Obtaining residency through investment

Obtaining residency in the Cayman Islands can be complex as each application requires knowledge of the relevant laws and regulations, as well as experience with how the process works.

Permanent residence for persons of independent means
A decade ago, most of the applications I assisted with were for retirees looking for somewhere idyllic to reside with a slow pace of life. They typically purchased a condo in one of the beachfront complexes and obtained a corresponding 25-year residency certificate that did not lead to citizenship or the ability to seek employment in Cayman.
However, in recent years, there has been a significant shift towards wealthy families with young children acquiring certificates of permanent residence.
This option grants a holder and spouse with the lifetime ability to reside in the Cayman Islands for a minimum investment of US$2.4 million in developed real estate and gives them both the ability to work. It also provides the entire family with a pathway to British Overseas Territories citizenship, Caymanian status and British citizenship with no obligation to surrender any existing citizenships.
In order to maintain this certificate, the holder needs only to reside in the Cayman Islands for a minimum of one day per year. However, should the holder and any family members wish to progress to citizenship, the individual residence requirements are greater.

25-Year Residency Certificate for Persons of Independent Means
While this option does not provide a right to work or a pathway to citizenship, it does offer the holder and any qualifying dependents with a 25-year renewable residency certificate for a minimum investment of US$1.2 million, of which at least 50% must be in developed residential real estate.
In the majority of cases, the entire investment is in developed residential real estate, but this option does permit an applicant to also purchase land, a pre-construction property and/or make other local investments.
With this option, there is an ongoing requirement that a certificate holder demonstrate either a continuous source of annual income of US$150,000 or a deposit of US$500,000 with a locally licensed financial institution. Additionally, the holder needs to reside in Cayman for a minimum of 30 days per year.

Flexibility
There is some flexibility with both of the above options:

• Purchases can be registered in the name of the applicant, jointly as spouses or in a company.
• There are no restrictions as to how many properties make up the investment threshold.
• Stamp duty is included in the investment threshold.
• Properties can be rented on short-term or long-term bases.
• There are no specific residency-by-investment properties, as is often found in the citizenship-by-investment programmes in other countries, so applicants have no limitations on their choices.

For further information or bespoke advice about residency and citizenship in the Cayman Islands, please contact me at Daniel.Altneu@bedellcristin.com.

This article originally appeared in the March 2021 print edition of Camana Bay Times.

About the author

Daniel Altneu is a Caymanian attorney and managing associate with the international private client team at Bedell Cristin in Camana Bay.