- From January to June 2023, Cabinet approved 2,011 new citizens
- EC$157 million generated from approved applicants
- 90% of approved applicants are of Russian nationality
Richard Duncan, Chairman of the Citizenship by Investment Committee (CBI), has disclosed that most of the people who gained Grenada’s citizenship through the Citizenship by Investment programme for the first 6 months of 2023 were Russian nationals.
From January to June 2023, the Cabinet of Grenada approved 2011 people to become citizens of the country according to the latest public data released by the Ministry of Finance in August. “The overwhelming majority, maybe 90% of the applicants approved so far are in the area of Russian nationality,” Duncan said during an interview in the weekly The Bubb Report, a US production.
Grenada’s CBI programme was officially launched in 2014, following the 2013 Grenada Citizenship by Investment Act. The CBI Unit has never disclosed a breakdown of applicants receiving or being denied approval, but based on published data from the Ministry of Finance, over 8,000 people have gained Grenada citizenship through the programme.
The programme has earned millions in revenue for Grenada since its launch. The first 6 months of 2023 were described by Duncan as a windfall, with revenue of EC$157 million from approved applicants.
In March 2023, Oleg Frier, Grenada’s former Ambassador to the Russian Federation, had his licence revoked among the list of international marketing agents allowed to conduct business on behalf of the country’s CBI Programme.
“The Grenada Citizenship by Investment Committee advises that Mr Oleg Firer is not a licenced Marketing Agent, nor a registered sub-agent of the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Programme,” said a notice on the updated website of the CBI programme.
“He is therefore not authorised to market, promote or disseminate information on the programme, nor act on behalf of, or engage with current or potential applicants, or their authorised representatives,” said the 28 March notice. Currently, there are 59 international marketing agents for the CBI programme.
As of 1 April 2023, Grenada stopped accepting applications from Russia and Belarus, joining North Korea, Iran, and Palestine as states around the world that are banned from participating in Grenada’s CBI programme.
Grenada agreed to stop accepting those applications as part of its decision to comply with a request from the USA following the 25 February 2023 historic US-Caribbean Roundtable on Citizenship by Investment was held in Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis.
At that meeting, the participating countries approved 6 principles for going forward which include suspending applications from Russia and Belarus to the CBI programme, as well as not to process applications from persons whose applications have been denied in another CBI jurisdiction, by proactively sharing information on denials.