Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis--(Newsfile Corp. - October 31, 2024) - On October 1, the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) embarked on a new era as it transitioned into a statutory body. In just 30 days since this transformation, the CIU has swiftly established itself as a proactive and high-performing entity, achieving 30 critical milestones that underscore its commitment to efficiency, transparency, and service excellence. These accomplishments lay a strong foundation for the Unit's ongoing mission to enhance the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) experience for stakeholders and drive economic growth for St. Kitts and Nevis.

These wins included changes within the Unit and beyond.

His Excellency Calvin St. Juste celebrates 30 wins in 30 days.

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The Unit's Board of Governors established a strong team within the Unit and strengthened Unit employment and operations. While setting a new ten-week target for decision-making on applications, the Unit has also made great strides in streamlining application processing.

Beyond the Unit's walls, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, His Excellency Calvin St. Juste, has embarked upon a world tour to engage with Authorised Agents (AAs), International Marketing Agents (IMAs), the media, and beyond.

Setting forth crucial regulation changes, the Chairman and the Board are serious about delivering change even within the shortest of timeframes to maintain St. Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme's market leadership.

Chairman St. Juste noted the flurry of activity in the first 30 days, outlining his continued commitment to the excellence of the Unit.

"Our first 30 days as a statutory body have been a period of intense activity and rewarding achievements. Each initiative we've accomplished aims to create a seamless, efficient process for applicants and deliver exceptional service to stakeholders. We are committed to leading this Unit with innovation, responsiveness, and purpose to reflect the excellence St. Kitts and Nevis stands for," he said.

Operational and management transformation and transparency

Since the Unit was restructured, the highly qualified and effective Board of Governors has been actively engaged to bring about efficient change. From the first day of operations, the Unit filled necessary roles with qualified personnel, after receiving over 1000 applications.

Moving from a reactive problem-solving entity to a proactive Unit, the CIU has aimed to maintain the most effective operations. Accordingly, the team set up a C-Suite and created the Office of the Chairman to more effectively govern the Unit's functions.

Prioritising customer experience, the Unit has streamlined processing to facilitate a ten-week turnaround on application decision-making. Fittingly, the Unit set up a Task Force to address the backlog of pending files and has updated application forms.

Compounding this commitment to customer service, the Unit implemented a 24-hour response time while also creating a Communications Division, ensuring the effective and accurate dissemination of information.

New, cutting-edge technology will be implemented to track the processing of files, keeping the CIU ahead of the curve.

Above all, the Unit aims to enhance performance to keep St. Kitts and Nevis' CBI offering competitive. Fittingly, the Unit has already seen increased applications leading to increased revenue.

Communication and Engagement with AAs and Promoters

Internal changes are beneficial, but the Unit understands the importance of showing the world exactly what the CIU is capable of. Accordingly, Chairman St. Juste embarked upon a world tour to have discussions with all relevant industry and media personnel.

AAs, IMAs and Promoters have a vital role in supporting the transformation of the Unit. Therefore, in the first 30 days of the new Unit, the Chairman held a series of meetings in various locations with these important individuals.

The Chairman kicked off the first in-person "Meet and Greet" with Authorised Agents in St. Kitts, closely followed with a virtual "Meet and Greet" with International Marketing Agents and Promoters meeting.

Committed to connecting with the global market, the Chairman convened a global roadshow, starting in the United Arab Emirates, to reaffirm the Unit's undertaking to deliver on its promises.

In Dubai, the Unit held a distinguished private CBI agents' dinner, along with holding private CBI agents and promoters' lunches and presentations in Beijing and Shanghai. The Unit also held a private agent and promoters' dinner in Shenzhen. This roadshow culminated with the Chairman headlining the Global Citizen Week in Miami and starting the USA roadshow with the Annual Private Wealth Latin America & Caribbean Forum.

Following multiple face-to-face agent and promoter meetings across the globe, the Unit has personally interacted with circa 500 agents, promoters and industry professionals.

Engagement with the media as global leaders

The Chairman has participated in podcasts with top Middle East publishing houses, Khaleej Times and Gulf News, showing support for both traditional and newer, digital forms of media.

Indicating the importance of the China market, the Chairman has also been interviewed by top China media outlets, namely the China Financial Times and Sina Media.

Beyond the interviews, the Unit has made headlines for its excellence even within the first 30 days. St. Kitts and Nevis' top ranking in the 2024 CBI Index garnered worldwide acclaim.

Regulation changes for Good Governance

Finally, the Unit is clear in its focus on safeguarding the integrity of the CBI Programme. Therefore, the Unit set forth new amendments to its 'First and Finest' CBI Programme, by amending the CSI Regulations 2024, which came into force in July 2024.

The Amendment Regulations give details on the Technical Committee, which in the past month convened for the first time in over seven months. This committee will be responsible for maintaining the overall standards of the St. Kitts and Nevis CBI Programme while ensuring that only legitimate individuals are provided with the alternative citizenship of the reputed Federation.

To ensure that the Programme stays competitive and relevant, the Amendment Regulations include a change in the minimum investment amounts for the two real estate investment options. The minimum real estate investment in an Approved Development has now shifted from US$400,000 to US$325,000.

The minimum investment in Approved Private Real Estate for a condominium unit or share in a real estate development has changed from US$400,000 to US$325,000 and the minimum investment in a single-family private dwelling home has been moved from US$800,000 to US$600,000.

Keeping the Programme watertight, there is also a new requirement for oversight of any Approved Development under the CBI Programme by chartered surveyors from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Priding itself upon being a family-friendly CBI Programme, the Board of Governors recognised the importance of including the post-citizenship addition of newborns at a reduced fee of US$7,500. In a similar vein, the Amendment Regulations decrease the minimum age for eligible dependant parents from 65 to 55 years of age.

Moving Forward with a Vision for Sustainability

The Unit is working closely with the Government to ensure that its operations align with and support the goals of the Sustainable Island Agenda, embodying a commitment to long-term environmental, economic, and social resilience for St. Kitts and Nevis. To showcase the efforts, the Unit even unveiled the dates for the 2025 Investment Gateway Summit, set to be held from 31 May to 3 June 2025.

In line with the Chairman's six principles that has been the bedrock to motivate this change, it is evident that the Board of Governors of the St. Kitts and Nevis Programme have fully embodied the six principles being: transparency, communication, good governance, transformation, global leadership and sustainability - delivering on each of these points.

With so many achievements within the first 30 days, it is clear that the revitalised CIU is on track for a stellar year – continuing the excellence of the 40-year strong CBI Programme.

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