by Linda Straker
- Citizens have the right to Grenadian passport
- Visa-free access to European Union a significant benefit
- Parliament approved law establishing regulatory system in last quarter of 2025
Between 2015 and 31 March 2025, Grenada, according to the European Commission’s 8th report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism, gained 22,784 new citizens through its Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme.
For the period 2015 to 2023, 16,086 citizens were approved; in 2024, 5,180; and as of 31 March 2025, the total was 1,518. Each of these new citizens is entitled to a Grenadian passport and to vote once they have met the prerequisites set out in the Representation of the People Act (RPA).
The RPA is the legislation which provides for the representation of the people in the House of Representatives, to provide for the registration of persons entitled to vote at elections of members of the House of Representatives, to regulate the procedure at such elections, and to provide for other matters in connection therewith, all pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution.
Investor citizenship schemes inherently carry security risks for the European Schengen area, as no such scheme can be considered risk-free from a security and migration control perspective. Visa-free access to the European Union remains a significant benefit for beneficiaries of investor citizenship schemes that would otherwise require a visa.
The report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council said that the European Commission has adopted its 8th report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism, covering developments related to visa policy alignment, migration, security and citizenship in several countries, including those in the Eastern Caribbean that operate Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes.
The report includes specific recommendations for each country: Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis. The CBI programmes provide foreign nationals with citizenship of these islands in exchange for a substantial investment in their socio-economic development.
In its report, the EU noted that investor citizenship schemes operated by visa-free countries pose “security risks, as they may allow third-country nationals who would normally require a visa to bypass standard checks and obtain Schengen access through purchased citizenship.” It said that schemes in the 5 Eastern Caribbean states “continue to raise concerns due to high volumes, short processing times and low rejection rates, despite some steps taken to strengthen due diligence and information-sharing.”
The commission acknowledged that all 5 countries operate distinct investor citizenship schemes, which typically require foreign nationals to make direct contributions to the state budget or invest in major infrastructure, utility, or real estate projects in exchange for citizenship.
It said that in August this year, the 5 Caribbean countries jointly notified the commission of the establishment of a regional regulator for the operation of investor citizenship schemes. Grenada’s Parliament approved the law establishing the regulatory system in the last quarter of 2025. “The 5 Caribbean countries described the key provisions of the legislation as follows: funding of the scheme’s regulator, enforcement mechanisms for compliance, collection of biometrics of new applicants, residency requirement for approved applicants and financial support for Caricom JRCC,” the report said.
The commission said it will continue to monitor the fulfilment of visa liberalisation requirements and recommendations by partner countries and will continue to report to the European Parliament and the Council annually.
The EU currently has a visa-free regime with 64 non-EU countries and territories. Under this visa-free regime, non-EU citizens may enter the Schengen area for up to 90 days within 180 days without a visa.
In June 2025, the European Council and the Parliament agreed on a stronger, more flexible visa-suspension mechanism. “This will allow the EU to better address challenges linked to visa-free schemes, with new grounds to suspend visa-free regimes, lower thresholds to trigger the suspension mechanism, as well as a swifter and more flexible procedure.”
The revised suspension mechanism will enter into force on 30 December 2025 and introduces several modifications, in particular, new grounds for suspension. The new grounds will include a lack of alignment of a country’s visa-free regime with the EU’s visa policy, in cases where this may lead to increased illegal migration risks and the operation of an investor citizenship scheme, whereby citizenship is granted in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments, without the person concerned having any genuine link to that third country. Another ground for suspension is systemic deficiencies in document security, law and procedures in which there is a deterioration in the EU’s relations with a third country, for several reasons, including hybrid threats, grave breaches of the UN Charter and international law, and human rights and humanitarian law violations.
Selling Grenada citizenship which gives Visa-free access to European Union a significant benefit is shady at the very least and the EU is about to clamp down on it. Sick of such antics the EU and the USA are about to make these island nations approach their economy in an honest and transparent way instead of this shifty, abuse and fraudulent way
Visa free access for CBI states should end. Selling passports undermines the integrity of citizenship and exposes systemic governance failures. Serious states build economies; they do not auction identity.