FAQs
The answers of the most frequently asked questions related to St.Kitts investment and real estate are given below. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any further information.
St Kitts and Nevis is a beautiful twin island federation in the Caribbean located some 2,000 km to the southeast of Miami. The country is well connected by flights from US, Europe. It is one of the smallest, wealthiest caribbean islands with just a population of 55,000. St Kitts is the 8th smallest country in the world in terms of land mass.
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The currency of St.Kitts and Nevis is Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD). Roughly 10 USD will buy you 27 Eastern Caribbean dollars.
The Citizenship-by-Investment Program of St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis was established in 1984, making it the longest established program of this kind in the world. The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis utilizes this program to attract investors of good character to make a substantial contribution to the development of the Federation.
Obtaining Citizenship and passport in another country by “legal” means are getting very difficult nowdays, and Governments are making sure that such programs are only available for wealthy or high net worth investors who are capable to making a substantial contribution to economy of the country and who are able to support themselves financially.
As of Jan 2019, the St.Kitts government has reduced the minimum investment amount to USD 150,000 under SGF and USD 200,000 under real estate for single applicant.
A non refundable charity donation of minimum US$ 150,000 to the Sustainable Growth Fund (SGF) for single person + payment of DD processing fees ($7500). The total investment amount (including all charges) comes approx around USD 157,500 for single applicant plus additional lawyer fees apply (average $6,000 per file) depending on accompanying family members
(or)
2. Designated recoverable Real Estate Investment with a value of at least US$ 200,000 plus payment of various registration and other fees . Additional charges include Govt processing fee, DD and application fees.
Additional costs apply including for any family dependents. You can include a spouse and children below 18 yrs of age in the citizenship application.
Please see the fee schedules.
The application process time after receiving the complete application forms and documents (as well as paying the funds) is currently 3-4 months – regardless if a client chooses the SGF option or the real-estate program. There is also an Accelerted application process (AAP) for additional fee where decisions are made in 60 days.
SGF option (replaces SIDF) is a public charity and the investment amount is donated to the sugar industry foundation (charity). is non refundable by the Govt. With real estate option it is bit expensive, but investment is recoverable (real estate can be sold after 5yrs).
The real estate investment is a recoverable investment, because you can sell it after 5-7 years. As of new rules from 2012, the next buyer will qualify for citizenship.
We highly recommend real-estate program, because having a “second home” in St.Kitts is a very good reason for getting a St.Kitts citizenship and passport. This would help even you are questioned at border controls.
As you can see, the real estate option is expensive but the real estate option is a recoverable investment however, you can only sell your property after 5 years. It also qualify the next buyer for citizenship.
Both real estate and SIDF takes the same approval time.
Yes. Children who are aged between 18 – 25 years pay additional USD 50,000 Government fees. Siblings also possible
We do not accept clients from Iran, North Korea, Cuba Afghanistan. These nationals who live outside their country with permanent resident status may be considered on case by case basis.
Please keep in mind citizenship granted under this citizenship-by-investment program is at discretion by the Government.
Obtaining a Second citizenship or passport by “legal” means are involves a lot of formalities nowdays and Governments are making sure that such programs are only available for wealthy or high net worth investors who are capable to making a substantial contribution to economy of the country and who are able to support themselves financially.
- Visa free travel for over 80 countries including all EU countries, Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.
- No residence requirements.
- Free to live and work in St.Kitts as a citizen
- No income or wealth tax.
- Second citizenship for your family members.
- International Tax planning
No, there is no residency requirement unlike Europe. You can directly qualify for citizenship.
No personal trips, travel or visit required. We know any sort of trips is impossible during Covid and government has eased the restrictions.
To know more about list of countries for visa free travel with st kitts passport, please see this page
St. Kitts & Nevis has no personal income tax, no wealth tax, and no inheritance taxes.
The passport issued carries 10 year validity and after that it can be renewed.
If applicant has a criminal record, a tainted reputation or unable to pass the due diligence clearance, the Government may reject the citizenship application. Sometimes, in very rare cases, the Govt refuse citing national security or false information presented in the citizenship application.
