At his latest weekly press conference on Monday (September 28), Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre reported on his recent attendance — with Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Brown and OECS Director General Dr Didacus Jules, among others — at a meeting with the top European Union (EU) representative at the United Nations (UN).
In essence, he disclosed, the EU was adamant that Saint Lucia and other OECS member-states with Citizenship By Investment Programmes (CIPs) have up to 2028 (two years) to end them or lose visa-free access to the EU’s Schengen area.
The EU’s representative made it clear there was no room for debate or discussion as Brussels had made its mind up, the only compromise being that the islands involved would be given up to June 2027 to respond, instead of the end of September 2026.
Reporters tried unsuccessfully to get the PM to say what Saint Lucia’s position is or will be, but the answer was clear: either the islands end their all-important CIPs, or their citizens will have to start applying for visas to enter the 29 EU member-states that belong to the Schengen Zone.
As the PM pointed out, Saint Lucia has to respect the decisions taken by all sovereign states and cannot quarrel with or oppose those EU member-states that Brussels represents.
However, the Schengen Zone does not include the United Kingdom (UK), which is where most Saint Lucians travel to in the EU.
The only Schengen country many Saint Lucian citizens travel to is France – as in neighbouring Martinique and Guadeloupe, or French Guiana (Cayenne).
Besides, the number of Saint Lucians who travel to the other 28 Schengen member-states is small and (by any reckoning) whether for holidays, business or for medical reasons, the cost of a visa will be affordable in either case.
Fact is, if the EU member-states involved have decided it’s a do-or-die choice, Saint Lucia and the other Caribbean nations involved will not have a hard choice to make.
As the PM has repeatedly said at his press conferences, Caribbean nations with CIPs have had to go that way because European nations are among those that have considerably reduced their aid levels since independence.
Over the past four-plus decades, as a consequence, the Caribbean nations concerned have had to find different ways to earn alternative funding – from offering duty-free and tax-free incentives to investors, to offshore tax-free havens, to selling citizenship.
Interestingly, while the UK has cited ‘money laundering’ to pressure Caribbean nations that offered anything like hosting foreign capital in secret accounts, Bermuda (a British colony), The British Virgin Islands (BVI) and others are known to have benefitted from such activities — with UK blessing.
Swiss Banks have supposedly ended such protection for clean and dirty money since 2017, but under new rules requiring more disclosure of sources of funds, the richest-of-the-rich can still (and do) find ways to bank offshore.
Nonetheless, there’s another aspect of the moves by EU member-states and the USA to force Caribbean nations to ban their CIPs – and it’s to do with competition.
Several EU member-states (including Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria) offered so-called ‘Golden Passports’ for sale up to 2025, but now they offer ‘Golden Visas’ for residency.
Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Spain closed their visa schemes in April 2025, while Malta offers permanent residency only, with residency leading to a passport after five to ten years living there, but they aren’t available for sale anymore.
Thing is, before all-that, the UK, France and others competed to attract rich Chinese and Russians (in particular) to flee their countries and take up residence in Europe.
That saw them compete to offer the types of attractive residency deals that led to so-many Russians fleeing Moscow in the post-Soviet era, many buying-up European football clubs and purchasing top-of-the-line properties in London, Paris and other EU cities.
Many however saw their fortunes change drastically after the Ukraine war, with their multi-million-dollar yachts chased and seized and several being forced to hide or run with their assets targeted by sanctions.
Today, President Trump is offering ‘Golden Visas’ for sale (officially called ‘Investor Visas’ or EB-5) since 1990, which is still the main route in 2026.
For US $800,000 one can get such a visa for investing in a rural or high-unemployment area; and for $1,050,000 if one invests in a ‘normal area’ or a big city.
An investor who creates ten full-time US jobs can get a conditional Green Card and then a permanent one for himself-herself and spouse and children under 21 years old – and citizenship after five (5) years.
Under President Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ launched in 2025, it’s much simpler as it requires no investment: you can qualify for a US $1,000,000 non-refundable contribution to the US Treasury (plus a US $15,000 processing fee for individuals), or for US $2,000,000 per employee if a company sponsors you.
This requires no job creation, no business to manage and no capital return – just buying a Green Card directly.
So, the EB-5 (Investor Visa) is for investors who want a return on capital and the Gold Card is for people who want ‘speed and simplicity’ — and don’t care that their one million dollars is gone.
Thus, against the background of all the above, one can understand why EU member-states in the Schengen Zone would want to keep-out people who purchase Caribbean passports for US $100,000 – and why the EU and US are each (and together) constantly shifting immigration and visa goalposts to keep-out persons who purchase Caribbean second citizenships.
Against that background too, the choice for Caribbean nations with CIPs is clear – they either keep their programs to continue being able to legally access alternative funding to make-up for shortfalls in European assistance, or do as dictated-to and stop their CIPs, to keep visa-free entry to EU member-states their average citizens can’t even afford to visit.