Residence and Citizenship by Investment: Europe or the Caribbean?

The world is globalizing. A growing number of people are looking to acquire foreign citizenship or residency to enhance their freedom of movement and hedge possible risks. The good news is that many national states offer second citizenship/ residence opportunities so there is a choice of options.

How can you acquire foreign citizenship by investment?

Obtaining a second passport is becoming a trend among the rich and the famous. However, foreign citizenship brings many practical advantages in addition to being prestigious. Political and economic situations are becoming increasingly unstable in many countries of the world and a second passport can serve as a guarantee of stability for its holder. If something goes wrong in his/ her home country (and you will find that a lot of things are going wrong in a number of countries if you turn on your TV set), a person with a second passport will have an ‘escape hatch’.

This document can help protect not only the person’s security but the security of his/ her wealth too. Besides, countries offering citizenship to foreign investors often give good tax incentives to the newcomers.

Another important benefit that a second passport can bring is an increase in the number of visa-free destinations that its holder can visit. This feature is especially relevant for those people whose home country’s passports are ‘weak’. A second passport can give you visa-free access to Europe and Great Britain and it can let you easily acquire long-term visas to the USA and Canada.

Such European countries as Malta, Greece, Portugal, and Spain, among others, offer residence-by-investment opportunities. Because legal residence can eventually turn into citizenship, you can acquire global residency through investment if you make use of one of the programs. An EU passport is among the strongest travel documents in the world.

On the other hand, such Caribbean countries as Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Lucia offer instant citizenship to foreign investors. It is relatively instant because acquiring a Caribbean passport takes a few months.

Difference between residence by investment and citizenship by investment

It is easy to guess that legal residence in a foreign country does not give you any voting rights and you cannot hold a public office in most cases. You will have to live in the country on your residence permit for a few years before you can apply for citizenship. The fastest way to acquire EU citizenship is to make use of the Maltese citizenship-by-investment program. If you do, however, you will have to invest at least a million and a half euros (and give away about half of it) and you will have to wait for at least a year and a half before you can obtain a Maltese passport.

If you apply for a ‘golden visa’ to Portugal, you will be able to apply for citizenship of the country after 5 years. However, the Portuguese authorities have made it impossible to qualify for a ‘golden visa’ by purchasing real property in the country. You can qualify for residence if you invest half a million euros in a venture fund, in a scientific research project, or in a cultural project but not into property.

Consider applying for a ‘golden visa’ to Spain

Spain looks a bit more inviting against this background. You can qualify for a residence card if you put 500,000 euros into real estate in the country. If the house that you like costs more, you are entitled for a mortgage from a Spanish bank at a very low interest. What is more, a Spanish residence card also serves as a work permit. Moreover, not only the head of the family but all family members of legal age can work in Spain because they will also obtain residence cards. Please note that no additional investment is required to obtain residence cards for members of your family (only negligible card issuance fees need to be paid) if you apply for residency in Spain by investment.

With a Spanish residence card, you can move freely around the EU and pretty much the rest of Europe. Theoretically, you could also live permanently in any of the EU countries (your residence in the EU is legal after all). However, if you settle down in Austria, for instance, and use your Spanish residence card as your primary ID, the local immigration authorities are not going to be happy with that. Legally, they cannot kick you out of the country but they will find a way to make you leave, please have no doubt about that.

As far as acquiring citizenship of Spain, you will have to hold your residence card for 10 years before you can apply.

Caribbean citizenship by investment

Caribbean countries, in their turn, offer full-fledged citizenship to foreign investors. It is important to realize that an economic citizen has the same rights and obligations as a native-born citizen does. You can vote and hold public offices. You could even run for president!

Obtaining a passport of one of the Caribbean countries mentioned above takes between 3 and 6 months as a rule. With a Caribbean passport, you are welcome to any of the CARICOM countries. The Caribbean Community is similar to the EU in the sense that you are free to live and work in any of the member states. We would like to make a special note of the fact that when ‘buying’ a passport of Grenada, St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia, or Dominica you are actually ‘buying’ CARICOM citizenship. Not all Caribbean states are members of the Community but most of them are.

Another important difference between the European ‘golden visa’ programs and the Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programs is the price. The most expensive investment option in the Caribbean requires a larger amount of money than the least expensive investment option in Europe does. At the same time, the least expensive investment option in the Caribbean is considerably cheaper than the least expensive option in Europe. Antigua and Barbuda as well as St Lucia ‘sell’ their passports for US$ 100,000. It has to be a non-returnable donation but the amount is about three times smaller than the cost of the least expensive European ‘golden visa’ anyway.

Without doubt, an EU passport is stronger than a Caribbean passport is. On the other hand, Caribbean citizenship by investment is granted almost instantly while you have to wait for a few years before you can turn into a full-fledged European citizen if you apply for one of the ‘golden visa’ programs. Besides, a Caribbean passport costs less.