If you have had visa denial to any one of the countries, where St.Kitts and Nevis have visa free travel agreements, you cannot apply for the citizenship-by-investment program. You must have successfully obtained visa from the same country which denied your visa, inorder to apply for citizenship program.
Please note that granting citizenship is at the sole discretion of the St.Kitts and Nevis Government. We cannot therefore guarantee that any applications will be approved. We carefully evaluate each applicant’s individual situation prior to accepting a citizenship applications and only if we are satisfied with applicants eligibility we will submit to Government. We do not use any intermediaries and we serve to protect confidentiality of our wealthy clients.
We highly recommend our clients to arrange the following important documents, before applying for citizenship program. Normally it takes 1-2 months to arrange for these documents in your home country. There are several other documents needed at a later stage, and we will assist you accordingly.
1. Police clearance certificate. If you have lived in any other country in the past 10 years, you have to obtain, “certificate of no criminal record” in all the countries you have lived in the past 10 years. If you are in US, you will need to obtain police clearance from county and FBI.
Please note that, police certificates must be less than six months old at the time you lodge your citizenship application.
2. Two Original birth certificates per person.
3. Documents which are not in English, must be officially translated.
4. Medical certificate with HIV clearance (not older than 3 months)
5. Certified copy of Marriage certificate.
6. Two Reference letters from Bankers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountant (not older than 3 months).
All the above documents must be certified and authenticated by Apostille. For more information on apostille, please see https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/specialised-sections/apostille. We can help you with arranging your documents in our office, for a fee.
Yes, due diligence will be carried out for children with 16 years or above. Further children above 18 years of age, need to provide evidence of college enrollment.
First you need to tell us how many people including family members and children, would be applying for the citizenship program. Initially we ask our clients to pay $7500 due diligence fee plus 50% of lawyer fee to file the application. You will pay the rest of investment ONLY after receiving Letter of Approval from Citizenship Investment Unit St Kitts.
No. You are not required to live in St. Kitts and Nevis but as a citizen you have every right to live and work in St.Kitts, whenever you want.
No, not required as most of the work is taken care by us. But, if you prefer you can come to St.Kitts and get to know more on the investments here like real estate etc.
We do encourage our clients to come visit St.Kitts for investing in real estate and have a personal discussion with our lawyers and estate planning specialists.
Citizens of certain countries, do need to apply for visa for arrival in St.Kitts. For more information on this, please see this St.Kitts Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website
For flight schedules, please refer to St.Kitts Tourism page: http://www.stkittstourism.kn
Yes, we assist our clients with residence programs in Austria, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Canada and Belgium. For more information about these programs, please visit our sister website: http://best-citizenships.com
The St Kitts & Nevis government has no restrictions on “dual citizenship” and does not report citizenship information to other countries. While, most countries prohibit dual citizenship, it depends on where you live and sometimes as per laws of your home country, you may need to give up one citizenship to acquire other.
http://www.immihelp.com/citizenship/dual-citizenship-recognize-countries.html
http://www.sgwiki.com/wiki/Dual_citizenship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_citizenship
For professional advice, please consult a embassy or lawyer in your home country on immigration and citizenships with respect to dual nationality.
The costs and applicable fee are clearly mentioned in the homepage of our website. If you have any other specific questions, please contact us
yes, it is possible, but provided each has contributed $200,000 for real estate. Remember you buy real estate for $200,000 with limited share (hold for 5 years) and $400,000 full title properties (hold for 5 years)
yes, refunds are possible minus application and other service charges , should your application be denied by the government. Your investment amount is kept in a safe escrow account, until you get the citizenship approval from the Govt. Our lawyers draft clear agreements on applicable fees and refund policy with our clients.
If husband and wife are both citizens of St.Kitts and Nevis, then the new born baby will automatically inherit the citizenship.
St Kitts has diplomatic missions in United States, United Kingdom, UAE and other countries. The full list is available here: https://www.foreign.gov.kn/embassies-overseas/