ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC—Since coming to office more than two years ago, the Grenada government has granted citizenship to more than 8,000 people under the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI).
Under the CBI, Grenada gives citizenship to foreign nationals in return for substantial investment in the country’s socio-economic development.
Figures released here show that the government received EC$753.4 million (One EC dollar = 0.37 cents) in revenue under the CBI program from July 2022 to June 2024, when 8512 people received citizenship.
Data from the Citizenship by Investment Unit recently rebranded as the Investment Migration Agency (IMA): From January to June 2024, the cabinet approved 3034, 4764 for January to December 2023, and 714 for July to December 2022.
The CBI program began in 2014 under the former New National Party (NNP) administration. From 2014 to June 2022, the government approved 7472 new citizens.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the program, and a review of the data from the Ministry of Finance and IMA website shows that the total number of citizens approved through the program is 15,984.
As of July 2024, the Ministry of Finance and the IMA website provided a program breakdown. While the Ministry of Finance data focused on the revenue earned, the IMA website provided details on the number of new citizens and the geographic locations of applicants.
According to the IMA breakdown, China and Nigeria are the locations for the highest number of approved new citizens. Both jurisdictions are continuously responsible for almost 50 percent of approved applicants, while there is a fluctuating number from several other places, including the United States, India, Lebanon, Ukraine, South Africa, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Great Britain, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey, Argentina, and Hong Kong.
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