America’s Elite Drop $200k for ‘Golden' Visas to Flee the US—One Sunshine-soaked Passport at a Time

Forget the cliché escape in the movies—it turns out when the ultra-rich say "I’m out," they don’t pack a suitcase; they wire $200k to a Caribbean island. Welcome to 2025, where American high-rollers are binge-buying their own set of “golden visas” faster than you can say "tax shelter lifestyle."

The newest hot ticket? A one-way ticket to citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia. Each island now rolls out the proverbized red carpet through Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) programs—you might know them better as "golden passports."

• Option A: Drop at least $200,000 into a government fund (nicely labeled the Economic Diversification Fund—sounds like a Black Amex for nations).
• Option B: Buy pre-approved island real estate, also starting at $200k. Upgrade to beach views for bragging rights, obviously $200k extra not included.

Perks? No wealth, gift, inheritance, foreign-income, or capital-gains taxes—basically the financial equivalent of cosmic background silence. And since these programs are dual-citizen friendly, you can keep your “Made in the USA” label while flashing a Caribbean passport at customs.

Nadia Dyson, who sounds like she stepped straight off a Bond poster and happens to own Luxury Locations Real Estate in Antigua, told the BBC that up to 70 percent of her current buyers are U.S. citizens hunting that sweet CBI combo pack: house + citizenship. Translation: last year they simply wanted beach hammocks, this year they need beach hammocks and geopolitical stability.

But the Caribbean isn’t sipping rum punch alone. New Zealand’s "Active Investor Plus" visa saw 189 applications in three recent months—a number the country previously hit over more than two-and-a-half years. Nearly half of those applicants list their address somewhere between Maine and Malibu. Why the southern-hemisphere love affair? Quote from former NZ minister Stuart Nash: "People aren’t shopping for tax havens anymore; they’re shopping for safe havens." Translation two: borderline apocalypse insurance.

Global checklist that’s spooking the one-percent:

• War in Europe—check.
• Tinderbox Middle East—check.
• U.S. political pivot louder than a stadium vuvuzela—double-check.

So whether they’re giggling at the absence of capital-gains tax in St. Kitts or counting down kiwi-free months in New Zealand, America’s well-heeled appear to be building what might be the world’s most expensive toolkit: a belt-and-suspenders escape package for whenever home turns a shade too Home Alone.