There has been a large increase in South Africans applying for a second passport and the Caribbean in particular has seen a surge in applications. High net worth South African citizens are not necessarily looking to relocate but increasingly recognise that investing in dual citizenship provides the opportunity to secure a safe and stable future environment for their business and personal lives. Enquiries about second citizenship have soared by more than 120% in the last 12 months and over 300% in the last two years. Whilst enquiries were mainly by males an increasing number of females have started to apply. Enquiries were also split almost evenly between white and non-white South Africans with about 70% aged between 45 -70 years. 90% were employed split almost evenly between self-employed and employed.
The Caribbean is particularly popular with people from all parts of the world seeking 2nd Citizenship and in particular The Commonwealth of Dominica. For the second year running this tiny, resourceful Caribbean country has been acclaimed by the prestigious Financial Times group as having the top CBI programme in the world. Of the 13 citizenship by investment (CBI) programmes that operate around the world Dominica leads the industry by achieving 90% of the seven pillars against which each programme is assessed; scoring perfect marks in five of the seven categories. Following on from the 2017 CBI Index results, Dominica remains the world’s best economic citizenship jurisdiction as a result of maintaining high levels of timeliness and simplicity in process, a competitive and affordable investment threshold, and a robust due diligence framework.
So for South African investors, along with residents increasingly from the Far East, the Commonwealth of Dominica provide through their Citizen by Investment Programme a sound and profitable investment for the future.