The CBI Index: the prerogative of only a few?

One of the core attributes of citizenship by investment programmes is their aptitude for openness – allowing individuals to obtain dual nationality without needing to demonstrate ancestral ties to a host country, or family connections with current citizens. 

They also release applicants from lengthy residence requirements, thus meaning that, even within the bounds of what the applicant could have achieved independently of others, citizenship by investment does not require a previous bond with the country. 

It is this openness that has encouraged investors to secure a second citizenship even in nations very distant from their own. For host countries, this has translated into applications from peoples of disparate cultures and backgrounds, united however in their desire for a better life, greater freedom, and personal security.

Given this far-reaching open-door policy, is citizenship by investment more appealing to certain national or ethnical groups than it is to others?

Antigua and Barbuda, which set up its Citizenship by Investment Programme in 2013, recorded primary interest from Asia and the Middle East. In a report released on March 3, 2016, the country’s Citizenship by Investment Unit revealed that, since the programme’s inception, nearly 45 per cent of applications had been received from Chinese nationals. The Unit further noted that 5.5 per cent of applications came from Lebanon, while a similar number originated from Syria.

Between its inauguration in March 2014 and June of that year, Malta’s Individual Investor Programme saw almost 60 per cent of its applications come from a single region: the former Soviet Union.

The examples provided by Antigua and Barbuda and Malta seem to suggest citizenship by investment is always dominated by particular national groups. However, other countries, such as the Commonwealth of Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis, have served as points of convergence for applicants with very diverse backgrounds.

In 2012, the former prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Denzil L. Douglas, disclosed that the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit had processed applications from the US, Dubai, Russia, Yemen, and Singapore. Today, applicants are welcome from across the globe, although St Kitts
and Nevis still retains a security ban
on Iranian and Afghan nationals. Dominica, a country that invites participants from all nations to its programme, has also received applications from around the world. Not surprisingly, both countries have long-established citizenship by investment programmes and have built a reputation of trust among international allies, authorised agents, and industry professionals alike. 

Though little is known about the wider demographic of applicants for Comorian citizenship under its Economic Investment Programme, a high number of citizenships were awarded to the Bidoons – stateless persons of Arabic decent. Notably, the Bidoons were awarded Comorian citizenship by intervention of the governments of Kuwait and of the United Arab Emirates.

The quest for second citizenship thus seems not to be synonymous with certain national groups or regional communities, and, as home countries continue in their pursuit of restrictive policies and uncertain strategies, more and more international applicants will be attracted to the prospect of dual nationality in a welcoming, open nation