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Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by Mgbadike80: 11:14am On Aug 27, 2020 |
A year ago, the office of Citizenship
by Investment Program (CIP) in the
small Caribbean island nation of St.
Lucia had received no applications
from any Africans in its nearly five
years of operations.
But in the past few months, it has
issued up to 60 passports to
Nigerians and is reporting steady
increases in applications from the
country—still its sole African market.
That sharp rise reflects spiking
demand among Nigeria’s wealthy
private citizens who are increasingly
tapping into “investment migration”
programs offered by foreign
countries. The programs allow
foreign nationals obtain fast-tracked
citizenship and passports or
permanent residency permits in
exchange for specified amounts of
cash investments. The payment for
the passports can come in form of
direct “contributions” to the
development funds set up by the
national governments or through
investment in real estate projects
which offer the promise of not just
passports but also possible profits.
With around 40,000 passports
believed to have been issued through
investment migration programs
globally, citizenship by investment is
now estimated to be a $3 billion
industry. It is often favored by high-
net worth individuals from countries
with “weak” passports often from
countries in sub-Saharan Africa and
some Middle Eastern countries.
Henley & Partners, the world’s largest
investment migration consultancy,
has also set up shop in Africa’s
largest economy after seeing a sharp
rise in demand from the country over
the past three years. The office in
Lagos is only Henley & Partners’
third in Africa, in addition to offices
in Cape Town and Johannesburg
opened six years ago.
“The reason we opened in Nigeria is
because we saw significant potential
in the market with growth in private
wealth without global mobility for
high net worth individuals,” says
Paddy Blewer, public relations
director at Henley & Partners. “What
you have is a community of wealthy
individuals who cannot travel without
visas.”
That reality is best captured by the
weakness of Nigeria’s international
passport. In fact, Nigerian passport
holders can visit two fewer countries
now than they could in 2010 without
first obtaining a visa. The country
also suffered the worst decline in
passport power over the past decade,
according to rankings on the annual
Henley Passport Index.
But even paperwork-intensive visa
application processes have also
gotten more complicated for
Nigerians. Under the Trump
administration, for example, US visa
application fees for Nigerian
applicants have been increased, an
interview waiver process for visa
renewals for frequent travelers has
been indefinitely suspended while a
ban has also been placed on issuing
immigrant visas to Nigerians. The net
effect of these restrictions resulted in
Nigeria recording the largest global
drop-off in visitors to the US last
year.
In search of improved international
mobility, investment migration
programs by Caribbean nations offer
wealthy Nigerians and other citizens
a legal and established workaround
that ticks two crucial boxes: price
point and access.
For instance, St. Lucia’s lowest-
priced program, a “contribution to the
national economic fund,” costs $
100,000 for individuals and $140,000
for a family of four, as well as $
15,000 for each additional family
member. “That pricing model has
really resonated well with the
Nigerian community,” says Nestor
Alfred, chief executive of St. Lucia’s
CIP office. “A lot of our Nigerian
applications consist of families.”
Other Caribbean islands including
Dominica as well as St. Kitts and
Nevis also offer investment migration
programs with minimum costs of $
100,000 and $150,000 respectively, a
lot less than similar European
programs typically cost. The US
program issues permanent residence
permits in exchange for investment
ranging from $500,000 to $1 million.
But in addition to relative
affordability, passports of Caribbean
island nations also rank much higher
than Nigeria’s on a global scale. For
instance, St. Lucia passport holders
have visa-free and visa-on-arrival
access to 145 countries—more than
triple Nigeria’s figure. And for extra
context, St. Lucia passport holders’
visa free access allows them into the
entire European 26-country
“Schengen” area, the UK, and
Switzerland.
Taking it up
With Nigeria’s oil-dependent
economy battered by the pandemic
and set for its worst recession in
three decades, there are few
indications interest in investment
migration from Nigeria will slow
down.
Nigeria and South Africa dominate
demand from Africa and currently
account for 85% of Henley &
Partners’ business on the continent,
with Nigeria growing rapidly with an
interest in Caribbean-based
citizenship programs.
That momentum will likely remain
fueled by Nigeria’s super-wealthy
with the country’s population of
people with a net worth of more than
$30 million—currently at 724 people
—forecast to grow by 13% in the next
five years.
