Published 26 November 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Grenada Cuts Price for Economic Citizenship, Removes Contribution Requirement For Parents
St. Georges, Grenada, November 22, 2017 – The price war started by St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris in the Caribbean’s Citizenship by Investment Programme continues with the race to the bottom.
According to Investment Migration Insider, Grenada is the latest with the Chairman of Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment Committee, Kaisha Ince, announcing during the 11th Global Residence and Citizenship Conference in Hong Kong last week, the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) will see some significant changes before the end of the year.
Chief among them is the lowering of the contribution requirement for a single applicant from US$ 200,000 to $150,000. Cabinet has approved the change, which will come into effect once the corresponding CBI regulation amendment is gazetted sometime before the end of this year.
St. Kitts and Nevis started the price cut and this was followed by Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia. Grenadians, somewhat unexpectedly and through no action of their own, found themselves holding the costliest CIP in the Caribbean. The upcoming discount will bring the programme closer in line with pricing elsewhere in the region, but the price tag is still 50% above its competitors, a premium many industry observers have argued Grenada can command as a party to the United States E2 Treaty and the only Caribbean CIP country to offer visa-free access to China.
The Grenada Citizenship by Investment Committee has further announced that dependent children may be aged up to 30 years old and are no longer required to be enrolled in school. Previously, only children under the age of 26 who were currently enrolled in school qualified as dependents.
Dependent parents above the age of 55, moreover, will no longer be required to pay the additional contribution of US$50,000 to qualify. The program regulations had previously only waived the additional contribution requirement for aged dependents over 65.
Photo: Kaisher Ince
