A European Union deadline requiring five Caribbean nations to end their citizenship-by-investment programmes by 2028 could deal a major blow to wealthy Africans who have long relied on “golden passports” to avoid the hurdles of obtaining Schengen visas.
The European Commission has formally asked Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia to phase out their citizenship-by-investment programmes. In letters dated June 25, 2026, and signed by EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, Brussels gave the governments a two-year transition period, setting June 1, 2028, as the deadline. It also warned that refusing to comply could jeopardise the countries’ visa-free access to the Schengen area.
The move follows changes to the EU’s Visa Suspension Mechanism, which took effect at the end of 2025. Under the revised rules, simply operating an investor citizenship programme can now be enough to trigger the suspension of visa-free travel, regardless of how strict a country’s vetting process is. EU officials argue that these schemes create security and migration risks because they grant nationality, and access to Europe, without requiring applicants to establish genuine ties to the country issuing the passport.
For many affluent Africans, Caribbean citizenship has become an expensive but reliable alternative to a difficult Schengen visa process. The programmes allow foreign investors to obtain citizenship through qualifying financial contributions, attracting applicants from countries whose passports offer limited global mobility.
Nigeria has emerged as one of the biggest markets. Nigerians accounted for about 16% of applications to Grenada’s programme in 2025, ahead of China at 12%, and remained among the top applicants through the first quarter of 2026.
Investment migration expert Anatoliy Letaev told Business Insider Africa that African investors stand to lose more than most because access to Europe has been the main reason many of them bought Caribbean passports.
“For many African applicants, access to Europe was the passport’s biggest benefit,” he said.
That demand reflects the continuing difficulty many Africans face when applying for Schengen visas. Although the global refusal rate fell slightly to 14.6% in 2025, rejection rates remained far higher across several African countries. Burundi recorded a refusal rate of 53.4%, followed by Senegal at 51.9%, Nigeria at 47.8%, Angola at 45.4%, and the Democratic Republic of Congo at 40.1%. Ethiopia stood at 34%, Algeria at 31%, and Cape Verde at 21.4%.
Morocco submitted roughly 620,000 Schengen visa applications, making it one of the world’s largest source countries. Across Africa, applicants also lost an estimated €60 million in non-refundable visa fees on rejected applications in 2024.
Faced with those odds, many wealthy Africans have chosen to spend around $235,000 on Caribbean citizenship to secure visa-free travel and smoother business mobility.
“Almost none of these people buy a Caribbean passport because they want to live in the Caribbean,” Letaev said. “They buy it because the passport they were born with does not work great for them.”
He added that for a business owner in Lagos, carrying a Grenadian or Dominican passport can make the difference between guaranteed access to Europe and the uncertainty of a visa application. Buyers have come from Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Algeria, and Morocco. By contrast, citizens of Mauritius and Seychelles, who already enjoy visa-free access to the Schengen area, rarely appear in Caribbean citizenship records.
The programmes are also vital to Caribbean economies. Citizenship-by-investment has contributed as much as 36.6% of GDP in Dominica and about 22% in Saint Kitts and Nevis, explaining why regional leaders are resisting Brussels’ demands.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has been among the strongest critics of the EU’s position, arguing that the programme is one of his country’s biggest sources of non-tax revenue and insisting his government would not accept its closure without negotiations over compensation.
The five governments later met in Roseau on July 10 under the chairmanship of Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit to discuss the EU’s letter and coordinate their response to the revised visa suspension rules.
Vanuatu’s experience offers a glimpse of what could happen if the Caribbean nations eventually lose visa-free access to Europe. After the EU revoked Vanuatu’s visa waiver over concerns about its own citizenship-by-investment programme, interest from buyers seeking easy European travel declined. Demand continued, though, from investors looking for a second nationality, greater personal security, or access to other markets.
Letaev, who also holds Vanuatu citizenship, said the passport still provides practical advantages.
“I have experienced this firsthand. Even with European residency and fairly broad travel access already, there are still countries, Australia being one example, where the Vanuatu passport got me a visa that the Ukrainian passport couldn’t,” he said.
The Caribbean countries have already tightened their programmes by increasing the minimum investment to $200,000 and strengthening background checks.
Even if Schengen visa-free access is withdrawn, existing Caribbean passports would retain significant value. Previously issued passports would remain valid, while countries such as Grenada would continue to offer access to the US E-2 investor visa programme, subject to residency requirements introduced in 2022. Holders would also continue to enjoy visa-free or easier access to destinations including the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, China, and several countries across Asia and Latin America.
“What changes is that you now have to know which specific job you are hiring the passport to do, and buy for that job rather than for the brochure,” Letaev said.
Africa currently has few comparable alternatives. São Tomé and Príncipe launched a citizenship-by-investment programme in 2025 starting at $90,000, while Egypt’s programme begins at $250,000. Neither offers visa-free access to the Schengen area, although Egyptian citizens remain eligible for the US E-2 investor visa.
For many African investors, the future may involve combining a second passport with separate residence permits and visas rather than relying on a single document for global mobility.
The debate also highlights Africa’s own unfinished integration agenda. More than a decade after it was announced, the African Union passport remains unavailable to ordinary citizens, while the continent’s free movement protocol has made limited progress.
Letaev believes the most effective solution lies with Europe rather than the Caribbean.
“If Brussels wants fewer golden passports in circulation, the most effective policy available is a visa process that ordinary African applicants can actually pass,” he said.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah