Second passport St Kitts and Nevis: adding parents to the citizenship program
The health of our family is more important than anything else. So I could not allow my parents to return to Turkmenistan in the midst of the pandemic. They could have caught Covid even on their way home.
Essen and Guzel,
Received St Kitts and Nevis citizenship by investment in 2019
Clients’ names and photos have been changed
This case was provided by our expert
Investment programs expert
Second passport St Kitts and Nevis: adding parents to the citizenship program
Essen and Guzel obtained citizenship in St Kitts and Nevis in 2019. Since then, they have been spending the winter in the Caribbean. When the coronavirus pandemic began, Essen’s parents were visiting. He persuaded his parents not to return home to Turkmenistan but instead to wait out the pandemic in the Caribbean.
However, a visa is not enough for parents to stay and live in St Kitts and Nevis indefinitely, as they need a residence permit or citizenship.
Essen and his wife received St Kitts and Nevis passports through the state investment program. The program allows parents to be added to the application after the investor has received a passport. Essen decided to take this opportunity.
The investor’s relatives provide the documents listed in St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship Citizenship Act to join the program. Some of the documents, e.g. a police clearance certificate, are received by applicants at home or at the consulate. Relatives also pass a Due Diligence check.
The lawyers of Immigrant Invest helped the investor’s parents to collect all the documents without leaving St Kitts and Nevis. The heroes managed to go through all the procedures of applying for St Kitts and Nevis citizenship by investment program before their visas expired in only two months.
Why did the couple decide to add their parents to St Kitts and Nevis’s citizenship application?
Essen and Guzel are from Turkmenistan. In 2019, they received St Kitts and Nevis passports by investment to become cosmopolitans. The couple spent the winter in a villa on the island of St Kitts, and they lived in Europe, the UK or the United States for the rest of the months.
In February 2020, Essen’s parents, Sazak and Jemile, flew to visit the couple. They wanted to see their children and grandchildren whilst relaxing in a tropical paradise. By December, the rainy season ends in St Kitts and Nevis, and the air and water temperature in the sea remains at +26°C until April.
When the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, Sazak and Jemile were still in St Kitts and Nevis. As citizens of Turkmenistan, they went to the Caribbean with an e-visa. The duration of stay in St Kitts and Nevis on a visa is up to 90 days in half a year.
90 days
Duration of stay in St Kitts and Nevis on a visa for Turkmenistan citizens
Essen did not want his elderly parents to leave St Kitts and Nevis at the height of the pandemic. Essen believed that the risk of infection was especially high in public places such as the airport or on the plane. In St Kitts, the family lived in a secluded villa, so the risk of infection was minimal.
The family did not know about the situation with the disease in Turkmenistan: the country’s government did not disclose the information. The Caribbean countries voiced the data daily and submitted statistics to WHO.
Essen trusted local hospitals more. Basseterre, the capital of St Kitts and Nevis, has three public hospitals: Joseph N. France, Molineux and Pogson. The largest is Joseph N. France: it has an intensive care unit, 24-hour emergency care, and a radiology department.
Essen only saw the only way out of this situation: to add parents to the citizenship by investment program. Then they can stay in the Caribbean for as long as they want.
Essen and Guzel,
Obtained St Kitts and Nevis citizenship by investment in 2019
We offered the parents obtain citizenship with us, but they did not want to move to the Caribbean. Now everything is different: both are over 60 and at risk. Fortunately, the parents agreed because health is more important. Here we can take care of them.
How an investor can add parents to the citizenship program
In 2019, the couple obtained St Kitts and Nevis citizenship with the help of Immigrant Invest. So on 30 March 2020, Essen again applied to Immigrant Invest to get a St Kitts and Nevis passport for each of the parents.
Immigrant Invest lawyers advised on the cost and procedure of adding parents to the citizenship programme and compiled a list of documents to be submitted to the CIP.
Vladlena Baranova,
Head of Legal & AML Compliance Department, CAMS, IMCM
The investor has the right to add family members to St Kitts and Nevis citizenship program at any time after the main applicant receives a passport. The family must provide certain documents and pay government fees to do this.
What documents are required to add parents
Immigrant Invest submits an application for citizenship by investment to add a relative. The application is accompanied by documents confirming the investor’s relationship and the attached family members. It also ensures the law-abidingness of relatives and their financial dependence on the investor.
List of documents for applying to add parents:
copies of parents' passports;
a copy of the investor’s birth certificate, where the names of the parents to be added are indicated;
certificates of no criminal record;
a copy of the parent’s marriage certificate;
a copy of the father’s military ID;
medical insurance;
certificates with HIV test results;
checks and bank statements confirming that the investor is supporting the parents;
government questionnaires and forms.
