"He added that the nine-12 months being taken to process permanent residency applications was simply "too long" for his potential client base, giving them a negative impression of the Bahamas."

The problem is that we have been taught by the politicians that we can do anything and our sovereignty makes us the best in the world. The markets proves that people have a "negative impression of The Bahamas".

That is why Turks, Cayman and others are well off, with little unemployment, and we are still struggling.

I agree that we are not seeing the immigration that we NEED. The type of immigration and homeownership to which the article refers require RELIABLE ELECTRICIY and a SENSE OF SECURITY. At the same time we must address the immigration that we DO NOT need that strains our already inadequate resources.

not to mention that:
1. reliable electricity is not available to the citizens, whomever they are
2. sense of immigration security is not readily available to foreign spouses of bahamians or to the children born of bahamian women married to foreign men. These wait much more that 9-12 months and even have difficulty receiving services that their taxes pay for.

Understood on the matter of immigration security. I should have been more precise. I was thinking about security in one's home and the high break-in and robbery rate.

Do we have a real estate inventory of non-Bahamians who own property in this country including cays, sub-divisions, undeveloped land, long term leases and private properties???? ....... How much of these properties are flipped between foreigners for huge sums daily????? .......... and how many "second home" room units are rented each week in this country (illegally) by foreigners????? ............. The millions of dollars that the Treasury cannot collect

These properties are not being flipped. To flip it you need a conveyance. The foreigners like to know that the property is theirs.

The reality is that for the last two years foreigners sold out and got out of The Bahamas to go to other destinations in greater numbers than those that came in.

The Central Bank figures prove this as they show that we had a negative $80 million or more out flow or deficit in FDI.

Sheep runner I am with you on this one . The Bahamas is a small Country. and there is only
so much land. No more land is being made. what about the Bahamians yet unborn. Some folks
only care about how much money they will have in their bank accounts. no need to sell ones
birth rights for a bowl of porridge. Funny he should mention what Countries we are no better
than. Where is he coming from with that.?

The Government owns 80% of the physical land and all of the sea bed of this country ......... There is NO land shortage in this country

The gov. may own 80% of the physical land but taken out of context that means nothing. The majority of the prime land on the prime islands is in private hands, primarily the hands of wealthy foreigners. Facts. Nearly all the nice cays with harbours, elevation and vegetation (in Abaco, Bimini and Exuma) are owned by foreigners. So much of the elevated coppice land and coastal land is also privately owned throughout the northern parts of the country. Yeh the gov. has thousands of acres of pine barren on the large islands and land in the southern Bahamas, where there is little rain, little soil and shows no sign of being a place where people want to invest or live.

Comrades! If the Red Shirts Regime were to listen to Jason Kinsale - that would solidly why the reds should not be trusted to improve the well-being and interests of the poor and the near poor citizens. Maybe, there should be no more project approvals ahead under the conditions Jason Kinsale thinks are best for the Bahamaland?

As Jason Kinsale is the half-brother of Shame Gibson, it would make interesting reading as how he financed Balmoral and various other projects.

Banker, it is commonly known that Kinsale is fronting for Sebastian Bastian of Island Luck fame.
If he and his partner have their way all the land will be bought and sold, so the money can be washed. It's either that for them or put it into BOB. These guys are the biggest real estate developers in the country, and if the Bahamas Real Estate Association were to be honest, they would confirm that. Rather they participate in the laundering process.

From what I know, the numbers boys told Jason to take a hike a couple of years ago - when they were made legit and started their own developments. That's why One Cable Beach struggled to come out of the ground. I don't know who is funding Jason now (maybe Shame?).

Selling Bahamian citizenship for a measly $500,000 investment in a condo is as about as cheesy as we Bahamians can get. It certainly says we do not have much self-esteem or patriotic standing in our country. I frankly think $5 million may not be enough but it would be a good step in the right direction. We need to start valuing appropriately what's dearest to us most, and what many foreigners want from us more than just about anything else! Bahamians must lift up their heads to see that rising sun!

Agreed.

There is a huge difference between permanent residence and citizenship. No one in this article talks about citizenship. But let us talk about citizenship: if you invest 500,000 Pounds and live in the UK for 5 years, you are entitled to UK citizenship. I think anyone would agree that by world standards, a UK passport is ever so slightly better than a Bahamian one. So your idea would completely price us out of the market. Always useful to know where other countries are at.

