More than 2,000 foreigners granted Grenadian citizenship under CBI

ST GEORGE’S (CMC):

The Grenada government says it has approved more than 2,000 foreign investors to become nationals of the island under the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme for the first six months of this year.

According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Finance, 2 011 persons were approved under the CBI that allows for foreign investors to be granted citizenship in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of the island.

The ministry said that there were 980 applications approved during the period January to March and 1, 011 approved during the April to June period.

The fiscal report for the period January to June showed that the government’s revenue from CBI for the same period was EC$157 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents), the most amount of revenue earned from the programme since it was launched in 2014.

Under the CBI legislation, an individual can apply for citizenship by either contributing at least US$200,000 to the National Transformation Fund (NTF) or through an approved project or real estate with a value of at least US$220,000. The investor must keep the real estate for at least five years following the grant of citizenship.

The government has not approved any new CBI project for 2023.

The government’s public data do not reveal the original place of residency or birth for applications but during a migration discussion held in November 2022, it was revealed that the main source of applications are from Nigeria, China, South Africa, India and Russia.

As of March 31, this year, Grenada stopped accepting applications from Russia and Belarus following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The Dickon Mitchell government in its 2023-24 national budget, estimates it will receive EC$240.4 million from the CBI programme.