Like Durov: a āgolden passportā in the Caribbean and a start-up offshore for surrender
What is known about Pavel Durov? According to Forbes in 2018, this person had a fortune of $ 1.7 billion. He had a hand in the creation of the VK social network and the Telegram messenger, launched the Telegram Inc. cryptocurrency and in the summer of 2019 held an ICO. And Durov left the Russian Federation in 2014, saying that he was not going to return.
But did you know that a year earlier, Durov prudently prepared a āreserve airfieldā, having obtained citizenship for money in the Caribbean - to be more precise in the country of Saint Kitts and Nevis, spending a quarter of a million dollars on this? For a number of reasons (mainly due to price competition), a similar service is now much cheaper. Why not give yourself a gift and prepare plan āBā like Durovās? Moreover, the Caribbean passport gives a lot of advantages, although there are enough minuses.
In 2017, hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the Caribbean. Got and the country of St. Kitts and Nevis. Serious damage was inflicted on its transport infrastructure, schools, police stations and other important facilities. The total damage was estimated at approximately $ 150 million.
The country needed money to recover. Therefore, it was decided to issue economic citizenship at a discount. Whereas previously the entry threshold was $ 250,000 (thatās how much Durov gave in 2013), then in September 2017 there was an opportunity to obtain citizenship and a passport of Saint Kitts and Nevis by contributing only $ 150,000 to the specially created Hurricane Assistance Fund (HRF) )
It was originally planned that the discount will be available for 6 months, after which the HRF fund will close and prices will return to their previous level. But Saint Kitts and Nevis is not the only island country that extends citizenship as an investment and is trying to recover from the 2017 hurricane season with a similar financial instrument.
The launch of HRF in St. Kitts and the introduction of a discount forced other Caribbean countries issuing passports to investors to take similar measures. As a result, when the six-month period for the operation of the HRF fund expired, it was decided to create a permanent Fund for Sustainable Growth (SGF) without changing the minimum price tag.
The Saint Kitts and Nevis Investment Citizenship Program is the oldest in the Caribbean and in the whole world. It was founded in 1984 and has long been a popular choice for wealthy people. Today, the program still continues to be an excellent option for those who are looking for alternatives to their current citizenship. But before you apply, you need to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.
The program offers 2 ways to obtain citizenship and a passport: gratuitous subsidized donation or return investment in real estate in St. Kitts and Nevis, approved by the authorities.
As with most other investment citizenship programs, a mere subsidy or return on investment to get a passport will not be enough. You will also need to pay additional government fees.
Saint Kitts and Nevis is one of the few countries where the procedure for obtaining economic citizenship is completed on time. When applying, your documentation should include, among other things, the following (a full list of forms and documents can be found here):
Please note that you cannot directly apply for citizenship to the authorities. This can only be done through an accredited immigration agent, paying the appropriate agency fees. The amount of agency fees by the state is not regulated / regulated and can vary widely, but as a rule they amount to about 20-30 thousand US dollars.
The step-by-step process of obtaining economic citizenship, carried out under the direction of the relevant department of the CBIU (Citizenship by Investment Unit), includes the following:
It should be noted that currently Saint Kitts and Nevis does not accept applicants from the Republic of Iraq or the Republic of Yemen. It is possible that in the future the āblack listā may be expanded.
In general, it can be said that Durov did not in vain choose Saint Kitts and Nevis for obtaining economic citizenship. The country has a high-quality program with established processes. It may not be the cheapest, but recently St. Kitts passport has been offered at a very reasonable price.
If you need visa-free access to Central and South America, Europe or even Russia, this is a great option. If you need a prestigious program of economic citizenship, remember that the scheme of St. Kitts and Nevis has the status of the oldest of the existing ones.
One way or another, the choice is yours. Before submitting an application, you need to weigh the pros and cons and, if possible, consult with experts. If you need help figuring out whether this option is right for you or not, feel free to ask questions in the comments!
But did you know that a year earlier, Durov prudently prepared a āreserve airfieldā, having obtained citizenship for money in the Caribbean - to be more precise in the country of Saint Kitts and Nevis, spending a quarter of a million dollars on this? For a number of reasons (mainly due to price competition), a similar service is now much cheaper. Why not give yourself a gift and prepare plan āBā like Durovās? Moreover, the Caribbean passport gives a lot of advantages, although there are enough minuses.
Citizenship for Investment Saint Kitts and Nevis: Discount
In 2017, hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the Caribbean. Got and the country of St. Kitts and Nevis. Serious damage was inflicted on its transport infrastructure, schools, police stations and other important facilities. The total damage was estimated at approximately $ 150 million.
