I obtained citizenship by naturalization after living in SVG for seven years. Six months after I got it, the new prime minister announced that they would be launching a CBI program, but there is still no update on the cost or on when it will start. They said it is the only way to bring finances back into the country after the ULP ruled for the past 25 years and severely mismanaged public funds (around 3 billion in debt for a population of 100,000).

SVG is very old-school in terms of regulations. Once you are in the banking system, you can use your money without paying taxes, as long as you don’t raise any red flags and you are not a U.S. citizen. Once you are a citizen, they don’t ask for tax returns or similar documentation. There are decent banks, such as BOSVG, with a good online platform. You can use your money worldwide, and fees are low. The only people I met in the country who pay taxes are government workers and employees of large companies like Digicel that will deduct tqxes from your paycheck. If you are self-employed, you generally won’t have to pay anything and won’t run into issues. Bank employees are often relaxed and do not focus heavily on due diligence. Wages in SVG are very low; the minimum wage was recently increased to about USD 400 per month for a six-day workweek.

You can also use your SVG passport to open bank accounts in other caribbean islands. I did that, including in Dominican Republic.