The news that all citizens of St Kitts-Nevis wishing to travel to Canada will from now on require a visa, and that subsequently the St Kitts government announced it is to recall a number of passports, ought to cause pause for thought across the region about economically valuable, but reputationally risky, citizenship-by-investment schemes.
According to a notice issued by the Canadian High Commission in Barbados on November 22, Canada has taken this decision due to its “concerns about the issuance of passports” and “the identity management practices” undertaken by the St Kitts authorities. It was doing so, it said, in order to “protect the safety and security of Canadians and the integrity of the Canadian immigration system.” More explicitly, the Canadian High Commissioner, Richard Hanley, said the new requirement will prevent “those who are inadmissible or pose a risk to our country” from travelling to Canada.
In response, the St Kitts’ government sought to downplay the decision. In a radio broadcast, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Patrice Nisbett, said, “Countries review and change their policies routinely in order to protect their interests and their people and so do we… Canada has important security concerns, the government recognises this and the government of St Kitts-Nevis will do all in its power to respect and accommodate the concerns of so important an ally,” Ms Nisbett said. Since then
