Hi everyone,
I am an Italian citizen and I am seriously considering applying for citizenship by investment in one of the following Caribbean programs:
Dominica
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Antigua & Barbuda
Saint Lucia
Before making any decision or engaging an agent, I would really like to speak with someone who has actually completed the process and obtained the citizenship/passport, rather than with an agent or consultant.
In particular, I would be very interested in speaking with an Italian or Swiss citizen, although I would also appreciate hearing from anyone who has recently completed one of these programs.
I would like to ask about the real-life experience, including:
total costs actually paid, including all fees;
how long the process really took;
due diligence and the documents requested;
whether there were any unexpected complications;
experience with the agent/intermediary;
banking and source-of-funds checks;
whether the process was as straightforward as advertised;
what you wish you had known before starting;
and whether there were any issues after receiving the passport.
I am not looking for a referral or a sales pitch. I am simply hoping to speak privately with someone who has already gone through the process and can share an honest, first-hand experience.
If you are willing to have a short conversation, please feel free to DM me. I will of course respect your privacy and won’t ask for any personal or confidential information.
Thank you!
You should note that the entire process for these programs looks very different from 3-5 years ago. From my following of things wait times have at least doubled, prices have doubled, more checks are in place, interviews are required and there may be more requirements added on soon such as residency requirements.
Yes I know.do you have the Dominica’s passport?
Why would you want a Caribbean passport if you already have an EU one? Not a loaded question, I am just genuinely curious. Visa-free travel to China?
3 years ago. The process was straightforward though I needed a lot of documents. It took less than a year in total. I paid the fees + agent fee as advertised.
One thing that I’ve been thinking about recently is how much of a real citizen you are in each country. Guarantees for passing on citizenship, guarantees on equal treatment etc.
Other things to note is that CBI passports can have a bad reputation at immigration and banks depending on the country. Dominica also charges a lot for criminal record checks and other documents you would normally get from a consulate. Dominica is also constantly confused for Dominican Republic.
Overall everything has been fine with it though.
The point about how CBI citizenship is treated in practice is interesting. The paperwork can also be a lot, especially with background checks and supporting documents. Glad to hear the overall process worked out well for you.
Also note if you are doing this for you kids/grandkids that CBI in the Caribbean is only limitedly inheritable in most countries (maybe all of them). i.e Yes you can add YOUR children to YOUR application, but most countries say that only children of NATURAL BORN citizens are citizens. This means it would not pass down to your grandchildren unless they were born in that country. That would then start the “natural born citizen” chain and not be an issue going forward.
Most brochures/companies do not mention this fact and just flash yeah add your children, but do not specify anything about your grandchildren which to me means that you are not a full citizen.
Plan B for our life…
Dominica passport talk about “for life”, is correct?
Which agent you chose?
I get the Plan B idea, but not sure about this particular one in your case (Caribbean passport for an EU-citizen). It does not make sense to me. “Plan B” is not a one-size-fits-all, but a tailored shape based on your personal objectives. Knowing only that you have an EU passport and want a Caribbean one, makes me doubt as to how you understood your objectives vs. the path to meet them.
AFAIK, a Carribbean passport may be good for people with a “weak” passport, as it does give travel access to EU etc., it’s an unsanctioned place etc. But for an EU citizen I am really not sure what it gives other than expensive donation and a ‘feeling’ of having fulfilled a Plan B where in reality it may be just a waste.
Hard to comment further without knowing the base objectives set.
Also for futurs capital gains…tax in Italy are highest…
Yes it’s for your life and your children’s lives assuming they were added to your application
As far as taxation on capital gains, the Caribbean passport in and of itself will not help you unless you intend to live in that CBI country. You need to exit Italy and go to a more tax-friendly country. Find out which destination that will be and then see if your current passports help you live there or ease a visa application to live there long term. There is no need to pay for a passport that just duplicates your current passport strengths.
I am not a tax expert (especially on EU taxes). Get professional advice on planning your tax exit from Italy and how to structure things for the new country before you move.
Well, that’s what I suspected your ‘Plan B’ was meant to achieve..
