Nevis Premier urges CBI states to seek more time from EU

Nevis Premier Mark Brantley has urged the five Caribbean countries that run citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programmes to formally use the negotiation clause in their Schengen short-stay visa-waiver agreements. His aim is to ask the European Union for more time than the 1 June 2028 phase-out date that the European Commission requested in June 2026. These are Brantley's personal views. He is the Premier of Nevis, not the federal Prime Minister, and his comments are not government policy.

Speaking at a 29 September press conference, as reported by the St Kitts Nevis Observer and later by WINN FM, he said an extension of "at least" five years would be reasonable. He argued that closing programmes that in many cases supply over half of government revenue within two years is unfair to small economies. He said each country holds its own agreement and can raise the clause independently, and that he had not heard of any government invoking it yet.

Brantley also said countries should keep diversifying their economies while talks continue, and that EU officials would benefit from an exchange explaining the controls now in place. WINN FM adds that the Commission's next review report on investor-citizenship programmes is due in December 2026. That date comes from WINN FM alone.

No government has announced that it will follow his suggestion, and the EU has not responded to it in the sources we reviewed. As of 11 October 2026, the 2028 date remains a Commission request.