Caribbean islands that give you a passport if you buy a home

 Scroll through homes for sale in the Eastern Caribbean and it is no longer just bewitching beaches and a laid-back lifestyle being touted to woo buyers.

More and more property listings are offering a passport too – and political and social volatility in the US is said to be fuelling an upsurge in interest.

Five of the region's island nations – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia – offer such citizenship by investment (CBI) from as little as $200,000 (£145,000).

Buy a home, and you also get a passport that grants the holder visa-free access to up to 150 countries including the UK and Europe's Schengen area.

For the wealthy, the islands' absence of taxes such as capital gains and inheritance, and in some cases on income too, is another major draw. And all five of the region's schemes allow buyers to retain their existing citizenship.

In Antigua, estate agents are struggling to keep up with demand, says Nadia Dyson, owner of Luxury Locations. "Up to 70% of all buyers right now are wanting citizenship, and the vast majority are from the US," she tells the BBC.

"We don't talk politics with them, but the unstable political landscape [in the US] is definitely a factor.

"This time last year, it was all lifestyle buyers and a few CBI. Now they're all saying 'I want a house with citizenship'. We've never sold so many before."

Despite Antigua's programme having no residency requirement, some purchasers are looking to relocate full-time, Ms Dyson says, adding: "A few have relocated already."

US citizens account for the bulk of CBI applications in the Caribbean over the past year, according to investment migration experts Henley & Partners.

Ukraine, Turkey, Nigeria and China are among the other most frequent countries of origin of applicants, says the UK firm which has offices around the world.

It adds that overall applications for Caribbean CBI programmes have increased by 12% since the fourth quarter of 2024.

Getty Images

Passports from the five island nations give the holder visa-free entry to most countries around the world

Everything from gun violence to anti-Semitism is putting Americans on tenterhooks, according to the consultancy's Dominic Volek.

"Around 10-15% actually relocate. For most it's an insurance policy against whatever they're concerned about. Having a second citizenship is a good back-up plan," he explains.

Mr Volek says the ease-of-travel advantages the Caribbean passports provide appeals to businesspeople, and may also present a security benefit. "Some US clients prefer to travel on a more politically-benign passport."

Prior to the Covid pandemic, the US was not even on Henley's "radar", Mr Volek continues.

Movement restrictions proved "quite a shock" for affluent people used to travelling freely on private jets, prompting the first surge in stateside CBI applications. Interest ratcheted up again after the 2020 and 2024 US elections.

"There are Democrats that don't like Trump but also Republicans that don't like Democrats," Mr Volek says.

"In the last two years we've gone from having zero offices in the US to eight across all major cities, with another two to three opening in the coming months."

Robert Taylor, from Halifax in Canada, bought a property in Antigua where he plans to retire later this year.

He invested $200,000 just before the real estate threshold was raised to $300,000 last summer.

Not only does being a citizen avoid restrictions on length of stay, it also gives him the freedom to take advantage of business opportunities, he explains. "I chose Antigua because it has beautiful water, I find the people very, very friendly and it also means great weather for the later part of my life."

Still, such programmes are not without controversy. When passport sales were first mooted in 2012 by the then Antiguan government as a way of propping up the ailing economy, some considered the ethics a little iffy.

Protesters took to the streets in condemnation, recalls former Speaker of the House Gisele Isaac. "There was a sense of nationalism; people felt we were selling our identity, so to speak, to people who knew nothing about us," she says.

Leaders of some other Caribbean nations that do not offer CBIs have also been quick to criticise, including St Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. He has previously said citizenship should not be "a commodity for sale".

The Caribbean's appeal as a place to live is obvious

Among the international community, there are fears that lax oversight may help criminals get through their borders.

The European Union has threatened to withdraw its coveted visa-free access for Caribbean CBI countries, while the US has previously raised concerns over the potential for such schemes to be used as a vehicle for tax evasion and financial crime.

A European Commission spokesperson tells the BBC that it is "monitoring" the five Caribbean schemes, and has been in talks with their respective authorities since 2022.

She says an ongoing assessment is seeking to substantiate if citizenship by investment constitutes "an abuse of the visa-free regime those countries enjoy vis-à-vis the EU and whether it is likely to lead to security risks for the EU".

The Commission has acknowledged reforms carried out by the islands, which it says will have an impact on its evaluation.

For their part, the five Caribbean nations have reacted angrily to claims that they are not doing enough to scrutinise applicants.

Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has described his country's CBI programme as "sound and transparent", adding authorities had worked hard to ensure its integrity.

