The Caribbean islands that give you a passport if you buy a home

Passing through the homes offered for sale in the eastern Caribbean sea area and it is no longer just the beaches of magic and a relaxed lifestyle that is nominated to the Woo buyer.

More and more property lists provide passport as well – and political and social fluctuations in the United States are said to feed an increase in attention.

Five of the island countries in the region – Antigua, Berboda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia – offer such a citizenship by investment (CBI) from less than $ 200,000 (145,000 pounds).

Buy a house, and you will also get a passport that gives the holder the right to reach up to 150 countries, including the UK and the Schengen region in Europe.

For the wealthy, the absence of islands for taxes such as capital profits and inheritance, and in some cases on income as well, is another major lottery. All five region plans allow buyers to keep their current nationality.

In Antigua, real estate agents are struggling to keep pace with the demand, says Nadia Dyson, the owner of luxury sites. “Up to 70 % of all buyers currently want citizenship, and the vast majority of the United States,” I told BBC.

“We do not talk to them politics, but the unstable political scene [in the US] It is definitely a factor.

“At this time last year, all the lifestyle buyers and a few of the Central Bank of Iraq were. Now they say” I want a house with nationality. “We haven’t sold much before.”

Although Antigua does not have any residence requirements, some buyers are looking for full -time moving, adding: “A few have already moved.”

American citizens represent the largest part of CBI requests in the Caribbean Sea region during the past year, according to Henley & Partners.

The United Kingdom, which has offices around the world, says that Ukraine, Turkey, Nigeria and China are among the most frequently repeated countries.

He adds that the total applications of CBI programs in the Caribbean Sea have increased by 12 % since the fourth quarter of 2024.

Everything from armed violence to anti -Semitism is the situation of Americans on Tenerhooks, according to Dominic Falk, consultant.

“About 10-15 % are actually moving. For most of them are an insurance policy against everything they care about. Getting a second nationality is a good backup plan,” he explains.

Mr. Falk says that the advantages of the ease of travel that provide Caribbean passports appeals to businessmen, and may also make a security advantage. “Some customers who prefer to travel with a more political passport.”

Before Covid’s pandemic, the United States was not even on “Henley”, Mr. Volek continues.

The movement’s restrictions proved a “great shock” for wealthy people who used to travel freely on private aircraft, which prompted the first CBI applications in the United States. The interest rose again after the US elections 2020 and 2024.

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

“In the past two years, we have moved from the presence of zero offices in the United States to eight cities in all major cities, with two other openings in the coming months.”

Robert Taylor, from Halifax in Canada, bought a property in Antigua where he plans to retire later this year.

He invested $ 200,000 before raising the real estate threshold to $ 300,000 last summer.

He explains that it is not limited to avoiding restrictions imposed on the duration of the residence, but also gives him the freedom to benefit from job opportunities. “I chose Antigua because it contains beautiful water, and I find that people are very friendly, and this also means a great weather for the subsequent part of my life.”

However, such programs are not without controversy. When passport sales were first offered in 2012 by the Antiguan government at the time as a way to support the sick economy, some considered a little ethics.

The demonstrators remember the streets in condemnation, and the former spokesman, Giselle Ishaq, remembers. “There was a feeling of nationalism,” she says.

The leaders of some of the other CBIs that CBis have been criticizing, including St. Vincent and Prime Minister of Grenadine Ralph Gunsalvis. He previously said that citizenship should not be a “commodity for sale”.

Among the international community, there are fears that supervision of relaxation may help criminals join the border.

The European Union threatened to withdraw its visa -free arrival to the countries of the Central Bank of Iraq in the Caribbean region, while the United States had previously raised concerns about the possibility of using these plans as a means of tax evasion and financial crime.

A BBC spokesman has been “monitoring” the five Caribbean plans, and has been in talks with its authorities since 2022.

She says that continuous evaluation seeks to prove whether citizenship through investment constitutes “a misuse of the system free of visas that these countries enjoy against the European Union and whether it is likely to lead to security risks to the European Union.”

The committee recognized reforms implemented by the islands, which it says will have an impact on its evaluation.

For their part, the Five Caribbean’s reaction was angrily to the allegations that they are not doing enough to check the applicants.

The Prime Minister in Dominica Roosevelt Skrit described the Iraqi Central Bank program in his country as “healthy and transparent”, adding that the authorities worked hard to ensure their safety.

The government says that passports sales have raised more than a billion dollars since the beginning of the initiative in 1993, and paid the price of vital infrastructure, including a newer hospital.

In Saint Lucia, Prime Minister Philip Jereer says that Al -Jazeera is committed to the highest security standards to ensure that the Central Bank of Iraq does not intend to help illegal activities.

The need to satisfy the world’s great powers by increasing revenues is an accurate balancing law for small Caribbean countries with small resources, and depends on tourism whims.

CBI programs were classified as a lifeline at the regional industry summit in April, with the money used in everything after natural disasters to national pension planning. Prime Minister Antigua Gaston Brown said that the money collected had returned his country from the brink of bankruptcy over the past decade.

Regardless of the purchase of property, other roads to the nationality of the Caribbean Sea region through investment usually include a single donation of the National Development Fund or the like. It ranges between $ 200,000 in Dominica for a single request submitted, to $ 250,000 for the main applicant and up to three qualified recipients in Dominica and St. Kits. In Antigua, investors also have the option to donate $ 260,000 to the University of the West Indies.

In the face of international pressure, the islands adhered to new measures to support supervision, including the establishment of a regional regulator to set standards, monitor operations and ensure compliance.

In addition, six principles agreed with the United States include improved due care, regular account review, mandatory interviews with all applicants, and removing a vulnerability previously enabled the applicant that a country has rejected in another.

These days, passports sales represent 10-30 % of the GDP of the islands.

Andre Hui, a Saint Kitts journalist, says the CBI chart in his country is “generally backed in general” as a result. “The public understands the value of this to the economy, and the government has been able to do with money.”