follows right behind, with access to 14.
Saint Lucia ranked fourth in the standard of living, while the countries on the top of the Index (Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis) were ranked fifth.
Among all the countries that were evaluated for the CBI Index, the Commonwealth of Dominica has the highest life expectancy – 78.2.
Dominica and Saint Lucia secured the top spot in the pillar of Minimum Investment Outlay with a perfect score of ten because of the countries’ most economical minimum investment outlay of just USD 100,000.
In the pillar of Citizenship Timeline, St Kitts and Nevis were ranked at the top spot, while Dominica and Saint Lucia lagged in second place due to the processing time of three months.
In this year’s CBI Index, Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis retained a perfect score in the pillar of due diligence, owing to the multi-layered and rigorous background checks that the countries insist on performing for the applicants of their citizenship by investment programmes. This due diligence procedure is instrumental in ensuring that global peace and security remain intact.
The Caribbean nations also demand police certificates from both the applicant’s country of residence and the country of citizenship. Additionally, they also ban or ask for enhanced due diligence on applicants from certain nationalities.
Dominica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis managed to secure the same rankings in the Family pillar as last year’s Index. Further, the report states that the criteria for family eligibility remained unchanged across all the Citizenship by Investment Programmes.
Being the oldest and the most popular CBI Programmes in the world, Dominica, along with St Kitts and Nevis, received a perfect score in “Certainty of Product”.
According to the report, Dominica has retained the top spot in the CBI Index since its inception for various reasons, including an economical minimum investment outlay, comprehensive due diligence, a streamlined application process, and a wide array of sustainable development projects funded through CBI funds.
St Kitts and Nevis is the fastest of all the countries featured in the CBI Index in terms of processing time and it joined the same position with Dominica in terms of due diligence.
It is worth noticing that while the citizenship by investment programme of Saint Lucia is the newest of all CBI programmes, it is the fastest country to make it to the top three in the CBI Index. This is mainly due to significant improvements in due diligence, fuelled majorly by the introduction of a biometric passport and a minimum investment outlay of USD100,000
The Small Island Developing States such as Dominica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis utilize the funds generated from their CBI Programmes to meet their economic needs. These programmes are instrumental for these countries to keep their various developmental projects running.
“CBI is enabling many of these island nations to fulfil their true ambitions to become independent, developed, prosperous countries,” remarked CBI Index 2022.
Since its inception in 2017, The Citizenship by Investment Index has been released by the Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Magazine of Financial Times. For years, this Index has helped people and investors compare the various CBI Programmes of the world, either as a whole, or only specific aspects of each programme, assisting investors to make better informed and intelligent choices to manage their financial portfolios better.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
