Citizenship by Investment in St. Lucia

In 2021, St. Lucia’s citizenship by investment program appeared at the top of the ranks of CBI programs worldwide. The program is one of the cheapest (especially for a single person), and the processing is fast and confidential. For your investment in real estate, business, or government bonds, you get permission to live in a beautiful place with unspoiled nature and will be able to travel to the EU without a visa. In this article, with the help of specialists from Immigrant Invest, we will talk about all the essentials of applying for St. Lucia’s economic citizenship.

What Are St. Lucia Citizenship Requirements?

These requirements don’t differ much from other CBI programs. To become a Saint Lucia citizen by investment, one must reach the age of 18, have no major health problems or criminal record, pass a background check (and pay the expenses), and, finally, make an investment and provide corresponding proof of it. Meanwhile, the applicant is not required to go through language mastery or any other test and is not obliged to reside in the country before getting permission to apply.

Those going for citizenship by investment in St. Lucia can include members of their family and close relatives in an application. For an additional cost, which we will cover later, they will be granted a St. Lucia passport as well. Here are the relatives who can be included:

  • Children below 21.
  • Children over 21 if they depend on you and your spouse physically or financially.
  • Parents and grandparents over 55 or younger if they are mentally or physically challenged.
  • Unmarried siblings under 18.

The cost of including a person in an application depends on the investment option an applicant chooses.

St. Lucia Investment Citizenship Options

There are four investment options to gain citizenship by investment in St. Lucia. For a single person, minimum requirements are US$100,000 donation to a government fund, US$300,000 purchase of the eligible real estate, buying US$500,000 worth in government bonds, or investing US$3,5 million in a certain type of enterprise.

Now, let’s go into more detail about the last three issues since putting money in NEF to gain citizenship is rather straightforward. To understand them better, we have spoken to Zlata Erlach, an expert from the Immigrant Invest company.

St. Lucia Citizenship by Investment in Real Estate

Unlike other programs, buying residual real estate here won’t count towards getting citizenship. Only two types of property are accepted — hotels and resorts (or boutiques). In both cases, the minimum requirement for one person is US$300,000.

Investing in Government Bonds

An investor must hold US$500,000 worth of government bonds for 5 years under a no-interest requirement to become eligible for the CBI program. The investment must be made after an application gets approved.

Investing in Enterprise

There are seven eligible types of enterprises to invest in:

  • Transport infrastructure (roads, bridges, ports, etc.)
  • Restaurants
  • Cruise ports
  • Pharmaceutics
  • Processing plants for agriculture
  • Universities
  • R&D facilities

Instead of making a minimal US$3,5 million investment, applicants can take part in a joint investment of at least US$6,5 million. In this case, a required personal contribution is US$1 million.

In the next table, you can discover the costs of including family members for each investment type. To find out more aboutSt. Lucia citizenship costs and taxation, check out this article – https://immigrantinvest.com/blog/st-lucia-citizenship-cost-en/.

Single personWith a spouseWith a spouse and up to 2 more peopleEach additional dependant
National Economic Fund$100,000$165,000$190,000$25,000
Real Estate$300,000N/AN/AN/A
Bonds$500,000$535,000$550,000$25,000
Enterprise$6,500,000N/AN/AN/A

St. Lucia Citizenship Benefits

Getting the country’s passport through the St. Lucia citizenship by investment program provides you with the following advantages:

  • In St. Lucia, dual citizenship is allowed.
  • Traveling visa-free to the Schengen zone countries.
  • Lucrative tax legislation.
  • Application processing takes only three months.