Five Caribbean nations sell citizenship to foreign investors: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Lucia. Under a regional agreement that took effect on July 1, 2024, the minimum investment across all five programs is $200,000. You do not need to live in the country to qualify (with one small exception in Antigua and Barbuda), and the resulting passport opens visa-free travel to roughly 145 to 153 destinations. Caribbean citizenship by investment is a government-run route to a second passport that trades a non-refundable contribution or a qualifying real estate purchase for full citizenship, usually in three to six months.
The Five Programs at a Glance
Each country runs its own program through a dedicated government unit, but all five now coordinate on minimum pricing and due diligence through a Memorandum of Agreement signed in March 2024.1Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. Caribbean Countries Pressing Forward with the Implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement on Citizenship by Investment Programmes The simplest route in every program is a non-refundable contribution to a government development fund. That money is gone the moment it is paid, but it is the fastest and cleanest path to a passport.
Minimum fund contribution for a single applicant:
- Dominica: $200,000 to the Economic Diversification Fund
- Antigua and Barbuda: $230,000 to the National Development Fund2The Citizenship by Investment Programme. NDF
- Grenada: $235,000 to the National Transformation Fund
- Saint Lucia: $240,000 to the National Economic Fund (covers up to three dependents)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis: $250,000 to the Sustainable Island State Contribution
Adding a spouse, children, or other dependents raises the contribution, sometimes substantially. A family of four should expect total government fees and contributions to exceed $250,000 in most programs. Saint Lucia is the outlier because its base contribution already covers up to three dependents.
Real Estate and Bond Alternatives
If you would rather hold an asset than write off a donation, every program approves a real estate route at a higher price point. Saint Kitts and Nevis requires a minimum property purchase of $325,000 with a seven-year hold before you can resell it under the program.3Government of St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit. Real Estate Investment Antigua and Barbuda imposes a five-year hold.4Citizenship by Investment Programme. Real Estate Grenada and Dominica also use five-year holding periods for property resold to future citizenship applicants. Approved projects are typically resort developments or luxury condominiums, and resale value is not guaranteed.
Saint Lucia offers a third path: $300,000 in non-interest-bearing government bonds held for five years. Your principal comes back at the end, but you earn nothing on it in the meantime, and administrative and due diligence fees push the true out-of-pocket cost well above $300,000. It suits investors who can afford to park capital for half a decade in exchange for eventual repayment.
Fees Beyond the Investment
The headline contribution is not the full cost. Every program layers on processing fees, due diligence fees, and government fees. Antigua and Barbuda charges $8,500 in due diligence fees for a main applicant, $5,000 for a spouse, and $4,000 per adult dependent.5The Citizenship by Investment Programme. Schedule of Fees Across the region, adult due diligence fees generally run between about $7,500 and $10,000 per person. Add your authorized agent’s professional fees, legal costs, and document authentication. A single applicant should budget an additional $15,000 to $30,000 on top of the investment, and families should budget more.
What the Passport Actually Gets You
Visa-free travel is the main product. Caribbean citizenship-by-investment passports open roughly 145 to 153 countries without a visa, with Saint Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda at the top of the range and Dominica typically at the lower end. All five give visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to the Schengen Area, Singapore, Hong Kong, and most of Latin America and Africa.
Two distinctions matter when picking a program on travel grounds. First, the United Kingdom: Dominica and Saint Lucia passport holders currently need a UK visa, while Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada holders do not.6GOV.UK. UK Visa Requirements Second, Schengen access is changing. Starting in late 2026, visa-exempt travelers, including Caribbean citizens, will need to obtain an ETIAS authorization online before entering the Schengen Area. ETIAS is a pre-travel screening, not a visa, and it does not remove visa-free status.
