St. Kitts and Nevis will update its citizenship rules through marriage in an effort to crack down on bogus marriages.
Garth Wilkin, Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, indicated last week at the Prime Minister’s Press Conference that it was time to put an end to the illicit industry, which began in 2019.
“We are very close to finalizing new marriage verification regulations under the Citizenship Act,” he said. “Marriage verification officers will be assigned to monitor and interview applicants to determine whether a marriage is valid and whether people are marrying for the sole purpose of obtaining citizenship, which is a violation of our Citizenship Act.”
“We discovered a widespread black market industry where citizens of St Kitts and Nevis were being paid as little as 850 dollars and as much as 10,000 dollars to marry non-nationals who then obtained citizenship the next day,” he stated.
Ramon “Hushpuppi” Abbas, a convicted Nigerian fraudster, was involved in one of the most publicized false weddings in St Kitts & Nevis.
According to the US Justice Department, Abbas used US$50,000 stolen from a businessman to illegally obtain St Kitts and Nevis citizenship and a passport through a fictitious marriage.
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis stated in November 2022 that it was investigating how to revoke Abbas’ citizenship.
