Programme Brief · The Caribbean
Caribbean Citizenship.
The shortest legitimate route to a second passport. Five programmes, harmonised at a USD 200,000 floor since the 2024 inter-island accord, all delivering full citizenship — and a working passport — within a year. The choice between them is rarely about price. It is about the file you can clean, the mobility you actually need, and which programme survives the next round of EU and US compliance pressure.
The five programmes
Differences that matter, side by side.
Below is the working comparison our analysts use when sizing a Caribbean file. The rows that drive most decisions are family inclusion, due-diligence appetite, and passport mobility — not the headline contribution figure.
| St. Kitts & Nevis | Dominica | Antigua & Barbuda | Grenada | St. Lucia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donation route | USD 250,000 | USD 200,000 | USD 230,000 | USD 235,000 | USD 240,000 |
| Real estate route | USD 400,000+ | USD 200,000+ | USD 300,000+ | USD 270,000+ | USD 300,000+ |
| Time to passport | 4–6 months | 4–6 months | 4–6 months | 4–8 months | 6–9 months |
| Family inclusion | Spouse, children <30, dep. parents & siblings | Spouse, children <30, dep. parents & siblings | Spouse, children <30, dep. parents 55+, siblings | Spouse, children <30, dep. parents, siblings 18+ | Spouse, children <30, dep. parents, siblings |
| Visa-free + visa-on-arrival | 156 destinations | 144 destinations | 153 destinations | 146 destinations | 147 destinations |
| Schengen access | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| UK access | ETA required | ETA required | ETA required | ETA required | ETA required |
| China access | 30-day visa-free | — | — | 30-day visa-free | — |
| Residency requirement | None | None | 5 days in 5 years | None | None |
| Personal income tax (resident) | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% on foreign income |
Figures and inclusion rules are summarised from the most recent amendments and the 2024 Memorandum of Agreement on minimum thresholds. Any active file is reconfirmed against the issuing Citizenship by Investment Unit before engagement.
How we choose between them
Five questions that pick the country.
- 01
Where will the family actually travel?
If China is in the family's working geography (entrepreneurs in semiconductors, hospitality, manufacturing), the 30-day visa-free arrangement narrows the field to St. Kitts and Grenada. If the principal's life sits between London, Dubai and the EU, almost any Caribbean passport works, and the choice falls to the next question.
- 02
How big is the file?
A principal with a single jurisdiction of tax residency, a clean professional record and a banking history of fewer than three institutions can clean a Dominica or St. Lucia file in four months. A multi-passport, multi-jurisdiction principal with politically-exposed-person flags — even legitimate ones — typically clears more cleanly through Grenada or St. Kitts, where the due-diligence machinery is older and the underwriters more accustomed.
- 03
Does anyone need to set foot in the country?
Antigua's five-day-in-five-year requirement is the only physical-presence rule across the five. For families who will never travel, it is reason enough to favour St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada or St. Lucia. For families spending winters in the Caribbean anyway, it is irrelevant.
- 04
Are children of US visa interest?
Grenada is the only Caribbean state holding an active E-2 treaty with the United States — meaning a Grenadian citizen who establishes a qualifying US business may apply for an E-2 investor visa to live and work in the United States. For families with US-bound children, Grenada is frequently the answer regardless of headline cost.
- 05
What does the next decade of compliance look like?
Caribbean CBI is under active EU and US scrutiny. Post-2024 reforms — biometric interviews, harmonised pricing, in-person attendance for some jurisdictions — are the early signs. We weight the long-term durability of the programme as heavily as the short-term price.
What it gets you
A full passport, in months — and the architecture it unlocks.
Caribbean CBI is the only category of programme that produces a passport (not a residency permit, not a visa) within a year, without setting foot in the issuing country.
- A working second passport. Schengen-area visa-free access, UK ETA-eligible, generous Asia-Pacific mobility. Not a Tier-1 passport, but a deeply useful one — and frequently the document that unlocks Tier-1 onward applications.
- No tax residency obligation. Citizenship does not, by itself, create a tax obligation in the issuing country. Caribbean states do not tax non-resident citizens on foreign income.
- Family inclusion at a single price. Spouse, children up to 30 (longer if dependent students or disabled), parents over 55 in most programmes, and in some programmes, siblings.
- Citizenship for life — and for descendants. Caribbean CBI confers full, perpetual citizenship; the document is renewable at expiry; descendants born to a CBI citizen acquire citizenship by jus sanguinis.
- Banking & corporate domicile options. Caribbean citizenship opens international banking corridors — particularly through Switzerland, Singapore and the UAE — that other passports do not.
- The E-2 lever (Grenada only). Active US E-2 treaty access. The most underused feature of the Grenadian programme — and the most strategically important for families with US business interests.
Our role on a Caribbean file
The due-diligence pass is the entire game.
Caribbean CBI files succeed or fail on the due-diligence package. Our work begins with the principal's record — and ends with the passport in hand and the post-citizenship architecture in place.
- i. Pre-engagement diagnostic — programme fit, due-diligence pre-screen, and any public-record review of the principal and family.
- ii. File preparation — biographical, financial, source-of-funds, source-of-wealth — to underwriter standard, not to the minimum required by the form.
- iii. Authorised agent engagement (CBI applications must be filed through licensed local agents — a relationship we maintain in all five jurisdictions).
- iv. Submission, due-diligence cycle, and any required interviews (Antigua, increasingly St. Lucia and Dominica require in-person or remote interviews).
- v. Approval-in-principle, contribution payment or property completion, and oath of allegiance.
- vi. Passport collection, tax-position review (particularly relevant for principals with US obligations), and post-citizenship structuring where indicated.