The St. Vincent opposition party (NDP) stated on Wednesday that it would carry out its agenda in relation to the CBI program once elected to office. The opposition leader Godwin Friday stated that they will seek the best models for developing the program.
Despite the imposition of a UK visa requirement for Dominica and three other OECS countries by December 2023, and the impending removal of visa-free travel for OECS CBI countries to the 27 EU nations covered by the Schengen Visa Waiver program, the party’s position is clear.
Friday stated that the Citizenship by Investment program is one that the party, like other countries in the OECS area has pushed to their benefit.
“The integrity of the program depends on how it is managed, and you have lots of other countries in the region that have been running programs since the 1980s and so forth, and they continue to do so in a way that meets with the approval of the international agencies and governments. So that is certainly the model that we would implement here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines: open and transparent.”
Friday said that without proper management of a program of such nature, it would only be short-term and to no one’s benefit.
“We understand that if you have a program of that nature and you don’t manage it properly, you are basically just ensuring that it is short-term, and that doesn’t make sense. So open and transparent is the approach that we will adopt, and we will look for the best examples in the region and learn from them because we are coming late to the game”, Friday said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the CBI crackdown on Dominica and four other OECS nations by the UK could have an impact on the entire currency union. For some of the islands, it will be severe, he said.
“Severe implications, and some of them substantial, because the money for the CBI program is used as revenue, which goes to their recurrent expenditure”.
“It may have some knock-on effects also for the whole currency union, but that is a matter that we will have to deal with as we go along”.
According to Gonsalves, there won’t be a problem with the exchange rate, but a decline in economic activity.
Gonsalves advised the citizens of Saint Vincent to exercise caution whenever someone approaches them with a scheme to get rich quick.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman told British MPs in a letter that the two Commonwealth countries, Dominica and Vanuatu, “operated a citizenship by investment scheme that has shown clear and evident abuse”.
According to the UK government, concerns surrounding Dominica’s program include:
Poor due diligence around applications, including those of dependents, The provision for name changes upon receipt of citizenship The lack of a residency requirement for applicants and the granting of citizenship to nationals of other countries who ordinarily require visas to enter the UK have consequently led to increased levels of asylum applications.
