CBI passport holders from Grenada now have to live in the country for three years before applying for an E2 Investment Visa in the USA. These are the new guidelines for the eligibility of applying for an E2 Investment Visa.
This decision by the USA affected Grenada’s Citizenship By Investment plan, as it was the only Caribbean nation with whom the USA went under the treaty, after which the CBI passport holders will get an E2 investment visa. This decision, after some years, became a security threat for the USA as most of the people who purchased citizenship under the CBI program of Grenada do not live there and only want to get a USA E2 visa, which was proven as a wide-open loophole.
The American government and their few agencies reported that most of the crimes that happened in the past were also the main reason. According to some sources who have invested in Grenada and purchased CBI passports, they have been suspected to be one of the reasons.
Like every developing nation Grenada also generated revenue by selling passports under the CBI program:
$ 24 million in the year 2021
$ 78million in the year 2022
Moreover, the newly elected government in Grenada is estimated to generate revenue of $ 240 million in 2023. After this decision by the USA, the country may be affected economically as this decision made Grenada’s CBI programme less appealing to buyers after it has been put under high-risk jurisdictions.
What is an E2 investment visa:
The E-2 Visa is a nonimmigrant investor visa for foreign individuals from treaty countries seeking to operate a business in the United States.
The E-2 Visa is available to foreign nationals from treaty countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Argentina, and Ethiopia. Countries with no treaty with the US for the E2 Visa include India, China, Vietnam, Kenya, and Dubai.