by Linda Straker
- Reduced revenue expected for CBI/IMA programme in 2025
- During first quarter of 2024, new citizens from USA totalled 134
- Over 300 USA applicants approved to be citizens of Grenada in 2024
Thomas Anthony, Chief Executive Officer of the Grenada Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Unit, rebranded as the Investment Migration Agency (IMA), said there is an uptick of people from the United States of America (USA) applying to become citizens of Grenada through the Citizenship by Investment programme.
“We have seen an uptick in applications from the USA. We have a situation where our biggest marketing agents have tripled their footprints in the USA because they have seen that uptick,” Anthony said during an interview with Dr Kellon Bubb, host of The Bubb Report, a weekly Sunday talk show aired on YouTube and Facebook social media platforms.
“We target the market in collaboration with these marketing agents so that they can attend events in the US, not just industry events but also events organised by the marketing agents to talk directly to their potential applicants,” he said, explaining that similar collaborative initiatives are also conducted in other CBI target markets.
“We also do a similar thing in London, in Dubai. Dubai is a major hub for applicants from all over the world, including India, Pakistan; you name it, and they are there,” Anthony told Bubb. A review of quarterly 2024 data published by the CBI/IMA on its website shows that over 300 USA applicants were approved to be citizens of Grenada for the period.
The breakdown shows that during the first quarter of 2024, 11% or 134 of the approved new citizens were from the US while for the second quarter the amount was 127 or 7% of the approved applicants. For the third and fourth quarters it was 4.9% or 90, and 5% or 30 of the total approved new citizens for the period.
Since launching in 2014, funds from the CBI/IMA have become a significant source of revenue for the Government, with 2023 and 2024 showing the Government receiving almost EC$1 billion during that period. In 2023, Government revenue was more than EC$400 million, while the revenue for 2024 was more than EC$500 million.
One of the main reasons for the windfall was the country’s acceptance of Russians and Belarussians to the CBI/IMA, but from March 2024, Government ceased the application of applications from those nations following an agreement with the US.
The programme is expected to have reduced the amount of revenue for 2025. Anthony said that the projection is for approximately EC$200 million. He also said that under 500 applications were submitted to the agency as 2024 came to an end and that figure is not expected to increase significantly in 2025.
In 2024, China and Nigeria had the highest percentage of citizenship by investment approvals, with more than 2,000 of the approved 5,443 new citizens representing these nations. The latest data from the CBI units shows that 23% or 1,252 of the approved new citizens were Chinese, while 19% or 1034 were Nigerians.
The 2024 fourth quarter data released on the unit’s website shows that approved citizens represent a wide cross section of nations, including Great Britain, South Africa, Benin, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, Turkey and Iraq.