est. 2007

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Cash Strapped Caribbean Governments Selling Citizenships

Submitted by Mahogany Coconut Think Tank and Watchdog Group As the economic crisis lengthens, Caribbean governments strapped for foreign exchange and foreign investments have decided to sell citizenship in order to plug holes within their economies. We have already stated that we are being drawn into a whirlpool of global proportions that may very well,…

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Submitted by Mahogany Coconut Think Tank and Watchdog Group
Citizenship a commodity
Citizenship a commodity

As the economic crisis lengthens, Caribbean governments strapped for foreign exchange and foreign investments have decided to sell citizenship in order to plug holes within their economies. We have already stated that we are being drawn into a whirlpool of global proportions that may very well, forever, change the image and direction of our island states.

There are those who will argue and quite correctly that bigger and more economically powerful countries, including the United States of America, are already involved in such activity. Once again we are forced to ask: Why are we following others?

Many of our people, who live in the Diaspora, have given up on returning home because of what they consider to be the high cost of living. While we do not support such positions, we are fully aware that those who have planted roots in other countries have many factors to consider when contemplating a return to our island states.


However, what we fear is that those who do want to return will now have to compete with very wealthy investor/ economic citizens, who once they become settled, would want to reap all the rewards of their investment in citizenship. We must therefore question the wisdom in these short term remedies to problems that cannot be solved overnight.

We can therefore expect several negatives to emerge which will be bordering on economic and social discrimination. The question should be: Did we endure four hundred years of slavery and colonialism to sell our birthright? The question once asked of Barbadians, by Errol Barrow, must now be asked of the entire Caribbean: What kind of mirror image do we have of ourselves?

We urge you to read the following article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/caribbean-islands-sell-citizenship_n_2670241.html

26 responses to “Cash Strapped Caribbean Governments Selling Citizenships”

  1. nellie Avatar
    nellie

    You got any suggestions?

  2. Yardbroom Avatar
    Yardbroom

    @ nellie
    “You got any suggestions?”

    Perhaps those can come through discussion on the Blog; is that not one of the functions of a Blog?

  3. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Check Canadian Entrepreneurship Visa. This has bee available since the early 1980’s. What is there to fear? Those who live in the diasporaq already “rub shoulders” with these same people. We have to get with the real world and show that we can measure up to anyone. the “innocent” days of long ago will never return and our hope for a utopian and egalitarian society will never be realized.

  4. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    HUH ???? You have been flagging ships for years that don’t ply your waters. You don’t mind feeding off other peoples turf. The rich have invested heavily on the island over the years now you are saying you cant be a citizen unless you can trace your roots back to Bussa. Nonsense do you think that Canada, Australia etc do not have different classes of immigrant. Yes we take in refugees but we also give citizenship to wealthy entrepreneurs who invest heavily, in a way we do sell citizenship .Do you think as a country you can survive without foreign investment. especially yours , you have no resources to sell , your gays are claiming refugee status in other countries, you don’t want the rich getting citizenship what is going on down there.

  5. Ping Pong Avatar
    Ping Pong

    As I understand it, one main aim of the recent budget is to close the deficit by essentially raising $300 million in revenue. Now the Government raised VAT from 15% to 17.5% over two years ago and received LESS revenue. That tells me that Barbadians are at their limit and with all the will in the world can produce no more. Would it be unreasonable to predict that the revenue expectations of the 2013 budget will NOT be realised?

    So while we sell land to the foreigners why not throw in citizenship as well to sweeten the deal?

    Hey Bush Tea have the lifeboats been deployed yet?

  6. Well Well. Avatar
    Well Well.

    Alvin Cummins | September 5, 2013 at 7:03 AM |

    Check Canadian Entrepreneurship Visa. This has bee available since the early 1980′s. What is there to fear? Those who live in the diasporaq already “rub shoulders” with these same people. We have to get with the real world and show that we can measure up to anyone. the “innocent” days of long ago will never return and our hope for a utopian and egalitarian society will never be realized.
    _______________________________

    Have to agree with Alvin and Lawson on this one, however, Alvin, if you check the various levels of residence/citizenship Canada is offering business people who sees the potential in Canada and would like to take up the offers, background checks and due diligence is a must, the requirements are rigid, the two political parties in Barbados when in power absolutely refuse to do due diligence and background checks on wealthy people and ultimately allow into the island all the rich riff raff across Europe and North America. The British husband/american wife couple who were caught in the US Embassy in London with drugs is a good case in point, stupidly wealthy with an 18 million pound/dollar mansion on the island, believe the wife overdosed, husband currently in prison/treatment, that is the sort of background checks you need for these people. The local cops would never have turned up with a warrant to search their mansion and the local ministers would be afraid to upset them. That is my only reservation.

  7. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Be careful of what you wish for, some folks here are not differentiating between immigrants looking for an investment opportunity or those who are passport shopping.

    Instead of blanket statements about “Canada” etc. no one has mentioned the regulations and restrictions which apply to those who are successful and the opportunities which are potentially available to them there which I am sure are not readily available in the Caribbean. Even with all the regulations regarding investment and employment prospects for Canadians some “investors’ still managed to finagle the system. The program in Canada is now on “pause” while the Gov’t tries to handle the applications in the pipeline.

    Passport shoppers are aplenty and some Caribbean Gov’ts have paid a price for allowing this practice in the form of the Canadian Gov’t imposing Visa requirements on entry from those countries.

  8. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Sargeant | September 5, 2013 at 8:41 AM |
    “Even with all the regulations regarding investment and employment prospects for Canadians some “investors’ still managed to finagle the system. ”

    “Finagle”! Nice word, that! Shows the fecundity of your “mental” dictionary.
    A word your friend Mr. Stuart should be keen to become familiar with.
    A word that aptly describes the lies, deceit and dishonesty used in the last general elections to con the voters.

    The chickens have come home to roost led by a mother hen called “Retribution”. Every thing this DLP administration preached against is being turned upside down in a real show of volte-face.
    That great man EWB made the prophetic statement of the coming day when Bajans would wake up and find that Barbados is no longer theirs.

    “Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.” ~Suzanne Necker.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    Yardfowlism is alive and well. Standup the Independents!

  10. Well Well. Avatar
    Well Well.

    Sargeant should also add that when the Canadians catch you lying or using the new residence or citizenship for any shady deals they immediately revoke your status, same applies to the US and England, we are yet to see these two political parties in Barbados having that kind of integrity, they allow the rich into the island and then grow afraid of them, different mentality.

    They just deported last year Conrad Black from the US back to Canada. The tin pot politicians on the island have not yet grown any real balls.

  11. George C. Brathwaite Avatar
    George C. Brathwaite

    @ Alvin Cummins

    You do surprise me with some of the positions you take and the arguments you make. The contention as I understand it is about the sale of citizenship, not about having facilitation of an immigrant status. In that regard, Barbados is no exception to Canada, the USA, UK, Australia etc. It is part of the laws of Barbados to accommodate wealthy investors. Indeed, since September 1st, greater leeway should have been put in place according to the Minister of Finance in his budget.
    We can all conclude what we want to and support whichever position, but Alvin, try substantiating your points. Keep well.

  12. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    What annoys the hell out of me is how hypocritical the DLP government and their yardfowl supporters are.

    Owen Arthur never owned an extra piece of land to sell a soul, yet the DLP wild boys successfully fooled (as usual) and convinced Barbadians that Owen Arthur and the BLP were selling out Barbados to the highest bidder. They boldly proclaimed and convinced the gullible low information voters that “the BLP selling out Barbados and that there will be no land left soon for them and their children”. And the low information voters believed them.

    The same DLP is not only selling the taxpayers lands but they gave away the people’s lands at Coverley because the lease deal is a joke.

    Now the DLP is thinking about selling Barbadian passports to the highest bidder………………and we have the same people who cussed OSA to the hilt now are actually defending this.

    What hypocrites. OSA did not sell any land he had none of his own to sell, greedy Barbadians sold their lands to the highest bidders. The land is still in Barbados when all is said and done!

  13. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Well Well the only reason Black came easily back to Canada was because of his wife, he gave up his citizenship to become a british lord,

  14. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Well well at 9:40 a.m. “They just deported last year Conrad Black from the US back to Canada”

    And Conrad Black is NOT a Canadian, so what is he doing living in Canada?

    You may have forgotten, but I have not that Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in order to become a member of the British House of Lords.

    So a convicted foreigner (British national) was admitted to Canada.

  15. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    I wonder if the Canadians would admit Bajan convicts as well?

  16. Well Well. Avatar
    Well Well.

    Lawson and Simple Simon, at the end of the day Black was born in Canada, that would have been the easier port of entry for him at this time and i do believe it also came with restrictions even though he was born there.

  17. Well Well. Avatar
    Well Well.

    Conrad Black’s return to Canada Friday after being released from a Florida prison has raised questions about whether the former media baron, will be able to resume his Canadian citizenship, which he renounced in 2001.

