Prime Minister Goodwin Friday’s New Democratic Party government is advancing plans to launch a Citizenship by Investment programme in 2026, IMI Daily reported, placing the initiative against the most hostile international environment any Caribbean CBI launch has faced in the programme’s history. The decision marks a sharp policy break from the Gonsalves-era Unity Labour Party, which had publicly rejected CBI throughout its 24 years in office.
The political context is consequential. The US has suspended visa processing for Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica over their CBI operations. The European Union has issued its most serious CBI warning yet, telling Caribbean programmes to work toward discontinuation or face visa-waiver suspension. Launching into that environment is a calculated bet that the diaspora and high-net-worth demand for Caribbean citizenship is durable enough to absorb both regimes’ pressure, and that St Vincent can position its programme — at launch — as already meeting the due diligence standards the US and EU are demanding from existing programmes.
For St Vincent’s fiscal situation, the CBI revenue potential is significant. The country is rebuilding from La Soufrière, managing climate adaptation costs, and absorbing the same external shocks that have hit every small Caribbean economy. Friday’s framing — that the demand for CBI programmes will remain high among high-net-worth individuals whose interests gain priority in global affairs — is realistic about the market. Whether the launch design holds up against international scrutiny is the question the next 12 months will answer.
Source: IMI Daily; CNW Network, December 2025–May 2026.