THE USE OF CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT (CBI) PASSPORTS TO ENTER EUROPE, AND PROMPTLY SEEK ASYLUM

Our recent article DID IRELAND IMPOSE VISA RESTRICTIONS ON ST. KITTS & ST. LUCIA TO KEEP UK-BOUND MONEY LAUNDERERS FROM EXPLOITING THE COMMON TRAVEL AREA LOOPHOLE? https://lnkd.in/eFqqDzpr exposed the fact that a CBI-facilitated loophole existing, regarding travel amongst the British Isles, which could be exploited by enterprising money launderers bound for the City, has now apparently been closed by Ireland. Visas are now required to enter Ireland, when using a Saint Kitts & Nevis, or a Saint Lucia, passport, including diplomatic & special passports. Those are both CBI states, notorious for selling passports to dodgy applicants, with zero effective due diligence, as we have reported here for years.

Apparently there is a more troubling reason that individuals have been slipping into the Republic of Ireland: transiting into the UK, via the Isle of Man ( also being conveniently within that Common Travel Area) and then immediately requesting asylum. This reportedly has become quite a problem.

For those who wonder why someone who supposedly spends six figures for an economic citizenship would want to claim asylum in the United Kingdom, you are forgetting that Dirty Little Secret: many Caribbean have been, and still are, sold at an illegal, deep discount. (Thank you, Dominica; only $45k) Also many extended families or four or more get that prized passport with one application; this means children or siblings of applicants in an extended family, who themselves paid nothing for their passport, can then use it to enter Britain, and then build a life there, once they apply for asylum, on political or persecution grounds.

Our friends report that Aer Lingus is now seeking to shut that door by requiring passports on the Dublin to IOM flights, but arrangements are not being made on the ferry runs, thus far. Whether we actually see individuals taking more

desperate measures to enter Britain, sneaking into Northern Ireland from Eire, or chartering a private vessel to cross the Irish Sea to the British shore, we cannot say, but we hope Irish authorities take additional steps to require ALL Caribbean CBI passport holders, from the additional three states                  (Dominica, Antigua and Grenada) also cannot enter visa-free any more. There have been instances of Dominica passport holders pulling this scam, so a plague on all those jurisdictions, please.