Caribbean · Citizenship and residency by investment
Caribbean Citizenship by Investment
Five countries, one agreed price floor, and five very different realities behind the brochures. What each programme costs in 2026, how long it really takes, what is changing under the new regional regulator, and where a second passport stops being the answer.
Short answer: Five Caribbean countries sell citizenship: St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Lucia. Since 1 July 2024 all five are bound by an agreed minimum of US$200,000 for any option, so the era of discounting is over. Current entry prices are US$200,000 in Dominica, US$230,000 in Antigua and Barbuda, US$235,000 in Grenada, US$240,000 in St Lucia and US$250,000 in St Kitts and Nevis. None of them requires you to live there. All five deliver a passport, visa-free access to somewhere between 145 and 157 destinations, and citizenship you can pass to your children.
What they do not deliver is a place to live, a tax outcome on their own, or access to the United States. And the advertised processing times are not the real ones: St Lucia's own guidance says 90 days while measured applications average eighteen months.
The five compared
Headline prices are the easy part and the part everyone publishes. The columns that decide a file are the ones further right: what the family actually pays once dependants and due diligence are added, and how long it takes in practice rather than in the brochure.
| Country | Contribution route | Real estate route | Family of four | Due diligence | Measured processing | Visa-free destinations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominica | $200,000 | $200,000 plus $100,000 government fees | $250,000 | $7,500 main, $4,000 per dependant 16+ | 9.3 months average | ~145 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | $230,000 | $300,000 | $230,000 plus $20,000 processing | $8,500 principal, $5,000 spouse | 14.2 months average | 154 |
| Grenada | $235,000 | $270,000 | $235,000, no premium for four | $5,000 per person, waived under 16 | 7 months average | ~147 |
| St Lucia | $240,000 | $300,000 | $240,000 for applicant plus three | $8,000 main, $5,000 per dependant | 18 months average | ~145 |
| St Kitts and Nevis | $250,000 | $325,000 condominium, $600,000 house | $250,000 | $10,000 main, $7,500 per dependant 16+ | 5.1 months average | 157 |
Measured processing is the average across recently completed applications, not the figure published by the programme. Several of the official numbers are out by a factor of four or more. Visa-free counts move constantly and are the least reliable number on this page; treat them as a rough ranking rather than a promise.
The short version, if you want one line each
- Fastest: St Kitts and Nevis, five months, and it costs the most.
- Cheapest for one person: Dominica at the regional floor.
- Best value for a family: Grenada, which charges a family of four the same as a single applicant.
- Only one with a United States E-2 treaty: Grenada.
- Slowest: St Lucia, despite advertising the fastest.
Programme by programme
St Kitts and Nevis
OpenThe oldest programme in the world, running since 1984, and still the one that behaves most like a functioning government department. It costs the most and it delivers fastest, which is not a coincidence.
- Sustainable Island State Contribution
- $250,000, single applicant or family up to four
- Public Benefit Option
- $250,000
- Private real estate
- $325,000 condominium, $600,000 house
- Resale restriction
- 7 years on both property routes
- Additional dependants
- $25,000 under 18, $50,000 over 18
- Due diligence
- $10,000 main, $7,500 per dependant 16 and over
- Interview
- Mandatory for everyone 16 and over
- Measured processing
- 5.1 months, range 3 to 8
What to know: biometric enrolment became mandatory for all citizens by investment, dependants included, from 14 April 2026, with a deadline of 31 July 2027. That applies to people who already hold the passport, not only new applicants. The government has also announced a 2026 overhaul intended to require a genuine link to the country, which may bring physical presence and business establishment requirements. No day count or effective date has been published.
Dominica
OpenThe cheapest way into a Caribbean passport for a single applicant, sitting exactly on the regional floor. The trade is speed and the real estate maths.
