Antigua and Barbuda is the latest country to offer a visa deal to foreigners in return for buying property in the country.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer recently launched the new Citizenship by Investment Programme, which offers investors the chance to receive an Antigua passport and become a citizen of the country if they make a real estate investment of $400,000 (£247,000).

The new program is the latest example of visa deals offered by countries around the world as they compete for investors. Other countries offering visas for investments include Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, and more recently Spain, where a visa bill passed the Spanish parliament last month. The US also offers a path to a visa through its EB-5 visa program. 

“The current climate in which we live, where we have to contend with the reality of an economic slowdown and the virtual disappearance of traditional funding sources, means that this program remains one of the most viable options for development,” the PM said.

Any investors that move to Antigua on a pension of less than $60,000 (£37,000) a year will not have to pay any income tax, while those earning between $60,000 and $144,000 (£89,000) a year will only have to pay 10% tax on their earnings, according to taxrates.cc.