St Kitts-Nevis citizenship by investment scheme named 'world’s most innovative'

Last updated: November 15, 2017 at 19:43 pm

The citizenship by investment programme in St Kitts and Nevis has been named the most innovative investment immigration programme in the world at an awards ceremony in Russia.

The Russian Global Citizen Awards, which took place today in Moscow, are designed to celebrate individuals, companies and governments “who have made significant contributions to the freedom of movement, investment and residence.”

The annual ceremony was attended by international experts in the fields of private banking, family office, residency and economic citizenship.

“This award is the culmination of many years refining and improving our processes, and adapting to the growing needs of the global citizen," said Prime Minister Timothy Harris.

“Receiving an award which acknowledges the forward-thinking approach and the agility of our programme is reinforcement that we are leaders, not just in the world of economic citizenship, but in what we have to offer to the global citizen.”

The award comes in the same year that the federation was ranked high in the special report by Professional Wealth Management, a publication from the Financial Times newspaper.

The long-running programme, the world’s first when it launched in 1984, was marked as the strongest in terms of due diligence vetting for each applicant. The dual-island state’s citizenship by investment unit was the first to introduce an electronic system to manage applications.

Yesterday in parliament, Harris said that the St Kitts and Nevis CBI programme was about “more than passports”.

Instead the government hopes to “build the country and find avenues in a challenging world, to have appropriate, legitimate foreign investment coming into the country to assist us with our nation-building tasks.”

The prime minister wasn’t in Russia to collect the award, so accepting in his place was a representative from international citizenship consultancy firm CS Global Partners.

A spokesman said they work closely with the Basseterre government on the CBI programme.

According to the award criteria, award winners must have “assisted international clients in becoming true citizens of the world”, either those one specific achievement or because of a long series of contributions.

Nominees are selected by an international jury made up of both industry professionals and the HNWI – high-net-worth individual – community.

The awards ceremony took place alongside the the seventh Moscow Family Office Forum.

This annual gathering covered topics ranging from real estate investment to risk management, taxation to relocation, and family office trends.