But as it turns out, interest in
emigration is not restricted to
Nigeria’s super-wealthy alone. Over
the past three years, middle-class
Nigerians have also increasingly
emigrated through skill-based
programs offering legal pathways to
residency and citizenship in Canada
and Australia. In the last five years
alone, the number of Nigerian
immigrants issued permanent
resident permits in Canada has
tripled.
One distinction however is that high
net-worth individuals who have
earned most of their wealth locally
are typically simply looking to boost
their mobility options rather than
permanently relocate. “What we’re
dealing with people whose
businesses and largely their wealth is
derived from Nigerian investment—
they’re not going to leave
permanently,” says Blewer. “This is
about being able to go where they
want at the drop of a hat. It’s not
about leaving Lagos.”
Double-checking
For tourism-based economies in the
Caribbeans, investment migration
programs offer a significant
alternative to receiving foreign direct
investment. And as recent history
shows, with the Covid-19 pandemic
paralyzing global travel and tourism,
the revenue diversification
opportunities these programs offer
can prove vital. Indeed, after
Hurricane Maria devastated Dominica
in 2017, the government sought to
shore up tourism deficits by reducing
some of its processing fees to make
its investment migration programs
more attractive and in turn, provide
much-needed funds to rebuild and
boost the local economy.
But Dominica has also been caught
in the crosshairs of a corruption
scandal involving its passports
program. Last year, an Al Jazeera
investigation showed high-powered
officials involved in brokering
transactions to sell diplomatic
passports to foreign business people
suspected of corrupt dealings.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s
embattled former minister of
petroleum who is wanted for alleged
corrupt dealings while in office, was
identified in the investigation as one
of the recipients of a diplomatic
passport under questionable
circumstances.
The scrutiny from such scandals
amplify why investment migration
programs claim to place a premium
on due diligence. Even though it’s
not legally required to, Henley &
Partners says it carries out client
verification processes, covering
sources of wealth, and criminal
history.
“We’re not interested in persons
involved in military, government
officials, or politically exposed
persons. Our interest is more in
executives and young professionals,”
Alfred tells Quartz Africa. As such,
the increased applications from
Nigeria being primarily from private
business executives across sectors,
including banking, is ideal for St.
Lucia because “it’s easier for us to
determine the source of funds,”
Alfred says. (Text, excluding
headline, courtesy Quartz Africa)
https://newsexpressngr.com/news/105084 |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by donbachi(m): 11:42am On Aug 27, 2020 |
If dem like make dem rush for st. molumba passport. |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by TalkTalkTwins(m): 1:03pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
Next time write with paragraphs ![]() 2 Likes |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by SmartProf(m): 1:11pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
Someday a generation will appear that will fight them and protest their citizenship in the Caribbean. If you don't build your original fatherland, and u run away with looted wealth to dwell where people have done the right things, don't complain when the real citizens molest you for silly reasons in the future. 2 Likes |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by Mgbadike80: 1:31pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
at the rate Nigerians are migrating out of the country especially since Buhari came to power, i expect more companies and immigration lawyers to set up shops in Nigeria soon. The same too for foreign language schools. 3 Likes |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by Lipscomb(m): 1:39pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
They will soon spoil the country. They stolen their country wealth used it to invest in your country and you are happy that investors are coming to your country. |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by LaboPolitics: 1:51pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
Breaking the country is the ONLY solution of the general qaugmire. Idiots can continue to deceive themselves. Till then, let's all join hands to continue to destroy the country together. If you are poor, have no active politician in your family and yet believe in 'one nigeria', you are hopelessly useless. Zahra, Yusuf buhari all have recent British passports, Senator Ahmed Lawan has a Carribean passport etc. Even your leaders, don't believe in 'one nigeria' including thiefnuubu (we've read the interview he granted before becoming governor and swallowing billions). Your head as a 'one nigerianist' will continue to be used to break huge coconuts that you will never partake in the eating. 2 Likes |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by MosheDayan: 1:54pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
LaboPolitics: ![]() ![]() |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by Nobody: 5:23pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
Caribbean is also corrupt as Nigeria |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by ayspac(m): 5:30pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
God bless Caribbeans |
Re: Wealthy Nigerians Rush For Caribbean Passports by Nobody: 5:32pm On Aug 27, 2020 |
Wealthy corrupt politicians!Diezani Madueke has created the template for them to follow. |
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