In a recent official statement shared with Dutch outlet Inter Bellum News last Friday, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs outlined the Netherlands’ formal stance on the controversial Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes operated by five member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), while clarifying it has no verified information confirming the European Union has imposed a formal November 12 deadline for the jurisdictions to phase out their golden passport schemes. The five targeted nations – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia – all run established CBI frameworks that grant full citizenship eligibility to foreign nationals who make sizeable, qualifying investments designed to drive local socio-economic growth. While the Dutch foreign affairs team acknowledged that the five Caribbean states have already rolled out targeted reforms to mitigate common CBI-related vulnerabilities, it emphasized that the overall scenario remains a source of significant concern for the Dutch cabinet, and calls for sustained oversight from the European Commission. The ministry added that it will finalize its full official position on the matter only after reviewing the European Commission’s upcoming annual progress report, and noted that it cannot pre-empt that formal assessment at this stage. Dutch officials also confirmed that the Netherlands has not launched any separate bilateral negotiations with the five OECS nations over the EU’s visa-suspension mechanism, as that regulatory tool falls under the exclusive purview of the European Commission, which leads all formal discussions with the affected Caribbean jurisdictions. The Dutch government stated it is closely tracking all ongoing talks and developments, and participates in relevant EU internal consultation processes as a member state. The clarification from The Hague comes one week after the government of Antigua and Barbuda publicly notified the European Union that it is open to fully terminating its domestic CBI programme, with a proposed gradual transition window extending to 2030 to complete the phase-out. Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne had previously gone public with claims that Brussels had set a November 12 deadline for the five nations to end their CBI operations, warning that non-compliance would put their existing visa-free access to the EU’s Schengen area at serious risk. While Browne’s reference to the November 12 timeline has been widely circulated across regional Caribbean and global international media outlets, the European Commission has never issued a formal public confirmation of that specific deadline. Inter Bellum News confirmed that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not push back against or dispute Prime Minister Browne’s public account of the timeline, noting only that Dutch authorities are aware Browne described the date as a response window set by the Commission, but no formal, EU-wide official notification of a binding deadline has been shared with member states. The Dutch government reiterated that it fully shares the European Commission’s longstanding concerns over golden passport schemes, which it argues carry elevated inherent risks of security breaches, money laundering, and systemic corruption, and should be eliminated as much as possible to protect the integrity of the Schengen area. The Netherlands has already formally backed the recent revision of the EU’s visa-suspension mechanism, Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, which entered into force on December 30, 2025, and explicitly lists operating an active investor citizenship programme as a standalone valid ground for suspending a third country’s visa-free travel privileges. Dutch officials stressed that no formal proposal to suspend visa-free access for any of the five OECS nations has been tabled by the European Commission to date, and that the Netherlands will make a final decision on whether to support any potential suspension only after reviewing a full, formal submitted proposal. The ministry also noted that it is actively accounting for potential ripple effects across the broader Caribbean region, particularly for the Caribbean constituent parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands – Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten, and the Caribbean Netherlands public bodies – and will factor those regional impacts into its full assessment of any future regulatory proposal, adding that no such suspension action is currently on the table.