- Economic Diversification Fund
- $200,000 single, $250,000 for four
- Real estate
- $200,000 property plus $75,000 government fees single, $100,000 for four
- Property holding period
- 3 years, or 5 if the next buyer is also an applicant
- Additional dependants
- $25,000 under 18, $40,000 over 18
- Due diligence
- $7,500 main, $4,000 per dependant 16 and over
- Interview
- $1,000 per person 16 and over, usually virtual
- Residence required
- None, before or after
- Measured processing
- 9.3 months, range 4 to 18
Watch the real estate route. The property is US$200,000 but the government fees on top run US$75,000 to US$100,000, which makes it more expensive than the fund for most families and leaves you holding an illiquid asset on a small island for three years. The fund is the cleaner instrument unless you specifically want the property.
Dominica has the widest family definition of the five: children to 18, children 18 to 30 in full-time education and fully supported, unmarried daughters under 25, adult children with disabilities, and parents or grandparents over 65.
Grenada
OpenThe one I recommend most often for families, for two reasons that have nothing to do with the headline price.
- National Transformation Fund
- $235,000, single applicant or family of four
- Approved real estate
- $270,000 for up to four
- Children, parents 55+
- $25,000 each
- Parents under 55
- $50,000 each
- Siblings
- $75,000 each, and Grenada admits them
- Due diligence
- $5,000 per person, waived under 16
- US E-2 treaty
- Yes, the only one of the five
- Measured processing
- 7 months, range 4 to 9
First reason: a family of four pays the same US$235,000 as a single applicant. Against St Kitts and Nevis or St Lucia, that is real money for a family with two children, and Grenada is one of very few programmes anywhere that admits siblings.
Second reason: the United States E-2 treaty. A Grenadian citizen can apply for an E-2 investor visa to live and operate a business in the United States, which no other Caribbean citizenship permits. For a family whose real target is America, that combination is the reason to pay Grenada's price rather than Dominica's.
Grenada's Citizenship by Investment (Amendment) Bill 2026 passed both chambers between 28 and 31 July 2026 and introduces a residence requirement of 30 days in aggregate across the first five calendar years, with at least five days per named person in the first twelve months and the balance shareable across the family. The Investment Migration Agency issued a circular on 21 August 2026 on commencement. Confirm the current position with the agency before filing, and note that the legislation reportedly permits retroactive application to existing citizens.
Use imagrenada.gd for current figures. The old cbi.gov.gd site is still online and still publishes the withdrawn US$150,000 price, which is where a great deal of stale advice comes from.
Antigua and Barbuda
OpenCompetitively priced, with the widest menu of options, and the second slowest in the region. It is also the only one of the five that has enforced a physical presence requirement for years.
- National Development Fund
- $230,000
- University of the West Indies Fund
- $260,000
- Real estate
- $300,000
- Business, single investor
- $1,500,000
- Government processing
- $10,000 single, $20,000 family of four
- Due diligence
- $8,500 principal, $5,000 spouse, $4,000 adults
- Physical presence
- 5 days in 5 years, published; a bill to raise it to 30 was tabled 16 July 2026
- Measured processing
- 14.2 months, range 10 to 18
Take the presence rule seriously. Failure to complete the five days results in deprivation of citizenship with no refund. It is a small requirement and people still miss it because nobody told them it existed. The University of the West Indies option can work out cheaper for a large family, since it is priced for a household of six rather than per person.
St Lucia
OpenThe one where the published timeline and the real one diverge most sharply. St Lucia's own guidance says roughly 90 days from acceptance to grant. Measured across recent applications the average is eighteen months, with a range running to twenty-six.
- National Economic Fund
- $240,000, applicant plus up to three
- National Action Bond
- $300,000 held 5 years, plus $50,000 non-refundable
- Real estate
- $300,000 in approved developments
- Additional dependants
- $10,000 under 18, $20,000 over 18, $35,000 spouse
- Newborn under 12 months
- $5,000
- Due diligence
- $8,000 main, $5,000 per dependant
- Residence required
- None stated
- Measured processing
- 18 months, range 12 to 26
The bond deserves a second look. US$300,000 returned after five years with no interest, plus a US$50,000 fee that is not returned, is not a US$50,000 programme. It is US$50,000 plus five years of whatever that US$300,000 would otherwise have earned. Priced honestly against the fund at US$240,000, the bond only makes sense for a family with capital that is genuinely idle.
