Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) saw a record performance in FY2021-22, with a 43% increase in applications and a doubling of investment to about $160 million. The rise is due to the real estate option, which saw a 184% YoY growth rate in applications and is now the largest financial contributor to the program.
In 2021-22, the program received 583 applications, a 43% increase from the preceding year. During the same period, it approved 433 applications, a 38% improvement, and rejected nine, as per The Board of Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Program annual report.
The increase is overwhelmingly due to the program\’s real estate option, which saw a 184% year-on-year growth rate in applications. While NEF contributions remained the largest single qualifying category also in 2021-22 (46% of all applications), real estate-based applications saw their proportion of the total rise from 20% in 2020-21 to 40% in 2021-22. The number of applications filed under the bond investment options also rose, albeit more modestly, from 65 applications in 2020-21 to 81 in 2021-22.
Overall, CBI applicants invested or donated a total of about US$160 million in the program in FY 2021-22, roughly double the figure for the year prior.
Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Program was established after parliamentary assent to Act No. 14 of 2015 on August 24, 2015. Regulations of the citizenship program are cited in statutory instrument no. 89 of 2015 with subsequent amendments being introduced in statutory instrument no. 1 of 2017.
A Saint Lucia passport by investment and citizenship are granted to qualified applicants within 4 to 5 months with no residency requirements. Once the applicant is granted citizenship, he or she becomes a citizen for life.