The EU asks five Caribbean states to phase out citizenship by investment

The Commission sent the letter to all five states. On 7 July 2026 the government of Antigua and Barbuda described its content in a press release. The letter asks for the citizenship-by-investment programmes to be phased out by 1 June 2028, with a 24-month transition period. For the transition, by September 2026 at the latest, it asks for two measures: the full exclusion of people subject to EU restrictive measures and reinforced vetting covering all nationalities. The government of Antigua and Barbuda said its programme will continue.

The move is based on the EU's revised visa suspension mechanism. According to the Antigua and Barbuda release, operating a citizenship-by-investment programme is now in itself a ground for suspending visa-free access. In its report of 19 December 2025 the Commission had already found that investor citizenship schemes "pose a non-negligible security risk for the Schengen area" and said they would be further examined under the revised mechanism.

The heads of government of the five states met in Roseau, Dominica on 10 July 2026, with the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines also present. In a joint statement they agreed on coordinated diplomatic engagement and a high-level mission to Brussels. Saint Lucia's Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, said in a statement that the participating states remain committed to the highest standards of integrity, transparency and security in running their programmes. On 9 September, Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the high-level mission to Brussels was planned for the end of September, but no exact date had been fixed.