@FilmMaker is absolutely right, do not waste money on a plan that would not work. For CGT optimization there are massively better options elsewhere, and the choices include CBI but also cheaper alternatives without a second passport because you don’t really need a second passport to optimize CGT, you need a different tax residence which is achievable without even a need to do CBI/RBI.
Good luck.
The one reason I can think of is that you would use the CBI as a placeholder under residency status you achieve in other locations. Gubmints insist on a passport as a travel document to get on a plane, however that’s more a form of ID than anything. Authentication versus authorization. There are default permissions applied to that ID of course, but if you have a residency card then that overrides the defaults and you can get off the plane. And with the continued spread of ETA/ETIAS/etc we’re seeing more of a formal separation of the authentication and authorization components; ETA etc is really about giving a government a chance to consider authorization before you show up at the border so you don’t get on the plane in the first place and/or they don’t have to make an instantaneous decision at entry. So think of your CBI as a way to get from some known A to some known B where you have some form of separate residency as opposed to leaning on its defaults, since even if you’re allowed in you can’t get on the plane in the first place without the valid passport. Plus of course if you lose your primary passport you can always go to the country of CBI; you’re not dead stateless, which is a far more awkward situation. I’d rather be sitting in Dominica than stuck stateless somewhere else. Of course this also presumes having some amount of assets set aside somewhere under your Dominican identity to live on if you get stuck there, or something like that, which of course has other consequences.
This goes back to the Harry Browne principle of be from one place, live in another, and bank in a third. Though that’s getting harder as time goes by; he lived in a different era.
It might be awkward or harder to get residency tied to your CBI passport versus your birth passport, perhaps. If you get permanent residency though, it may be easier to switch what’s underneath from your birth passport to your CBI - or maybe they will just stop caring, though I kind of doubt it since residency tends to be tied to an underlying passport and they’re always looking at the passport first at the border (again, authorization versus authentication). There’s a lot of unknown there.
In the current world of course even holding a CBI passport isn’t a total guarantee, the issuing gubmint might change their mind about you. However that’s at least fairly unlikely.
I just asked Google AI mode about your situation and here is the question and the answer I got:
I just saw a post by an Italian citizen who is considering the Dominican CBI program. His motivation is to avoid high Italian taxes. This doesn’t make sense to me. He doesn’t need a second passport as much as residency in a tax friendly country correct? Wouldn’t something like Malta or Cyprus make more sense for him?
You are entirely correct. The Italian citizen’s strategy is deeply flawed, and they are conflating citizenshipwith tax residency. Buying a passport through a Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program like Dominica’s does absolutely nothing to eliminate an individual’s tax liability in their home country.
To legally stop paying taxes in Italy, an Italian citizen must sever ties with the Italian tax authority (Agenzia delle Entrate) by relocating their actual life and registering with the AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero). Because Dominica is on Italy’s “blacklist” of low-tax jurisdictions, the burden of proof is legally reversed: the Italian government automatically presumes the citizen is still an Italian resident unless the individual can prove they physically live in Dominica full-time and have moved their family and business there. Since Dominica’s CBI has no physical stay requirement, simply buying the passport without moving there practically guarantees a severe Italian tax audit.
As you noted, an EU residency-based approach makes infinitely more sense for an Italian national. Because they already hold an Italian (EU) passport, they have the legal right to move freely and set up tax residency in Malta or Cyprus with minimal bureaucracy.
Why Malta or Cyprus is the Smarter Path
- Leveraging Existing Rights: As an EU citizen, the Italian national does not need to pay $200,000+ for a passport just to travel or live abroad. Malta and Cyprus allow them to just show up, rent a place, and register.
- The Cyprus 60-Day Loophole: Cyprus is incredibly popular for mobile entrepreneurs. Under its 60-day rule, the individual only needs to spend 2 months a year in Cyprus to secure a tax residency certificate, provided they don’t spend 183+ days in any other single country.
- True Tax Incentives: Cyprus drops their dividend tax from Italy’s punishing 26% down to 0%. Maltaoperates on a remittance basis, meaning any money they make outside of Malta and keep in a foreign bank account is 100% tax-free.
The person posting likely fell for the marketing of CBI agents who sell “second passports” as a blanket solution for tax issues, ignoring the strict reality of European tax exit laws.
Sometimes even AI can be reasonable.. 