Recent times have seen many positives arise in Dominica as a direct result of the nation’s Citizenship by Investment Programme and the revenue it has generated for disaster relief efforts. It is one of the oldest CIPs in the region, and indeed in the world, yet the way in which the government has so effectively utilised it lately is the biggest story right now. The outcomes it has delivered are now a guiding star for other nations looking to make their CIP more effective.
An Overview of Dominica’s CIP
For three consecutive years Dominica’s CIP has been ranked #1 by the Financial Times’ Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine. The nation of 74,000 has a CIP that has won wide acclaim for speed in processing its applications in under 90 days; its affordability – starting at a US$100,000 donation to the nation or US$200,000 investment in real estate – and the visa-free travel it offers to over 120 countries.
The government has also won fans for its efficient and precise marketing of the CIP. Information ensures that applicants can easily find an authorised agent and the main website serves as an authoritative source, warning about scams and other issues that could lead applicants astray if not aware of them.
Dominica has also ensured its CIP doesn’t rest on its laurels. Over time it has continued to enhance the CIP’s benefits, like the announcement in 2018 that Dominica and Russia would begin visa-free travel arrangements between the two nations, allowing Dominican citizens to visit Russia for up to three months at a time without requiring a visa.
The Resources of the Reconstruction
Tropical Storm Erika in 2015 and Hurricane Maria in 2017 both visited misery on Dominica. In the former, more than 1,000 families were left homeless; in the latter over 90 per cent of the nation’s houses – over 23,500 – were destroyed. Recovery from such carnage like Maria does not occur overnight, and indeed continues to this day.
As a result of revenue earned from Dominica’s CIP, public housing projects were financed quickly and construction began soon after. These projects were not simply rebuilding but creating better buildings – hurricane-resistant real estate that would help guard against the same devastation, should another natural disaster visit the island.
The speed of movement in events here ultimately proved cyclical. The pace at which Dominica was able to begin recovery following Maria meant the government was able to get CIP applications back online faster, putting people back to work, and the revenue from approved CIPs once more flowing in.
The success of the CIP, and its source of revenue serving as a pillar in the reconstruction, also gives Dominica control over its destiny following a natural disaster. This is something that nations around the region look upon closely following events of recent years. Certainly the work of NGOs can be invaluable, but it’s no surprise that their resources are often stretched. With the strength of its CIP, Dominica is able to pursue a reconstruction with more control over its country and the stakeholders in it.
Homes and Habitats
Dominica is an island famed for its many rivers and regular rainfall, even in its dryer months, and it has long held an enviable reputation for the beauty of its rainforests. This is no small achievement in a region abundant with beautiful natural features. Tragically, the force of Hurricane Maria not only destroyed property and claimed lives, but also savaged the rainforests and habitats they held for wildlife across the island.
The resulting destruction wasn’t just horrific at the time, but posed a threat to the future of Dominica’s tourism industry, and those who depend on it for their livelihoods. One ray of hope amidst this heartbreak was that Dominica has a good track record when it comes to restoration, with the successful replanting work after 1979’s Hurricane David proof that it could be done again.
As a result, Dominica has cultivated a thriving eco-tourism industry, helping to restore the rainforests and generate new interest in their growth, within the region and around the world. This new subset of the tourism industry has been underwritten by Dominica’s CIP and credited with creating thousands of jobs across the nation.
The Other Side of the Coin
The success of Dominica’s CIP augurs well for the future of the nation. It has developed a product highly desired by those abroad, and highly profitable to its citizens at home. Yet Dominica’s economy today also has a heavy reliance on its CIP. Last year, during his budget speech, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit projected that US$150 million – 52 per cent of the government’s revenue – would come from its CIP.
Such a reliance is fine as long as the nation’s CIP remains highly desirable. A decline in demand could arise not because of anything that Dominica does, but because a competing CIP finds a unique selling point to beat it.
A CIP Success Story
Dominica’s CIP has unquestionably been mutually beneficial for the country and its new citizens. Dominica has been a shining star showing how to run a CIP that avoids pitfalls, and delivers on its aims. This sets a standard for nations intending to launch a CIP, as well as those with underperforming CIPs, and certainly nations with CIPs that have been wracked by scandals that continue to aggrieve their voting public and foreign governments abroad equally.
