Five Caribbean passports from USD 200,000: Dominica, Antigua, Grenada, St Lucia and St Kitts in 2026

Status as of 24 October 2026: based on the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the five Eastern Caribbean citizenship by investment states (in effect since 1 July 2024), the official programme pages and regulations of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis, Regulation (EU) 2025/2441 on the visa suspension mechanism, the published response of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda of 6 July 2026 to the European Commission, US Presidential Proclamation 10998, the UK visa nationals list, the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU in case C-181/23 and German and Romanian citizenship and tax law. Official government fees are quoted as of October 2026. We update this guide when the law or official practice changes.

There is a document that every family office in the world knows how to obtain and almost nobody else does. It does not live in a drawer of jewellery or in a safe deposit box. It is a second passport, held quietly, renewed on time, and never needed until the day it is needed. The day a border closes. The day a government decides that your currency, your bank account or your freedom to leave is suddenly a matter of national interest. The day your children need a door that does not depend on one single state's mood.

For decades, this was a privilege of the very wealthy. They had lawyers in three time zones and the patience to build citizenship the slow way: an ancestor's birth certificate here, a decade of residence there. Since the 1980s, five small island nations in the Eastern Caribbean have offered a faster, lawful route: citizenship granted to people who contribute to the country's development, after strict due diligence. Until now, the families who used it were mostly those who already knew the right people. Now you can use the same route, with the same rigour, coordinated by Bogdan and the ENCC team, with licensed partners doing the regulated work in their own name.

This guide explains the five programmes as they stand in October 2026: Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis. It covers the USD 200,000 floor the five agreed in 2024, the official minimum for each programme, what each passport gives you, what has changed in Brussels, Washington and London, and the one fact that sellers of passports rarely put in bold: a passport does not change your taxes; residence does. Both halves of that sentence are good news, once you know how to use them.

Key points

• One floor, five doors. Since 1 July 2024, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis apply a common minimum investment of USD 200,000 under a Memorandum of Agreement. Each programme sets its own price above that floor.
• Official minimums differ. As of October 2026, the main donation routes start at USD 200,000 in Dominica, USD 230,000 in Antigua and Barbuda, USD 235,000 in Grenada, USD 240,000 in Saint Lucia and USD 250,000 in St Kitts and Nevis, before government fees and due diligence charges.
• Each passport has its own strength. Antigua and Barbuda asks for only five days of physical presence in the first five years. Grenada's citizens can use the US E-2 treaty investor visa, subject to US domicile rules. Saint Lucia offers a government bond route.
• The ground is moving. The EU now has a legal basis to suspend visa-free travel for countries that sell citizenship, and in June 2026 the European Commission asked all five to phase out their programmes by 1 June 2028. The US restricted visas for nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica from 1 January 2026. The UK requires visas from nationals of Dominica and, since March 2026, Saint Lucia.
• A passport does not change your taxes; residence does. Germany, Romania and Cyprus tax you based on where you live, not which passport you hold. The Caribbean passport is your mobility and Plan B layer. Your residence, for example in Cyprus, is your tax layer.
• Germany now allows dual citizenship. Since 27 June 2024, Germans no longer lose German citizenship when they acquire another one. Romania also accepts multiple citizenship.

Key terms

Citizenship by investment (CBI). A legal procedure in which a state grants citizenship to a foreign applicant who makes a qualifying contribution or investment and passes due diligence. In the Caribbean, it is set out in each country's citizenship law and regulations.

Donation route. A non-refundable contribution to a government fund, such as Dominica's Economic Diversification Fund, Antigua's National Development Fund, Grenada's National Transformation Fund, Saint Lucia's National Economic Fund or St Kitts and Nevis' Sustainable Island State Contribution.

Real estate route. Purchase of an approved property, held for a minimum period, usually combined with government fees. Prices and holding periods vary by country.

