The Investment Migration Agency (IMA) Grenada, the unit in charge of administering the country’s Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP), has recently published the most comprehensive statistical data about the program. Figures for Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 of 2024 have also provided applicant nationality information for the first time in the program’s history.
Quarterly Stats
Official data reveals that in the first half of 2024, Grenada approved up to 1,256 CBI applications (366 in the first quarter and 890 in the second quarter). However, the total number of received applications is just 148 (81 applications in the first quarter and 67 – in the second quarter). Nevertheless, a total of 1,314 CBI applications (388 of the first quarter plus 926 of the second quarter) have been processed during the half year. This discrepancy shows that authorities in Grenada have been trying to eliminate the backlog of applications with high efficiency in recent months.
Investment Migration Insider (IMI), an online media outlet focusing on residency and citizenship by investment programs globally, calculated the total backlog of unprocessed CBI applications in Grenada at 1,826 files, based on the difference between received and processed applications since 2017. Now, this backlog has decreased to 1,048 files.
Authorities in Grenada have managed to reduce its backlog of pending files thanks to a sharp drop in new applications (since it stopped accepting Russian and Belorussian applicants due to imposed international sanctions because of war in Ukraine) and have drastically increased the processing efficiency lately. Though the number of applications has decreased by over 90% from its peak, approval rates remain high, notes IMI Daily.
In the first quarter of 2024, only 22 applications were rejected, which is around 5,7% of the total applications processed, while in the second quarter, 36 applications were denied, making about 3.9% of the total 926 processed applications.
Increased Revenues
The increased efficiency in application processing has led to continued high revenues. In the first half of 2024, CBI income (including contributions, project investments, and fees) totaled EC$ 502 million, approximately US$ 186 million. This represents a 10% decrease from the second half of 2023 and a 12% drop from the same period last year. Total CBI revenue for the first half of 2024 was 44% of last year’s total revenue.
With pending files valued at nearly EC$600 million, IMI Daily predicts Grenada could still achieve record revenue in 2024 by processing applications in the backlog, even without receiving any new ones.
Nationality Distribution
Chinese investors make up 28% of the total so far in the second quarter of 2024. According to IMI Daily, quoting then head of the Citizenship by Investment Unit (predecessor of IMA Grenada) Kaisha Ince, in 2018, the Chinese share of the program was as high as 98%, although no official figures were available until now. Nigerians are the second-largest group of applicants, representing 21% of the total. However, in the first quarter report, Nigerians were leading with 23%, followed by the Chinese with 22%.
In the second quarter, the third largest group of nationalities qualifying through the Grenada CBI program were US nationals, representing 7% of total approved applications. They were followed by Indian and Lebanese nationals, each with 5%. Vietnamese nationals accounted for 4% of approved applications. Algerian, Iraqi, Turkish, Pakistani, and Ukrainian nationals each represented 3%. South African and Syrian nationals each made up 2%. Meanwhile, applicants from the following countries each represented just 1%: Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, France, the UK, Greece, China (Hong Kong), Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Morocco, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the UAE.
Real Estate Investment vs NTF Contribution
Most CBI applicants prefer to qualify through the real estate investment option rather than making a non-refundable contribution to the National Transformation Fund. This preference has only grown. In the second quarter of 2024, out of 67 total received CBI applications 49 applicants opted for the real estate investment route, while 18 applicants chose the NTF contribution option. Hence, 73% of applications went through the real estate investment option in the second quarter, compared to 65% of this data from the first quarter of 2024.
With recent CBI program reforms across the Caribbean per signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) and price changes reducing the cost difference between the two options, real estate’s popularity might keep rising.
Record Numbers
The Grenada CBI program is to set multiple records in 2024. The application processing efficiency has reached unprecedented levels, and the reduced application volume is not expected to hinder progress in the near term due to the substantial backlog of unprocessed files. This will lead to record approval volumes and an all-time high in new passports issued, concludes IMI Daily. By mid-2024, Grenada has already issued 3,034 new passports to CBI investors and their families, positioning it to surpass the 2023 total by 27%.
To qualify for Grenada CIP applicants must make either a real estate investment of at least US$ 270,000 in an Approved Project, or make a non-refundable contribution to the NTF of at least US$ 235,000 that will allow an investor together with the three dependent family members to qualify for economic citizenship of Grenada.