The U.K. is not The Bahamas and you can carry your condescending ass talking about a "UK passport is ever so slightly better than a Bahamian one." How so? It doesn't look that appealing to me in the face of Brexit and the U.K's burdensome tax regime. Perhaps that's why so many Brits would like a Bahamians one?? Furthermore, the Bahamas is a better place to live than the U.K. This is coming from someone who has lived in the U.K and entitled to dual citizenship. I would choose my Bahamian citizenship any day.

Second, as the other person said, residency is different to citizenship. If the primary purpose is tax and lifestyle related there is no need to give away full citizenship if we can offer residency and a tax certificate here. If we start giving anyone with money the same rights as Bahamians this country will soon become overdeveloped and totally controlled by foreigners while the average Bahamians becomes more dependent and has less access to the best parts of the country, something that is already a problem. A whole host of other problems will ensue. Yeh, of course real estate agents and developers would love it. A line needs to be drawn. Foreigners are welcome, but handing out citizenship willy nilly to wealthy foreigners is a short sighted sell out

I would definitely agree that the UK is not the Bahamas. They have electricity 24/7 there and the dumps don't burn.
As for the need for citizenship, you are quite wrong: UK citizen can keep all of their money offshore with no tax liability in the UK whatsoever, as long as they spends less than 60 days in residence in the UK. Therefore the idea that any UK citizen would want or need a Bahamian passport is just a figment of your imagination. There are hundreds of them here, with permanent residence and no citizenship. Brexit has nothing to do with it either: Even afterwards there will be free travel for UK citizens throughout the EU.
PS: as to "as the other person said"...that is me. Reread the post. My only point is that no one would pay $5m, as Mudda suggested, for a Bahamian passport. Not unless they are completely illiterate and I don't know too many people with $5m that are.

You are correct - it was you who made the distinction between residency and citizenship. I misread the story somehow and thought Kinsale was advocating for the sale of citizenship in addition to lowering the bar for permanent residency. Yes, I am fully aware of the non-dom status in the UK and how it works, however, you know as well as I do that the situation may be different in 10 years. Many Brits (the Corbynistas etc) would love to see the non-dom laws change and prudent wealthy Brits are aware of that. Any way, my point remains the same. Many people around world would like Bahamian residency/citizenship for tax, financial privacy and lifestyle purposes and I disagree with you that a UK passport is more desirable than a Bahamian one and I do believe the Bahamas to be a better place to live, but that's my personal opinion.

This dude has made millions selling the Bahamas to expats. He should be eternally grateful. He should learn how to phrase his words differently.

And then the question is, who will be calling the shots in this country in 20 years?
The golden rule applies here.

And the answer is: the same people who are calling the shots now. The people with CAPITAL.

Much of this debate boils down to the vision one has for the future of this country. If you are like many materialistic, money obsessed real estate agents and large-scale developers that believe it would be great if Nassau was like Miami then of course you might be saying lets hand out citizenship to anyone rich!!! Most of these people have little regard for the environment, preserving Bahamian culture, our national identity, our heritage or the poor/average Bahamian. The problem is, is that many Bahamians have fallen into this kind of mentality themselves - where we would sell every last island in this country to a foreigner in the prospect of a commission.

Comrades! - Growing up in Nassau and on one the Out Islands - one of the most common expressions I heard often was the words 'Thank You My Sweet Jesus.' So. can we hear a hearty 'Thank You My Sweet Jesus' for Comrade Abaconian's post.
Ummm I'd love give Comrade Abaconian.... a really big hug!

Some of what he says is true, immigration department needs a kick up the ass (we all know that!) and the Bahamas needs to compete better for the HNW residents. They have PLENTY options besides the Bahamas.

Also looking at these comments above makes me wonder who exactly is funding Mr. Kinsales projects?
And if he's been given the zoning for his next big hotel/ condo project on Goodmans Bay, Cable Beach by the Christie Government or this new government? Because that is very fishy!

And someone please check into Perry Christie's Brother (Re buying permits from Immigration for HNW people) and Son Re selling property, before they try and run off with a cookie jar.