How many people have actually obtained Caribbean passports through investment? Until recently, the answer relied on press estimates. Now there is a primary source: a European Commission presentation to the EU Council's Visa Working Party dated 30 June 2025 (document WK 9011/2025 INIT). It brings together the data that the Caribbean countries themselves shared with Brussels under the visa suspension mechanism.
Let's look at what these figures say about each of the five programs: scale, transparency, strictness of due diligence, and why exactly this data underpins the EU's position.
How many passports have been issued, by country
There is no like-for-like comparison over the same period for all five countries: data was submitted to the EU for different time spans, and Saint Lucia did not disclose the total at all. Even so, the overall picture is clear enough.
| Country | Total passports issued | Period | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Kitts and Nevis | about 56,015 | 2015 - April 2025 | Official data submitted to the EU |
| Dominica | over 48,700 (incomplete) | 2018-2024, excluding 2022 | Official data submitted to the EU |
| Grenada | about 13,700 | 2014 - mid-2025 | Separate IMA Grenada release |
| Antigua and Barbuda | about 9,811 | 2015 - April 2025 | Official data submitted to the EU |
| Saint Lucia | not disclosed | - | Data not submitted to the EU |
Even without Saint Lucia, the region as a whole has issued roughly 130,000 passports since the mid-2010s. That is well above the 100,000 estimate that circulated in the press at the end of 2024.
For an investor, the scale of each program matters too. Allowing for the different periods, Grenada has issued about four times fewer passports than St Kitts and Nevis and three and a half times fewer than Dominica. In the eyes of third countries, a passport from a mass-market program and one from a highly selective program look different.
Data transparency is not equal
St Kitts and Nevis proved the most transparent jurisdiction: full annual data on applications, refusals and passports issued up to April 2025. Dominica also discloses data, but with gaps; for example, 2022 is missing from the dataset submitted to the EU.
Grenada did not include the number of passports issued in its 2023-2024 report to the EU, but makes up for it with separate publications by its IMA agency. Saint Lucia is the only country that did not disclose the total number of passports issued to the EU, although it did provide other metrics (applications, refusals, revenue).
Dependence on CBI and strictness of checks
The same EU document gives an official estimate of CBI as a share of each country's GDP and the share of applications rejected in 2024. The latter indirectly reflects how strictly a country vets its applicants.
| Country | CBI, % of GDP (2023) | CBI, % of GDP (2024) | CBI, % of budget revenue | Applications rejected (2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antigua and Barbuda | 1.4% | 2.3% | about 15% | 1.7% |
| Dominica | 33.4% | 39.8% | about 40-60% | 6.5% |
| Grenada | 11% | 14% | about 30-35% | 22.1% |
| St Kitts and Nevis | 10.85% | 5.39% | about 60-70% | 43.9% |
| Saint Lucia | 8% | 8% | about 15-25% | 5.3% |
A telling contrast: in 2024, St Kitts and Nevis sharply increased its refusal rate (43.9%, the highest in the region) while CBI's contribution to GDP halved. This is a consequence of the higher contribution threshold and the resulting collapse in applications, not a sign of structural crisis.
Grenada's refusal rate is also well above average at 22.1%. This matches its reputation as the strictest of the five jurisdictions on due diligence.
Why share of GDP and share of budget are different numbers
The "% of GDP" columns (EU data) and "% of budget revenue" (from a March 2026 speech by Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis, part of the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis) are different indicators with different denominators. They are easy to confuse, which is why they are shown side by side.
A country's GDP is several times larger than its budget revenue. So the same program can account for 11-14% of Grenada's GDP and around 30-35% of its budget revenue at the same time. For the state, the second figure matters more: it shows what share of the money actually collected and spent the program provides directly. The share of GDP reflects the program's overall weight in the economy. Both numbers are correct, but they answer different questions.
Where applicants come from, and why Brussels cares
The EU document also discloses the national breakdown of applicants for each country. This data explains the essence of the European Commission's concern.
- Dominica, 2023: Iran (1,737 applicants), followed by Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and China.
- Grenada, 2023: Russia (1,759 applicants), followed by Nigeria, China, Belarus and India.
- Saint Lucia, 2024: China, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon.
- Antigua and Barbuda, 2024: China, Nigeria, the USA, Turkey, Lebanon - the most diversified and lowest-risk profile of the five.
The European Commission states its concern directly: CBI schemes allow nationals of countries that normally need a visa for the Schengen area to bypass the standard migration and security screening. The concentration of applicants from Iran (Dominica) and Russia (Grenada, before restrictions were introduced) became the technical justification for the EU's tougher stance.
The EU's official position: suspension is not automatic
An important detail of the document: the European Commission itself acknowledges that suspending visa-free travel will not be automatic, even if CBI programs continue. The economic significance of the programs and foreign-policy relations with each country will remain key factors in its assessment.
This wording is noticeably more restrained than the public statements made in July 2026 by Mark Brantley and Ernest Hilaire, Deputy Prime Minister of Saint Lucia. It is worth keeping in mind as a counterweight to the more alarming rhetoric of some leaders. We looked at how this dispute plays out in budget figures in "What's at Stake: The Economies of Five Caribbean Countries in the Dispute with the EU".
What this means for investors
First: Caribbean programs differ greatly in scale and selectivity, even if they look similar from the outside. A high refusal rate is not a drawback for a bona fide applicant; it is a sign that the country's citizenship is valued more highly.
Second: the data that countries submit to the EU is becoming part of the negotiations. The more transparent a program and the more diverse its applicant base, the stronger its position.
Third: preparation of the applicant profile and documents comes to the fore. With refusal rates of 22-44% in the strictest programs, the quality of the file directly determines the outcome.
MIRBEZVIZ supports applicants in all five Caribbean programs. A personal expert will assess your profile against the requirements of a specific jurisdiction and help you choose the program that fits your goals.
Book a meeting with an expert - we answer questions every day from 10:00 to 20:00.
This material is for information only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Sources: Council of the EU, WK 9011/2025 INIT (DG HOME presentation to the Visa Working Party, 30.06.2025); IMA Grenada consolidated statistics release (2024-2025); St Kitts and Nevis program statistics summary; regional "100,000+ passports" estimate (December 2024).
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