Having second thoughts about Antigua Citizenship by Investment after applying.

[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 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.

 

[uplana]

There are a few people around OCT who might be able to help, but they don’t have Mentor Group Gold, so they won’t be able to see your thread here.

I’d suggest opening a new thread, a light version without any sensitive data, and include a link to this one. You can mention that you’ve asked for help inside the Mentor Group.