What does peace of mind mean to you? To many, peace of mind is associated with a place to stay, or even, a home. Having a place to stay brings about security, safety, and stability. This is why many people turn to real estate investment to secure their future via an alternative citizenship.
For investors seeking a reliable and tangible asset along with alternative citizenship, real estate investment can be the best course of action. CBI programmes such as Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis offer the real estate investment option.
Through investing in an alternative citizenship, applicants can ensure access to a safe home for themselves. Additionally, they can simultaneously helping to secure a better future for their family. Alternatively, the real estate investment option can give investors the ability to invest in hotels and resorts. This benefits the local economy and provides them with a potentially high return on investment.
Benefits of investing in real estate
One unique offering of CBI programmes, such as many of the Caribbean CBI programmes, is the ability to choose and purchase real estate. This real estate is pre-selected by the country and could include hotels, resorts and homes.
These options give investors tangible, material benefits to their investment. It grants all of the usual benefits of CBI. This means that the real estate investment route gives investors the ability to make returns on their investment while still receiving a second citizenship.
Therefore, the real estate investment option offers investors multiple benefits, from benefitting the investor and investor’s family to benefitting the country which offers the CBI programme. The real estate investment option has a multi-pronged positive effect on all parties involved in the investment.
The real estate investment option gives families a safe place to live in a different country than their origin. These properties are vetted and chosen by the CBI country. They are among the most beautiful and luxurious places to live.
Especially for big families, the real estate investment option can be more affordable. Investing in real estate big enough for the whole family, according to the St. Kitts and Nevis’s CBI programme, can save money compared to the donation option.
This option offers luxurious homes of the best quality, along with plush hotel suites and beautiful beachfront apartments.
Not only are these places luxurious and safe, but they also offer environmental, sustainability and biodiversity benefits to the host countries. Eco tourism, local sourcing of foods and respecting the natural environment all add to the sustainability credentials of these places.
Ecotourism, sustainability, and biodiversity
Real estate investment not only benefits you and your family; it also helps the country that you invest in. CBI funds can go to making the country offering second citizenship more sustainable, biodiverse and economically diversified. You can even directly contribute through investing in hotels and resorts.
For example, St Kitts and Nevis offers luxury homes like penthouses and villas. These homes bring prestige and exclusivity to discerning investors, along with potential high returns on investment. Applicants can also choose to support hotels and resorts with their investment.
Eco-resorts are one facet of the ecotourism offering which CBI goes to support. Ecotourism is especially prominent in the Caribbean. The region is on the forefront of global innovation in the climate, sustainability and environmental sectors.
Utilising the tourist appeal of the picturesque beaches and mountains, and the uniquely biodiverse flora and fauna of the region, ecotourism attracts investment to the island while using this investment to protect the natural environment.
One hotel that has received CBI funding and is using it for sustainable purposes is Belle Mont Farm in St Kitts and Nevis. Known for its sustainable food programme, the hotel offers organic fruits and vegetables foraged by staffers and freshly caught seafood.
The hotel also prides itself on maintaining a balance with the natural environment. This is evident with its farm providing a table dining option of locally sourced foods to keen ecotourists.
Award-winning resorts
Dominica also offers a real estate investment option, allowing Dominican citizenship to investors who purchase authorised property. Some of these properties include ecotouristic offerings, such as the Secret Bay Resort.
An innovative eco-resort, the Secret Bay Resort is one of the most prominent green hotels in the Caribbean. The resort is composed of Guyanese hardwood, which was sourced sustainably. The resort was assembled by hand, and each villa was placed in locations that would require little clear-cutting. Ecotourists can take advantage of the resort’s classes on Dominica’s local plants, animals and other natural advantages that make Dominica special.
The resort also uses locally sourced products in its restaurant, with 80% of the restaurant’s offerings being made with locally sourced herbs, produce, and seafood.
Due diligence for the real estate investment option
Applicants must be prepared to undergo strict due diligence requirements to receive a second citizenship. The real estate investment is a useful and practical way of gaining a second citizenship, but strict rules still apply.
The real estate is pre-selected by the government offering the CBI programme. The applicant must also make a minimum real estate investment to qualify.
The Caribbean countries have the highest standards of due diligence.
St Kitts and Nevis offers biometric-shared background checks, which make it so citizenship can only be attained through a scrupulous screening process.
Dominica’s robust and multilayer due diligence includes background checks, in-person checks, source of wealth verification and law enforcement checks. The real estate investment option offers pre-approved properties, ensuring another layer of due diligence.
The 2023 CBI Index praised Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis for having the most strict and fastidious due diligence.
The extensive vetting includes multiple stages and substages of checks and is compliant with international standards for these programmes. The programmes work with the international community to maintain their compliance with these requirements.
In February 2023, the Caribbean CBI countries agreed to six due diligence principles in the US-Caribbean Roundtable. These principles included making interviews mandatory, collective treatment of application denials and suspending processing applications from Russia and Belarus, among other additional checks.
The agreement on these principles indicates the foremost importance that CBI countries place on their due diligence initiatives. Applicants interested in the real estate investment option, along with other CBI options, must prepare to undergo the multistage vetting process in order to gain their second citizenship.
Importance of the real estate investment option
Real estate investment is a particularly important method of acquiring a second citizenship. This is because it is so tied up with ideas of ownership and identity. Having a piece of real estate in another country brings economic benefits to that country and gives the investor peace of mind.
According to the World Citizenship Report, physical safety and economic opportunity are widely sought after for investors seeking a second citizenship. The real estate investment option brings both, along with bringing growth and opportunity to the CBI country.
Given widespread global turmoil, from wars in Europe and the Middle East to environmental hazards, it has never been more important to have options and a Plan B.
The real estate investment option provides a reliable and safe option for investors looking to have the option to stay in countries that are beautiful, safe, and economically vibrant.
Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis, for example, are ranked highly for safety, security, and economic opportunity. These countries are politically stable, have low crime rates, and have a free and independent press.
These are all things that can no longer be taken for granted, given global upheaval and democratic deficit.
It is more important than ever to protect places that boast safety, sustainability, and biodiversity. Choosing to invest in a second citizenship, particularly in a country that has strong environmental and democratic credentials, can be an asset to investors and their cherished families.
Towards a sustainable future
Not only can real estate investment bring safety, economic opportunity, and growth; it can also benefit the environment and sustainability initiatives.
In Caribbean CBI countries such as Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis, real estate investment in eco resorts and sustainably made homes is a great way to give back to the community. It also assists in preserving the beautiful, biodiverse natural environment of the Caribbean.
The real estate investment option gives investors, who have undergone the necessary multistep due diligence processes, an excellent opportunity to receive a return on investment. It might also grant investors something even more special: peace of mind.
