Economic citizenship by investment
St. Kitts allows foreigners to obtain the status of St. Kitts citizen by means of a government sponsored investment programme called Citizenship-by-Investment.[10] Established in 1984, St. Kitts’ citizenship program is the oldest prevailing economic citizenship program of this kind in the world.
St. Kitts’ Citizenship-by-Investment program offers multiple benefits. According to their official website: "When you acquire citizenship under the St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship program, you and your family enjoy full citizenship for life, which can be passed on to future generations by descent. As citizens of St. Kitts & Nevis, you and your family are issued with passports which allow visa-free travel to more than 120 countries and territories worldwide, including all of the EU. Of course you have the right to take up residence in St. Kitts & Nevis as well as in most of the CARICOM member countries at any time and for any length of time".[11]
Each candidate must go through several legal steps and make a qualifying investment into the country [12] and should complete certain legal requirements to qualify for citizenship under the investment programme. There is a minimum investment that has to be made by the applicant, in either an approved real estate or in the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (a public charity), to qualify for the economic citizenship of St. Kitts & Nevis. The primary way to qualify for the program is through the purchase of government approved real-estate to the value of US$400,000 and, with the help of the program, Saint Kitts and Nevis is on its way to becoming one of the Caribbean’s most luxurious and popular destination.
Compared to other Caribbean islands, overall real estate prices in Saint Kitts and Nevis remain low and provide substantial room for capital appreciation. Reports conducted by Henley Estates, the leading real estate company servicing the clients seeking qualifying citizenship investments, shown that over the three years to 2012, depending on the project, apartment values have gained from 5% - 9% per annum, and select pre-construction resort investments were 7% - 12% per annum during the same time period.[13] These figures are based on 238 transactions during this period. Henley Estates is the only firm to conduct an annual survey on the St. Kitts and Nevis property market values and monitor the property market appreciation.
The latest data indicates an acceleration in property appreciation when comparing it to the Department of Inland Revenue’s 2009 statistics.