Will Other Caribbean CIPs Follow St. Kitts and Raise Prices? Here’s What the CIUs Are Planning

Since Saint Kitts & Nevis made the sudden, unilateral, and entirely unexpected announcement that it would double the prices for its Citizenship by Investment Program last month, market stakeholders have been anxious to learn how and whether the other Caribbean programs would follow suit.

As we divulged in our Q2 Private Briefing, Saint Kitts’ announcement had taken its regional peers by surprise.

“We were completely caught off guard” by Saint Kitts’ move, says the head of one Caribbean CIP. There was no communication from Saint Kitts that they were planning to double prices “even at the Prime Minister to Prime Minister level,” reveals our source.

A second program head corroborates the claim: “We had no idea it was coming. We are still figuring out our response.”

Now prepared to go on record in IMI, Caribbean CIU heads this week answered the question on everybody’s mind: Do you have plans to raise prices, as Saint Kitts & Nevis have done?

The only unequivocal answer comes from Thomas Anthony, head of the Grenada CIU: “We have no plans to follow [Saint Kitts].”

This indicates that, no matter what the other programs decide to do, there will be at least two different CBI price levels in the Caribbean going forward.

Jeff Hadeed, meanwhile, who is Chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda CIP Board, offered a somewhat more ambiguous response:

“We are in discussions on several revisions to our program, and these discussions are still ongoing. Nothing is definitive yet and, once the proposals are in final draft, they would need to be approved by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.”

While he declined to comment on the specific content of the various reform proposals, they are likely to pertain to price changes, considering the formulation of proposals began immediately after Saint Kitts’ move and are therefore presumably a response to the same.

Emmanuel Nanthan of the Dominica CIU did not respond affirmatively in either direction yesterday but promised to revert with an answer at a later stage.

Saint Lucia’s CIU could not be reached for comment today.

In other administrative updates from the Caribbean, both Grenada and Saint Lucia this week circulated updates on the expected instatement of applicant interview requirements. Grenada, which had originally scheduled interviews to begin tomorrow, said the interview process had been “postponed to a date to be announced”. It did, however, specify that such interviews would come with an additional fee of US$1,000 for all applicants of age 17 or older, which means this could represent a considerable added expense for families with adult children.

Saint Lucia, on the other hand, has announced that its interview requirement will take effect as of this Monday September 4th. In Saint Lucia, the interview fee will be US$500 and will apply only to the main applicant.