Grenada and the U.S. E-2 Investor Visa
Grenada is the only one of the five with a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States. That treaty, in force since March 3, 1989, makes Grenadian citizens eligible for the E-2 investor visa.7U.S. Department of State. Treaty Countries The E-2 lets you live and work in the U.S. by investing in and managing a U.S. business, and it is renewable indefinitely while the business operates. It does not lead directly to a green card. For investors who want a foothold in the United States, Grenada’s slightly higher contribution is often worth the premium.
Residency, Family, and Who Qualifies
You never have to relocate. Four of the five countries impose no residency obligation at all. Antigua and Barbuda is the exception: you must spend at least five days in the country during the first five years after obtaining citizenship, or your citizenship can be revoked and your investment forfeited.8Citizenship by Investment Programme. The Citizenship by Investment Programme Five days over five years is a low bar, but ignoring it is a costly mistake.
Applicants must be at least 18 and have a clean criminal record.9Dominica Citizenship by Investment Unit. How to Get Caribbean Citizenship – Section: Meeting Application Requirements Background checks reach every country where you have lived and run through international law enforcement databases. Applicants from sanctioned nations or under international travel bans are typically rejected outright. Source-of-funds documentation is where many applications stall. You need to show, on paper, that every dollar of your investment was earned legally, whether from business income, property sales, inheritance, or investments. Vague explanations get applications denied, and complex wealth structures lengthen verification.
All five programs let you include immediate family. Spouses and minor children are universally eligible. Most programs also cover adult children up to about age 30 and parents above a certain age (Dominica covers parents aged 65 and older). Saint Kitts and Nevis allows dependents up to age 30 without requiring full-time university enrollment. Each dependent raises both the contribution and the due diligence fees.
How to Apply and How Long It Takes
You cannot apply directly. Every application must go through a government-licensed authorized agent, who prepares your package, submits it, and acts as intermediary. Their fees are separate from the government’s.
The paperwork is heavy: certified passports and birth certificates for everyone included, police clearances from every country you have lived in, medical reports including HIV results, bank and professional references, a decade of employment and address history, and family information. Non-English documents need translation, and everything requires notarization or an apostille. All five programs also require interviews (usually virtual) for the main applicant and dependents above age 16 or 17, at roughly $1,000 to $1,500 per person where charged separately.
Standard processing runs three to six months. The unit reviews, conducts due diligence, and issues an approval-in-principle; you then transfer the investment funds; the government issues a Certificate of Naturalisation, and you apply for the passport through immigration.10Dominica Citizenship by Investment Unit. How to Get Caribbean Citizenship Saint Kitts and Nevis offers an Accelerated Application Process that shortens the timeline to roughly 45 days for an extra $25,000 per applicant and $20,000 per dependent on top of everything else.11The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. Apply for a Passport
Citizenship is not permanent by contract. Governments can revoke it for fraud or material misrepresentation in the application, for serious criminal convictions afterward, or if you land on international sanctions lists. Pressure from the OECD and FATF has pushed the region toward stricter ongoing compliance, so post-approval revocation is a real, not theoretical, risk.
If You’re a U.S. Citizen
A second Caribbean passport does not change your U.S. tax situation. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of any other citizenships held. If you open Caribbean bank or investment accounts, U.S. reporting rules follow you: FinCEN Form 114 (the FBAR) is required whenever your foreign accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any point during the year,12FinCEN.gov. Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts and FATCA requires IRS Form 8938 above thresholds that start at $50,000 on the last day of the year or $75,000 at any point for single filers living in the U.S., with higher thresholds for joint filers or those abroad.13Internal Revenue Service. Summary of FATCA Reporting for U.S. Taxpayers Caribbean banks also report U.S. account holders directly to the IRS under FATCA, so a second passport creates no reporting gap.
Some investors use a Caribbean passport as a stepping stone to renouncing U.S. citizenship. That path triggers the IRS expatriation tax rules for “covered expatriates,” a mark-to-market regime that treats your property as sold the day before you expatriate.14Internal Revenue Service. Expatriation Tax It is a separate decision that needs a tax attorney who specializes in expatriation, not a citizenship agent.