Saint Lucia passport price hikes a warning to immigrant families

According to a statement released by the Saint Lucia government in the first week of June this year, Prime Minister Philip J Pierre of Saint Lucia announced that his government has finally decided to join four other Caribbean Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program countries to sign the "Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) on Amending the Investment Citizenship Act". The memorandum aims to coordinate pricing and regulatory arrangements among several Caribbean regions that offer investment citizenship CBI programs.

However, four other Caribbean countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis – signed the agreement in March, with St. Lucia having earlier requested more time “to sort out some internal matters and discuss legal obligations”.

At present, the joint statement issued by the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia in early June did not specify a specific effective date for the new regulations, but the statement revealed that Saint Lucia "has put forward further proposals to strengthen this Caribbean regional agreement, including proposing legislative changes to address the name change request ", and the prime ministers of the other four countries have agreed to these proposals.

In addition, Saint Lucia proposed several measures to expand the scope of the Memorandum, including:

• Annual quota for CBI approval

• Requires applicants to have a minimum net worth

• Requires to hold a trust account on each island (off-island trust accounts have always been controversial)

• Unauthorized promoters are prohibited from submitting files through local authorized agents

• Requires international promoters to submit a separate due diligence report for each applicant

The Saint Lucia prime minister also noted that the country had "implemented all six principles agreed upon with the U.S. government " last March , including: banning Russian and Belarusian applicants, implementing applicant interviews, conducting enhanced scrutiny of applicants, sharing refusals with other islands, inviting an international third party to review the program , and seeking international support to reclaim revoked passports .

The measures mentioned in the memo – including raising the minimum donation amount to $200,000 , double the current level – are expected to take effect by the end of this month (end June 2024).

At present, all five Caribbean island countries that offer investment citizenship programs have signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Revising Investment Citizenship Programs" - this means that the investment citizenship programs offered by the Caribbean island countries will tend to raise the threshold.

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As Caribbean countries come together to coordinate island citizenship by investment programs, this indicates that the requirements of these citizenship by investment laws - in terms of quotas, asset requirements, due diligence checks, etc. - will continue to tighten.

For families who intend to apply for overseas identity, the signing of Saint Lucia is a warning sign . As governments tighten their immigration policies, this shows that governments are serious about combating money laundering and actively addressing local social problems caused by new immigrants (such as insufficient school places and rising housing prices).

In recent years, immigration policies in various places have been constantly changing and amending, which is undoubtedly a big test for families who intend to plan immigration. Families who intend to apply for immigration must seize the time and prepare in advance. They should actively prepare before the various plans are changed to avoid the risk of future plan amendments and price increases.