    Black served time in the U.S. for fraud and obstruction of justice, but he is not a citizen of the United States. At Black’s request, the Canadian government recently granted him a temporary resident permit. Black has a home inToronto, where his wife, Barbara Amiel, lives.

    The permit allows Black to live in Canada until May 2013. The question is whether he could seek to reestablish his Canadian citizenship and stay permanently.

    It’s not unheard of for Canadians to renounce their citizenship. Over the past five years, about 692 Canadians have renounced their citizenship, according to data provided to CBC News by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The average is about 138 per year.
    Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 so he could accept a peerage in the U.K. In 2011, 183 Canadians renounced their citizenship. Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 so he could accept a peerage in the U.K. In 2011, 183 Canadians renounced their citizenship. (Kiichiro Sato/Associated Press)

    One reason someone may renounce their citizenship is because another country that does not accept dual citizenship requires one to do so to become a citizen of that country.

    Canadian citizens can give up their citizenship as long as they meet the following criteria: they are, or will become, citizens of another country if their application to renounce is approved; they are at least 18 years old; and they are not considered “a threat to Canada’s security or part of a pattern of criminal activity,” according to CIC.

    For Americans, there are financial reasons to renounce their citizenship. Nevertheless, the number of Americans who renounced citizenship last year is proportionately similar to the number for Canadians — in 2011, 1,781 American did so.

    Both countries have seen significantly higher numbers of renunciations in 2010 and 2011, compared to the previous few years; however, the increase was much higher in the U.S.

  18. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    We do admit bajan convicts usually by extradition, julia Yvonne Elliot for example.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Here is an interesting article on the subject:

    Special Report: Passports . . . for a price
    Sun, Feb 12 02:42 AM EST

    By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
    LONDON (Reuters) – For decades, the two-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis exported sugarcane to keep its economy afloat. When sugar prices fell, St. Kitts began to sell an even sweeter commodity: its citizenship.
    For $250,000, a foreigner can buy full rights as a citizen there. The transaction can take as few as three months and applicants need never visit the nation’s sandy shores.
    read full report

  20. iabingy Avatar
    iabingy

    barbados does this also. thing is you really do not what kind of person you are letting in. i see a lot of dodgy laughing British criminals on the west coast.
    not a good idea.
    one day you may let in the Russian mafia,
    or some other organized crime boss.
    i am sure you already have actually.
    more blood shed and more whites to kill you blacks.
    all the best.
    i hate having a foreigner who never did nothing for barbados.white or black slave descendents .walking bout like dem know something about barbados.
    day will come when these people will be targeted and killed.
    praise the lord amen.

  21. iabingy Avatar
    iabingy

    barbados i am afraid has gone too far.letting in millionaires and billionaires
    for money.but these people have robbed,killed ,raped, and tortured for their millions.
    now they are in barbados.a safe haven for the worst of criminals.
    that is why they are there.mafia and gangs legitimatize themselves and move to barbados. nasty ,low class ,rich people destroying the morality of barbados.
    walking on our beaches ,like they own the country.
    ignorance is bliss! ignorance is also a sin!

  22. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Iabingy
    ….you know how many years Bushie was saying that?
    High net worth Bushie ass.

    High level prostitution is what it is.

    “Once you got the money
    we got the nooksie for you
    come one come all ..
    ..come come…

    You just CAN’T beat a brass bowl.

  23. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    These days we are so obsessed with quick fixes that even our citizenship is now on the auction block. I am amazed that we are so much against Trinidadians for investing and Guyanese for settling in Barbados but we support rich (Foreigners) people buying our citizenships. What irony ! Where there is no vision the people perish.

  24. balance Avatar
    balance

    ‘i hate having a foreigner who never did nothing for barbados.white or black slave descendents .walking bout like dem know something about barbados.
    day will come when these people will be targeted and killed.
    praise the lord amen.’
    there is a limit to freedom of anything so decreed our wise father of independence hence the public order act. oh lord do not let Barbados be placed on that dreaded watch list which advises visitors which countries to visit and not to visit especially in these troubling economic times. ignore the comment please o mighty great satan and concentrate on how you will extricate yourself if you dare enter the land of the assyrians.

  25. unknown Avatar
    unknown

    Beware of these wealthy foreign investor and multinational corporations . Some are involved in tax avasion and hiding profits by transfer fixing of prices.

  26. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    Well, well, well.

    https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2019/11/24/grenada-citizenship-becoming-a-fast-route-for-indians-seeking-green-cards-439492/?fbclid=IwAR0V0uLh1eKRQz_6ay7zJoCFLocKNX0RAdEGHVbDmx1BRw_Kbm75j2xfFwo#.Xd8N77WG8kG.facebook

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