How documents were collected for Essen’s parents
Sazak and Jemile were in St Kitts and Nevis when their application to Immigrant Invest. They had their passports with them. Essen had his birth certificate and bank statements showing regular money transfers to his parents over the past two years.
The family got medical insurance on the spot. Parents passed HIV tests at Joseph N. France Hospital in the capital Basseterre.
Father’s marriage certificate and military ID remained in Turkmenistan. Immigrant Invest lawyers received notarised copies of these documents by contacting the family’s relatives.
The Essen family lives in a villa similar to the one in the photo. The house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The total area is 380 m², and the price is circa $2.5 mln
How to obtain a police clearance certificate remotely
The main obstacle in obtaining citizenship for parents could be a police clearance certificate. Applicants receive it personally: at the branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan at the place of registration or the consulate of Turkmenistan in the nearest country.
In St Kitts and Nevis, there is no representative office of Turkmenistan where you can apply for documents. The nearest consulate is in the United States, but Essen’s parents did not have valid American visas.
The Immigrant Invest lawyers have found a way to obtain documents so that the family does not have to leave St Kitts and Nevis. In St Kitts and Nevis, parents and Essen signed a power of attorney in the name of an Immigrant Invest’s lawyer. So the lawyer could act on behalf of the investor and get a police clearance certificate for him.
Vladlena Baranova,
Head of Legal & AML Compliance Department, CAMS, IMCM
If an investor, for any reason, cannot independently obtain documents, for example, a police clearance certificate, we take over the process. To do this, we prepare a power of attorney with the client’s signature and indicate why he cannot visit the office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the consulate. The closure of borders due to the pandemic is considered a good reason, as the investor and his family could not move freely between countries due to flight restrictions.
At the same time, we do not charge our clients a separate fee for services upon request and preparation of documents: they are included in the standard payment for support under the program.
St Kitts and Nevis citizenship for parents: procedure, cost and time of obtaining
Preparation of documents. It took a week and a half to prepare documents, translate them into English, certify and fill out government forms. When the documents were ready, Essen paid $8,500 for Due Diligence and processing of documents in the program department. After that, the lawyers of Immigrant Invest submitted a package of documents to the CIP unit.
The Due Diligence in the CIP unit took a month and went through without further inquiries. Essen was allowed to add his parents to St Kitts and Nevis’s citizenship by investment program.
Payment of fees. The adding procedure is a chargeable fee. The cost depends on the degree of kinship with the investor. The cost of adding one parent is $10,000. Essen paid the necessary fee for the bank details from the CIP unit. He also paid the bank fee and the fee for issuing naturalisation certificates and passports.
$29,522 paid by Essen for adding two parents
$8,000 — Due Diligence
$500 — processing fee
$20,000 — fee for adding two parents
$200 — bank commission
$100 — fee for issuance of a certificate of naturalisation
$722 — passport fee
Family’s life in the Caribbean and plans for the future
Essen’s parents received St Kitts and Nevis passports and certificates of naturalisation in person at the CIP unit in Basseterre. There they took the oath. The adding procedure took more than two months after contacting Immigrant Invest.
2 months: time taken to get citizenship for Essen's parents
March 30th, 2020
Essen applied to Immigrant Invest
+ 1.5 weeks
Lawyers prepared documents and applied for parents to join the program
+ 1 month
Essen's parents received approval from St Kitts and Nevis CIP unit
+ 2 weeks
Essen paid fees for issuing passports to parents
+ 2 weeks
St Kitts and Nevis Immigration Service issued passports and naturalisation certificates
June 5th, 2020
Essen's parents received certificates of naturalisation and passports of St Kitts and Nevis
Sazak and Jemile managed to obtain St Kitts and Nevis passports before their visas expired. They stayed to live in Basseterre with their children and grandchildren. Essen bought his parents an apartment in a residential complex near the beach.
Essen bought a yacht. Together with his father and son, they often fish on the high seas. Sometimes the wives join the boat trips to swim and sunbathe on the deck.
The family plans to obtain US visas when the pandemic ends. They dream of visiting Las Vegas and New Orleans during the Mardi Gras carnival.
Essen also wants his children to go to high school in the United States in a few years and then go to an American university.
Essen has bought an apartment with one bedroom for the parents. The family plans to move to the United States in a few years so that the children can enter a private research University of Chicago. Tuition fees range from $48,759 to $55,425 per year, depending on the speciality.
All the possibilities given by the second citizenship are described in the guide "St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment: Everything About the Program and the Country".
Immigrant Invest is a licensed agent for government programs in the European Union and the Caribbean.
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