Citizenship of Saint Lucia now sells at a considerable discount!

Would you like to save up to US$ 250,000 when applying for a second passport? Then you must consider acquiring citizenship of St Lucia via investment into state bonds. This is a limited time offer but the application can be filed remotely. The authorities of the Caribbean country have made their second passport offer even more attractive than it used to be. The discounts reach 50%! In addition to that, part of the payment can be done with a credit card and some more efficient application processing procedures are now in place. This is a great chance to change your life for the better while saving quite a lot of money!  

Did you know, dear readers, that you can ‘buy’ foreign citizenship online never paying a visit to your second home country to-be? The COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown have made the countries that run citizenship-by-investment programs take some extraordinary measures to keep attracting foreign capital to their economies.

Currently, five Caribbean states (St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Grenada) as well as the state of Vanuatu in the South Pacific offer the possibility to apply for their citizenship via the Internet.  

This means that you can ‘buy’ foreign citizenship online without leaving the comfort of your home. However, the authorities of St Lucia have decided to take it one step further and offer some impressive discounts to applicants for citizenship of the country. 

The possibility to acquire St Lucian citizenship through investment emerged in 2015 when the local Government launched the corresponding program in order to stimulate the economic development in the country. Since four nearby states had been running such programs for quite a while, St Lucia was able to use their experience and thus it came up with a balanced and rather attractive offer.

According to the official statistics, the citizenship-by-investment Government program has brought around 130 million East Caribbean dollars (US$ 48.1 million) to the economy in the form of donations, investments into Government bonds and state duties paid by the new citizens. In all likelihood, this amount is going to become much larger in the next few months. Citizenship of St Lucia now costs considerably less than before!  

In May 2020, the authorities made some amendments to the decree governing the issuance of St Lucian passports to foreigners in exchange for investment. Several discounts have been introduced in relation to the following investment options:

• Non-returnable donation to the SLNEF (St Lucia National Economic Fund);
• Investment into Government-approved development projects (resort real estate);
• Investment into zero-interest state bonds.

In particular, there is a possibility to acquire St Lucian citizenship by investing into coronabonds (limited time offer!), a possibility to cover the state duties via online payment facilities, and more! Please read on to learn about the new exciting opportunities that St Lucia in the Caribbean has to offer!

Citizenship of St Lucia for a donation – at a discount now!

Second passports in exchange for a non-returnable donation to the SLNEF have become more affordable for investors with large families. Please see the table below.

Discounts on St Lucian citizenship by investment into real estate

As far as this option is concerned, the conditions remain very much the same. You have to invest minimum US$ 300,000 into a Government-approved development project in order to qualify for St Lucian citizenship. In addition to that, you have to pay the following administrative fees:

• A sole applicant – US$ 30,000;
• Main applicant and spouse – US$ 45,000;
• Third and fourth dependent applicants below 18 years of age – US$ 5,000 each;
• Third and fourth dependent applicants above 18 years of age – US$ 10,000 each;
• Every fifth, sixth, etc. applicant of any age — US$ 10,000.

Currently, you can make investments into two development projects that are approved by the Government of St Lucia for this purpose. These are Zoetry Resort Canelles and The Alpina St Lucia Hotel. Both of these resorts are still under construction. The construction work has been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected to resume when the lockdown is lifted.

	Zoetry Resort Canelles is a top-class resort with well-designed and comfortable suites. This is going to be a very romantic place. Main features of the resort complex include the following ones: It has 80 roomsIts total area is 16,000 square meters (172223 sq. ft.)There is a SPA centerAnd a panoramic swimming pool
	The Alpina St Lucia Hotel is a resort complex that offers a number of entertainment opportunities. It is located within city limits close to a racetrack. Main features of the resort complex include the following ones:  It has 240 rooms designed mostly for business travelersThere are multiple stores aroundThere is a casinoAnd a horse track nearby

Discounts on St Lucian citizenship by investment into government bonds

Those foreign nationals who would like to acquire citizenship of St Lucia via investment into government bonds will find the most attractive offers in the country. The local authorities are prepared to grant citizenship to foreigners in exchange for a discounted investment into coronabonds. This offer will become invalid after December 31, 2020. The conditions are as follows:  

As things stand for now, the Ministry of Finance is going to issue paper versions of coronabonds (not electronic versions) to the applicants for St Lucian citizenship. After the obligatory ownership period expires, the bonds can be redeemed.

The old option (citizenship of St Lucia by investment into regular government bonds) is still in place and it does not have any time limits unlike the coronabond option. The conditions also remain the same. Let us remind you of these:

(As a side note, we would like to point out that this investment option has not been very popular with foreign applicants for St Lucian citizenship. Only ten applications for citizenship via this option have been approved so far while the total number of approved applications for citizenship of St Lucia is closing on six hundred.)