The country needed money to recover. Therefore, it was decided to issue economic citizenship at a discount. Whereas previously the entry threshold was $ 250,000 (thatās how much Durov gave in 2013), then in September 2017 there was an opportunity to obtain citizenship and a passport of Saint Kitts and Nevis by contributing only $ 150,000 to the specially created Hurricane Assistance Fund (HRF) )
It was originally planned that the discount will be available for 6 months, after which the HRF fund will close and prices will return to their previous level. But Saint Kitts and Nevis is not the only island country that extends citizenship as an investment and is trying to recover from the 2017 hurricane season with a similar financial instrument.
The launch of HRF in St. Kitts and the introduction of a discount forced other Caribbean countries issuing passports to investors to take similar measures. As a result, when the six-month period for the operation of the HRF fund expired, it was decided to create a permanent Fund for Sustainable Growth (SGF) without changing the minimum price tag.
Citizenship for investment St. Kitts and Nevis: pros and cons (risks)
The Saint Kitts and Nevis Investment Citizenship Program is the oldest in the Caribbean and in the whole world. It was founded in 1984 and has long been a popular choice for wealthy people. Today, the program still continues to be an excellent option for those who are looking for alternatives to their current citizenship. But before you apply, you need to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.
| pros | Minuses |
| The price tag is lower than in many other countries issuing citizenship to investors, including Malta, Turkey, Cyprus and Montenegro (the launch of the corresponding program in the Balkan country is scheduled for the end of 2019), | If you look for alternatives, you will find that cheaper options are also available in the Caribbean (Antigua, Dominica, Saint Lucia) |
| In this country, you can obtain the fastest citizenship, if you pay (see below). The standard procedure takes 4-6 months, expedited 1.5-2 months. | Pay for an expedited consideration of the application will have to 20 000 - 25 000 US dollars for each person involved in the application. |
| St. Kitts passport is perfect for travelers and international business travelers, allowing you to travel without visas (or with an electronic visa / visa upon arrival) to about 15 countries and territories, including Schengen states, Great Britain (even after Brexit) and Russia. Durov also wrote about this advantage of the Caribbean passport on his VKontakte page, noting the high convenience . | The right to visa-free travel to a particular country may disappear. A similar thing happened in 2014, when the islanders lost their right to a visa-free visit to Canada.
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| All the same, Durov noted the possibility of issuing a Caribbean passport remotely: "I have never been to Saint Kitts - you can get a passport without leaving Europe." | Yes, the passport is issued quite easily. But you can also easily lose it if you make a serious mistake or withhold information when applying for citizenship, and this will become clear later. The revocation of Caribbean citizenship can also result in the commission of a serious crime after its receipt. |
| The benefits of a St. Kitts and Nevis passport include a low tax burden. So, in the country there has never been an individual tax on personal income from sources on its territory and abroad. There is also no capital gains tax and inheritance / gift taxes. | The bonus associated with the absence of personal income tax is available only to fiscal residents of the country, which can be included only if you spend most of the year on its territory. In addition, taxes can rise at any time if officials urgently need money. |
| Saint Kitts legislation allows for dual citizenship, while investors can apply for passports in the country anonymously - officials in their home country will not know anything. | In some countries it is forbidden to have multiple citizenship, and if a native of such a state receives a St. Kitts passport, and this information becomes public, he will face serious troubles. |
| A foreigner can receive passive income if he decides to apply for citizenship for investments in the resort real estate of Saint Kitts and Nevis (you need to spend between $ 200,000 and the possibility of withdrawing from the investment in 7 years; see below). | Powerful hurricanes often come to the region, as noted above, which damage or even destroy resorts and reduce the flow of tourists. In addition, some resorts are not being completed, turning into "financial pyramids." |
| After obtaining citizenship, you can open an account with a local bank to expand your clientele, or even register a startup in this low-tax jurisdiction for a nominal fee. | Opening a bank account is actually not so easy, especially if you do not open it in East Caribbean dollars (local currency). |
| The country's economic citizenship program is considered one of the most stable in the world, allowing investors and their families to get passports for more than three decades. | It is possible that the issuance of passports to investors will be stopped or the conditions of the corresponding procedure toughened up under pressure from outside or after a change of power in the country. |
| Saint Kitts is trying to maintain geopolitical neutrality, paying equal attention to the development of relations with both the West and the East (in particular, with the Russian Federation). | A number of Western countries such as the United States put pressure on Saint Kitts, forcing local banks to conduct additional checks on funds related to the economic citizenship program, which slows down the process of obtaining a passport. |
Citizenship for investment St. Kitts and Nevis: how much must you pay to get a Caribbean passport?
