Against the backdrop of strengthening oversight of the Citizenship By Investment programmes, Chief Executive Officer of the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU), Charmaine Donovan, calls for a change in attitudes towards these programmes operated by Antigua and Barbuda and four other OECS territories.
Delivering the keynote address at the start of Day 2 of last week’s Caribbean Investment Summit (CIS’25), Donovan is inviting members of the public to take a closer look at these programmes with the expectation that minds will be changed.
“While these programmes have often faced criticism — portrayed as mere passport sales schemes, facilitators of identity changes, or even avenues for illicit actors — a closer, more informed look reveals a very different story. For small island developing states, CBI revenues have been transformative, delivering tangible benefits in infrastructure, public health, education, agriculture, and economic support,” she observed.
Donovan added that these funds have enabled governments to make critical investments that directly improve the lives of their citizens.
The CEO wants the five CBI programmes, or investment migration programmes as they are now being referred to, to undertake strategic global positioning as a priority.
“It is time to move beyond the outdated and overly simplistic perception of Caribbean Citizenship by Investment programmes as merely transactional. Instead, we must present the Caribbean as a region anchored in stability, democratic governance, the rule of law, and forward-looking opportunity,” she suggested.
According to Donovan…the OECS programmes offer more than alternative citizenship or enhanced global mobility—they represent an invitation to enter into a long-term, values-driven partnership with nations committed to sustainable development and shared prosperity.
“Through comprehensive reforms, strengthened due diligence practices, and greater transparency in how revenues are allocated, Caribbean countries are actively redefining the concept of global citizenship. The imminent regional regulatory framework, provides us with a unique opportunity to set the global benchmark for integrity, innovation, and 6 impact in the investment migration industry. The Caribbean is not just participating in this space—we are shaping its future.”
Following the success of this year’s CIS, the administrators of the programmes in the five states – St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, St. Kitts-Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda – will gather in St. Lucia next year for CIS’26.
