The Federation of Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis is a highly popular tourist destination in the Caribbean. The country is small but extremely beautiful. Besides, the infrastructure is advanced there by Caribbean standards, which makes it very comfortable to vacation in St Kitts and Nevis.
If you visit the country as a tourist and fall in love with it (which is quite possible, by the way), you can actually stay there forever. St Kitts and Nevis has an economic citizenship program that makes it possible to ‘buy’ a passport of the country.
Options for foreign investors seeking citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis
The Government of St Kitts and Nevis is interested in attracting foreign investments and it pushes the local immigration authorities to work fast. Applications for citizenship are processed within 2 to 3 months, which is fast in comparison to other countries offering citizenship-by-investment opportunities. You have two investment options to choose from if you are looking to become an economic citizen of St Kitts and Nevis.
Invest at least US$ 400,000 in real property in the country.
Only a short while ago, the required investment amount was twice as low but those times are gone now. For US$ 400,000, you can buy only a share in a resort complex to qualify for citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis. If you want to be the full owner of a piece of property and simultaneously qualify for citizenship, you have to invest at least US$ 800,000. The good news is that you can sell your house or apartment back after 5 years while keeping the passport of the country. Besides, you are free to let your property on a lease.
Donate at least US$ 250,000 to the state fund.
Again, the required donation amount was twice as low a short time ago. The word ‘donate’ speaks for itself: you have to say goodbye to the money if you acquire citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis by donation.
What is more, the stated amount is sufficient only if a single person is applying for citizenship. The price goes up by US$ 50,000 if a married couple or a married couple with one child is applying for citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis. The price goes up by another US$ 50,000 if a family with two or three kids is applying. Each extra family member will ‘cost’ you an additional US$ 50,000 if he/ she is below 18 and an additional US$ 75,000 if it’s an adult.
The diversity of citizenship programs for international investors in St. Kitts and Nevis is hardly impressive. Besides, the prices have grown. Today, St Kitts charges more for its citizenship than any other country in the region does.
Does it mean that you should put the citizenship-by-investment program that the country administers aside? Not necessarily! Below, expertsfrom International Wealth explain the benefits of Nevis for investors.
Advantages that St Kitts and Nevis offers to foreign investors
You don’t have to visit the country neither prior to obtaining its citizenship nor after a passport is issued to you. English is the official language in St Kitts and Nevis but foreign investors do not have to take any language tests.
You can acquire citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis for your entire family. Your relatives can be added to a family application for citizenship, including:
- Your spouse, on the condition that your marriage is official;
- Your children of up to 30, on the condition that they are not married and financially dependent on the main applicant.
- Your parents and grandparents as well as parents and grandparents of your spouse.
- Your siblings and your spouse’s siblings if the following conditions are satisfied:
- They are not married;
- They have no children;
- They are below 30;
- They are financially dependent on the main applicant.
The passport of St Kitts and Nevis is a very powerful document. It gives visa-free access to over 150 foreign countries. It outperforms the passports of all other Caribbean countries running citizenship-by-investment programs. Please see the table below:
| Country | Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis | Antigua and Barbuda | Grenada | Commonwealth of Dominica | Saint Lucia |
| Passport rating | 25 | 28 | 33 | 34 | 31 |
| Number of visa-free destinations | 156 | 151 | 144 | 143 | 146 |
With a passport of St Kitts and Nevis, you can enter the Schengen zone without a visa as well as other EU countries. You can legally stay there for 90 days within a 180-day period. You can also enter Great Britain without a visa and stay there for 180 days within a year. Hong Kong and Singapore are also going to be visa-free destinations for you if you have a passport of St Kitts and Nevis.
As far as Canada and the USA are concerned, you do need a visa to enter these countries but citizens of St Kitts and Nevis are eligible to apply for multiple entry 10-year visas to both Canada and the USA.
If you have kids, you will be pleased to know that children of St Kitts citizens can attend British universities: scholarships are available to them. In this way, you can economize on tuition fees.
There are more ways to economize if you are a citizen of St Kitts and Nevis. The country offers serious tax advantages. In particular, a newly established company can be exempted from the corporate profits tax for up to 15 years. Besides, non-resident companies do not have to pay any taxes on their incomes earned in other jurisdictions.
Compare ‘buying’ a passport of St Kitts and Nevis and a passport of Malta
If we compared the ‘price’ of a St Kitts passport with the ‘price’ of a St Lucian passport, for example, St Kitts would lose. We want St Kitts to win, however, and for this reason, we are going to compare its ‘price’ to the ‘price’ of a Maltese passport. Yes, Malta also ‘sells’ its citizenship to foreign investors. As a side note: a country does not have to be poor to offer citizenship-by-investment opportunities. Malta is an EU member state and it is not poor at all. So, please compare:
| St Kitts and Nevis, USD | Malta, EUR |
| Option 1
250,000 – unreturnable donation; Option 2 400,000 – investment into a share of property ownership; Option 3 800,000 – investment into property, full ownership. |
Option 1
750,000 — unreturnable donation to the state fund; + 700,000 — investment into property; Option 2 750,000 — unreturnable donation to the state fund; + 90,000 — a 5-year property rent agreement (at least 18,000 per year). |
| Lowest possible cost of second citizenship | |
| 250,000 | At least 840,000 |
To cut a long story short, citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis is more expensive than citizenship of other Caribbean countries but it is less expensive than citizenship of a European country anyway.
