St. Lucia to Launch Citizenship-by-Investment Program

29 June 2015

In her Throne Speech delivered in Parliament on 28 April 2015, the Governor General of Saint Lucia, Her Excellency Dame Calliopa Pearlette Louisy, announced that the Caribbean Island nation intends to launch a citizenship-by-investment program.

This follows a rigorous due diligence process, including the appointment of a task force headed by the former Prime Minister, and the commissioning of a report on the feasibility of such a program. The report, to which Henley & Partners contributed, detailed the benefits and highlighted the successes that this model has already yielded for the Caribbean. St. Lucia’s Cabinet furthermore called for widespread public consideration and feedback on the report and its recommendations.

“At the last opening of Parliament, I announced that my Government would look into the issue of citizenship by investment. Since then a Committee headed by former Prime Minister, Professor Emeritus Honourable Dr Vaughan Lewis, has researched the matter and has had consultations with various stakeholders and interest groups and has reported to Cabinet,” said Dame Louisy.

She moved on to say that, “The overwhelming view seems to be that we ought to proceed with this new avenue of investment, provided that the process is open and transparent and that adequate safeguards are in place to protect the integrity of our country.”

There are also numbers in the Budget Estimates to support the establishment of the program. St. Lucia will be the fifth Caribbean country with a citizenship-by-investment program, after St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Dominica.

“To achieve this, it would be essential to work very closely with our partners, particularly the Governments of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is my Government’s intention to immediately create a legislative framework to allow for such investments,” confirmed the Governor General.