Investor residency plan edges forward

JAMAICA’S long-delayed plan to grant residency to qualifying foreign investors has moved closer to Parliament, more than four years after its formal implementation target and more than a decade after Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro) recorded the proposal. But the Government still has not disclosed how many applicants would have to invest, how many jobs they would have to create or which investments would qualify. The Government’s latest annual report on Form 18-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said draft amendments to the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act and the Aliens Act are being vetted for submission to the legislation committee.

The wording indicates progress but does not say that the committee has received the Bills or that they have been approved for tabling in Parliament. “The proposals include the introduction of an economic residency programme which is intended to support a more enabling environment for potential investors who do not present a national security threat to Jamaica,” the report said. It is the clearest sign of movement since the SEC filings began referring to the draft amendments in 2023.

The programme nevertheless remains at a pre-parliamentary stage, with no implementation date announced. Then Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Audley Shaw disclosed in May 2021 that Cabinet had approved the proposal for further consultation and determination of the conditions under which permanent residency — not citizenship — would be granted. But the proposal predates that decision.

Jampro’s 2013/14 annual report described the Jamaica Economic Residency Programme as a proposed immigration-residency category for foreign investors undertaking projects involving a predefined amount of capital. It said Jampro and the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) had agreed that the programme was feasible. The National Investment Policy, approved by Cabinet on July 18, 2022, subsequently called for a strategic economic residence programme to encourage direct investment and job creation based on specified criteria, with PICA and Jampro responsible for implementation.

The policy targeted the first quarter of fiscal year 2022/23, covering April to June 2022. That deadline had already passed when Cabinet approved the policy and is now more than four years overdue.