The Caribbean islands that offer citizenship by investment options have overwhelmingly retained their position as the best in the world, according to a major new publication. The 2018 update of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Index was released today in the latest edition of Professional Wealth Management (PWM), a publication from the London-based Financial Times.

In a comprehensive analysis of all 13 countries that offer economic citizenship, the top five positions were held by nations in the Eastern Caribbean region.

For a second year, Dominica has been named the best with a score of 90%, followed by St Kitts and Nevis (85%), Grenada (81%), Antigua and Barbuda (80%), and St Lucia (79%).

Cambodia is once again at the foot of the table with a score of 53%, just behind Austria and newcomer Jordan.

WIC News has reached out to various Caribbean leaders for their comments.

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Who is in the CBI Index?

Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Vanuatu, Cyrus, Malta, Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria, Jordan, Cambodia.

(descending from highest score)

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This is the second year that Professional Wealth Management, which describes itself as "devoted to analysing the delivery of wealth solutions to private clients and entrepreneurial families", has run this annual special report.

There are seven areas that the CBI Index uses to measure each country’s citizenship by investment programme.

These are: due diligence, freedom of movement, standard of living, minimum investment outlay, ease of processing, citizenship timeline and mandatory travel or residence.

Dominica scored among the top countries in five out of seven categories, with other Caribbean states offering impressive showings.

The only factor dominated by Europe is freedom of movement – boosted by each country having membership of the European Union.

According to PWM, there are now greater numbers of individuals exploring second citizenships.

Although no clear reason is given by the report, it suggests that the trend is predicted to grow among families affected by socio-political instability in their home countries and entrepreneurs hoping to find new business opportunities.

And the lure of visa-free travel to areas of the world previously restricted is still a core aspect.

[caption id="attachment_9923" align="alignright" width="241"] James McKay.[/caption] The creator of the CBI Index is analyst James McKay.  He is the head of McKay Research, which is based in London, and has more more than a decade of experience in complex data analysis.

He used guidance from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators to create the first-ever comprehensive breakdown of CBI last year.

McKay believes that as the investor immigration industry grows, his conclusions are even more relevant.

“The CBI Index is rapidly becoming the leading tool for investors to accurately measure the performance and appeal of global citizenship by investment programmes.”

Uncertainty over landscape in Europe after Brexit has raised awareness of the value’s of citizenship, according to one European legal expert.

“Freedom of movement is becoming a key factor as immigration policies are getting more restrictive,” said Selby du Pasquier, head of Geneva-based lawyers Lenz and Staehelin.

Nature Island wins big after hurricane

Dominica remains the world’s top economic citizenship programme according to the CBI Index.

It was commended for maintaining high levels of efficiency and simplicity in all associated processes, as well as keeping an affordable investment threshold. The robust due diligence framework was also noted.

Their number one position was despite the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Maria, which slammed into the tiny Caribbean island on 18 September last year. It claimed at least 30 lives and caused millions of dollars of damage. It is estimated that to return the island to its previous state would cost more than 200% of the island’s annual gross domestic product.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has been working to position the country as a fully committed member of the global community.

MORE ON HURRICANE MARIA

Less than a week after the disaster he gave an impassioned speech to members of the United Nations at an address in New York City, describing his country and being on the “front line” of the climate change war. He has pledged to turn Dominica into the first ‘climate-resilient’ nation to protect residents from future disasters, and the use of citizenship by investment funds has already been poured into similar projects. This summer the government announced that 5,000 homes would be constructed using money from the economic investor scheme. And during the most recent budget, Skerrit committed to introducing an aggressive ban on non-reusable plastics – going further than any other country in the world. [caption id="attachment_10764" align="alignleft" width="300"] Roosevelt Skerrit.[/caption]

This isn’t the first time that Dominica has from economic citizenship when in distress. Citizenship by investment emerged “as a lifeline in times of distress”, allowing the government to focus on “building a more resilient Dominica” following Tropical Storm Erika in 2015, according to the 2017 edition of Professional Wealth Management.

Yuri Bender, financial journalist and editor-in-chief of PWM, previously said that the growth in popularity of Dominica as the go-to citizenship by investment nation “echoes current trends” in the market.

Federation still among the best

St Kitts and Nevis find itself in second place in the CBI Index.

The federation was the first nation to implement citizenship by investment, enshrining it in its laws shortly after achieving independence in 1983.

It is still labelled the ‘platinum standard’ by industry insiders.

The twin-island state became more affordable as an investment option since the 2017 CBI Index was released, which has resulted in an improved score in the minimum investment outlay category.

The Hurricane Relief Fund option lowered the threshold for investors and was designed to pump funding directly into projects to rebuild after Hurricane Maria.

It also scores higher for freedom of movement after 12 months of growing relations across the globe, which included introducing visa-free travel to Taiwan and India, among others. This contrasts with countries like Antigua and Barbuda, who had the removal of some visa-free travel – such as to Canada – to contend with.

The government’s latest offering is the Sustainable Growth Fund, which officials say is intended to “assist in the growing prosperity” of St Kitts and Nevis.

The federation, alongside Dominica and Malta, came out on top for their due diligence.

Last year Les Khan, CEO of the Citizenship by Investment Unit of the St Kitts and Nevis government, said: “The key [to a successful citizenship by investment programme] is to have robust regulations and proper due diligence and vetting procedures so as not to allow individuals of ill repute to be able to get through.”

Visit cbiindex.com to read the 2018 report in full (WIC News cannot be held responsible for the content of external links).