AFTER USA AND EU TIGHTEN THE RULES, HERE COMES CANADA

This week, the Government of Canada tightened its visitor visa screening regulations, placing new emphasis on the applicants' place of residence, employment, family and economic ties to the jurisdiction shown on their travel document, a shift that is already shutting out holders of Caribbean Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports. Under the updated policy, officers at Citizenship and Immigration Canada have been instructed to apply stricter risk assessments, focused  upon whether  the applicant has a genuine "home country" to return to. For many Caribbean CBI passport holders, that test is proving impossible to pass. The extremely limited exceptions to these regulations do not apply to the vast majority of potential visitors.

CBI nationals generally do not work, taxes, own real estate or maintain family ties in the countries that issued their passports, having acquired citizenship through investment, rather than residence. Canadian officials now view those gaps as a high overstay and compliance risk, according to immigration practitioners. While no formal ban on CBI has been announced, refusals are known to be rising for applicants from Caribbean CBI countries, including those previously marketed by the investment migration industry as offering visa-friendly access to Western nations.

Analysts believe the move reflects as broader global shift toward data-driven border controls, where one's place of residence and personal ties outweigh the nationality on his passport. Similar policies are being rolled out by the United Kingdom and the European Union. The decision by the Government of Canada signals a deeper reality: citizenship without a genuine connection is losing credibility. For Caribbean CBI passport holders, visa-free access may still technically exist on paper, but at the border, it is rapidly disappearing.