Visa-Free Travel to EU Could Be Cut for CBI Nations Following Parliament Committee Approval
The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) has approved amendments to the European Union visa regulations that could potentially end visa-free access to the EU for countries running Citizenship-by-Investment Programs in the Caribbean.
This could potentially threaten the visa-free access to the EU for several third countries offering citizenship in exchange for investments, including the five Caribbean nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia.
The proposal was voted 41 to 10 in favor of the amendment by the Committee in charge of implementing VSM. Golden Passport programs in several European countries offer citizenship to wealthy non-EU nationals in exchange for financial investments.
Investor citizenship schemes listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 grant visa-free travel to the EU for non-EU nationals who would otherwise be subject to visas.
The European Parliament’s report suggests suspending visa exemption for third countries operating these schemes, which grant citizenship without any link to the third country concerned.
These programs contribute significantly to their economies but are often criticized for being involved in irregular affairs such as money laundering and corruption.
The suspension mechanism could be activated by an increase in serious criminal offenses connected to nationals of that country, deterioration in the EU’s external relations with a third country listed in Annex II, or a substantial increase in the number of third-country nationals arriving legally in that third country and then irregularly entering the territory of the Member States.