World’s leading ‘Residency and Citizenships’ solutions government advisory and marketing firm – CS Global Partners participated in a webinar hosted by Associates Times, a US-based organisation. The virtual seminar went live on March 6 at 2 PM (EST).
The webinar discussed the Citizenship by Investment Programmes and its aspects. The representatives of CS Global Partners stated why to choose CBI Programme, how to apply, and investment types.
The panellists were CEO of CS Global Partners Micha-Rose Emmett and Director of the government advisory Paul Singh.
At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer asked about “some of the trends you have witnessed, and what has kept Citizenship by Investment highly desired?”
To this, Micha-Rose Emmette replied that “We see severe uptake in the applicants coming from those regions, and this is very much driven by the political conflicts; if we just take a step back, of course, this is also a social-economic situation, the drive, the individuals and their families and the business persons to seek where is to become more global and to have more access to the world to do business and educate children.”
“So, over the years, I have seen as the world changes and people have come from different regions and understanding more and more the importance of holding second citizenship,” she added.
Furthermore, the interviewer asked Paul Singh about the process for applying to the CBI programme and how are applications screened and vetted.
The Director of CS Global responded, “We have worked for many years, in CS Global, within the Citizenship by Investments Industries and also the residence by investment programmes; we find that ‘citizenship by investment is the most direct, clear-cut and most seamless process’ to gain citizenship applications usually feature you know seamless, streamlined processing.”
“It’s normally three months that suits time-poor business people you know who are obviously very busy, and the Caribbean CBI jurisdictions such as St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica have got an excellent processing timeline and its’ actually very efficient. So from the moment of submission to approval in principle is generally their month, and we’ve worked with the governments to ensure the process of an economic citizen is as smooth as possible,” he added.
“Nonetheless, despite the swiftness of processing, it doesn’t undermine the integrity of the programme. You Know it’s a very thorough due diligence process, and all five Caribbean jurisdictions have got a very thorough due diligence process, and they’ve all ranked very highly in the pillar of due diligence, conducted by the financial times CBI Index, which scored all five Caribbean nations quite highly there,” Singh further explained.
While informing about the steps involved in the CBI jurisdiction, Paul Singh claimed, “From the submission of the application, the documentation and the relevant fees being paid on behalf of the agent. We must ensure that the application forms and supporting documents are complete to the appropriate standard. Additionally, agents conduct an initial screening of the applicant, which is their KYC. So you know the process is very thorough.”
The two further shared information about types of investments available to applicants, how an investor would know which programme is right for them and what are the main benefits of the CBI programme.
Paul Singh mentioned, “In simple words, the government nation route is the quickest, most secure, and it’s the fastest route.”
The further question interviewer kept in front of the two panelists was, “How do applicants decide which CBI Programme is accurate for them? Can you explain this, please?”
Singh further lauded the Citizenship by Investment programme of Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis. “So applicants tend to look at the longevity of the programme, you know how well established that the programme is and of course with St Kitts, for instance, being the cradle of citizenship, and the programme was launched in 1984 so of course almost four decades, Dominica in 1993 almost three decades so they have run for a long time they’re in held in very high regard by the international community, then a lot of people who have gained citizenship from these particular islands had that tool for many years and its worked for them, and they’ve family additions over time, they’ve had added to the programme as well,” he was quoted.
Micha Emmett stated that “the beauty about citizenship by investment programme is it really is a win-win solution in that you know the investor who’s coming along and making the investment into the country and obtaining the second citizenship you know as Paul rightly elucidated in terms of the benefits is also there’s am an equal benefit to the country in that as I mentioned earlier about the two routes to investment.”
“The direct contribution to the government is so important because it’s non-tax revenue that comes into the country, and it’s so important in terms of building roads, building schools, building hospitals,” CEO Emmett mentioned, adding, “So, we’ve seen some amazing you know things happen through the government with the revenue that’s been raised by CBI, and in fact, particularly you a country like Dominica, it was almost saved by CBI finds when Hurricane Maria hit in 2017 and in terms of the real estate or the investment through the real estate option. It’s both a direct investment for the country because it’s building hotels, it is building housing, but there’s also an indirect opportunity for the country, and it creates employment opportunities for the people and the citizens of that country.”
The CEO of CSGP concluded, “So all in all, what’s great about working in this industry is that really we are providing a win-win solution for other parties involved”.
