Latest / IMI Podcasts / This Week in IMI - June 10: Caribbean CBI Countries Get Visa-Free Canada, Portugal GV and Grenada CIP Break Records, ++

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This Week in IMI - June 10: Caribbean CBI Countries Get Visa-Free Canada, Portugal GV and Grenada CIP Break Records, ++ · IMI Podcasts

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Recording 83 million euros in investments from 180 approvals, May was the Portuguese Golden Visa's highest grossing month in three years.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: As has been the case in four out of the first five months of this year, Americans were the top investor nationality in May, closely followed by Chinese and British.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: For the first time in the program's history, the fund investment option was the biggest investment category during the month.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Grenada's Citizenship by Investment program continues to break its own records.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: In the first quarter of the year, the program received 576 applications and processed 306, both all-time highs.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It also issued a record 980 new citizenships in the quarter and generated record quarterly revenue of 243 million Eastern Caribbean dollars.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Grenada's openness to Russian applicants, as well as a dearth of real estate investment options among competing CIPs, contributed to the quarter's strong performance.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Many St.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Lucians, Ketitians, and Antiguans will no longer need apply for visas before visiting Canada, presuming they fly in.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: On Tuesday, Canadaan authorities said it had added 13 countries to its electronic travel authorization, ETA program.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Among the countries included on the list were CBI countries Antigua and Barbuda, St.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Kitts and Nevis, and St.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Nationals of these countries who have either held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or who hold valid United States non-immigrant visas can now apply for an ETA rather than a visa when traveling to Canada by air.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: In an opinion piece, IMI's editor Christian Henrik Nesheim argues that the CBI industry should work to expand the supply of and demand for citizenship by investment programs.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, this will intensify the competition for citizens among countries and thereby lower the cost and improve the quality of citizenship for everyone.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Only one in ten property developers have so far re-qualified since the St.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Kitts and Nevis CIP's real estate reform at the end of last year, which introduced stricter rules and milestones to prevent sham developments or discounting improprieties.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: The new rules, among other measures, no longer allow developers to pay commissions out of the$200,000 principal investment, and also preclude the resale of CBI properties after the holding period unless material additional investments are made.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Investment migration can fill specific economic gaps.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping family businesses from dying with the owner is one way, writes seasoned RCBI market researcher Stefan Todgik in this opinion piece for IMI.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Many company founders nearing retirement struggle to find someone to take over their businesses.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Investment migration can play a crucial role in matching retiring founders with ambitious immigrant investors.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: One consequence of the rapid geopolitical shifts of the last two years has been the exclusion of Russian nationals from international banking opportunities and immigration programs across the globe.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hong Kong, however, has left the door open, writes Stephen Barnes.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: The region's various entrepreneur and business investment visas provide routes to permanent residency, banking, and even eventual citizenship for Russians.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Quebec WEP's new rules, which will require that applicants master French and make a non-recoverable$200,000 donation, are likely to result in a$500,000 walkaway option, writes Nicholas Lauren.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: He argues the program will become a shadow of its former self and that it will no longer be the attractive and accessible pathway it once was.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.