House Debates Amendments to CIP Act

Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Act took centre stage at this week’s parliament sitting, with the tabling of the Citizenship by Investment (Amendment) Bill. Passed in the House of Assembly on July 28, 2015 and subsequently in the Senate on August 4, 2015, the Act allows individuals to become Saint Lucian citizens through investment options.

Many amendments were included in Tuesday’s Bill. Amendment of Section 2 changes the definition of authorised agent to mean a person who is licensed by the CIP Board. An authorised agent is someone who submits applications on behalf of individuals to the Board; the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) previously provided licenses.

Amendment of Section 31 says the board may, on the recommendation of the Citizenship by Investment Unit, grant with or without conditions, or refuse to grant an authorised agent licence. It also says that the licence permits an authorised agent to perform duties related to an application for Citizenship by Investment, as specified under the Act, or requested by the Unit and the Board.

The amendment of Section 36 provides provisions to grant an application for citizenship to a qualifying dependent, no more than five years after citizenship was granted to an individual, and if the investment was in cash. Citizenship may be granted to a qualifying dependent if: (a) he/she was a qualifying dependent when the application was made,  (b) is a child born after the application was made and (c)he/she is the spouse of the individual and was married after the application was made. This amendment applies to applications from January 1, 2016.

If an application for citizenship was denied, there is an avenue for the applicant to request a review. The amendment of Section 37 now makes it mandatory that within sixty days of a request, the application must be denied or approved. Amendment of Section 38 outlines that if the citizenship of an individual is revoked, the citizenship of any qualifying dependent under section 36(1A) will also be revoked.

Former chairman of the Citizenship by Investment Programme and Castries South MP Ernest Hilaire had several related questions, among them why the changes were necessary. He argued that the amendments failed to tackle promises by the prime minister when in opposition, one being that politicians should not be the ones to appoint the CIP Board.  “When we [the previous administration] were setting up the CIP,” he said, “we made very clear that it should not be the Board, or the Unit licensing authorised agents; it should be left to an independent body.”

He went on: “If you decide you don’t want the FSRA to do the licenses anymore, that’s your policy decision. But you should not ask political appointees to do it.” He suggested that the CIP Unit could have been chosen instead. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet refuted the MP’s arguments. Regarding amendment to Section 2, Chastanet claimed that advice from the AG’s chambers under Mr. Hilaire’s chairmanship of CIP was that approval should come from the Board. On the amendment to Section 37, Chastanet said a committee of three people was appointed to handle reviews. He disclosed that the committee did not meet on a regular basis and there were complaints about the time it takes to review an application.  

“In order to bring some certainty to those people,” said the prime minister, “we’ve put sixty days. The committee agrees that it’s more than a reasonable amount of time.” Regarding Section 38, the prime minister considered it fair, because it permitted qualifying dependents citizenship through that of the main applicant. If the main applicant’s citizenship is revoked for whatever reason, so will be that of the qualifying dependents. The Bill was passed.