St Lucia citizenship by investment: an even more attractive offer for a growing family

There is another new opportunity that the Government of St Lucia offers to new citizens now. You can add a dependent applicant to the application if he or she is born after you have been granted preliminary approval. That is, you can include a newborn child into the application post factum. While the child is below 12 months old, you have to make an additional donation of US$ 500 to the SLNEF.

The opportunity to add new applicants to the application for St Lucian citizenship existed before as well but the costs were different. If you wanted to include your spouse into the application post factum, you had to pay US$ 35,000 and if you wanted to add any more family members, you had to pay US$ 25,000 to the SLNEF.

In addition to that, if you acquire citizenship of St Lucia in exchange for investment into coronabonds, you will save the following amounts of money on the administrative fees that have been waived:

Why is it easier now to acquire St Lucian citizenship by investment?

The following improvements have been recently introduced in the processing of the applications for citizenship of St Lucia by investment.

• The St Lucian Citizenship by Investment Unit (CBI Unit) has established relationships with one more bank, namely Republic Bank. Before, it used to have only one partner bank, Bank of Saint Lucia. In this way, the Unit has widened the banking service opportunities for the licensed agents as well as the candidates for citizenship of St Lucia. Both Bank of Saint Lucia and Republic Bank use advanced electronic banking systems.
• In the nearest future, licensed immigration agents will be able to make online payments for due diligence procedures and application processing on behalf of their clients.

The possibility to undergo preliminary inspection by the police authorities is also available now. The advantage of this is the opportunity to initiate the due diligence checks by supplying the necessary documents while continuing to collect other required application documents. The following documents are necessary for the preliminary checks:

• Legalized copies of all passport pages of the main applicant and his/ her dependents;
• A legalized copy of the applicant’s birth certificate;
• Documents confirming the payment of the due diligence and application processing fees.

Before paying the administrative fees via one of the banks, the main applicant has to submit the following documents to the CBI Unit:

• A police clearance;
• A résumé;
• Documents confirming the sources of income for all applicants above 18 years of age that are included into a family application for citizenship. Police clearances for adult family members are also required as well as their résumés.  

Acquiring citizenship of St Lucia is still possible even in the times of the coronavirus pandemic

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect potential applicants for St Lucian citizenship by investment? Below please find some official information:

• The CBI Unit is fully functional and its officers work from home;
• Applications and all complementary documents can be submitted via an online portal and via e-mail. In particular, a legalized passport-size photograph of the applicant has to be sent via e-mail to be later put on the citizenship certificate. After the lockdown is over, regular photographs will be used again.
• The Resident Registration Office is going to remain open during the lockdown.
• The oath of allegiance can be made in an electronic form until the opportunity to make a regular oath reappears.
• The St Lucian authorities undertake to process all the applications for citizenship within 90 days. Minor delays are possible for applicants from certain national states.

Acquiring citizenship of St Lucia by investment stage-by-stage

Month 1

• Step 1. Signing an agreement with a licensed immigration agency after it conducts preliminary checks of the candidate(s). Preparation of the application form and complementary documents. At this stage, you will have to cover the costs of the consultation and legal services.  
• Step 2. Submission of the application for St Lucian citizenship and the complementary documents.  
• Step 3. The CBI Unit conducts due diligence checks and sends a letter to the immigration agent with an ‘approval in principle’ of the candidate’s application for citizenship.   
• Step 4. Making the required donation or investment and payment of the state duties if applicable.  

Month 2

• Step 5. Issuance of the Citizenship Certificate to the applicant.  
• Step 6. Application for the assignment of a social security number.  
• Step 7. Application for the passport. Issuance of the passport.

Why you should choose St Lucia as your second home country

• The applications for citizenship are processed rather fast in St Lucia, within 60 to 90 days;
• You can include in the application dependent children of up to 25 years of age;
• You can also include dependent parents above 65 years of age;
• Inclusion of handicapped dependents in the application for St Lucian citizenship is allowed;
• You do not have to physically reside in the country to be its citizen;
• You do not have to visit St Lucia when filing the application for citizenship by investment;
• No personal interview is required and neither is higher education nor working experience;
• There are no taxes in St Lucia on inheritance, on dividends, on wealth, nor on income derived abroad;
• St Lucian passport allows travelling to over 130 destinations without a visa including Schengen zone countries, Great Britain (even after Brexit), and Hong Kong. 

If you would like to acquire St Lucian citizenship in the most efficient, most economical, and fastest way, please apply for our professional services. We specialize in investment immigration and we will be happy to answer all questions on this matter that you might have. Please contact us at [email protected] and we will get back to you shortly.