Author: Niu Ltd

International citizenship and residence advisory firm, Henley & Partners, has been appointed by the Government of Grenada to restructure its citizenship-by-investment program. The mandate of the firm’s Government Advisory Team is to work hand in hand with the Citizenship by Investment Unit and other government officials to revitalize the program.

Grenada’s Citizenship-by-Investment program is the only one in the Caribbean that offers successful applicants visa-free access to China, as well as the opportunity to apply to enter, live and do business in the US under the E-2 Investor Visa Treaty.

Bata Racic, Manager of Henley & Partners in the Middle East, says they will be working closely with the Government of Grenada over the coming months to strengthen the application processes, in order to attract the very best applicants from around the world. “Our firm has over 20 years of relevant experience and expertise in working with governments in North America, the Caribbean and Europe on the design, implementation and operation of the world’s most successful residence and citizenship programs, including the most recent launch of the Malta Individual Investor Programme.” Racic continues, “Our government advisory practice has raised billions of dollars in foreign direct investment. We are confident that we can help make a significant difference to Grenada’s economy by creating a world-leading proposition for those seeking a beneficial second citizenship.”

The Grenada Citizenship-by-Investment Program is currently ranked as the 2nd best program in the Caribbean, according to the Global Residence and Citizenship Programs 2016 index. This index considers a broad range of factors, including legal aspects, tax, and quality of life, as well as transparency, risk and compliance issues. Grenada is also ranked 39th globally on the Visa Restrictions Index, a widely regarded index which Henley & Partners has published annually with IATA for over 10 years.

Grenada is currently offering visa-free travel to 112 countries, including the EU’s Schengen area, the UK, Singapore, Brazil, China and Hong Kong. On the new Henley & Partners–Kochenov Quality of Nationality Index, Grenada is ranked 91st, performing well in terms of its Human Development and Diversity of Travel Freedom scores.

Alexandra Otway, the Grenadian Government Minister for Citizenship by Investment Promotions, adds that, “there is increasing competition worldwide to attract wealthy and talented global citizens as more and more governments realize the considerable benefits of investment migration programs.” Minister Otway continues, “We will work with Henley & Partners to take the Grenada program to the next level. The program has contributed significantly to the growth of our nation’s economy, and we expect it will continue to do so for many years to come. The inward investment it promotes has led to the creation of sustainable long-term employment, specialist training, and the general broadening of skills for many Grenadians. We aim to build a flourishing private investment market in Grenada for the benefit of its citizens and their general well-being. There has been a sharp increase worldwide in the number of individuals wanting to acquire a second or third citizenship to globalize their family’s opportunities and expand their business interests in a changing and uncertain world. Grenada has a great deal to offer, especially in terms of its exceptional visa-free access to the world’s largest markets. It also is very competitive compared to the other citizenship programs in the Caribbean, and we are about to make it even more attractive in terms of process quality and attention to detail for wealthy applicants from around the world.”

To qualify for citizenship through the program, an applicant needs to either make a minimum non-refundable contribution to the National Transformation Fund (NTF) of $200,000 or invest in an approved real estate project for a minimum of $350,000.

The NTF was established in 2013 as a means of transforming Grenada’s economy into a system oriented to meet Grenada’s domestic needs and create sustainable long-term employment. The NTF finances various projects in Grenada for the benefit of its citizens and its strategic industries, including tourism, agriculture, and alternative energy. Significantly, the government-related application fee for the NTF donation option is nearly five times less than other Caribbean programs. Minister Otway says the government is working with Henley & Partners to ensure a fast and efficient application process of around three months from submission to approval, with no visit by the applicant required.

Racic concludes, “The Grenada program offers international property buyers an exceptional opportunity to maximize the value of their overseas real estate acquisitions by connecting them to a quality second nationality. Investors also recognise the need to develop a diverse citizenship portfolio alongside the traditional investment portfolio to reduce their exposure to risk and open up new business opportunities.”

Source: cpifinancial.net
Posted: November 2016

The government of Antigua & Barbuda has not jumped at the opportunity to salvage Iraqi investor Ahmed Abbas Oleiwi Al-Hassani’s US $1.5 billion condominium project at Pensioner’s Beach or in arranging for it to go ahead elsewhere.

Instead, Minister of Information Melford Nicholas said, “We are at the stage where there are multiple interest in [state] resources…and I think the Cabinet has to take a balanced view as to where we are going to get the best returns on our investment.”

