[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Citizenship by Investment Act was passed in the House of Assembly on July 28, 2015 and subsequently in the Senate on August 4, 2015. It enables non-nationals to acquire Saint Lucia citizenship. The Act outlines the functions of the five-member CIP board. Among the many listed is the submission of an annual report: “Not later than three months after the end of each financial year, the Board shall submit to the Minister an annual report on the work and activities of the Board for that financial year, and the Minister shall, not later than three months after the submission lay the same in Parliament.”
The board’s financial year begins on April 1 and ends on March 31 each year or as otherwise determined by the minister with responsibility for CIP, at this time Prime Minister Allen Chastanet.
The annual report must include: The number of applications made, granted and refused, and the names, nationality and address of each and every successful applicant. The names of unsuccessful applicants are not to be included in the report. Thus far, the board has submitted the annual reports for the financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17. These reports, in keeping with the Act, have also been laid in parliament and are available to the public at the Parliament Library in Castries.
Saint Lucia’s CIP scheme began operating in October 2015. As a result, its first financial year was cut short to six months, beginning in October 2015 and ending in March 2016. The 2015-2016 report explains: “Much of the focus of the Unit was on setting up.” There were no applications for citizenship in this financial year.
The financial year 2016-2017 was the first full year of activity for Saint Lucia’s CIP. During this time, thirty-six applications were received. A whopping 68% of the applications came from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA); 9% came from Russia; 8% from Asia; 6% each from the USA and the rest of Africa and 3% from the European Union.
A total of nineteen applications were denied in the financial year 2016-2017. Those came from Iran, China, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the United States.
For the financial year 2016-17, seventeen applications were accepted, which resulted in the granting of 61 Saint Lucian citizenships. One application does not necessarily mean one individual person. Under the Act, an individual is entitled to include a spouse, children and parents in their application. This is referred to as the “qualifying dependent” in the Act.
Of the seventeen successful applications, one was granted through the “Request for Review” process. This means that the application was originally denied, but the applicant requested a review.
Iraq topped the list with eleven Iraqis gaining Saint Lucian citizenship. There were ten Saudi Arabians, seven Moroccans, six Italians, five Lebanese, four Bulgarians, four South Africans, four Ukrainians, four American, three Russians, and one each from Israel, Malaysia and the MENA region.
