“Golden Passport” of Grenada: Minus 5 Development Projects and New Financial Records

The Grenadian authorities have published a report on the financial results of the national citizenship-by-investment program in the first 6 months of 2023. The report shows that several financial records have been broken in the period. Besides, the authorities of Grenada have scratched several development projects off the list of such projects approved for citizenship-by-investment purposes (foreign investors can qualify for citizenship of Grenada when purchasing real property in the country). The reason for calling off the licenses is lack of progress.  

Minus 5 approved development projects

Similarly to other Caribbean countries offering economic citizenship opportunities, Grenada allows foreigners to acquire its passports in exchange for investments into real estate. However, the foreign investor can put money only in a development project that is approved by the Government for these purposes. Most often, these are resort complexes, hotels, and villas. 

At the beginning of August 2023, the local authorities annulled the certificates of 5 development projects because the construction work had not been started on the due dates. The Grenadian Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) published the announcement in the August 4 issue of the official Government gazette. The five development projects whose certificates have been annulled are listed below:  

• New Opportunities Investment Limited (NOIL);
• Hope Development Limited/La Pointe Grenada;
• Grenada Corolla Consultant Limited;
• Horseshoe Cove Resort;
• Port Louis Ltd.

This was a post-factum announcement, as a matter of fact. According to the text, the abovementioned projects ceased to be approved for citizenship-by-investment purposes on July 7, 2023. From now on, the administrations of the projects cannot attract investments from foreign candidates for Grenadian citizenship and they cannot run the corresponding promotional campaigns.  

The Resolution to revoke project certification has been signed by Thomas Antony, the new head of the Grenadian CIU. This decision is in keeping with the policies promoted by Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada. In June 2023, the prime minister warned that if a developer failed to start the construction work within reasonable time, the project’s certificate would be canceled. 

Prime minister Mitchell said that the Government was considering revoking the certificates of several development projects that had been approved a few years before his administration took office in 2022.

At the current moment, candidates for economic citizenship of Grenada can choose from 19 development projects that they can invest in. Purchase of property will make them qualified for citizenship of Grenada and they can sell it back after five years without losing their second citizenship. The projects are listed below. 

Development project name	Construction stage
Bacolet Bay Resort & Spa	On pause
Beach House Resort by Silversands	Under construction
Coral Cove Hotel/Charis Group Ltd.	Under construction
Grenada National Resort Project	Under construction
Hartman Education Enterprise Ltd.	Under construction
Hartman Hotel Development Ltd.	Under construction
Hideaway True Blue	Under construction
Intercontinental Hotel & Villas	Under construction
Kimpton Kawana Bay Resort	On pause
Mariposa Condominiums	Construction complete
Mount Cinnamon	Construction partially complete
Reece Investment Inc. Trading as Emerald Suites	No data
Saint David Agro Inc.	No data
Silver Sands	Construction complete
Six Senses La Sagesse (Range Developments)	Under construction
The Point at Petite Calivigny	Construction complete
The Sanctuary at Fiji Beach	No data
The View (The Legacy Project Inc.)	No data
West India Spice	No data

Grenada is not the only Caribbean country whose authorities are concerned about the development projects not starting the construction on time. The period between December 2022 and August 2023 saw significant changes in the Caribbean citizenship-by-investment market as far as investment into real property is concerned. 

For example, the CIU of St Kitts and Nevis annulled the certificates of all developers in the country in December 2022 and made them undergo the procedure or re-certification. The local citizenship-by-investment program is undergoing serious reforms. Thus far, only about a quarter of developers in St Kitts and Nevis have been able to regain their certificates.

Financial report for the first six months of 2023

A foreign national can acquire citizenship of Grenada not only by investing into real property but also by making a non-returnable donation to the state fund. The amount of the donation is smaller than the amount of investment but investments are returnable while donations are not. Both donations and investments into property make important contributions to the economic development of the host country.  

The Grenadian citizenship-by-investment program continued to make significant contributions to the national budget in the first half of 2023. It finances important social projects, improves the tourist potential of Grenada, and contributes to the overall economic development of the country. The official statistics confirms these facts. 

According to the statistical data published by the Government of Grenada, the national economic citizenship program ‘earned’ 157 million Caribbean dollars between January and June of 2023 (one Caribbean dollar – EC$ – equals 0.37 US dollar). The sum is larger than the sum made over a whole year in any year since 2014 when the program was restarted after a 10-year break. 

Speaking about particular months, June was the most profitable one for Grenadians. In this month alone, the Grenada economic citizenship program ‘earned’ EC$ 48.9 million. 

The Grenadian Ministry of Finance has not published the information about the number of foreigners who obtained Grenadian passports in the second quarter of 2023. The information for the first quarter is available, however, and the number is 980 people. The figure covers both main investors and their dependent family members added to family applications for Grenadian citizenship. 

167 people obtained Grenadian passports in exchange for donations to the National Transformation Fund (NTF). The remaining 813 foreigners acquired ‘golden passports’ by investing in Government-approved development projects in Grenada. The popularity of the investment-into-property option is growing at a rapid pace in the Caribbean.

At the beginning of the year, the authorities expected the revenue from the economic citizenship program to be EC$240,461,920 over the year. As we can see today, however, chances are that the figure is going to be at least 50% higher by the end of 2023. The Government plans to use the money that the program generated to finance several ambitious infrastructure projects.

Expert assistance in acquiring foreign citizenship by investment 

Grenada is not the only country that ‘sells’ its passports to foreigners. Around a dozen other jurisdictions offer similar opportunities. What option should you choose? There cannot be a universal answer to this question. Every person looking to obtain foreign citizenship will have his/ her own goals and preferences and everybody’s financial opportunities are different too. Our experts will gladly assist you with navigating the investment immigration market and making the best choice. You are welcome to apply for a free professional consultation on the matter.