According to reports released recently, Grenada Citizenship by Investment Program—the only CIP in the Caribbean that still accepts Russian applicants—broke all prior records for application volume in the third quarter of the year.
Nearly three times as many applications as the previous quarter and 164% more than the previous quarterly record from Q4 2021 were submitted to the Grenada CIP during the third quarter. Applications have rapidly increased for five straight months, suggesting that Q4 will set records again.
Grenada presented quarterly statistics reports for the second and third quarters after skipping the second quarter. It was reasonable to assume that this delay was caused by Grenada\’s summertime change of leadership and the ensuing changes to the CIU leadership.
However, according to data provided this week, the delay may have resulted from the CIU being overly busy over the past few months due to a large influx of applications.
The sharp increase is most likely due to Grenada\’s decision in late April to defy regional consensus and refuse to exclude Russians based solely on nationality, making the Grenada CIP the only remaining option in the region open to both Russians and Belarusians.
Grenada does not, as a matter of policy, publish statistics on the nationality of its applicants. Grenada has experienced a more than quadrupling in the number of monthly applications since reopening to Russians.
Grenada only handled 86 applications in Q3 despite receiving 462. (85 approvals and one rejection). If Grenada\’s CIU has been able to properly ramp up processing capacity to manage the extraordinary flood of applications, it will be clear from the Q4 statistics report, which will be made public early in the new year. If it doesn\’t, Grenada CBI applicants may anticipate significant backlogs to result in months-long delays, especially as the number of applications is still on the rise.
The Grenada Citizenship by Investment Program was established in accordance with Act No. 15 of 2013, known as the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Act. The act constitutes that qualified persons can acquire Grenadian citizenship by registration following a financial investment in Grenada. Investment criteria were set as part of this Citizenship by Investment Act.
Grenada passport by investment and citizenship is granted to qualified applicants within 3 to 4 months with no residency requirements, making it one of the fastest citizenship programs in the world. Once the applicant is granted their Grenada passport by investment and citizenship, she or he becomes a citizen for life.
Grenada passport is 33 in the Global Ranking in 2022 and gives access to 146 Visa-Free destinations including Hong Kong, India, Singapore, the UK, and Europe’s Schengen Area.