St. Kitts & Nevis, the two-island Caribbean state, must be in really bad financial shape since its citizenship is for sale by a Dubai based Range Development group. According to its website:
Founded by Mohammed Asaria and Munaf Ali, Range Holdings seeks to develop hospitality complexes in areas that enjoy unique tourism dynamics.
The tourism dynamics must be great since for “only” $400,000, one can receive a St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship within 3-4 months! Yes, they make you jump through some hoops but overall, if you have cash, things will move forward quickly. Read about the details here.
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| Photo by Urlik at sxc |
Since Range Developments is building the “finest 5 star luxury resort on Banana Bay, part of the Christophe Harbour on the Eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts”, they have the leverage to invite the investors from the Middle East with added bonus – the citizenship.
So what’s the big deal? Some wealthy person spends some cash and in return has the open access to over 139 countries. The deal is: who really screens those people? Will this become a back door access for some shady businesses or some radicals? Although the program started in 1984, the actions of this little country are very disturbing.
However, there is more to the story. On the legitimate St. Kitts & Nevis Citizenship-by-Investment Program website, there is an official disclosure stating:
Be advised that any advertising concerning the Citizenship by Investment Programme of St Kitts and Nevis is strictly prohibited. Developers and Service Providers are restricted to only stating that they are approved under the Citizenship by Investment Programme and by the provision of a link to the website ciu.gov.kn.Failure to comply would result in either immediate revocation of the status of the Approved Project or of the License to operate under the Citizenship by Investment Programme.The Citizenship by Investment Unit advises the public that the only entity authorised to promote, market or advertise the investment programme in any manner whatsoever is the Citizenship by Investment Unit. No information, promotion, advertisement or publication in relation to Citizenship by Investment shall be published or disseminated publicly by any media or by any person unless in compliance with the guidelines issued by the Unit or specifically mandated by the government.
Further, there are persons who claim to be capable of submitting applications to the Unit on behalf of persons seeking citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis via the investment option. The only persons authorised to submit applications under the investment programme appear on this list of authorised persons. There are no exceptions. The requirements and procedures of the programme are available for review here.
Once again, the financial incentives bend the rules and government seems to be fine with that.