In October, the prime minister announced that the project had been shelved, but when OBSERVER media spoke to Oleiwi this week, he indicated that he was still willing to take on the venture and even supplied concept drawings.

While Oleiwi told OBSERVER media that the plans for the 2000 to 4000 unit condominium project were in their “final stages” government’s Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst said the Iraqi does not own the previously earmarked Pensioner’s Beach property.

Nicholas said, “I believe he still has an interest and a willingness to go forward, but whether or not the state would engage him on the original concept of the investment is another matter. The prime minister would have given an indication that we have moved on.”

Oleiwi’s project, which has been coined the ‘Iraqi Village’, was meant to be a real estate avenue for Iraqi Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) applicants to invest in Antigua & Barbuda, and was supposed to be accompanied by a special policy which, if implemented, would have placed an embassy in Baghdad to facilitate Iraqi CIP applications.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has made it clear that the ‘Iraq policy’ is off the cards. In the absence of the special policy, Iraq remains on a restricted country list from which CIP applications cannot be made, save through a few strict exceptions.

Source: antiguaobserver.com
Posted: November 2016

CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) – The main opposition St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) on Monday called on Prime Minister Allen Chastanet to be open and transparent with the population regarding the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP).

The SLP said it also wanted the new government to provide the public with all the proposed changes to the existing legislative framework for discussion.

In a statement, the SLP said that whilst being the leader of the then opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Chastanet had done much to undermine the CIP, under which foreign investors are granted citizenship of the country for making a significant investment in the socio-economic development of St. Lucia.

“He criticised the programme all over the world even when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions praised the design of the CIP,” the SLP noted, adding that the CIP had only been in operation for 10 months and was severely affected by the public pronouncements of Chastanet.

“Therefore, the Labour Party is of the view that the programme should be allowed to operate for some time before there is any restructuring or relaunch with the existing legislative framework,” the SLP said.

It said it is calling on Prime Minister Chastanet to inform the public how many citizenships have been granted, what are the funds being raised used for, and which new projects have been granted CIP approval status.

The opposition party said it would also like to know what are the deficiencies of the programme and what are the proposed changes and which promoter is recommending changes to the existing legislation.

The SLP said that the public must be involved in the decision-making process as had been the case when the programme was introduced here by the party when in government because of the immense sensitivity of the programme.

Source: jamaicaobserver.com
Posted: November 2016

PORT OF SPAIN, St Kitts (WINN) — Revenues earned from the sale of citizenship are supporting the economic recovery being experienced in the Eastern Caribbean countries.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) country report on the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) published on Tuesday, the region’s economic recovery is gaining ground, supported not only by citizenship by investment (CBI) inflows, but also improved tourism arrivals, low oil prices, and improved government fiscal management.

The IMF says however that the region still faces many vulnerabilities that are hindering growth in the medium-term outlook, including a weak banking system, high debt, susceptibility to natural disasters, and competitiveness.

Despite a nearly 50% decline in economic growth from 6.2% in 2013 to 3.5% in 2016, St Kitts and Nevis is still leading the region in projected growth for 2017 at 3.5%.

St Vincent and the Grenadines has the second highest projected growth with 3.1%, followed by Dominica at 2.8%, Grenada at 2.7%, Anguilla at 2.6%, Antigua and Barbuda at 2.5%, St. Lucia at 1.9% and Montserrat at 1.7%.

The ECCU’s overall projected growth for 2016 is 2.1% and for 2017, 2.6%.

Republished with permission of West Indies News Network

Source: caribbeannewsnow.com
Posted: November 2016

October 31, 2016 — Ottawa, Ontario – The Honourable John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced today the Government of Canada’s intention to lift the visa requirements for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens on December 1, 2017. It demonstrates the importance that the Government of Canada places on its relationship with both countries and with the EU more broadly.

In the lead-up to the full visa lifts, Canada intends to implement partial lifts for eligible Romanian and Bulgarian citizens travelling to Canada for May 1, 2017. Romanian and Bulgarian citizens who have held a Canadian temporary resident visa in the past 10 years or who currently hold a valid United States (U.S.) non-immigrant visa would not require a temporary resident visa and would be able to fly to or transit through Canada with an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) instead of a visa.

After the visa lifts, Canada would reserve the right to re-impose the visa requirement on Romania or Bulgaria should irregular migration trends increase significantly from either country.

