The Investment Migration Agency Grenada (IMA Grenada) has reaffirmed its commitment to upholding a ban restricting Russian and Belarusian individuals from accessing citizenship through its investment migration programme.

In a circular distributed by the Agency to industry stakeholders on Tuesday, March 26, local agents, marketing agents, and developers were cautioned against accepting applications from Russians and Belarusians, as well as from nationals from five other countries. These include Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Yemen.

The ban on Russians, Belarusians and North Koreans is absolute in nature and does not allow for any exceptions. This is a marked difference from the ban enforced by the Agency on nationals from Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, and Yemen, who are now eligible to apply to the programme so long as they can satisfy specific criteria.

According to the circular, nationals from the four countries may be eligible to apply for citizenship if, they migrated from the country before the age of maturity, or have maintained permanent residency, or a valid visa from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, a Schengen country, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, or the United States of America for a minimum of 10 years.

Additionally, these individuals must have zero economic ties to their country of birth, and due diligence operatives must be able to conduct in-country enhanced due diligence investigations on the applicants.

When questioned about the timing of the circular, and the move to clearly state Grenada’s position as it relates to accepting applications from these nationals, CEO of IMA Grenada, Thomas Anthony, said “it’s part of improving the programme and making it operationally better while we usher in this new brand.”

According to Anthony, the restrictions enforced are not against nationalities, but rather against countries.