Antigua and Barbuda has offered to shut its Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) by the end of 2030, provided the EU helps pay for the transition, according to a report by Antigua News Room. That is two and a half years later than the June 1, 2028 closure the European Commission has demanded.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne set out the proposal in an October 30 letter to Magnus Brunner, the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, first reported by Antigua News Room.
The Commission’s position since its June 25 letter has been a phase-out by mid-2028 with a 24-month transition, and the November 12 deadline for a formal answer still stands.
What Browne Is Asking For
The letter follows an October 20 technical meeting in Brussels at which, by Browne’s account, EU officials laid out three paths: keep the program and risk the Schengen waiver, close it by June 2028, or commit to termination while negotiating more time and support. Antigua has chosen the third.
Under the proposal, the government would assess the financial, economic, social, and legal fallout of closing the program and deliver its findings to the Commission by March 2027.
Browne wants EU technical help with that study and financial support to offset lost revenue, investment, and jobs. He also wants a dedicated line for countries winding down citizenship programs in the EU’s 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework, where no such allocation currently exists.
In exchange, Browne offers binding safeguards and EU monitoring for the duration of the transition. The letter further asks the Commission to record the conditional commitment in its December Visa Suspension Mechanism report and to open talks on assistance once the assessment is in.
The Case for 2030
Browne’s argument rests on how deeply CIP revenue is woven into the public finances. He cites International Monetary Fund (IMF) findings that stronger CIP inflows helped produce a primary surplus of nearly 5% of GDP in 2025. The IMF’s 2026 Article IV report also puts public debt at an estimated 68% of GDP last year, down from 101% in 2020.
Several approved developers carry obligations that depend on continued citizenship investment, and domestic and regional banks have lent against anticipated CIP receipts. An abrupt stop, Browne argues, could leave projects unfinished and developers in court, and weaken bank balance sheets across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.
A wind-down through 2030, he says, would let those obligations be repaid or restructured under Eastern Caribbean Central Bank supervision.
The letter also sets out the alternative as Browne understood it from the Brussels talks. Without an agreement, the Commission could announce a suspension of the visa waiver in January 2027, taking effect around March or April.
An initial 12-month suspension could then be extended or made permanent if the program were still running.
How the Position Shifted
The offer caps a four-month retreat. When the government disclosed Brunner’s June 25 letter on July 6, it said it “will not be pressured into a unilateral phase-out,” and Browne declared that “with or without those visa-free arrangements, our CIP program continues.”
By mid-July his tone in Parliament had softened. A September 24 meeting with Brunner in New York, alongside Saint Lucia’s Philip J. Pierre, produced no movement on the 2028 date. Then on October 24, Browne told Pointe FM listeners that Cabinet was leaning toward confirming a June 2028 closure, describing a binary choice: keep the program or keep the waiver.
Six days later, the letter describes a third option that his radio remarks did not mention, and a 2030 date rather than 2028.
The Rest of the Region
Browne says Antigua is coordinating with its Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States partners toward a common position, though he conceded last week that each visa waiver is a bilateral arrangement and each government may end up choosing alone.
Dominica said on October 28 that it is seeking “a practical agreement” with the EU and will communicate its position by November 12. Saint Lucia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire argued back in July that Brussels wants the programs gone regardless of reforms.
Browne puts cumulative CIP receipts since 2013 at more than EC$1.4 billion (approximately USD 518 million). The 2026 budget counts on the program for one of the government’s largest non-tax revenue lines, roughly USD 58 million this year.
The Commission has not publicly responded to the proposal.
