New structure of fees for CIP to take effect from August 1

People applying for Antiguan Citizenship through the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) will pay more as of August 1st.

The increase will be applied to the minimum investment, which will be increased from US$ 100,000 to $200,000 and the investment options.

Finance Minister Gaston Browne piloted the resolution in the Lower House on Thursday. He said the changes align with a harmonised approach adopted by several OECS Member states offering economic citizenship.

The participating states signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last month.

“The floor minimum investment is now US$200,000. Now the members of the honorable house would recall that previously we were at US$200,000 what had happened to all the programmes except St Kitts and Nevis were at US$ 100,000 and we found it difficult to compete. At one-point investments dwindled to about 3 files per month,” Browne said.

The territories also agreed to the establishment of an independent regulatory body to assist in developing and enforcing standards as well as to monitor compliance.

“This is to ensure that due diligence information is shared. So, an applicant cannot be rejected from a programme and be successful in the next. So, that type of information sharing is certainly important,” the finance minister added.

The promotional aspects of each programme will also be tweaked.

The investment options will also attract an increase as of August 1st.