St Lucia takes children to 21, children 22 to 30 if fully supported, unmarried siblings under 18, and parents over 55 if fully supported.
São Tomé and Príncipe
Clients ask about this one because it is being marketed hard at around US$90,000, less than half the Caribbean floor. Here is what I can establish and what I cannot, because the difference matters.
What checks out
- There is a legal basis: Nationality Law 07/2022 and Decree-Law 07/2025, the regulation on nationality by investment or donation, approved in May 2025 and effective from 1 August 2025.
- There is a government citizenship by investment unit on an authentic state domain.
- Contributions run to a National Transformation Fund.
- Reported pricing is US$90,000 for a single applicant, US$95,000 for a family of four, US$100,000 for five, plus a US$5,000 submission fee. No residence requirement, and processing reported at two to two and a half months.
What does not
- I could not read the government unit's own site, and could not locate the gazetted text of the decree-law on any São Toméan government server. Every figure above comes from consultancies or from an industry article that discloses itself as a sponsored feature paid for by a firm that sells the programme.
- The passport opens roughly 71 destinations. No Schengen area, no United Kingdom, no United States, no Canada, no Australia. That is about half the mobility of any Caribbean passport.
- By January 2026 the programme had received 98 applications and approved 27. The first passport was reportedly issued that month.
- There is no independent regulator, no audit, and nothing comparable to the vetting framework the Caribbean five are being brought under. Questions about correspondent banking and document recognition are unresolved, and even the firms promoting it say so.
My assessment: the law appears real and specific enough to be checkable, and the government domain is a genuine signal. But this is a programme roughly a year old with approvals in the tens and a passport that does not open the places people buy passports to reach. It is a travel document with a narrow use case, not a cheaper substitute for a Caribbean citizenship. We can arrange it for a client who wants it after hearing all of that, and I will put the limitations in writing first.
What is changing in 2026
Three changes are moving through all five programmes at once: a shared regulator, a residence requirement, and biometric enrolment. None of them raises the price. All of them raise the amount of contact you will have with the country whose passport you hold.
A shared regulator
The Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority, headquartered in Grenada, was created to supervise all five programmes to a common standard. Draft legislation was published in July 2025 and the countries have been enacting it individually: Dominica in October 2025, Antigua tabled in July 2026, Grenada passed at the end of July 2026. Reporting puts operational start around September 2026. This is a direct response to European and American pressure, and the practical effect will be tighter due diligence and less variation between jurisdictions.
Thirty days of residence
The regional agreement contemplates 30 days of aggregate presence in the first five calendar years, alongside integration programmes and annual application caps. Grenada has legislated it. Antigua and Barbuda has tabled a bill raising its existing five days to thirty. St Kitts and Nevis has signalled a genuine link requirement without publishing detail. Rollout was postponed once already and is now being enacted country by country, so the position differs by jurisdiction and by month. Anyone who tells you flatly that no Caribbean programme requires presence is working from 2023.
Biometrics
St Kitts and Nevis made biometric enrolment mandatory from 14 April 2026 for all citizens by investment including dependants, with a deadline of 31 July 2027. If you or a family member obtained St Kitts citizenship years ago, this applies to you and there is a date attached to it.
What a second passport does and does not do
This is the part of the conversation that most advisors skip, and it is the reason clients come to me after buying the wrong thing.
What it does
- Lets you travel to 145 to 157 destinations without applying for a visa first, which for many nationalities is the entire point.
- Gives you a second identity document that does not depend on a government you may not trust.
- Passes to your children, in most cases indefinitely.
