DOMINICA TELLS ITS CBI SALESMEN THEY CANNOT TOUT THE VISA-FREE UK & EU ADVANTAGES OF ITS PASSPORTS

Apparently the government of the Commonwealth of Dominica has come under pressure from the United States to clean up the marketing campaigns of its Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport sales agents. A notice reportedly distributed to them has ordered them, upon pain of loss of their status as registered authorized sales agents, to make these changes to their marketing programs, forthwith:

(1) They can no longer extol the visa-free entry into the UK & EU feature of the Dominica CBI passports.
(2) They cannot claim to discount the published investment cost of obtaining a citizenship.
(3) They cannot display a photo of the Dominica passport.
(4) They cannot refer to the passport as an item that is to be purchased or sold.
(5) They cannot advertise the CBI program with a mass social media campaign.
(6) They cannot claim that the purchase of a Dominica passport is part of the citizenship program.
(7) They cannot use government officials' photos without approval.
(8) They cannot suggest that there are ways to accelerate approval of applications.
(9) They cannot state the number of successful applications, and what country the applicants came from.
(10) They cannot use the terms "Special Offers" or "Special Discounts" when marketing the program.
(11) They cannot compare the program with others, using misleading information.

Obviously, these new guidelines, which are said to be considered mandatory, are being instituted to correct past abuses. The question is: will the CBI consultancies actually abide by them? After all, the visa-free advantages are the primary reason anyone from a high-risk jurisdiction, or one named as a State Sponsor of Terrorism wants the passport.