Just imagine living there. Homes are inexpensive and life seems like a dream. Shirley Heights, Antigua | Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock
Ah, the life in the Caribbean! Sounds amazing. Living on an island with coconuts, fresh fish, warm temperatures all year round, and amazing villas with swimming pools and ocean views for under $300,000 (259,000 euros, approximately), similar to this one on Rightmove, is to die for. And then they say you can live well on about $1,000 a month, which is equivalent to approximately 870 euros. Sounds sweet!
And now, according to a report by the BBC, five tax-free countries in the Caribbean region will offer citizenship by investing as little as $200,000 (approximately 174,000 euros) in a home. That’s drawing a lot of Americans these days. In Antigua, estate agents are struggling to keep up with the demand from foreigners for properties, says Nadia Dyson, owner of Luxury Locations.
Trump ‘is definitely a factor’
“Up to 70 per cent of all buyers right now are wanting citizenship, and the vast majority are from the US,” Ms Dyson told the BBC. “We don’t talk politics with them, but the unstable political landscape [in the US] is definitely a factor.”
Ms Dyson also said, “This time last year, it was all lifestyle buyers and a few citizenship by investment (CBI). Now they’re all saying, ‘I want a house with citizenship’. We’ve never sold so many before.”
US citizens account for the majority of CBI applications in the Caribbean over the past year, according to investment migration experts Henley & Partners. They said Ukraine, Turkey, Nigeria, and China are among the other most frequent citizenships of applicants, according to the UK firm, which has offices worldwide.
They added that overall applications for Caribbean CBI programmes have increased by 12 per cent since the Q4 2024. Five Caribbean island countries, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia, are offering the CBI, the BBC added.
Americans are abandoning their country
Americans are leaving their country for reasons from gun violence to antisemitism, according to Henley & Partners consultant Dominic Volek.
“In the last two years, we’ve gone from having zero offices in the US to eight across all major cities, with another two to three opening in the coming months,” Volek said.
Foreigners opting for the CBI scheme find that by becoming a citizen, they not only avoid the restrictions on length of stay, but also gain the freedom to take advantage of business opportunities.
However, these programmes have been met with criticism. Locals took to the streets to protest against the program, calling it unethical.
“There was a sense of nationalism; people felt we were selling our identity, so to speak, to people who knew nothing about us,” said former Antigua and Barbuda Speaker of the House Gisele Isaac.
Passport sales is good business
The St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, said citizenship should not be “a commodity for sale”. However, his Dominica island counterpart, Roosevelt Skerrit, has described his country’s CBI programme as “sound and transparent”, adding authorities had worked hard to ensure its integrity.
The Antigua government has reported that passport sales have raised more than $1 billion since the initiative was launched in 1993. The revenue has been used to fund key infrastructure, including a state-of-the-art hospital.
In St. Lucia, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre stated that his island nation meets the highest standards of security to ensure that its CBI does not inadvertently facilitate illicit activities.
Presently, the sale of passports is good business for the island nations. They account for 10-30 per cent of their GDP.