- Lets you open accounts, register companies and sign contracts as a citizen of a stable jurisdiction.
- In Grenada's case only, opens the United States E-2 investor visa.
What it does not
- It does not give you access to the United States. No Caribbean citizenship carries visa-free entry to America. You still apply for a B-1 or B-2 visa, and you apply with the same personal history you had before.
- It does not change your tax position by itself. Tax follows residence, not citizenship, for everyone except Americans and Eritreans. Buying a passport and continuing to live where you live changes nothing. Anyone selling a Caribbean passport as a tax solution is either confused or hoping you are.
- It does not give you somewhere to live. You can move there, and almost nobody does. If the goal is relocation, this is the wrong instrument.
- It does not convert into a European or North American citizenship. It is a final document, not a stepping stone.
- It does not survive a bad application. Misrepresentation results in revocation, and revocation is public.
Why applications actually fail
Due diligence is where these files are won and lost, and price has nothing to do with it. What I see refused, across every jurisdiction:
- Source of funds that cannot be traced end to end. Not funds that are illegitimate. Funds that are legitimate and undocumented. A gift from a parent twenty years ago, a property sale with no contract retained, cash income from a business that ran on cash. The unit is not asking whether you earned it. It is asking you to prove where every dollar came from, and "it was a long time ago" is not an answer.
- A prior refusal that was not disclosed. A Canadian, British or Schengen visa refusal from years ago that the applicant considered irrelevant. The units share information and check. The refusal itself is rarely fatal. Concealing it always is.
- Litigation and regulatory history. A civil suit, a tax dispute, a regulatory penalty against a company you directed. Disclose it with the outcome documented and it is usually survivable. Omit it and the file ends.
- Name variations across documents. Common with transliterated names from Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese and South Asian scripts. It looks like an inconsistency to an analyst who does not read the source script, and it needs to be explained before anyone asks.
- An agent who filled the forms in for you. I have taken over files where the applicant had never read what was submitted in their name. If the form says something untrue, it is your misrepresentation, whoever typed it.
The way through all five is the same. Build the file properly the first time, disclose everything with documents attached, and never let anyone submit in your name what you have not read.
Residency by investment, the longer game
A Caribbean passport is a travel document. If what you want is a place to live, the programmes below are the comparison that matters, and none of them is fast.
| Programme | What you get | Minimum | Presence required | Route to citizenship |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal Golden Visa | Residence permit | €250,000 cultural, €500,000 fund | 7 days year one, 14 days per 2-year renewal | 10 years for most non-EU nationals, counted from permit issue |
| Greece Golden Visa | 5-year renewable residence | €250,000 to €800,000 by region | None | 7 years on paper, but requires real residence in practice |
| Australia National Innovation visa | Permanent residence on grant | No investment threshold | Standard residence obligations | 4 years, including 12 months as a permanent resident |
| New Zealand Active Investor Plus | Resident visa | NZ$5m growth, NZ$10m balanced | 21 days over 3 years, or 105 over 5 | Requires genuine relocation, 240 days a year |
| Costa Rica investor residence | Temporary residence | US$150,000 | Ties and limited absence | 7 years, or 5 for Ibero-American nationals |
| UAE Golden Visa | 10-year renewable residence | AED 2,000,000 | None, the absence rule is waived | None. UAE citizenship is not available this way |
| Canada, business immigration | Permanent residence | CAD 100,000 invested | Full relocation and active management | 3 years of physical presence as a permanent resident |
Two things to take from that table. Portugal is no longer a five-year route to a European passport: legislation in force from 19 May 2026 raised naturalisation to ten years for most non-EU nationals and started the clock at the date the first permit issues rather than at application, which strips out the queue people used to bank. And Canada, for all that it is slow and demands you actually move, is the only line in the table that reliably ends in a top-tier passport, three years after permanent residence.
Our full province-by-province comparison of Canadian business immigration covers that route in detail.
