Having second thoughts about Antigua Citizenship by Investment after applying. Please help.

[gmhdssuxef]

Hi everyone.

I am a low-risk (as per OECD) Asian national. I have already applied for an Antigua Citizenship by Investment but I am having a lot of second thoughts.

Note: My home country does not allow dual citizenship.

Objectives​

My primary objectives for getting this citizenship are below, ordered by importance

• Eliminate home country regulatory burdens like foreign asset disclosures and various other forms
• Financial privacy & freedom for the future - Where I only need to deal with the country of tax residence and NOT so much with my (too grabby) home country
• Optimise my taxes
• Ensure easy future cash out (if my holdings grow significantly in value) by residing and/or getting a citizenship in low tax, low compliance countries now (Note: My home country does not have exit tax)
• Better travel - My current passport is T3.
• Ease/Neutral US travel once a year - Close friends work & live in the US and it would be a shame if I couldn't visit them because of this passport (Note: I have already applied the US tourist VISA using my home country passport and got denied due to lack of ties to current residence UAE)

Current financial situation​

• Significant (at least to me) ($1.5m+) Crypto holdings.
• Some Real estate ($0.5m+)
• Been a UAE resident for 2+ years and have businesses in UAE
• No criminal background

Long term plans​

• Remain in UAE as long as it remains a low-tax, low-compliance (relative to other reputed counties)
• Explore another long term residence in another country as a plan B
• Hold on to crypto as long as possible
• Slow travel quite a bit and figure out where I want to settle down eventually while building wealth

Concerns regarding the Antigua citizenship​

• Getting flagged as HIGH RISK, loss/difficulty of banking around the world/UAE, triggering EDD/more paperwork. Below is from a brief talk with compliance officer (acquaintance of friend) at a bank in UAE
  

  • Getting a CBI citizenship automatically flags your profile as HIGH-RISK and this will trigger EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence) for all financial activities in UAE (likely true for other jurisdictions as well). If your goal is to reduce your paperwork/fly under the radar, this is not the way to go, especially if you have crypto investments/trading and/or real estate in your portfolio and you are cashing out crypto through P2P/OTC/Real estate.

• Getting flagged in WorldCheck or similar databases and life becomes a complete mess
• Difficulty in getting visas (where applicable) and getting through border controls. CBI citizenship raises immediate red flags
  
  • One thread in this forum where a US citizen got their bank accounts closed within 3 weeks of receiving their Dominican passport in mail in 2022
  • Some unofficial reports of detention and/or deportation due to CBI passport in this forum
• Antigua being considered as 7 (high risk OECD) country and what it would mean for me

I would appreciate remarks from others who have received the citizenship (especially recently) regarding their current experience in banking/travel/other residence permits/US/EU travel. Remarks from professionals who help their clients do this is also welcome.

 

[aniglo22]

I would definitely wait until the current U.S. administration finally settles its visa policy .
As Antigua and Barbuda is supposedly on a Yellow list .
If you have a Southeast Asian passport, I would think twice, as your citizenship offers great potential in real estate.

 

[void]

why is Grenada missing in the yellow list?

 

[gmhdssuxef]

I would definitely wait until the current U.S. administration finally settles its visa policy .
As Antigua and Barbuda is supposedly on a Yellow list .
If you have a Southeast Asian passport, I would think twice, as your citizenship offers great potential in real estate.

Makes sense, although traveling to the US is a concern, it is really not the primary concern for the citizenship.