One Year after the MoA: St Kitts, St Lucia, and Other Countries Continue to Build on Their Commitment to Transparency

It has been nearly a year since the five CBI countries from the Eastern Caribbean decided to sign a memorandum of agreement. These are St Kitts, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica.

Even though it took a longer time for St Lucia to sign, it eventually did, thus committing, like its neighbors, to comply with certain common standards. These are mainly focused on enhanced transparency and security, alignment of prices between the programs, and setting common monitoring practices.

Since that day, several changes have been made, and they continue to be implemented after a year. However, this seems to be only the beginning. What standards will be implemented and what regulators will be in charge of applying them? Will the Caribbean lose competitiveness due to these implementations?

St Kitts, St Lucia and the Other Countries Start Their Journey Towards Enhancing Transparency

To start this new stage and to comply with the MOA, there has to be legislation in place, but what legislation and who will draft it? Which regulators will be involved? The woman of the hour is legal consultant Lydia Elliott, who has been commissioned with the task of drafting said legislation. 

With the purpose of creating the appropriate laws and regulators, and establishing the implementations of the agreement, Elliott has started conducting research and assessing the landscape since last year, and has presented advances in January. Actually, reliable sources stated that she would be meeting with key players and important actors when it comes to citizenship by investment. These meetings are planned for the beginning of March, which means at the time of writing. In other words, we’ll have to wait before we find out the conclusions of those meetings and whether they throw some light into the prospects of the Caribbean regulators and programs in 2025 and beyond. 

When establishing regulators and preparing the ground for the programs’ optimal use, good reputation, and transparency, Lydia Elliott seems to be an outstanding candidate with a long career spanning over four decades. Elliott worked as a legal consultant for the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for eleven years.

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St Kitts, St Lucia, and their Citizenship by Investment Programs: Changes since the MoA

One of the MOA points is the alignment of prices, which meant an increase for many programs, especially in their donation pathways. St Kitts, St Lucia, Dominica, and the other countries had to update minimum investment thresholds, for some, the change was smooth, but for others it was drastic. 

Moreover, the implementations occurred at different times, even though they were supposed to happen simultaneously since July 1st. Backlog applications, unforeseen circumstances and delays in amending the legislation resulted in deferrals.

Even some corrections had to be made after the first round. For example, in November, St Kitts changed its real estate threshold again, only now lowering it to $325,000.

Opportunities in St Kitts, St Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean Countries are Still Solid

All in all, having a second citizenship today is a smart move. The reasons why have been explained and analyzed thoroughly in our articles. In this context, the Caribbean is still a solid option offering a stable environment with more programs and less costs than Europe, and better accessibility than Vanuatu.

Just to name a few, there's Antigua and Barbuda, which offers a minimum investment of $300,000 in real estate and $230,000 for donation. St Kitts, for example, offers citizenship eligibility by donation for a minimum of $250,000 and real estate investment by developer for $325,000*.

*Note: these prices apply at the time of writing, but they may change at the time of reading. Also, they don't include legal fees, government fees, or costs.

Disclaimer: this article is an editorial piece; hence, this article should not be taken as financial, migration, or investment advice. Before applying for a citizenship by investment program, make sure to consult with a certified professional.

Analyzing Laws, Regulators, and Changes in the Caribbean 

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