The countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States that operate Citizenship by Investment programmes will send a technical mission to Europe next month to press the case for continued visa-free access, St Lucia's Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre has said.
Pierre told a news conference in Castries that the delegation would seek to prevent European authorities from ending the visa-free arrangement that allows holders of OECS passports, including those who obtain citizenship through investment, to travel to the Schengen area without a visa.
The mission is being organised jointly by the OECS member states that run CBI programmes, a group that includes St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Lucia and Grenada. The five countries have built their investment migration industries around the promise of visa-free travel to Europe, and any change to that arrangement would strike at the core of the programmes.
Pierre said the technical committee would present the case for the region's programmes directly to European officials, arguing that the due diligence and governance standards applied by OECS states have been strengthened in recent years. The mission is expected to take place next month, though the exact dates and the composition of the delegation have not been announced.
The concern in the sub-region is that European institutions could follow through on earlier warnings and move to suspend visa-free access for countries whose passports can be obtained through investment. Such a step would require holders of OECS passports to apply for Schengen visas before travelling to Europe, adding cost and delay for ordinary citizens as well as for investors who have taken up citizenship.
For Dominica, the stakes are considerable. The Citizenship by Investment Programme is a central source of government revenue, funding capital projects and helping to balance the national budget. Roseau has consistently defended the programme's integrity, pointing to enhanced vetting, regional cooperation and information-sharing with international partners.
The OECS has acted collectively on CBI matters before, coordinating regulation and due diligence standards across the member states that operate the programmes. The decision to send a joint technical mission reflects the view in the sub-region that a common front carries more weight in Brussels than individual representations by small island states.
Pierre's announcement came as Caribbean leaders continue to engage European capitals on a range of financial and immigration issues, including the European Union's listing of some jurisdictions as non-cooperative for tax purposes. The CBI question has been a recurring point of friction, with European officials raising concerns about security, money laundering and the scale of passport sales.
Officials in the sub-region have argued that the programmes are legitimate instruments of development finance for small states with limited options, and that closing them off would remove a vital source of revenue without addressing the underlying concerns. The technical mission is expected to set out that argument in detail, alongside evidence of the reforms already undertaken.
No date has been given for any decision by European authorities. For now, the OECS states are preparing their case, and travellers holding passports from the five countries continue to enjoy visa-free access to the Schengen area pending any change.
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