While applications for Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment programme have slowed during Covid, there's been no slowdown in the construction of the island's CBI-approved developments – eco resorts and hotels – all of which have continued construction at pace despite the pandemic.
Of the nearly 7 million (6.9 million) houses purchased in Turkey in the last five years, 154,871 were bought by foreign investors, demonstrating a rapid increase in foreign property purchase in Turkey in the last year due to the easing of minimum requirements for acquiring Turkish citizenship by investment.
In October, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Caribbean island Saint Lucia unveiled its new brand identity and website. With its contemporary and clean branding and content-rich, easy-to-use website, the programme’s unit has upped the ante in the global CBI programme stakes as it continues to grow during the pandemic.
While applications to Antigua & Barbuda’s successful citizenship by investment programme have continued throughout the pandemic, the numbers of applications have only recently returned to what they were pre-coronavirus, according to the Caribbean nation’s Citizenship by Investment Unit.
Following huge delays in applicant interviews for Bulgarian citizenship by investment due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bulgaria’s Justice Ministry has announced an increase in the number of time slots available during October 2020 in the online scheduling system of its citizenship by investment directorate.
In July 2020, the tourism-reliant Caribbean island of Barbados unveiled a 12-month visa to attract remote workers, and then in September, announced its intention to become a republic next year. With the pandemic having hit its tourism sector hard, could Barbados be revisit its plan from 2016 to launch a citizenship by investment programme?
While, predictably, the pandemic has triggered a sharp increase in demand for citizenship by investment, unpredictably, coronavirus has changed the who, why and where of the CBI landscape, with applicants from unexpected countries surging, reasons for economic citizenship changing, and some CBI countries really standing out from the citizenship crowd.
With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to create instability worldwide, and economic migration offering both an insurance policy and the option for a better life, there has been a huge spike in demand for citizenship by investment from high-net-worth investors in African, especially Nigerians and South Africans.
With its very low pandemic rate, laid-back lifestyle and 365 breathtaking beaches (one for each day of the year) and following the success achieved by its seven-year-old Citizenship by Investment Programme, Antigua & Barbuda unveils a residency programme allowing foreigners to live in, and work remotely from, the Caribbean island.
The government of Dominica has expanded its citizenship by investment opportunities, which includes its successful CBI programme, with the launch of a brand-new initiative. The Entrepreneur Visa Program lets foreigners acquire a residency permit to Dominica, from which they can then obtain citizenship, in exchange for investment in the country.