ANTIGUA'S VAUNTED "RESTRICTED COUNTRIES LIST" IN ITS CBI PROGRAM IS NONFUNCTIONAL

The Citizenship by Investment program (CBI/CIP) operated by Antigua & Barbuda claims to be well regulated, in part due to its "Restricted Countries List," which purports to exclude citizens of the  countries that support terrorism, or are high-risk.

Those countries listed in Antigua's CIP program are:
(1) Iran.
(2) North Korea.
(3) Afghanistan.
(4) Iraq.
(5) Somalia.
(6) Yemen.
(7) Sudan.

In truth and in fact, there are nationals from those countries who hold Antigua CBI passports, because Antigua gives exemptions for a wide variety of individuals:

(A) If the individual, though a national of a restricted country, resides outside the high-risk countries.
(B) if the individual's source of income "is generated elsewhere."
(C) If the individual is a lawful permanent resident of the US, UK, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia or New Zealand.



As you can see, any individual sufficiently motivated to obtain that prized CBI passport, which offers visa-free entry to many Western countries, will find a way to create "proof" of an exemption under (A) and/or (B), with counterfeit or stolen and altered documents. Given the minimal manner in which compliance is conducted to vet applicants, it is probable that the "proof" will only receive a rudimentary review.

The net result is that nationals of high-risk countries, and countries that support terrorism end up with Antigua CBI passports.

Thus, the Restricted Countries List, with sufficient exemptions to insure that it is meaningless