The government says passport sales have raised more than $1bn since the initiative's inception in 1993, paying for vital infrastructure including a state-of-the-art hospital.

In St Lucia, Prime Minister Philip J Pierre says the island adheres to the highest standards of security to ensure its CBI does not inadvertently aid illicit activities.

The need to appease the world's superpowers with raising revenue is a delicate balancing act for small Caribbean nations with meagre resources, dependent on the whims of tourism.

CBI programmes were labelled a lifeline at a regional industry summit in April, with funds used for everything from cleaning up after natural disasters to shoring up national pension schemes. Antigua's Prime Minister Gaston Browne said money raised had brought his country back from the brink of bankruptcy over the past decade.

Aside from buying property, other routes to Caribbean citizenship through investment typically include a one-off donation to a national development fund or similar. They range from $200,000 in Dominica for a single applicant, to $250,000 for a main applicant and up to three qualifying dependents in Dominica and St Kitts. In Antigua, investors also have the option of donating $260,000 to the University of the West Indies.

In the face of international pressure, the islands have committed to new measures to bolster oversight, including establishing a regional regulator to set standards, monitor operations and ensure compliance.

Additionally, six principles agreed with the US include enhanced due diligence, regular audits, mandatory interviews with all applicants, and the removal of a loophole that previously enabled an applicant denied by one country to apply in another.

These days, passport sales account for 10-30% of the islands' GDP.

Andre Huie, a journalist in St Kitts, says his country's CBI scheme is "generally well supported" as a result. "The public understand the value of it to the economy, and appreciate what the government has been able to do with the money."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly88xg5d9vo

Rare NYC Billionaire’s Row haven for the middle class faces crushing 450% rent spike

 When Richard Hirsch moved into Carnegie House on West 57th Street in the 1990s, the neighborhood was better known for its bargain shops and delis than for the glassy Billionaires’ Row supertall towers that would later rise around it. 

Hirsch, now 61, paid about $400,000 for a two-bedroom co-op with his wife, Jill Strauss, and settled into a solid, if unflashy, brick building that offered middle-class New Yorkers a toehold in Midtown Manhattan.

Today, from their apartment window, Hirsch can see the silhouettes of Central Park’s sky-piercing condominiums — the homes of the ultrawealthy, many of them empty more often than not. 

He calls his address “Thousandaires’ Row,” a nod to how dramatically the economic profile of the neighborhood has shifted. But the joke has worn thin.

In July, an arbitration panel determined that the annual ground rent for Carnegie House should increase from $4.36 million to roughly $24 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

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At Carnegie House, a once-affordable co-op building on Manhattan’s now ultra-luxurious Billionaires’ Row, longtime residents are facing financial ruin after an arbitration panel ruled to increase their annual ground rent from $4.36 million to roughly $24 million — a 450% spike.Matthew McDermott
If upheld by a court, that 450% hike could send monthly costs for residents like Hirsch soaring — from about $5,000 to $13,000, he said. 

It’s “basically death,” Hirsch, who is also the co-op board president, told the Journal in an interview. 

Carnegie House, like roughly 100 other co-op buildings across New York City, sits on land the residents don’t own, The Post previously reported. 

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The midcentury building sits on leased land, a structure once intended to help middle-class New Yorkers buy homes, but now increasingly weaponized by wealthy landowners amid soaring land values.Matthew McDermott

These long-term ground leases, once pitched as a path to homeownership for the city’s middle class, have become a liability as land prices skyrocket and lease resets arrive. 

The Ground Lease Coop Coalition estimates that more than 25,000 New Yorkers live in such buildings, many of which are now approaching lease renegotiation periods — or expiration dates altogether.

“When we signed the ground lease years ago, the land value and the neighborhood were entirely different,” David Jordan, 83, a retired engineer who has lived in Carnegie House for two decades, told the Journal. 

“None of us, even the professionals who were advising us, could have foreseen the kind of explosive land inflation that’s happened.”

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Residents like Richard Hirsch and his wife Jill Strauss, who bought their unit for around $400,000 in the 1990s, could see monthly costs jump from $5,000 to $13,000.Matthew McDermott

The current lease terms stem from a 2014 deal, when an entity tied to real-estate investors Rubin Schron and David Werner paid $261 million for the land beneath Carnegie House.

At the time, brokerage CBRE described the site as offering “unique future potential to construct a luxury retail, hotel and condominium tower.” 

The sharp rent increase came after failed negotiations between the co-op and the landowners, who are now represented by a limited liability company.

“We remain open to good-faith discussions with Carnegie House residents should they wish to approach us,” James Yolles, a spokesman for the landowners, told the Journal.  

Yolles denied any plans to redevelop the site and noted that residents benefited from lower purchase prices because of the lease structure, adding that tenants have been aware of the potential rent increase when they purchased their homes. Reached by The Post, he added building residents are responsible for 65% of the total rent. A quarter is paid by the commercial tenant and 10% is covered by proceeds from the building’s parking garage.

And, Yolles, told The Post, there’s more than meets the eye.

“We are aware of at least 100 apartments in Carnegie House owned by individuals who own the unit purely as an investment, often generating revenue by renting their units to others,” he said.

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Bir and Gohli Madan.Matthew McDermott

Gohli and Birinder Madan previously told The Post their plans to sue the co-op board of Carnegie House on West 57th Street in an attempt to save their home. But their case was later dismissed, court records obtained by The Post show.

Still, many owners say they relied on attorneys and banks, who didn’t raise red flags. 

“I relied on my lawyers to look at this,” Hirsch said. “It’s not like I had a ton of experience. No bank was saying this was an issue.”

The last time the rent reset was in 2004, residents said, and the increase was modest. But the recent arbitration ruling has left longtime owners stunned and panicked. 

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Many owners, especially elderly residents on fixed incomes, fear being forced out or losing their homes entirely if the co-op defaults.Matthew McDermott

A one-bedroom apartment that sold for $535,000 in 2015 is now listed for $189,000, according to public records.

Sandy Dell, 70, bought her unit in 1998 for about $150,000. Now, she’s afraid to invest in basic upkeep. 

“I desperately need to paint and replace the carpeting,” she told the Journal. “But I’m afraid to spend money on anything like that, because I don’t know what’s going to happen with the apartment.”

For Lou and Barb Grumet, the building’s accessibility and proximity to hospitals made it an ideal place to grow old. They purchased their apartment in 2011 for roughly $780,000. 

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The land, now controlled by firms linked to developers Rubin Schron and David Werner, was purchased in 2014 for $261 million and marketed as a future luxury development site — leading some residents to suspect an intentional squeeze.Matthew McDermott

“We were going to live here till we die,” Lou said. But their monthly costs are expected to more than double — from $3,700 to $9,000. 

“No one dreamed of the craziness that’s happened here,” he said.

If the co-op defaults, the building could revert to rent-stabilized apartments, and shareholders would lose their equity — though they’d still owe their mortgages.

What happens next is murky, as few buildings have undergone such a deconversion. Yolles said the landowners believe they can negotiate new rents directly with tenants. But tenant advocates argue that doing so would breach rent-stabilization rules.

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Though residents were aware of the lease, they were blindsided by the scale of the increase. Some apartments have plummeted in value, with a one-bedroom now listed for just $189,000 — less than half of what it sold for in 2015.Taidgh Barron/NY Post

The co-op board has vowed to challenge the rent increase in court and is working alongside the Ground Lease Coop Coalition to push for legislative relief. 

A 2024 bill introduced by State Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal proposed caps on rent hikes and expenses when leases expire. The broader bill stalled, and a narrower version — offering fair rent terms but no cap — failed to reach a floor vote this year.

The Real Estate Board of New York opposed both versions. 

“Unconstitutionally meddling in longstanding contracts for the benefit of a small handful of largely wealthy homeowners and real-estate speculators in Manhattan is bad public policy amid a housing crisis — or anytime,” Zachary Steinberg of REBNY told the Journal in a statement.

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Legislative efforts to rein in such lease terms have stalled, as powerful industry groups like REBNY argue that changing contracts retroactively is unconstitutional.UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Yolles echoed that point, suggesting that not all residents are financially vulnerable. Some investors, he said, recently bought in at steep discounts betting that lawmakers would intervene and values would rise.

Krueger rejected the criticism. “It hasn’t been a problem until now, so now we have to intervene,” she said.

“Losing the equity is the least of my problems,” Dell added. “It’s finding another place that I can afford at this point in my life.” 

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Advocates warn that Carnegie House is just one of thousands of NYC co-ops sitting on similar ticking time bombs, threatening to displace residents and erode affordability in an already strained housing market.Getty Images
She has no desire to leave Manhattan. 

“I lived here way before this was Billionaires’ Row,” she said. “I hate that it’s called that.”

https://nypost.com/2025/07/24/real-estate/nycs-carnegie-house-faces-a-450-ground-lease-spike/