GRENADA
an investment in a government-
approved real-estate development
or other economically beneficial
project. The NTF donation is the
cheaper option, newly priced at
$150,000 for individual investors or
$200,000 for a family of four, but
offers no return on investment.
The investment option requires a
minimum investment of $350,000,
held for at least three years in one of 18
government-approved projects, plus
a government donation of $50,000;
unlike the donation, however, it can
provide investors with rental income
or other long-term revenue streams.
So far in 2017, Grenada has seen 188
donation-based CBI applications, and
108 investment-based applications.
Grenada’s citizenship-by-investment
program, which was created in mid-
2013, is booming. Since 2015, a new
marketing push has helped triple the
island's CBI receipts, adding $116.91
million to the tiny island’s economy
so far this year.
That’s a vast improvement on the
$2.63 million the program raised
through government donations and
real-estate investments in 2014.
This September alone, more people
filed CBI applications than in all of
2014, according to government
data. “In the last two years we’ve
seen a particular increase in the
number of people,” says Micha Rose
Emmett, CEO of CS Global Partners,
which has handled marketing for
Grenada’s CBI program since
2015. “Any country that introduces a
program needs to develop trust with
applicants in different regions. I
believe that since 2015, Grenada has
established that, and reinforced it.”
Grenada saw just 23 citizenship-
by-investment applications in 2014,
but the rate rose to 108 in 2015 and
116 in 2016. This year, investments
are climbing even higher, with 296
applications in the first three quarters
of 2017; including dependents, the
island has created 484 new citizens
through the program so far this year.
The NTF donation has become
the more popular option as the
CBI program has grown, in part
because it’s easier for investors to
understand, Emmett says.
“Grenada has done more this year
than in all the other years combined,”
says Warren Newfield, Grenada’s
ambassador-at-large and the
country’s consul general in Miami. “When you’re making an investment,
you want to know what the ROI is
and what your obligations are,” she
explains. “The NTF is a much more
straightforward and purer route to
investment.”
“The government has been delighted
to see the momentum it’s building.”
Now, the government is pushing
to further improve the program’s
performance, reducing the minimum
investment for individual investors,
and streamlining numerous areas
of the program’s administration to
make it more attractive. THE BENEFIT OF
GRENADA’S E-2
TREATY WITH THE
UNITED STATES
TWO PATHS
TO CITIZENSHIP
Investors have two main pathways
to gaining citizenship in Grenada: a
direct donation to the government’s
National Transformation Fund, or
A big part of the Grenada program’s
newfound success can also be
attributed to a growing realization
that Grenadian citizenship allows
investors to seek an E-2 investor
visa to settle in the United States,
Emmett says.
The E-2 visa doesn’t provide
permanent residency or a pathway
to US citizenship, but can allow
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