St Kitts and Nevis mandates biometric enrollment for ‘golden passport’ holders

Caribbean nation St Kitts and Nevis has announced that all who became citizens through the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program are required to complete biometric enrollment by July 31, 2027.

The country is also expanding a biometric passport system launched in 2024 as part of its immigration system overhaul to those who obtained citizenship through the CBI program. St Kitts and Nevis’ technology partner for the passport project is the Canadian Bank Note Company.

The mandatory biometric enrollment program for CBI holders begins April 14. After the July 31, 2027 deadline, CBI passports from the country will no longer be valid.

Reports of countries considering using the ETIAS system to block entry for CBI holders or even quietly rejecting CBI passports (sometimes referred to as “golden passports”) as invalid because some have been issued without in-person application emerged near the end of 2025. Other countries that run CBI programs include Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Saint Lucia, in addition to Nauru, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Sierra Leone, which launched last year.

One third of St Kitts and Nevis’s official population became citizens through the CBI.

EC targets consistency

The European Commission stated in a December report that “under the revised Visa Suspension Mechanism, the operation of such programmes constitutes, in itself, a ground for suspending the visa-free status of third countries.”

“Concerned Eastern Caribbean countries should take all measures necessary for adequate security vetting of applicants, pending the discontinuation of those schemes.”

The same document identifies problems with the visa and passport issuance practices of some Eastern European countries, urging countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia to introduce “systematic collection of biometric data” for visa applicants.

With files from Ayang Macdonald.

Article Topics

biometric enrollment  |  biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  Canadian Bank Note Company  |  St Kitts and Nevis