The CBI Index: a history of CBI
St Kitts and Nevis was the first country to launch a CBI programme in 1984, while Jordan launched its scheme in 2018
Regulating citizenship is a prerogative of the state, and the implementation of citizenship by investment is therefore a consequence of states adopting laws and creating the structures necessary to support a citizenship by investment programme.
Further reading
With its 1984 Citizenship Act, St Kitts and Nevis became the first-ever state to allow persons to be registered as citizens after making a substantial investment. The move was a significant one, as the Citizenship Act defined what it meant to become a citizen of St Kitts and Nevis following its independence from Britain in September 1983. Also in the 1980s, Austria legalised granting nationality by reason of a person’s actual or expected outstanding achievements.
Vanuatu has a history of launching, terminating, and re-launching citizenship by investment programmes
Thereafter a lull ensued, until the Commonwealth of Dominica established its own citizenship by investment programme in 1993. Cyprus followed in 2002, although the Cypriot programme as we know it today was designed more than a decade later. Vanuatu has a history of launching, terminating, and re-launching citizenship by investment programmes. Its most recent Contribution Programme became operational in 2017. 2013 was the most popular year for citizenship by investment, with two Caribbean nations and Cambodia instituting new programmes. 2017 saw the birth of the Middle East’s first fully-fledged programme, set up by Turkey, and tailed shortly after by Jordan.
The citizenship by investment phenomenon is showing no sign of slowing down, particularly in Europe, where Moldova passed relevant legislation to make way for a programme, and where Montenegro appointed a government commission to oversee the creation of the Montenegro Special Investor Programme (MSIP), scheduled for October 2018.
Nearby Georgia is also rumoured to be considering citizenship by investment. Article 7 of Georgia’s Law on Citizenship, for example, already contains provisions to bestow honorary citizenship to an alien who has made an exceptional contribution to Georgia and to mankind, or who has a profession and qualification which is of interest to Georgia, so long as bestowing citizenship would be in the country’s national interests.
