‘70% increase’ in demand for European, Caribbean nationalities

Citizenship Invest, a market leader specialized in the fastest citizenship programs to legally obtain a second passport, has said that high net worth families and residents in the Kingdom contributed to over 70 percent increase in demand for second European and Caribbean nationality in Q4 of 2017.
The top three nationalities that contributed to this spike in demand are Yemenis with 31 percent, followed by Syrians by 15 percent, and Lebanese by 8 percent.
The increase in demand is also attributed to the latest amendments in the citizenship legislation of countries like Saint Kitts & Nevis, Commonwealth of Dominica, and Antigua & Barbuda.
The amendments decreased the application costs by 50 percent, which have made it a much more accessible process. Obtaining a European or a Caribbean passport has become a crucial requirement for high net worth individuals.
These passports provide people in the region with a sense of comparatively more security for their families and businesses, as well as freedom of movement.
Veronica Cotdemiey, CEO of Citizenship Invest, said: “We have been seeing a great increase in the number of families applying over single applicants. The main reason is that countries like Saint Kitts & Nevis and Antigua & Barbuda are accepting a family of four members for around SR500,000 ($133,400) when only two months ago the same would have cost over SR1 million.”
All the countries that have a fast-track citizenship by investment program offer a passport that allows a visa-free entry into 146 countries. These countries include nations under the Schengen zone as well as the UK, China, Singapore and Russia.
Caribbean countries also have strong ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which makes their passports very popular among Middle Eastern investors.