Published 31 October 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Dominica CIU Head: St. Kitts and Nevis’s CIP no longer platinum brand, Dominica is “premium brand”
Shanghai, China, October 31st 2017 – Head of Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Unit, Emmanuel Nanthan has told St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris that the Federation’s Citizenship by Investment Programme “is no longer platinum brand.”
“With all due respect to my friends and colleagues at the Saint Kitts & Nevis CIU, they are no longer the platinum brand in the Caribbean; Dominica is,” said
Nanthan, in an interview with Investment Migration Insider’s editor during the 2017 China Offshore Conference in Shanghai.
Nanthan explained that while it was true St. Kitts had the most respected and popular programme for many years, the Dominican programmer’s rapid improvements in processing-efficiency and public perception in the market, coupled with a simultaneous decline in St. Kitts’ reputation due to the FinCEN advisory, losing visa-free access to Canada, as well as negative publicity both at home and abroad, means Dominica is now the premium brand in the Caribbean.
“I think that the introduction of the Hurricane Relief Fund, which was intended to increase interest in the Saint Kitts CIP [ed: Les Khan says it has, in fact, increased interest], is having the opposite effect. In recent weeks, several international marketing agents have told me they are doing more Dominica applications than ever before, even with the lowered cost of St. Kitts, because the Caribbean media’s negative reaction to the Hurricane Relief Fund has harmed St. Kitts’ reputation. Dominica now has a better reputation, and applicants appear willing to pay a premium for it,” said Nanthan.
Head of the St. Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit, Les Khan, maintains that his country has not and will not be engaged in a “race to the bottom”, despite recently introducing the Hurricane Relief Fund contribution option, which critics say undercuts prevailing market prices in the Caribbean.
According to Investment Migration Insider, the point of contention is that while the new price under the St. Kitts Hurricane Relief Fund, which starts at US$150,000, is indeed 50% higher than the starting price in Dominica and St. Lucia, that investment would cover a family of up to four applicants. In essence, from the perspective of a family, St. Kitts’s Hurricane Relief Fund became the cheapest option in the Caribbean while, for a single applicant, other programmes were still cheaper. That is, until Antigua & Barbuda cut their price to $100,000 for a family of four, in response to St. Kitts’ move.
File Photo of The Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas
