Prime Minister Gaston Browne has announced that countries operating Citizenship by Investment Programmes (CIP) will convene Friday to formulate a unified official response to the European Union, as Brussels moves to tighten its crackdown on such schemes.
According to Antigua.news, Browne made the disclosure in Dominica during a ceremony marking the handover of the chairmanship of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank's (ECCB) Monetary Council. He warned that the EU's new Visa Suspension Mechanism would cause "irreparable harm…to the economies of the OECS and the welfare of its citizens."
The announcement comes in the wake of a letter dated June 25 from European Commissioner Magnus Brunner, addressed directly to Browne, formally requesting that Antigua and Barbuda phase out its Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme by June 1, 2028.
Brunner argued that a revised visa suspension mechanism, adopted by the EU on December 31, 2025, now treats the mere operation of a citizenship by investment programme as grounds for suspending visa-free access — regardless of how the programme is managed.
Under the revised EU rules, a country risks losing visa-free access if it operates what the regulation defines as an investor citizenship scheme — one that grants citizenship "in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments" without a genuine link to the country concerned.
The EU has cited concerns over what it characterises as inadequate security checks, vetting, and due diligence in such schemes, pointing to risks including money laundering and corruption.
A first suspension under the mechanism runs for 12 months and can be extended by an additional 24 months if the identified concerns remain unaddressed.