Canada is working closely with Romania and Bulgaria to put in place the conditions for a sustainable visa lift. These efforts have intensified in recent months. Visa-free travel in the future, just like the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), would create opportunities to increase trade and travel between our countries.

Over the coming months, Canadian officials will continue to work with the European Commission and with the Romanian and Bulgarian governments on migration-related issues to lay the groundwork for a successful transition to visa-free travel.

“Romania and Bulgaria have worked very closely with us, and we will continue to collaborate on the transition to visa-free travel in order to ensure that once the visa lifts occur, they are sustainable over the long term. Lifting the visa requirements for Romania and Bulgaria will mean visa-free travel to Canada for citizens of all EU member states. We will all benefit from the increase in travel and trade that results,” said John McCallum.

Source: news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1145359

BASSETERRE, St Kitts — The chief executive officer at the St Kitts
and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF), Terrance Crossman, has been terminated. Crossman was handed a termination letter on Friday. The reasons for his dismissal are unclear.

The dismissal comes days after Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris indicated during his most recent press conference that ongoing investigations into the foundation were just about completed and the SIDF will soon be brought under Parliamentary scrutiny, as promised by his Team Unity administration prior to the 2015 elections.

“The legislative framework being pursued by two QCs in our country is substantially complete, last I inquired they should be submitting it to us by next week. However they advised that it would be helpful to get the final report to see how that can be tweaked in light of any issues that may be pertinent to the new governance agenda. The commitments which we made in the manifesto to greater transparency would certainly be embedded in the next legislative creation that we would bring in relation to the SIDF and it may be called another name so that we distance ourselves from that grievance and abomination it turned out to be,” Harris said.

The SIDF and its operations have come under heavy criticisms over the years over its lack of transparency and accountability. It was sharply criticized also for the fact that it operates as a private entity with funds generated from the sale of citizenships — a national commodity and privilege

“We will not recoil from any of the commitments which we made with respect to the SIDF, that there must be public accountability, there must be regular reports being submitted to the parliament so that the people of the country can know more and become a part of what is happening with their patrimony,” Harris added.

He indicated at the most recent press conference that the SIDF investigation was virtually complete except for necessary consideration and review by cabinet.

“What has happened is once you get in to the tangled web there’s a lot more work that needed to be done for them to bring the kind of assurances. We expect very shortly and before the budget presentation, to be able to make a statement to the country in relation to that. It is not unheard of either in relation to a regular audit that you can have delays more so for the investigative nature of this one because part of it is to go through a maze of documents, find them, verify them etc and there has been some element of a lack of cooperation from some of the entities involved and that of course led to some delays in the finalization of the report but the report is substantially complete,” Harris said.

“The absence of control at the SIDF was so bad that it was difficult for them to be able to move with the speed that had been anticipated and you add that to the fact that the SIDF had not produced audited financial statements for a significant period of time, the last one perhaps would have been 2013 that they had provided audited reports. You add that to the fact that you had entities such as the Kittitian Hill Belmont Resort whose report would impact upon the financial statement statements of SIDF and their accounting was not up to date in terms of auditing, so it is those complexities that has led to a prolonged engagement with respect to Ernst & Young presenting its report to us,” Harris concluded.

The controversial management of the SIDF by the former Denzil Douglas-led administration came in for some unpleasant findings following a preliminary review in May by multinational firm Ernst & Young.

Speaking at a monthly press conference held in May 2015, Harris said that the review of the SIDF operations over the period 2010-2014, which he announced on March 15, had revealed some troubling initial findings.

“The review has revealed that the SIDF was operated in a manner unbecoming of a multi-million dollar entity. The board of councilors and senior management operated with scant regard for proper procedures and best practices expected of those with fiduciary responsibilities,” Harris said.

The SIDF was touted by former PM and now leader of the opposition, Dr Denzil Douglas, as a private foundation outside the ambit of government oversight. Under the Douglas administration the fund amassed hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of St Kitts-Nevis citizenship for up to US$400,000 cash per citizenship.

The SIDF was founded in September 2006 by the National Bank Trust Company, which is a subsidiary of the St Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank, a public limited company with the majority shareholder being the federal government of St Kitts and Nevis.

Source: caribbeannewsnow.com
Posted: October 2016

Since taking up his post as the new CEO of the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU), Les Khan has been working hard to implement reforms that will define the citizenship by investment (CBI) program as innovative and an international leader once again.  He achieved this at a two-day CBI conference that took place last week in Dubai when he announced a step change in what the CBI program in St Kitts and Nevis has to offer. He advised delegates that the CIU will now be able to offer an accelerated application process where applicants will be fast tracked and approvals granted within 60 days.

