July 18, 2022 | By admin | Blog | According to the recent report from Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Unit covering the fiscal year, 2021 shows that St. Lucia’s CIP broke many records last year. Real Estate was the biggest earner for the country and the US applications are up by almost 10x. St. Lucia received 408 applications, which is a 111% increase from the preceding year. During the FY2021 period, the CIU approved 313 applications, another record, representing an increase of 119% from the preceding period. The number of approved applications was 313 accompanied by the issuance of 568 new citizenships, another record. The CIU denied only 14 applications during this period. Approximately two-third of the applications (261) came in under the program’s US$100,000 National Economic Fund (NEF) contribution option, while the US$300,000 real estate investment and US$250,000 COVID-relief bond options accounted for, respectively, 20% and 16%. While the NEF contribution was the most popular qualifying route, the real estate investment was the program’s top FDI-earner, raising capital amounting to EC$66.3 million during the period, or about 54% of the total. The COVID-relief bonds (US$250,000), which were introduced in 2020 at half the minimum investment amount of ordinary government bonds (US$500,000), drove renewed interest in a qualifying option that was opted very rarely by the applicants since its introduction in FY2016-17. Chinese nationals accounted for the maximum number of applications; 129 main applicants in FY2020-21, up from 53 in FY 2019-20. Nigerians are now the second-largest applicant nationality with 48 approved applications, a sharp increase from the 12 Nigerian applications recorded in FY2019-20. US-based applicants increased 10 times from 3 applicants in 2019-20 to 30 applicants in 2020-2021. Also, 17 Russian and 9 Indian applications rounded out the Top 5. For expert guidance regarding Citizenship and Residency programs for multiple countries and to choose the best option suitable to your needs, get in touch with FlyingColour Immigration, we offer assistance in global residency, citizenship, and investment migration programs. For more information, contact our experts at +971 529933135, write at op2@flyingcolour.com or visit our website: https://flyingcolourimmigration.com/