More Americans are CBI-approved citizens of Grenada

by Linda Straker

• In first quarter of 2025, 1% of 632 new CBI-approved citizens were US nationals
• In second quarter of 2025, 12% of 402 new CBI-approved citizens were US nationals
• IMA team will be embarking on tour of West Africa in October 2025

Latest data released by the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Unit, which was rebranded as the Investment Migration Agency (IMA Grenada), showed that 12% of the 402 people approved as new citizens for Grenada during the second quarter of 2025 are citizens of the United States of America.

For that period, the Americans represented the second highest nationality to be approved as citizens, the first was China with 10% of the new approved citizens, followed by Nigeria, which represented 10% of the new citizens.

During the first quarter of 2025, 1% of the 632 approved new CBI citizens were USA nationals. This is the first time that another nation has beaten Nigeria in its second place for approved CBI citizens. A review of previous data showed that China and Nigeria were continuously placing first and second, respectively, for foreign nationals who are approved as Grenada new citizens through the IMA.

Other nationalities approved as citizens for the period were Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the Philippines; Uganda, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Kuwait, Lebanon, the Republic of Congo, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Syria, Turkey, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.

As of the end of the second quarter of 2025, a total of 893 new citizens were approved through the IMA, bringing EC$103.2 million, according to the June 2025 monthly fiscal report from the Ministry of Finance.

Thomas Anthony, Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Migration Agency, announced in August that Grenada will be focusing on marketing the Citizenship by Investment programme to Africa, and a team from the agency will be embarking on a tour of West Africa in October 2025.

Anthony, who was part of a Panel at the 4th AfriCaribbean Investment and Trade Forum discussing the topic, “A showcase of Grenada’s Investment: Trade, Business and Tourism,” said that Nigeria currently represents the largest demographic in Africa applying to the CBI, and the plan is to extend it to nationals of other African Nations. “We have been exploring more African countries, more recently we were in Kenya in collaboration with the Nairobi Chamber of Commerce and at that event we had more than 100 individuals attending, and we believe that we will see some fruit from that event.”