Jun 07 St. Kitts regains Visa Free travel to Canada!
Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, visited Winnipeg today for an announcement regarding visa-free travel.
Passport holders from 13 countries will now be able to travel to Canada by air without requiring a Temporary Residence Visa. However, this applies only to travellers from these countries who have either held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or who currently hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa.
Eligible travellers include passport holders from:
- Philippines
- Morocco
- Panama
- Antigua and Barbuda
- St Kitts and Nevis
- St Lucia
- St Vincent and Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Argentina
- Costa Rica
- Uruguay
- Seychelles
- Thailand
Fraser says Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been working to make the pretravel screening process easier, faster, and more affordable. He says this decision will divert thousands of applications from Canada’s visa caseload, allowing IRCC to process visa applications more efficiently.
A similar pilot program was introduced in Brazil in 2017. The minister says that the program was successful in increasing visitors from Brazil by 40% and reducing the caseload in IRCC’s Sao Paulo office by 60%, freeing IRCC officers to work on more complex applications. Visa-free travel to Canada
There are more than 50 countries that can enter Canada without a visa, although most require an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) if they are arriving by air.
United States citizens do not require an eTA or a visa to enter Canada unless they are moving to Canada to work or study.
Nationals of countries that are not exempt from obtaining a visa, must apply for a Temporary Residence Visa (TRV), also known as a visitor visa.
A TRV allows an individual to visit Canada for a period of six months (although this may differ for some foreign nationals).
Arriving in Canada with a TRV does not give the holder permission to work or study in Canada and they may be asked to demonstrate that the purpose of their visit to Canada is only temporary (such as tourism or visiting family) at their port of entry.
IRCC is currently working through a backlog of TRV applications. The latest backlog data from IRCC shows that 50% of TRV applications are not being processed within service standards, which is 14 days.
Minister Fraser has said TRV applications were impacted by the recent strike by the Public Service Alliance of Canada. The 12-day strike lasted from April 19 until May 1 and Fraser told reporters that there were 100,000 applications not processed during that period that otherwise would have been. He also said that he expects IRCC will be able to catch up to pre-pandemic processing standards within the coming weeks, or a few months.
Source: https://www.cicnews.com/2023/06/breaking-canada-introducing-visa-free-travel-to-13-countries-0635331.html#gs.0ix7zk
Aug 05 A small Caribbean nation helped popularize 'citizenship by investment' - now it's counting on it to make up for lost tourism
St. Kitts and Nevis, like many of its Caribbean peers, is highly dependent on tourism revenue.
But with its borders still closed to foreigners, the small country's pioneering "citizenship by investment" program could prove even more important than it has been in the past three decades.
Usually, revenue from wealthy foreigners shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a second passport from the island accounts for 30% of the GDP gap in the government's budget, according to the CBI program head Les Khan. This year, he says, that could be much higher.
"Now that tourism is at a standstill," he said in an interview, "we expect that the CBI program will be a main driver for the next six months."
Around the world, secondary passports and alternative citizenships have been in high demand from geo-political unrest and the coronavirus, experts tell Business Insider. As more programs come online, Khan is feeling vindicated that the program he's led for three years now is being replicated so far and wide.
"Dominica, Antigua, Grenada, St. Lucia, Malta, Cyprus, Montenegro," he rattles off as examples. "You name it. All of these programs really originated from St. Kitts and Nevis."
Earlier this year, the country dropped its prices, offering a family of four passports for a $150,000 donation, down from $195,000. There are also other more expensive options to make a real-estate purchase that must be held for a set amount of years.
The discount should help keep demand steady, "but we're not in a race to the bottom," Khan said. "We're not trying to just be selling. It must be something that is solid and must be in line with our platinum brand."
It's not a brand that's been easy to build: "There is an idea that citizenship by investment is a conduit for money laundering and possibly tax evasion," says Kahn. "I can assure you that's not the case. Our due diligence is one of the strongest in the world."
But if travel restrictions - like those currently barring people from St. Kitts and Nevis, the United States, and plenty of others from countries around the world - continue, the other side of that brand could be lost, too. The next few months will decide if the country still has one of the most powerful passports in terms of visa-free entry in the region.
"We keep our fingers crossed," Khan said.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/st-kitts-and-nevis-citizenship-by-investment-thrives-amid-coronavirus-2020-8
Mar 23 St. Kitts-Nevis announces new CBI programme options
From the press unity in the Office of the Prime Minister
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - With the Hurricane Relief Fund (HRF), a temporary investment option under the country's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme, set to expire at the end of this month, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis has announced plans for the introduction of two new options that "will further invigorate [their] CBI programme."
In a national address March 20, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Minister of Finance the Honourable Dr. Timothy Harris said the Hurricane Relief Fund was a highly successful initiative that exceeded all expectations, while noting that there are still a number of applications that are being processed under this fund.
However, with the HRF coming to an end within a matter of days, Prime Minister Harris said a new fund, to be called the Sustainable Growth Fund, will be launched as its successor.
"The Sustainable Growth Fund for a single applicant will require a contribution of US$150,000, inclusive of government fees," he said. "The contribution for a family of up to four will be US$195,000, following incremental steps."
Harris noted that the monies collected under this investment offering will invest in sustainable areas that "will benefit every citizen and resident of St. Kitts and Nevis - [in] health care, education, alternative energy, heritage, infrastructure, tourism and culture, climate change and resilience, and the promotion of indigenous entrepreneurship."
Furthermore, Prime Minister Harris also announced plans for the introduction of a revised real estate offering under the country's economic citizenship programme.
"In order to attract luxury resort developments, there is now being proposed another option where real estate offering that requires a US$400,000 investment may attract two applicants at US$200,000, each plus government fees, but this can only be resold after seven years," he said, adding, "we have given favourable consideration to the recommendation by real estate developers for existing developments to qualify for inclusion in the new option."
Prime Minister Harris stressed that this new offering will not replace the existing real estate investment option priced at US$400,000, plus US$75,000 in government fees, and which can still be resold after five years.
These impending changes to the CBI programme came about following an exhaustive consultative process between the federal government, developers and other stakeholders on the way forward for the citizenship programme. Harris assured all that the country's Citizenship by Investment Programme will continue to employ the strictest vetting procedures that have led to St. Kitts and Nevis' CBI programme being recognised throughout the world as the platinum standard.
"We will maintain our very high standards of integrity, rigour and robust due diligence," he said. "The due diligence standards of St. Kitts and Nevis are ranked among the highest in the world. St. Kitts and Nevis not only has the oldest citizenship-by-investment programme in the world, but the most highly regarded. This success was endorsed by the 2018 Passport Index of Henley and Partners, which ranked our programme as No. 1 in the region."
In 2017, St. Kitts and Nevis was also recognized internationally for offering the "World's Most Innovative Investment Immigration Programme" at the Russian Global Citizen Awards ceremony held at Moscow's prestigious Ritz Carlton Hotel. This annual event recognizes the best governments, companies and individuals who have excelled in investment, freedom of movement and residence services.
Source: https://www.thestkittsnevisobserver.com/local-news/st-kitts-nevis-announces-new-cbi-programme-options/
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