The COVID-19 pandemic caused hiatus in global travel; it has shown the significance of having the ability to move freely to other countries. Now, attaining mobility has become simpler with alternative citizenship. Dominica- better known as the nature isle of the Caribbean, caters for the need of one to spend a better life with easy access to over 160 countries and territories globally.
The island country offers a safe, secure and stable environment and has one of the strongest passports among countries offering citizenship by investment programme. It operates as a gateway to several big and developed nations worldwide. The gateway directly refers to having visa-free access and visa on arrival to these nations.
Dominican passport holders have visa-free access and visas on arrival to nations such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, Israel, Hong Kong, and the Schengen area. It also allows almost instant travel opportunities to the most prominent tourist locations worldwide, offering great freedom of movement. Dominica scored 7/10 in the “Freedom of Movement Pillar” in the CBI Index 2022.
The CBI Index, a PWM Magazine of Financial Times publication, ranked the Dominica citizenship by investment programme as the world’s number one for the fifth consecutive year in 2022. As per the Index, Dominica passport holders get access to the world’s leading economic and financial centres.
Recently, the Government of Dominica also introduced biometric passports that are equipped with advanced technology to provide greater security.
The citizenship by investment programme of Dominica allows foreigners to become citizens in exchange for a certain amount of investment into the country’s economy. An individual can buy government-approved real estate or invest in a government fund to secure citizenship for himself and his family.
Investment Options:
- Real Estate: Starting from USD 200,000
- Economic Diversification Fund: Starting from USD 100,000
Dominica is one of the oldest in the Citizenship by Investment Programme industry. Not just limited to running a successful CBI Programme, the nation has also gained lauds for holding one of the most powerful passports.
To be eligible for citizenship of Dominica, one requires to pass through a multi-layered due diligence process which includes on-ground and online verifications by a third-party agency to check the legitimacy of the person along with their financial records.
About the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica –
The Commonwealth of Dominica has been successfully running the Citizenship by Investment programme from the year 1993, and it is now one of the world’s longest-running economic citizenship programmes. Moreover, Dominica has bagged the first spot in the best citizenship by investment rankings for 2022. It is a ranking system published by the Financial Times’ Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Magazine.
The CBI programme of Dominica has also been recognized for focusing on the overall quality of its applicants, as it only allows applicants with outstanding character as well as reputation. To ensure that only credible applicants are allowed to have citizenship, the government has also made mandatory strict and thorough due diligence checks on all applicants who are over the 16-years of age.
It is also considered one of the major steps in allowing any individual to apply for citizenship or a passport of Dominica, as it allows the investigation agency to scrutinize the profile of the applicant in a very comprehensive way. It also helps one to check if the applicant has any criminal case in the past or has engaged in any illicit activity. Not just limited to this thorough due diligence also examines the financial records of an applicant before making an investment. It checks upon the roots of the finances in which the applicant has been investing.
How to apply for citizenship in Dominica?
There are two investment options to apply for citizenship in Dominica.
- The Economic Diversification Fund: It is a government-authorized fund, and an applicant can directly make a contribution. The fund supports socio-economic initiatives in the island nation. The investment under the EDF Investment option starts from USD 100,000. Along with this, for the spouse of the main applicant, an additional amount of USD 50,000 is added; for the siblings of the main applicant or of the spouse ageing between 18-25 years old, the amount of USD 50,000 will be added.
- Real Estate Investment Option: Under this, applicants are required to purchase a government-approved property. It must be held for at least three years. The minimum investment under this option is USD 200,000.
Benefits of the Dominican Passport
The Dominican passport holders enjoy plenty of benefits which range from providing a chance for global mobility to offering them access to a number of countries and territories across the world without extra documents.
Besides this, the Commonwealth of Dominica shares friendly ties with global mobility and is just a few hours of flight away from the United States of America and Europe. Direct connectivity will become even easier with the opening of its first international airport by 2025.
One of the major benefits of the citizenship by investment programme of Dominica is that citizenship is granted for life, and a person gets the same rights as those born in the country. Citizenship can also be transferred to future generations.
The Dominican citizens are also not taxed on their global wealth, and there are no stay requirements either, thus making it an even more desirable place to avail alternative citizenship. With the growing number of applicants from around the world, the government of Dominica is working to make its due diligence even more robust and strong.