Most families need two documents
The question I am asked is which programme to choose. The better question is what each document is for, because families under pressure usually need two things that no single programme delivers at once: a travel document soon, and a place to live eventually.
The first is mobility, and you need it within the year. A passport that lets you board a plane, open an account and register a company without waiting on an appointment at a consulate in a country you are trying to leave. Caribbean citizenship does this in five to eighteen months, and St Kitts and Nevis does it fastest.
The second is where the family actually ends up. Where the children go to school, where the business operates, where tax residence eventually sits. That is Canada, Australia, or a European residence that genuinely converts. These take years and they require you to move.
Running both at the same time is normal, and nothing about one interferes with the other. A family takes Grenada for the travel document and the E-2 option, and files a New Brunswick or Nova Scotia business application, or an Australian National Innovation visa, for the destination. The first buys freedom of movement during the years the second one takes. We build both halves of that plan in-house, which is the reason to have one advisor across the whole picture rather than a different firm for each document.
What I will not do is sell you the passport and call the job finished. That is the single most common thing that happens to families in this market, and it is why so many arrive here holding a document that solved a problem they did not have.
What else we advise on
| Region | What we handle |
|---|---|
| Caribbean | Citizenship by investment in St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and St Lucia, and selected newer routes for clients who need a travel document quickly |
| Canada | Express Entry, provincial nominee programmes, business and entrepreneur streams, intra-company transfer and C11 work permits, family sponsorship, procedural fairness letter responses and refusal recovery |
| Europe | Portugal residence including the fund and cultural project routes, Greece residence including the non-real-estate options, and selected Nordic founder and residence routes |
| Oceania | Australia National Innovation visa (subclass 858), New Zealand Active Investor Plus |
| Latin America | Costa Rica investor and rentista residence |
| Middle East | UAE Golden Visa and residence structuring, supported from our Dubai office |
If the route you choose needs a business
Several of the residency programmes above, and every Canadian provincial stream, require you to own and run something real. That is where families stall, because choosing what to operate in a country you have not lived in is harder than any form.
We work on both halves. If you would rather buy something already trading, with staff and customers and a history, we have access to businesses available for purchase in the jurisdictions where these routes run, and we can assess whether one satisfies the programme as well as whether it is worth owning. If you would rather build, we can put you in front of people who open and grow businesses on the ground where you are moving, and stay with it past the point of approval.
Questions people actually ask
What is the cheapest citizenship by investment programme in 2026?
Dominica, at US$200,000 for a single applicant through the Economic Diversification Fund. That is the agreed regional minimum, in force across all five Caribbean programmes since 1 July 2024, so nothing legitimate goes below it. São Tomé and Príncipe is marketed at around US$90,000 but opens roughly 71 destinations with no Schengen, United Kingdom, United States or Canada access.
Which Caribbean citizenship is best for a family?
Grenada, in most cases. A family of four pays US$235,000, the same as a single applicant, where St Kitts and Nevis charges US$250,000 and St Lucia US$240,000 for applicant plus three. Grenada also admits siblings at US$75,000 each, which none of the others do, and it holds the only United States E-2 treaty in the region.
How long does Caribbean citizenship by investment really take?
Measured across recent applications: St Kitts and Nevis 5.1 months, Grenada 7 months, Dominica 9.3 months, Antigua and Barbuda 14.2 months, St Lucia 18 months. The advertised figures are considerably shorter and, in St Lucia's case, wrong by a factor of six.
Do I have to live in the country?
Not much, but this is changing. Antigua and Barbuda requires five days in five years and a bill tabled in July 2026 would raise it to thirty. Grenada legislated a thirty-day requirement across the first five years in July 2026. Dominica, St Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis currently require none, though St Kitts has signalled a genuine link requirement. The direction of travel across the whole region is toward thirty days.
Does a Caribbean passport give me access to the United States?
No. None of the five carries visa-free entry to the United States, and buying one does not improve a United States visa application. The single exception is Grenada, whose citizens can apply for an E-2 investor visa to live in and run a business in the United States. That is an application, not automatic entry.
