Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 20, 2015 (SKNIS): The St. Kitts and Nevis’ Citizenship by Investment Programme has received a much needed fresh start, according to the Federation’s Prime Minister, Dr the Hon. Timothy Harris.
Prime Minister Harris, addressing the Global Citizenship Conference one day seminar in Miami on the topic “Citizenship-by-Investment in St. Kitts and Nevis—Past, Present and Future” on Monday, explained that after the Team Unity won the February 2015 elections, his government upon taking office had quickly come to the realization that the Citizenship by Investment Programme was in desperate need of reformation.
“We recognized that mistakes had been made by the former regime. The programme had been abused to a point that was willful, almost dishonest. The people voted for a change.”
Prime Minister Harris indicated that this abuse had resulted in strained relationships with Canada and the United States.
Explaining that the changes to the programme were not a simple cosmetic fix, Prime Minister Harris outlined the recent changes made to the programme by his government.
The first change was to the Citizen by Investment Unit.
“We have bolstered the management of the Citizenship-Investment-Unit. We have added staff, given everybody training courses, and initiated organizational changes that allow for a more client-focused team.”
The second change saw the introduction of a new citizen case management system. This system, the first of its kind in the Caribbean, will allow for faster processing of applications.
According to Prime Minister Harris, ‘This system allows 24-hour access for the input of applications, as well as tracking of applications as they work through the system.”
The Third change was the adjustment of workflows geared at enabling faster response times in application processing.
“We are no longer processing applications in a linear fashion,” said Prime Minister Harris, who later revealed that “Due Diligence reports are received and files are reviewed immediately thereafter rather than being held until old files are cleared.”
The Forth change according to Prime Minister Harris was the commissioning of a Technical Committee, in accordance with a 2015 amendment to the law.
The Prime Minister explained that “this institutes a more formal and documented process over the denial of applications.”
The fifth and final change announced by Prime Minister Harris was aimed towards assisting in the protection of the applicant's investments in real estate transactions.
“We have improved the acknowledgement phase of the processing cycle. Files are now being acknowledged on an average of 5 days after receipt, well within the 10 day window, and much improved from earlier this year and last year. Finally, we have tabled changes to the law regarding escrow accounts.”
Prime Minister Harris was confident that these changes will assist in launching the programme into a progressive and prosperous future.
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