From Laggard to Best-in-Class in Two Years: The Saint Lucia CIU’s Remarkable Comeback.

Written By CIP Saint Lucia

By Christian Nesheim, IMI Daily

www.imidaily.com

IMI Daily- processing times.PNG

In a July 2018 interview, the Saint Lucia CIU’s chief executive, Nestor Alfred, conceded that his Unit’s processing times left much to be desired:

“When compared to other islands, the number is a far cry from where it should be,” he lamented, adding that in 2017 and 2018 combined, the program had received 279 applications, only about a third of which had been approved by the 2018 half-year mark. Some applications, he divulged, had been pending for close to nine months.

Alfred, at the time, told local reporters the Saint Lucia CIP was among the region’s least competitive.

“Guess why?” he asked rhetorically before responding: “Because we are not prepared to issue citizenship to people within 30 or 40 days. Our vetting process may be one of the most rigorous processes you can find in the region.”

In 2020, however, among the Investment Migration Executive Survey’s international IM-firm respondents, 21% rated the Saint Lucia CIU as the market’s most efficient processing unit, up from 0% the year before.

What changed in the Saint Lucia CIU? Presumably, it didn’t relax vetting standards, so why do these no longer have a decelerating effect on the Unit’s work? We decided to ask Nestor Alfred himself, who, in our Investment Migration After COVID report, gave full account of how he and his team were able to turn the processing unit around in under two years.

Alfred also revealed that he’s planning an overhaul of the Saint Lucia CIP’s real estate framework, as well as a new marketing agreement with one of the program’s promoters, in the coming months:

“In regard to policy, we will be doing some further strengthening of the real estate frame work - there needs to be a bit more accountability. We are also looking at a collaboration with one of our promoters to launch a product to help make the programme more attractive.”

In the interview, Alfred went into details about:

  • How the CIU was able to “trim away” steps, that were not absolutely necessary, without sacrificing the due diligence quality;

  • How the CIU brought average processing times down from more than half a year to just 56 days;

  • Why a CIU should focus on the parts of the process it can influence, and work to reduce the delays occasioned by the steps handled by outside partners; and

  • How use of the CIU"‘s online portal drove massive increases in productivity.

You may access the full interview with Nestor in the Investment Migration After COVID report. You will also gain an overview of which programs have been the relative winners and losers of the pandemic year, and learn how dozens of the leading executives in the investment migration market believe the market has, and will, change as a consequence of COVID.

Full Article: https://www.imidaily.com/caribbean/from-laggard-to-best-in-class-in-two-years-the-saint-lucia-cius-remarkable-comeback/

Investment Migration After Covid Report: https://www.imidaily.com/editors-picks/investment-migration-after-covid-new-report-from-imi-research-unit-out-now/

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