AG Byron Says CBI Programme Has to be in Line With World Changes

(ZIZ News) — Discussions on the country’s Citizenship by Investment [CBI] Programme will probably never go away as it has been identified as one of the most financially lucrative in the federation, however, as talks to have it restructured continue, Attorney General Hon. Vincent Byron has provided a different approach as to why there is need for change.

Recently, during debates on the CBI Amendment Bill, Byron said a programme that had been around for more than three decades had to be improved to keep up with the changing world.

“At the time when the Citizenship Act was originally passed, the types of national and international security issues that we are now confronted with were not yet as of great concern as they are now,” he said.

“The full effects of globalisation had not as yet manifested itself into the reality that it is today. The implications of these types of observations have unfortunately become so impactful that they cannot now be ignored,” he added.

Micha Rose Emmett, whose company is providing consultative citizenship support to the local government, said recently that the programme requires change and admitted that the July 30th CBI Consultation was a great first step.

“At the first National Consultation hosted by the government, what we saw was efforts by the stakeholders to contribute, to talk about issues in an open platform because we need to speak about these things and we need to understand so we’re all on the same page and again, communication so, if we all understand what the problems are, we can work together to make the solutions,” she explained.

St. Kitts and Nevis’ Citizenship By Investment Programme was introduced in 1984.