The CIU under Khan’s leadership has been undergoing a number of reforms including the strengthening of its vetting process and the implementation of a technical committee. This therefore means that the same high standards of due diligence will apply to every new applicant but as a result of increasing the team and expanding on their expertise, applicants will now be able to be fast tracked at a premium.

“It was my ambition to improve the service delivery and performance of the Citizenship by Investment Unit and I am grateful to the cabinet of the Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris for sharing this vision, for having confidence in the unit and for having a commitment to deliver a platinum service,” Khan said.

He added that, with the improved processes and systems in place, St Kitts and Nevis is able to provide applicants with a fast track service, including the issue of passports, which previously had been subject to lengthy delays.

Khan noted that the clients in Dubai were eager to implement this new program and to this end he will be releasing guidance on the implementation of the initiative shortly.

Source: caribbeannewsnow.com
Posted: October 2016

To access the data sheet on the Portugal’s Golden Residence Programme (GRP) results as of the 30^th September 2016, please click here

Launched in October 2014, the Investment Migration Council (IMC) is the only global association for professionals involved in investor migration and citizenship-by-investment. The IMC has been growing rapidly under the leadership of its Chief Executive, Bruno L’ecuyer.  It has recently reported that its membership has grown to nearly 300, with members from over 30 countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, Australasia, Middle East, Africa, Caribbean, and North America.

The IMC’s main objective is not to only to respond to industry needs, but to lead the investor migration sector by setting industry standards worldwide. In the last twelve months alone the organization has launched the industry’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct policy, aimed at improving standards, transparency and elevating client confidence in a rapidly growing market. It also successfully organized the first Investment Migration Forum — Dubbed the ‘Davos’ of the Citizenship-by-Investment industry meeting, which has governments, leading business professionals and academics meet in Geneva for three days of policy discussions. The organization further aims to help improve public understanding of the issues faced by clients and governments in this area.

IMC Chairman, Professor Dr. Dimitry Kochenov, commented: “We are absolutely delighted at having reached this important milestone. It is no surprise that industry professionals have, and continues to see the tangible advantages of belonging to the IMC.’’ Members benefit from the professional development, networking opportunities and information services provided by the association. The IMC also enables members to increase their business’ reach and enhance their brand position by informing them about the most up-to-date-industry trends.

Austin Fragomen, founding partner of the world’s largest immigration law firm, said, “An important role of the IMC is to bring together what is essentially a global community. The IMC has managed in a very short space of time to forge strong foundations that bridge the gap between governments, academics and professionals in this fast-growing industry.’’  Christopher Curmi, Director of Deloitte, added: “The IMC is first and foremost the association for leading professionals and companies in the field, but also plays a crucial role with governments and regulators, leading academic debate and research. No doubt the IMC will continue its success in uniting the industry and establishing the highest standards.”

Pafilia Cyprus Property Developers has been fined €100,000 for mis-leading home buyers in a case that focused on the commercial practices that the company used in 2007 when selling apartments to them.

The complaint was filed with (CCPS) by home buyers in December 2013. The case focused on the commercial practices which Pafilia Cyprus Property Developers had used back in 2007 in selling flats to them. The buyers who purchased apartments from the company accused the seller of hiding important information, such as the fact that there were mortgages on the properties already.

This meant that the buyers could not actually get a hold of their Title Deeds until the developer could pay off debts.

In other words, they were not the official owners of the properties they had bought with their own money. But in their home countries, they said, as soon as someone pays for a property in total, they get the Title Deeds regardless of any outstanding balances owed by the developer. They also accused Pafilia of supplying them with misleading promotional material, said to have included information mentioning that law in Cyprus was based on Anglo-Saxon law.

The company maintains that the buyers were fully informed, citing Pafilia’s own loan for the property which came from the same bank as that of their clients.

The developer also said they had a lawyer go over the details with the buyers, explaining the situation in Cyprus which was different from that depicted in the pamphlets.

Pafilia also says buyers are not impacted in any negative way by not having their own separate Title Deeds, saying that reselling the property is still possible under their current registration with the Land Registry.

The company had been cooperative during the investigation of the complaint, according to the CCPS.

Source: news.cyprus-property-buyers.com
Date: 27 September 2016