St Lucia signs Memorandum of agreement with other OECS states on CIP Programme

The Government of Saint Lucia is moving to make changes to its Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programme through the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement. This was revealed in a statement issued by that country’s Prime Minister, Phillip J. Pierre on June 3, 2024, as he explained that his administration would ink a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) already signed by other countries with CIP programmes in the OECS.

The MoA calls for common standards and procedures in pricing; information sharing and transparency standards; regulation; security screening and framework; regulation of agents; marketing & promotion of programs; joint training and capacity building; dispute resolution; amendment and termination.

In addition to signing this Memorandum, the Saint Lucia Prime Minister said that further suggestions have been made to strengthen this sub-regional agreement, including proposing legislative changes to address change of name requests, which had also been agreed to by the other Heads of Government. He added that after consulting with regional governments and other partners his administration will propose further strengthening of the CIP programme to include an annual quota; a net-worth for applicants; Escrow accounts to be held in Saint Lucia or in the individual islands; and a requirement that only licensed promoters will be allowed to submit applicants to local authorized agents and these promoters will have to submit a due diligence report on each applicant. According to Pierre over the last year, St Lucia instituted six principles it had agreed to with the US Government which are: a ban on applicants from Russians and Belarusians; implementation of applicant interviews; vetting of all applicants through the Financial Intelligence Authority; sharing of denials with the Joint Regional Communication Centre (JRCC); instituting an operational review of the programme by an international consultancy firm to commence shortly; and seeking international support to recover passports that have been revoked. Apart from Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, and Saint Kitts and Nevis are other OECS countries that have CIP Programmes.