ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC Grenada Citizenship by Investment Unit Friday disagreed with a senior government that the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) is open to all nationalities.
Under the CBI, foreign nationals are granted citizenship of the island in return for making a significant investment in the socio-economic development of Grenada.
Speaking in Parliament during a debate on the 2024 national budget, the leader of Government Business, Adrian Thomas, said: “The program is open for everybody whether you are Chinese, whether you are Russian, whether you are African, the first thing this administration see is a human being, we don’t cut you to see what blood runs through your veins whether it is African blood, Chinese blood or Russian blood.”
But in a statement, the CBI Unit said there had been no change statement by the Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries Minister during the debate, which was erroneous.
“Senator Adrian Thomas, on Thursday evening, December 1 December 14, read that his submissions in the Senate the previous day on the acceptance of the CBI applicants from all nationalities is incorrect,” said the statement, which was issued hours after Thomas told the Parliament while wrapping up the debate that Grenada stopped accepting applications from Russia and Belarus as of March 31.
March 31not apologize to nor inform legislators in the Upper House that his previous information was inaccurate, and the updated information to the Parliament was to ensure that the correct data was placed on the Hansard.
“In correcting, he confirmed that, in truth, applications are no longer accepted from Russia and Belarus as of March 31 and March 31d and that the longstanding ban on North Korea and Iran remains in full effect,” the Unit added.
Grenada was the only country in the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) with CBI programs until Mame.
In February, following the US-Caribbean Roundtable on Citizenship by Investment held in St.Kitts-Nevis, Grenada agreed to stop accepting the applications.
The release said that Grenada remains committed to the six CBI Principles agreed upon between the United States Treasury and the five governments of the Eastern Caribbean Investment Migration programs on February 2 February 25The CBI Unit’s steadfast adherence to these Principles and the building of mechanisms to further entrench them in its operations continue unabated and uninterrupted,” said the release.
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