The Caribbean Islands that offer a passport in exchange for buying a home

In Antigua, real estate agencies have difficulty satisfying the demand, says Nadia Dyson, owner of Luxury Locations. “Up to 70% of buyers seek nationality, and the vast majority are Americans,” he explains to the BBC.

“We do not talk about politics with them, but the unstable political panorama (in the US) is undoubtedly a factor,” he says.

“Last year at this time, all were buyers of lifestyle and a few CBI. Now everyone says 'I want a house with citizenship'. We had never sold so many.”

Although the old program does not demand residence, some buyers want to move full, says Dyson, and adds: “Some have already done so.”

American citizens represented the bulk of CBI requests in the Caribbean during the past year, confirm the experts in investment migration Henley & Partners.

Ukraine, Türkiye, Nigeria and China are other countries of origin with more frequency of applicants, says the British company, which has offices worldwide.

He adds that global requests for the Caribbean CBI programs have increased by 12% from the fourth quarter of 2024.

Everything, from armed violence to anti -Semitism, have Americans in suspense, according to Dominic Volley, the consultant.

“About 10-15% move. For the majority it is an insurance policy against what worries them. Having a second nationality is a good support plan,” he explains.

Volek states that travel advantages offered by Caribbean passports attracts business people, and can also mean a security benefit. “Some American clients prefer to travel with a politically more benign passport.”

Before Covid's pandemic, the United States was not even in Henley's “radar”, Volley says.

Circulation restrictions produced a “considerable impact” on wealthy people accustomed to traveling freely in private jets, which caused the first increase in CBI requests in the US. The interest increased again after the US elections of 2020 and 2024.

“There are Democrats who do not like Trump, but also Republicans who do not like Democrats,” says Volek.

“In the last two years we have gone from having zero offices in the United States to eight in the main cities, and in the coming months we will open another two or three,” he adds.

Robert Taylor, from Halifax, in Canada, bought a property in Antigua, where he intends to retire at the end of this year.

Invested US $ 200,000 just before the real estate threshold rose to US $ 300,000 last summer.

Being a citizen not only avoids restrictions on the duration of the stay, but also gives him freedom to take advantage of business opportunities, he explains. “I chose ancient because they have beautiful waters, people seem very, very friendly and also means a great time for the last phase of my life.”

However, these programs are not exempt from controversy. When the then Government of Antigua first raised the sale of passports in 2012 as a way of underpinning the weak economy, some considered that it was ethically doubtful.

Protesters took to the street as a sentence, recalls the former president of the lower house Gisele Isaac. “There was a feeling of nationalism; people felt that we were selling our identity, so to speak, people who knew anything about us,” he says.

The leaders of other Caribbean nations who do not offer CBI have also rushed to criticize, among them the Prime Minister of San Vicente and the Granada, Ralph Gonsalves, who has declared that citizens should not be “a merchandise for sale.”

The international community fears that a lax supervision helps criminals to make fun of their borders.

The European Union has threatened to withdraw its coveted access without visa to the Caribbean countries of CBI, while the United States has previously expressed concern about the possibility that these programs are used as a vehicle for tax evasion and financial crime.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission told the BBC that he is “monitoring” the five Caribbean programs and that he has conversations with their respective authorities since 2022.

According to her, an evaluation is carried out to determine whether the citizenship by investment constitutes “an abuse of the visa exemption regime that these countries enjoy the EU and if it is likely to involve risks to EU security.”

The Commission has recognized the reforms carried out by the islands, which, he says, will have an impact on their evaluation.

For their part, the five Caribbean nations have reacted angrily to the claims that they are not doing enough to scrutinize the applicants.

Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has described the CBI program of his country as “solid and transparent”, and added that the authorities have worked hard to guarantee their integrity.

The Government states that the sale of passports has allowed more than US $ 1 billion since the beginning of the initiative in 1993, with which vital infrastructure has been financed such as a latest generation hospital.

In Santa Lucía, Prime Minister, Philip J Pierre, affirms that the island adheres to the strictest safety standards to ensure that its CBI does not inadvertently contribute to illegal activities.

The need to appease world superpowers against increasing income is a delicate act of juggling for small Caribbean nations, with limited resources and dependent on tourism fluctuations.

The CBI programs were qualified as lifeguard at a regional industry summit held in April, and the funds are used for everything, from recovery after natural catastrophes to the reinforcement of national pension plans.

The Prime Minister of Antigua, Gaston Browne, said that the money collected had brought his country out of the edge of bankruptcy in the last decade.

Apart from the purchase of properties, other routes to obtain Caribbean citizenship through investments usually include a unique donation to a national development or similar fund.

Donations range between US $ 200,000 in Dominica for a single applicant and US $ 250,000 for a main applicant and up to three relatives in Dominica and San Cristóbal. In Antigua, investors also have the option to donate US $ 260,000 to the University of the Antilles.

Given the international pressure, the islands have promised to take new measures to strengthen supervision, including the creation of a regional regulator that establishes norms, monitored operations and guarantee compliance.

In addition, six principles agreed with the United States include a greater due diligence, periodic audits, mandatory interviews with all applicants and the elimination of a legal lagoon that previously allowed an applicant denied by one country to submit its application in another.

Today, the sale of passports represents between 10% and 30% of the GDP of the islands.

Andre Huie, a journalist from San Cristóbal, states that his country's CBI plan has a “generalized support” as a result. “The public understands its value for the economy and appreciates what the government has been able to do with money.”

*This article was written and edited by our journalists with the help of an artificial intelligence tool for translation, As part of a pilot program.

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