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Many successful and well-established businessmen and wealthy people in general view citizenship by investment as a perfect solution serving several purposes, including worldwide mobility and tax optimisation. A question of whether or not to get a second passport in return for investment is not relevant anymore. A more relevant one is which country to choose for this purpose. Some of the most popular and easiest naturalisation options are offered by Caribbean states.

Which countries offer citizenship by investment

More affordable and attractive options have been introduced under citizenship by investment programs of the following Caribbean countries:

Why Caribbean is better than European

Second passport of one of the Caribbean states in exchange for your investment in local economy has lots of advantages against its European counterpart:

Significantly lower amount of investment;
Minimum requirements to applicants;
Fast processing times;
No interviews and personal presence during or after the application process.

Moreover, a Caribbean passport offers visa-free entry to EU countries, South-East Asia and the UK. And finally, it is hard to beat the tax benefits that many Caribbean governments offer to their new citizens.

Tax laws are under control

A Caribbean passport gives a lot of benefits to its holder some of which are guaranteed by the state while others are not. Let us explain. For example, visa-free regime with Schengen states or a simpler US visa application process is not something that is managed solely by a government of say Grenada or Dominica. Those are bilateral agreements between two countries which can be amended and reviewed one way or another any time.

Taxation, on the other hand, depends on and is regulated by authorities of each country individually. And most governments understand how important foreign investments and new businesses are for economic growth and diversification of their country; therefore, they will think twice before cracking down on tax laws.

Tax benefits in the Caribbean

How often do we hear a term ‘tax haven’ applied to taxation in Caribbean countries? Quite often. And why is that? Because some tax rates are so low in comparison to the rest of the world while some taxes do not even exist there. A good example, property tax is relatively low on the majority of the islands.

Which country is best for tax optimisation?

It depends on what you want to achieve. Take St Kitts & Nevis for example, a small state consisting of two volcanic islands – there is no income tax at all. Grenada and St Lucia – no gift tax. Add Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to the above and all of them have no wealth tax, capital gain tax or inheritance tax.

Now, the United Kingdom is on the other side of the spectrum. Heirs of a deceased person, unless it is a husband or wife, must pay 40% inheritance tax on the value of the inherited estate. Even an expensive gift, if made within 7 years before the death of the donor, is considered inheritance.

Taxation is a serious matter that should be given a lot of consideration before applying for a second passport. You might want to talk to a financial or tax adviser in order to choose the right country for your tax optimisation needs.

Doing business in the Caribbean

If you have a company registered in your country and aim at expanding to global market, you might encounter problems with opening bank accounts in Europe or elsewhere as well as winning trust of your potential clients and partners.

There can be various reasons why your company will be treated with suspicion and mistrust on the international arena, but it should not stop you from setting goals and growing.

Why a Caribbean company is trustworthy?

If you want to win trust of potential foreign partners, think about jurisdictions that are reliable and reputable from the point of view of your new partners. Caribbean countries are ones of them; they are safe and trusted by European banks. International companies would not be afraid to work with you either.

Taxation of Caribbean companies

There is one thing in common for all countries that we have mentioned above; if you register your business as a commercial international company to operate abroad, there will be minimum fiscal and tax burden in the country of your new citizenship. However, before you set up a Caribbean company, talk to an expert adviser in order to choose the right location.

To sum it up we can say that irrespective of whether it is yourself personally that you want to relieve of some tax burden or it is your business that could benefit from a respectable jurisdiction and low tax rates, Caribbean citizenship by investment will be your best solution.

Our competent lawyers and advisers will help you with all kinds of issues and questions related to obtaining a Caribbean passport and tax optimisation and will support you in finding personalised solutions both for second citizenship and managing and increasing your wealth.