New Program, Case Files, and a Bag of Carrots: 10 on the Weekend with Patrick Peters

10 On The Weekend is a weekly (-ish) feature in IMI, the concept of which is simple: Each time, we ask the same ten questions of a different IMI Pro, letting readers get to know the interviewee on a more personal and informal level than they might during the ordinary course of business.

Our guest this week is Patrick Peters, CEO of ClientReferrals.

How do you spend your weekends?

Truthfully, I spend a lot of time working on weekends.  Being 100% B2B, I think it’s important that when an RCBI or government partner reaches out to us on the weekend, we are available. 

If you’re working on a case or onboarding a new client, and you have a question or need something, I want to be available to support you.  But I don’t do it because I feel obligated – I do it because I’m passionate about our work, and I truly enjoy it.  

I am also a happy family man – married to a brilliant woman, and we have two young boys – so my time away from the office is typically spent with them. 

The kids are six and nine, so at the moment it’s all about sports, games, and movies. We also joke around a lot; for April 1st, we spent weeks planning all the pranks we would play on my wife and some of our friends and neighbors.

Replacing Cheetos with carrots in carefully re-sealed bags, putting a “For Sale” sign in front of a friend’s house so they would get calls all day, and more. So that’s how I spend my weekends – family and work.

What are your top three business goals this year?

My main goal is to help  Antigua & Barbuda’s Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) process our summer 2024 volume.

We did really well in terms of volume in last summer’s rush, and it’s going well overall, but every single day is a grind. I am constantly on the phone or email, trying to drive the files forward.

This applicant needs a better photo, an applicant’s PCC has expired, the interview needs to be rescheduled, etc. The faster we can address each problem or request, the faster the CIU processes those applications, so it’s “all hands on deck” right now in terms of case processing.

Business development and traveling have taken a back seat to processing, but our internal saying is “efficient processing is the best marketing,” so right now is our chance to walk the talk. 

My second goal is to launch at least one new real estate project in Antigua; we sold out Verandah Estates in Q1 of 2025, much faster than we anticipated, so now we are looking for the next project.

Goal number three is launching a new program. We have been the leading service providers in Canada and Antigua for many years, and although the demand for Saint Kitts & Nevis is coming back, we would like to come on strong with one more offering.

Because we are strictly a B2B service provider, we don’t expand very much or very rapidly; we choose to hyper-specialise in very few offerings, allowing us to maintain the service standards our partners have come to expect of us.

What’s your biggest business concern right now?

I think the uncertainty of the Schengen visa-free access for the Caribbean Five has to be at the top of my list.

Demand for residency and citizenship by investment (RCBI) has evolved over the last five years, whereby visa-free access is no longer the only attraction, so I think it would be fine even if we do lose it, but it’s the kind of thing that can’t quite be measured in advance. 

Which book is on your nightstand right now?

Unleashing Growth and Strengthening Resilience in the Caribbean. We have been trying to come up with creative projects and investment ideas for the region, and I find this IMF publication to be a good mix of theoretical and practical content.

As part of their bedtime routine, my kids and I are reading King of the Ice, an ice-hockey encyclopedia. It doesn’t get much more Canadian than that.

How and when did you first get into the investment migration industry?

August 2007. I was a 24-year-old KPMG Senior Auditor. My best friend was traveling to Asia every month, helping clients through the Canadian Immigrant Investor Program and living a clearly more exciting and entrepreneurial life than I was.

Something about the RCBI world called out to me. I took a few more months to finish my CPA designation, handed in my resignation the very next day, and have never looked back.

What was your proudest moment as a service provider?

Every. Single. Approval. Letter.

Call me crazy. Call me weird. Call me what you will, but there is no happier moment in my day than seeing the approval letters in my inbox.

I wish I worked in the same office as all of our partners so I could give them each a high five every time we get one. I have received thousands of approval letters over the last 18 years, and still to this day, it is my proudest moment of any day.

If you could go ten years back in time, what business decision would you change?

From the beginning, we built a very strong position as the leading service provider for the Antigua & Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP).

It was a lot of work – a lot of traveling.  It seemed like one of us was always on the road.  But it was only in the last three years that we started hiring business development directors in some of our key markets to serve our RCBI partners.

Having staff full-time in China and MENA has made a huge difference – not only allowed us to grow but also allowed us to serve our partners better.

What investment migration industry personality do you most admire?

Guy Pilote. Guy has been a mentor to me since I joined the industry; he is low-key and a “behind the scenes” kind of guy who preaches honesty, work ethic, and relationships.

I have yet to come across a smarter businessman or a better RCBI service provider, and I am fortunate to have crossed paths with him 18 years ago.

If all goes according to plan, what will you be doing five years from now?

Same thing I’m doing today – helping immigration professionals serve their clients, grow their business, make more money, and, you guessed it: Get more approval letters!