The program offers 2 ways to obtain citizenship and a passport: gratuitous subsidized donation or return investment in real estate in St. Kitts and Nevis, approved by the authorities.
| Subsidy | Real estate investment |
| The applicant must make a one-time non-refundable donation of US $ 150,000 to the Sustainable Growth Fund.
A family of four (the main applicant and 3 dependents) can count on citizenship for a donation of $ 195,000. Funds received from donations are used, inter alia, to finance healthcare, education and alternative energy. | This option is slightly more expensive, but you have a chance to return most of the money invested or even earn money (if you rent housing, and / or its prices rise). But remember that investing is allowed only in approved development projects.
If you decide to invest in real estate, you have the opportunity to invest $ 200,000 in a part of the resort that you can sell in seven years. In this case, you will need to find a like-minded person who is ready to contribute the same amount to the same asset with you. Another option is to invest $ 400,000 in real estate that you can resell in just five years. This option is more complicated, as you will have to pay increased attention to choosing an asset from more than a hundred resorts (a list of them is available on the programās official website ), avoiding frankly non-viable projects (there are enough of them). |
As with most other investment citizenship programs, a mere subsidy or return on investment to get a passport will not be enough. You will also need to pay additional government fees.
| Additional government fees | |
| Subsidy | Real estate investment |
| When you enable a collective application, more than three dependents will need to pay US $ 10,000 for each additional dependent, regardless of age. That is, if there are 6 people in the application, you will have to pay 215,000 US dollars (195,000 + 2 x 10,000). | Upon approval of the application, a state fee of US $ 35,050 is paid for the main applicant, US $ 20,050 for his spouse (if any and is included in the application), and US $ 10,050 for any other dependent of the main applicant of any age (if availability and inclusion in the application). |
| Regardless of the financial option chosen, $ 7,500 will have to be paid for the trustworthiness of the main investor and $ 4,000 for a similar service for each dependent over 16 years old. | |
| It is possible to expedite the processing of an application within one and a half to two months when ordering the AAP (Accelerated Application Process) procedure. In this case, the main applicant pays a supplement of $ 25,000 for himself and $ 20,000 for each dependent over 16 years of age included in the collective application. In addition, when applying for a St. Kitts and Nevis passport, any dependents under the age of 16 will be charged an additional $ 500 per person. | |
Citizenship for Investment Saint Kitts and Nevis: Document Package and Phased Process
Saint Kitts and Nevis is one of the few countries where the procedure for obtaining economic citizenship is completed on time. When applying, your documentation should include, among other things, the following (a full list of forms and documents can be found here):
- Birth certificates for the applicant and each dependent;
- Certificate of no criminal record from the police (must not be older than three months);
- Bank statements;
- Confirmation of address;
- Photograph and certificate of signature;
- A medical certificate that covers the results of an HIV test for any person over 12 years of age (must not be older than three months);
- A completed application form for a desire to obtain citizenship status;
Please note that you cannot directly apply for citizenship to the authorities. This can only be done through an accredited immigration agent, paying the appropriate agency fees. The amount of agency fees by the state is not regulated / regulated and can vary widely, but as a rule they amount to about 20-30 thousand US dollars.
The step-by-step process of obtaining economic citizenship, carried out under the direction of the relevant department of the CBIU (Citizenship by Investment Unit), includes the following:
- Contacting a licensed agent;
- Preliminary verification of the applicant by the agent;
- Collection and submission of documents to CBIU;
- A proper check of the applicant and his dependents for reliability (including checking the data on the availability of sanctions lists, crimes and sources of funds), which usually takes 2-5 months (if you do not pay extra for APP);
- If the official check is completed successfully, and the candidates of the main investor and his dependents (if any) are approved, it will be possible to invest / make a grant and draw up passports.
It should be noted that currently Saint Kitts and Nevis does not accept applicants from the Republic of Iraq or the Republic of Yemen. It is possible that in the future the āblack listā may be expanded.
Citizenship for Investment Saint Kitts and Nevis: Instead of Conclusion
In general, it can be said that Durov did not in vain choose Saint Kitts and Nevis for obtaining economic citizenship. The country has a high-quality program with established processes. It may not be the cheapest, but recently St. Kitts passport has been offered at a very reasonable price.
If you need visa-free access to Central and South America, Europe or even Russia, this is a great option. If you need a prestigious program of economic citizenship, remember that the scheme of St. Kitts and Nevis has the status of the oldest of the existing ones.
One way or another, the choice is yours. Before submitting an application, you need to weigh the pros and cons and, if possible, consult with experts. If you need help figuring out whether this option is right for you or not, feel free to ask questions in the comments!
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