Citizenship critical to estate planning for Jamaicans overseas

OMAR’S DESIRE to ensure that he has all the documents he needs to prove his Jamaican citizenship goes beyond mere nostalgia and his need to maintain cultural ties to his country of birth.

Although he has lived in Canada for more than three decades, he maintains assets in Jamaica, and, therefore, ensuring that his family and children are properly documented as Jamaican citizens, he opines, simply makes good economic sense.

“I have assets in Jamaica, and if and when my children are born, I want to leave it to them,” the meticulous planner, who declined to give his full name, said as he milled around the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency’s (PICA) booth at the JN Group Expo at the Pearson Convention Centre in Brampton, Ontario, last Saturday.

He was among some 5,000 Jamaicans living in Canada who poured into the conven- tion centre to access information about the financial products being offered by the JN Group and to collect printed material for further details, and advice to secure investments in Jamaica.

NO CLAIM TO ASSETS

Without Jamaican citizenship, Omar’s children would have no claim to his assets in Jamaica, and, therefore, they would pass to his nearest kin or relatives living in Jamaica. Under Jamaican law, nationals living overseas can only will their estate in Jamaica to another Jamaican citizen.

“There are some people living overseas who have estate matters to be settled in Jamaica; however, when their children or grandchildren, who were born and who live overseas, make a claim, their verification of identity comes up for question,” confirmed Carol Saunders-Hammond, director of citizenship services at PICA.

“There is a document provided by PICA, which outlines the establishment of lineage for Jamaicans to acquire citizenship by descent so that it makes the inheritance process a lot easier.”