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Citizenship programs provide individuals with an opportunity to acquire a second powerful nationality that grants them travel freedom and protection for their families, along with an enhanced method to secure their businesses and assets.
Nevertheless, numerous individuals choose to pursue these programs without thoroughly examining the details. Crucial elements exist within each specific Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program; comprehending them can determine the outcome between citizenship approval or denial.
Listed below are several essential considerations to evaluate when selecting a citizenship program.
Have you previously experienced visa denials?
This could be the most critical inquiry to address before beginning a citizenship application procedure. If your citizenship advisor fails to raise this question, consider switching consultancy firms immediately. Any previous visa rejections represent a major concern for governments operating CBI programs and the application will result in denial. The authorities will refuse citizenship if background verification reveals that the applicant faced entry rejection to any nation sharing visa waiver agreements with that specific CBI country, particularly regarding UK and Schengen territories.
Which family members can be included in your application?
Adding dependents remains standard practice; however, applicants must understand precisely whom they can include within the same application. Your citizenship advisor should possess extensive knowledge regarding family dependent inclusion. Insufficient understanding in this field can create consequences and ultimately lead to delays and additional costs that proper guidance can prevent.
Dependents include children, spouse, and parents of the primary applicant or spouse who rely financially on the main applicant. Children must maintain full-time enrollment and demonstrate financial dependence on their parents. Currently, only one CBI program accepts siblings of the main applicant or the spouse, these are unmarried brothers or sisters regardless of their age. These unmarried siblings cannot be previously divorced and cannot have children in order to qualify under the same application.
Each CBI program sets its own regulations for adding dependents. The citizenship consultant should be requesting information on the ages of the children and parents, as each program has different requirements. The date of birth of the applicant is important as, at the moment of applying, they should not surpass the minimum age by law. Also, they should find out whether the main applicant is planning to have kids in the future, because some programs such as St. Lucia do not contemplate including newborns after the citizenship has been issued.
Is your nationality prohibited from applying to the chosen program?
Certain nationalities face restrictions when applying to particular citizenship through investment programs. For instance, St. Kitts and Nevis does not allow nationals of North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan to apply for its program. Therefore, applicants need to understand what the options are for them. Other programs do not restrict any nationalities in particular and take applications in a case by case basis, the results will purely depend on the main applicants source of funds and a clean track record.
What are your upcoming travel intentions?
Every nation maintains a distinct visa-free list that assists applicants in refining their program selection. Consequently, when looking for the correct CBI program, one should know which country they will be visiting frequently. For example, Grenada is the only country with a CBI program that allows visa-free access to China. So, if an individual has business in China, they might want to apply for the Grenadian citizenship. Furthermore, a Grenadian passport allows visa-on-arrival to the UAE, which is a great option for individuals who have business in the UAE.
If to live in Europe is a priority, then Cyprus is the best option that any investor can look for. Upon obtaining a Cypriot nationality, applicants will be able to live in any country part of the EU. They will also have access to world-class education and healthcare. Cyprus also grants visa-free access to over 170 countries including Canada, Australia, UK and the UAE.
Most CBI programs allow visa-free access to the Schengen states except for the Turkish citizenship.
What are the primary documents needed?
Essentially, every submitted application requires applicants to provide fundamental documents including birth certificates, marriage certificates, address verification, and medical examinations. These documents can be quite easy to obtain but difficulties start when obtaining Police Clearance from their country of origin, their country of residence and any country they have resided in for 6 months in the last 10 years.
Understandably, many applicants cannot obtain police reports as their home countries are troubled with political distress, so they must provide an affidavit, which is a legal document that clearly justifies the reason for not being able to obtain the police report. However, not all CBI countries accept affidavits, which in this case an applicant is required to present a local lawyers reference letter that explains the reasons for not being able to obtain the police report from a particular country.
What financial details are necessary?
Fundamentally, fund origin represents the most critical element of the application. The applicant can have clean criminal records but if the source of funds is dubious their citizenship will not be approved. One of the Governments main concern when conducting the due diligence process is knowing how the applicant has generated his or her money and support documents must be presented justifying the same.
Once the due diligence report is concluded, the applicant needs to make the final payment to the Government. It is imperative that the applicant makes the payment from his own bank account or his companys bank account not from a third party.
Bank transfers can be a complicated process nowadays, especially if the intermediary banks are in the United States. The citizenship consultancy company would need to liaise with the beneficiary bank in order to present the required documents for the funds to be cleared.
When pursuing citizenship, conducting thorough research on citizenship processing firms before selection and meticulously examining their performance history proves essential. Numerous options exist online, including those featured on government websites, yet very few possess comprehensive experience in addressing the complexities that citizenship applications may present.
