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
Jul 09 St Kitts' Hotel Development Boom
This may be a relatively small island, but it seems hard to go anywhere here without seeing a new hotel or condominium project popping up.
That's because the Caribbean's smallest sovereign country is undergoing a hotel development boom.
Indeed, the twin-island federation of St Kitts and Nevis is seeing a significant uptick in hotel and resort construction and development, including Kittitian Hill, which will soon open its first hotel and developments like the Pirate's Nest, the Prime Hotel, the Imperial Bay and the planned Koi Resort & Residences.
A Park Hyatt resort is also under development at the Christophe Harbour project on the country's southeastern peninsula, with a targeted opening date of the end of 2015.
That's in addition to a number of hotel renovation projects, including the Royal St Kitts Hotel, which plans to complete its overhaul by 2015, the nearby Frigate Bay Beach Resort and the Ocean Terrace Inn, which launched a renovation project in 2013.
The island's largest hotel, the St Kitts Marriott, completed a two-year, $5.5 million renovation project last year.
St Kitts' cabinet approved another new resort project this week, the Heldens Estate Condo Resort & Residences, which will include more than 200 condos, apartments and villas in the St Paul's parish.
The multimillion-dollar project would include restaurants, bars, tennis courts and swimming pools and could create several hundred jobs, according to Information Minister Nigel Carty.
"The project will provide hundreds of employment opportunities for tradesmen and other local people in the design and construction phase, and will provide many long-term employment opportunities in its operational phase," Carty said in a statement.
Much of the development has been fuelled by the country's Citizenship by Investment programme, which offers the opportunity for citizenship in exchange for different levels of economic and real estate investment. The programme is the oldest of its kind in the world.
Source: http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/07/09/st-kitts-hotel-development-boom/
Feb 14 St. Kitts: The Hot New Immigration Destinations for China's Wealthy
Unimpressed with the U.S., shut out of Canada, not deep-pocketed enough for Australia and spooked by Cyprus, mainland China's wealthy are exploring unlikely destinations for immigration, including Portugal and the small Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Dubai-based Range Developments recently toured China and Hong Kong, seeking investors for its Park Hyatt development in St. Kitts. Range is selling individual $400,000 shares and is quick to highlight the investment's most attractive return: A passport with visa-free access to most of Europe and other former British colonies at no extra cost.
Investors can obtain St. Kitts citizenship - and a passport, along with it - within six months of the investment. And the documents can be had without stepping foot in the country or taking a language proficiency exam, the company boasted at its presentation.
"This is very hot, selling very well," said Jean-Francois Harvey, an immigration lawyer based in Hong Kong and agent for the developer, adding that he's sold shares to "around 200" in mainland China. "It's seen as a business tool for them. To travel without a visa is a very big deal to someone in China."
Real estate investment isn't the only way into St. Kitts. Immigrants can obtain citizenship through a $250,000 donation to the government's Sugar Industry Diversification Fund, a sovereign wealth fund. Some agents recommend the donation route, especially for those who don't have plans to live there. To be sure, St. Kitts represents a sliver of the estimated 10,000 applications filed by Chinese investor-immigrants. The U.S. and Canada are the traditional top destinations, though their appeal has waned lately.
The U.S. EB-5 program, which requires would-be immigrants to put up $500,000 into a qualified business that provides at least 10 jobs, has been marred by a series of lawsuits including a scandal involving a Chicago developer accused of defrauding investors, many of whom were Chinese. Moreover, stringent tax laws scare away China's ultra-high-net-worth individuals from investing.
Canada's main investor immigration program, which required would-be immigrants to post up $800,000 in a zero-interest five-year loan to one of its provincial governments, was temporarily suspended last year.
Meanwhile, the U.K. and Australian programs are deemed expensive and difficult. The U.K. program requires applicants to invest £1 million (US$1.5 million) for a residency visa. Investors have to live in the U.K. at least 75% of the time during a 5-year period to qualify for citizenship.
The Australia program is the priciest, demanding 5 million Australian dollars (US$5.2 million) in investment into a qualified business to qualify for a residency visa. However, it only requires investors to reside 160 days over a four-year period to gain permanent residency.
As Chinese immigrants look elsewhere, unlikely destinations have emerged. Cyprus was a popular destination last year, immigration experts say. To obtain a 3-year visa, which allows access to the entire European Union, Cyprus requires a real estate purchase of at least €300,000 (US$391,320).
"Cyprus was heavily promoted in China and a lot of people went for it," said Denny Ko, an immigration lawyer based in Hong Kong who works with many mainland Chinese clients.
But interest has flagged, due to the country's economic troubles, and some promoters are trying new tactics to drum up interest. According to state-run news agency Xinhua, developers from Cyprus at the Beijing spring properties exhibition were offering two-for-one deals to Chinese investors looking to spend €300,000 on an apartment.
Immigration experts say Portugal is poised to be the next hot European destination.
Larry Wang, president of immigration consultancy firm Well Trend in Beijing, said the Portuguese government hopes to imitate Cyprus' recent success by offering residency visas that can be converted to citizenship in six years. The cost: €500,000.
"There's always a preference for real estate, so programs like this appeal to Chinese," he said, adding that the requirements aren't onerous: Investors have to live in Portugal just 7 days a year to maintain the visa.
Similar to Cyprus, St. Kitts has set an example for neighbouring countries with its program. Antigua and Barbuda are expected to soon implement similar immigration schemes.
"Ninety-nine percent of my clients have never heard of St. Kitts," said Hong Kong's Mr. Ko. "But people look to it for freedom of travel, wealth planning and as a place of citizenship if they're doing a foreign listing of a mainland company."
The ultra-rich with fantasies of rubbing shoulders with Europe's wealthiest are looking to Switzerland and Monaco, which are also seen as safer places for their wealth. To obtain residency there, investors must negotiate with local governments an annual lump sum tax. It's not cheap: Expect to pay at least a €1 million annually to maintain residency.
"This is a prestige destination, for the really, really high net-worth," said Mr. Ko.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/04/18/the-hot-new-immigration-destinations-for-chinas-wealthy/
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