Will a second passport reduce my tax?
Not by itself. Tax follows residence, not citizenship, for every nationality except Americans and Eritreans. If you buy a Caribbean passport and continue living where you live, your tax position is unchanged. Anyone presenting citizenship by investment as a tax strategy is describing something it does not do.
Is the fund or the real estate option better?
The fund, for most families. Real estate is priced higher in every jurisdiction, adds government fees on top in Dominica, locks you into a holding period of three to seven years, and leaves you owning an illiquid asset on a small island that you will most likely sell to the next applicant at a loss. Choose property only if you actually want the property.
Can my parents and children be included?
Yes, with the rules differing by country. Dominica is the most generous: children to 18, children 18 to 30 in full-time education, unmarried daughters under 25, adult children with disabilities, and parents or grandparents over 65. Grenada is the only one of the five that admits siblings, at US$75,000 each. St Lucia takes children to 21, or 30 if fully supported, and parents over 55.
What is the new Caribbean regulator?
The Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority, headquartered in Grenada, created to supervise all five programmes to a common standard. Draft legislation was published in July 2025 and countries have been enacting it individually since. Operational start is reported for around September 2026. Expect tighter due diligence and less variation between jurisdictions.
Why do applications get refused?
Almost always source of funds that cannot be traced end to end, or an undisclosed prior visa refusal. Neither is usually fatal on its own. Both become fatal when they surface after submission rather than before. Litigation history, regulatory penalties and name variations across documents are the next most common causes.
Can I get a Caribbean passport and Canadian permanent residence at the same time?
Yes, and for many families that is the right structure. Caribbean citizenship gives you a travel document in five to eighteen months. A Canadian provincial business application gives you permanent residence in three to five years and citizenship three years after that. Neither application interferes with the other, and disclosing each on the other is straightforward.
Is São Tomé and Príncipe citizenship legitimate?
The legal basis appears real: Nationality Law 07/2022 and Decree-Law 07/2025, effective 1 August 2025, with a government unit on an authentic state domain. But the programme is about a year old, had approved 27 applications by January 2026, has no independent regulator, and the passport opens roughly 71 destinations with no Schengen, United Kingdom, United States, Canada or Australia access. It is a travel document with a narrow use case rather than a cheaper Caribbean substitute.
Sources and verification
Figures were checked against each programme's own publication on 29 August 2026. Caribbean pricing changed across the region in 2024 and several jurisdictions amended their legislation during 2026, so stale figures are everywhere, including on one government site that is still online. Confirm before acting.
- St Kitts and Nevis: Citizenship by Investment Unit
- Dominica: Citizenship by Investment Unit
- Grenada: Investment Migration Agency. The legacy cbi.gov.gd site is obsolete and still publishes withdrawn pricing
- Antigua and Barbuda: Citizenship by Investment Programme schedule of fees
- St Lucia: Citizenship by Investment Programme
- Regional agreement and regulator: OECS press room and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank draft legislation for the regional authority
- São Tomé and Príncipe: Nationality Law 07/2022 and Decree-Law 07/2025 as reported. Primary gazette text could not be obtained
- Portugal: Lei Orgânica 1/2026 and AIMA guidance
- Greece: Ministry of Migration and Asylum and Law 5100/2024
- Australia: Department of Home Affairs, National Innovation visa
- New Zealand: Immigration New Zealand, Active Investor Plus
- UAE: GDRFA Dubai and the ICP golden residency service pages
- Processing time averages: Investment Migration Insider measured data across completed applications, which differs materially from published programme guidance
Message me and tell me what you are solving
Which document your family needs, and whether you need two of them, depends on things a comparison table cannot see: the passport you hold now, where you are trying to go, and how soon. That is a short conversation, not a long read.
Send me a message on WhatsApp with your situation in a few lines. I will tell you which of these is worth your time and which is not, and the first consultation is free.
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