by Linda Straker
- Technical meetings centred on monitoring visa waiver agreements between EU and 5 Caribbean CBi countries
- EU currently has a visa-free regime in place with Grenada and 60 other countries
- Individuals with Grenada CBI citizenship enjoy same benefits outlined in EU visa-free regime
Two months after Representatives of the EU Directorate General of Migration and Home Affairs in Brussels met with representatives of 5 Caribbean countries with Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes in Dominica, the EU member states’ ambassadors (Coreper) have agreed to draft regulation which will update the mechanism that allows the EU to suspend visa-free travel for countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa obligation when travelling to the Schengen area.
A spokesperson from the EU office in Barbados explained that the one-week technical meetings with representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia were centred on the framework of the monitoring of the visa waiver agreements between the EU and those countries.
“The team is particularly looking into the impact on the internal security of the European Union and its Member States, stemming from the visa-free access to the EU granted to the beneficiaries of the CBI programmes. The visit to the region is organised as part of the ongoing monitoring of the visa waiver agreements,” said Wayne M Lewis, Press and Information Officer, Political and Press and Information Section, Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS, and Caricom/CARIFORUM.
Under the updated mechanism, the EU will be looking at 3 main areas to suspend the visa-free regime. They are:
- lack of alignment of a visa-free third country with the EU’s visa policy, in cases where this may lead to increased arrivals to the EU e.g. because of this country’s geographical proximity to the EU
- the operation of an investor citizenship scheme, whereby citizenship is granted without any genuine link to the third country concerned, in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments
- hybrid threats and deficiencies in document security legislation or procedures
A news release from the Council of the European Union dated 13 March said that member states have decided to also include the possibility of suspending the visa-free regime in case of a significant and abrupt deterioration in the EU’s external relations with a third country, in particular when it relates to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The release said that the agreement as a common position will allow the council to enter into negotiations with the European Parliament, once it has settled on its own position, in order to agree on a final legal text.
Providing background to the issue, the release said that while visa-free travel “offers important gains for our economies as well as the tourism and travel sectors and is the cornerstone of social and cultural exchanges, it can also be a source of significant migration and security challenges.”
The EU currently has a visa-free regime in place with Grenada and 60 other countries. Nationals from these countries can enter the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days within a 180-day period without a visa. A person who gains Grenada’s citizenship through the CBI programme will enjoy the same benefits as outlined in the EU visa-free regime.
CBI Chickens Coming Home to Roost
If you find this report difficult to understand, you’re in good company!
What it’s about is another step towards closing down visa-free travel for countries operating CBI schemes under which non-nationals can buy a passport. Five Caribbean states offer this including Grenada. Currently, Grenada passport holders – nationals and CBI – can travel visa free to the EU for 90 days. But now, the EU is noting:
“Investor citizenship schemes operated by third countries [eg Grenada] listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 allow visa-free travel to the Union to third-country nationals that would otherwise be visa required. Under an investor citizenship scheme, citizenship is granted in return for pre-determined payments or investments without any genuine link to the third country concerned. While the Union respects the right of sovereign countries to decide on their own naturalisation procedures, visa-free third countries should be deterred from using visa-free access to the Union as a tool for leveraging individual investment in return for their citizenship. To prevent visa-free access to the Union being used for this purpose, it should be possible to suspend the visa exemption for a third country which chooses to operate such investor citizenship schemes, whereby citizenship is granted without any genuine link to the third country concerned.” Council of the European Union, Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 as regards the revision of the suspension mechanism, 13 March 2024. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/70736/st07687-en24.pdf
In other words, the EU has had enough of these schemes that effectively allow visa-free entry to the EU by nationals of countries the EU would not otherwise allow entry for – simply because they have purchased a Grenadian passport under CBI. The EU is thus joining Canada, the USA and the UK in making it harder for Grenadians to travel to these countries. And this is affecting born and bred Grenadians as well as those who have purchased Grenadian citizenship.
Yes, CBI has put money into the government coffers but most of the money has gone to overseas property developers to build ill-conceived and environmentally harmful tourism projects most of which are under judicial review in the courts. We and others have been warning about this for years:
https://coralcovegrenada.org/2022/11/09/all-is-not-well-with-citizenship-by-investment-cbi/
https://coralcovegrenada.org/2022/09/19/why-has-the-proposed-coral-cove-hotel-been-given-cbi-status/
It really is time this was put to rights. At the very least CBI should be decoupled from property development and all proceeds directed to government not to suspect hotel schemes that may never be completed. Serious legal cases my be brewing. But as the EU and others tighten restrictions, we must be preparing for a rapid decline in the demand for CBI and in the cash it has brought.
Coral Cove Group
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