By Jolly Green

Worse still he does not want any Vincentian getting rich either unless they are a member of the family dynasty or a chartered supporter thereof.

Citizenship by investment is a No! No! As far as Ralph Gonsalves prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is concerned. He has spent seventeen years reducing the states citizens to peasants who are his kind of people. His kind of people because they are grateful for whatever falls off the table, a crumb here, a crumb there, they will keep him in power. He has still got a lot of rich people left to eradicate so why would he want to see another batch of rich people join the citizenship and add to his list of undesirables.

Almost the whole world has citizenship by investment; you can even get a citizenship and an EU passport via the investment route. You can get US UK and Canadian citizenship and a passport by investment.

United States of America — Citizenship from $500,000. To be eligible for this investment option, applicants must meet the following criteria:
Make an investment of US$1 million in a new commercial enterprise or US$500,000 if that enterprise is in a targeted commercial area, including rural areas or areas with unemployment of at least 150 percent that of the national average.
Create full-time employment for at least 10 qualified U.S. workers who must be direct employees of the commercial enterprise.
Actively manage the day-to-day activities and/or policy formulation of the enterprise.
[sorry there is such a large amount of information, see the website as shown below]

Canada — Citizenship from $800,000. Canada’s Federal Investor Immigration Program, which proved to be one of the most popular when it launched in the late 80s, is now closed since 2014, it proved too popular. The program drew an estimated $2.4 billion through Chinese investors alone over the past decade. It closed with 50,000 in the pipeline, who had their money returned.
The program is no longer Federal but is still operating in some of Canada’s provinces, such as Quebec, who have their own small programs. Quebec has drawn at least $1.9 billion from Chinese investment, though it only accepts about 1,500 people a year.
Citizenship applicants must reside in the country for three years within a four-year timeframe.
Applicants must have legally-obtained net worth of at least $1.6 million CAD (£950,000).
Applicants must possess a minimum of three years of experience in planning, finance, human resources, or general management
Applicants must state their intention to settle in the province of Quebec, and sign an agreement to invest $800,000 (£475,000).

United Kingdom — Citizenship from £1 million. The United Kingdom has long been open to providing visas and entrance for business people and entrepreneurs building their businesses in Britain, which can lead to the opportunity for obtaining UK Citizenship by Investment. To apply for a visa under this category, no offered job is necessary, but the applicant will need to show both the intention and the ability to invest £1 million in a United Kingdom business.
The applicant doesn’t need to fit any profile of nationality, age, education, English proficiency, or even experience in business.
There aren’t requirements regarding creation of jobs or hiring with the investment funds, and if the investment is made in United Kingdom government bonds or loan capital or shares in companies registered and traded in the United Kingdom, no hiring at all is necessary.
An applicant’s spouse and minor children are automatically included as part of the visa application, including full working rights granted to the applicant’s spouse. Once approved, the new visa holder can live anywhere in the United Kingdom, and can travel outside the United Kingdom without any restrictions.

Any person residing in the United Kingdom on this visa for five years can apply for permanent residency, and the family can apply for United Kingdom citizenship and passports one year after that.
For a business person wishing to apply for a work visa to the United Kingdom and without the available means of £1 million to make sufficient investments to qualify for the Investor Category, another option is the UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur Category.

Many of the other requirements remain the same as the investor category, including the fact that the category is intended for non-European nationals, given the rights already established for European citizens to work in the United Kingdom.

The financial threshold for the Entrepreneur category is significantly lower than the Investor category, with a requirement of £200,000, or a lower amount of fifty thousand pounds in the form of any of the qualifying types of funds, such as registered and regulated venture capital firms within the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Authority, or any of the endorsed seed funding awards approved by the United Kingdom Trade and Investment body.

In order to qualify for the UK Entrepreneur visa, an applicant must speak English and show means to provide self-support while living in the United Kingdom. The application can be shared by two partners, and once approved; the visa can be extended for a total of five years.

When five years have passed, the entrepreneur will be eligible to apply for UK Citizenship on the base of this investment.

European Union — Citizenship from $512,000. In the European Union the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus along with Bulgaria all offer their own versions of the scheme which result in citizenship in their countries and an EU passport which allows the recipients non visa entry into more than a 150 countries worldwide. Cyprus ask for €2million in mixed investment and Malta, prospective investors must shell out €650,000 investment in real estate for the main applicant, as well as €25,000 for a spouse. Bulgaria is the cheapest option at only €512,000 investment in government bonds. Portugal, the minimum you can get away with is €500,000; buy a house for that price, alternatively, transfer €1 million into a Portuguese bank account or create 10 jobs in the country. But all give European Union Citizenship.
Other European Union countries offering citizenship by investment are Austria, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania. Plus two non-EU member states Armenia and Montenegro.

The Cypriot number of passports issued to foreign investors in the last 10 years has passed the 3,000 mark according to the Cyprus News Agency. The figures were submitted in official data released to the Cypriot parliament. It means total investment into the economy through real estate is in excess of €6bn since the start of the programme.

Caribbean — Citizenship from $100,000. Antigua and Barbuda offer citizenship with Visa-free travel 130 countries+Canada for Investment in Real estate 400,000 USD and government donation from 200,000 USD.
St Lucia offer citizenship with Visa-free travel, there are three ways to get citizenship. A donation of at least $100,000 USD to the Saint Lucia National Economic Fund (depending on number of dependents), or Investment of at least $300,000 USD in an approved real estate development, or Investment of $3.5 million USD in an approved enterprise project.
Dominica offer citizenship with Visa-free travel 120+countries, for Investment in Real estate 220,000 USD and Government Donation from 100,000 USD.
Grenada offer citizenship with Visa-free travel 115+US E2 Visa, for Investment in Real estate 350,000 USD and Government Donation from 200,000 USD.
St Kitts offer citizenship with Visa-free travel 125+countries, for Investment in Real estate of 400,000 USD and Government Donation from 250,000 USD.
Vanuatu offer citizenship with Visa-free travel 125+countries for No Investment required but a Government Donation from 130,000 USD.

Figures disclosed by the head of the Dominica Citizenship by Investment Unit, Emmanuel Nanthan, revealed between 1,500 and 2,000 applications in 2017. That at a 100,000 USD a clip is 200 million USD in 2017 alone.

According to the AP, the Chinese are the biggest market for CIPs, with more than 100,000 Chinese people spending at least $24 billion USD in the last decade to buy residency through investment visa programs, that’s just residency not citizenship.

Most other countries in the World offer Citizenship by investment like the UK system but many more times expensive, that includes even includes Australia, New Zealand.

So what’s with Dr Ralph E Gonsalves and his vehement rejection of the Citizenship by Investment system? Well as I said at the beginning of this manuscript I honestly believe he does not want anyone coming to SVG that will upset his critical stage in peasantization of the State. He is engineering the transformation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines into a peasant society, with a peasant economy, for future rule by a member of his family dynasty which he has also been busy building. I honestly think the answer is as simple as that.

Of course a Citizenship by Investment Scheme would wipe out the peasant class in just a very few of years, perhaps not the mentality he has created, but certainly the financial suffering of the people. I am sure he would just hate that to happen. It would pay for airport debts, repair all the roads and keep them maintained, bring technology and industry and put to work at least another 25,000 people. Ralph Gonsalves is quite simply denying the Vincentian people the comforts they deserve for his own personal reasons political and otherwise, and those of his family.

BUT! Has he got a personally administered scheme that he operates, for people like Dave Ames and a number of others?

HAS HE?

DISCLAMER: The opinion, belief and viewpoint expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinion, belief and viewpoint of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com or official policies of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com