Due diligence. Background checks on the applicant and family members, carried out by the state's citizenship unit and third party firms. It covers identity, source of funds, criminal record and sanctions.

Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). The 2024 agreement between the five programmes on a minimum investment of USD 200,000 and common standards, including information sharing and due diligence cooperation.

Visa suspension mechanism. The EU procedure, revised by Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, that allows the EU to suspend visa-free travel for nationals of a third country. Operating an investor citizenship scheme is now an express ground.

Why a second passport is the oldest freedom tool there is

A state that controls your only passport controls your exits. That is not paranoia. It is history. Within living memory, European governments have confiscated passports, restricted foreign currency, required exit permits and closed borders overnight. In 2020 and 2021, even the most liberal democracies decided who could travel and why. Capital controls, travel bans, mandatory service and sudden visa regimes are not relics. They are tools that every state keeps in the drawer.

A second citizenship changes the bargain. It does not mean you leave anything. It means you can. Wealthy families understood this long before the word "Plan B" became fashionable. They spread risk across currencies, banks, assets and jurisdictions, and they treated citizenship the same way: one country is a single point of failure.

The Caribbean programmes exist because five small states decided to turn that insight into a lawful, regulated service. They are sovereign members of the Commonwealth and the United Nations. Their passports are real passports, issued by real governments, accepted at borders worldwide. And because the citizenship passes to the next generation, the decision you make today is a door your children and grandchildren can still open.

So does a Caribbean passport open doors or not? Both things you read in this guide are true, because they describe two different things. The passport is the travel document of a sovereign state: it stays legally valid and is recognised as proof of your citizenship and identity. Visa-free travel is something else: a privilege each country grants to another country's citizens, and can limit or withdraw. That privilege is what is moving, as you will read below: the UK now requires a visa from nationals of Dominica and Saint Lucia, the US has restricted visas for Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, and the EU is putting pressure on all five programmes. None of this takes away your citizenship. Where visa-free access remains, it still works, and we check each country's current rules before you travel. And the deepest value does not depend on any visa list: a second state that stands behind you and your children, and a citizenship you can pass on.

Your passport should serve you, not the other way around. Tell us what you want your second door to do, and we design the route.

The USD 200,000 floor: what changed in 2024

For years, the islands competed on price, and the price fell. Some programmes discounted their routes so steeply that the EU, the UK and the US began to ask whether due diligence could keep up. In 2024, the five answered by agreeing on a common floor: a minimum investment of USD 200,000 across all five programmes, in effect since 1 July 2024, together with commitments on due diligence, information sharing between the units and standards for agents and marketing.

For you, the floor has two consequences. First, the discount era is over; anyone still advertising a Caribbean passport for far less is either out of date or out of line. Second, the programmes now carry a common baseline of scrutiny that makes each passport more defensible at the border and at the bank. The five also agreed to set up a regional regulator, the Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority. All five passed the law for it in 2025, but as of October 2026 it has not started operating and no start date has been published. Until it does, each application follows the national programme it was filed under. Ideas discussed in the region, such as a minimum period of physical presence, are proposals, not law. We watch these developments for you and tell you when they become binding.

The five programmes, side by side

Each island built its programme with a different emphasis. These are the official minimums for the main routes as of October 2026. Government processing, due diligence and application fees apply on top and depend on family size.

Three things the cards do not show, and which matter more than the headline number. First, the total cost of a family application depends on the number and age of dependants, and every programme publishes its own fee schedule. Second, the timeline depends on due diligence, which cannot be rushed and should not be. Third, the right programme depends on what you want the passport to do: travel to a specific region, a US business visa path, a bond route instead of a donation, or the lowest entry point for a family. We start with the purpose, not with the price list.

What each passport gives you

Antigua and Barbuda: the lightest presence rule. The programme requires five days of physical presence in the first five years after citizenship. For a family that wants a passport without reorganising its calendar, that is the most practical rule of the five. The donation covers a family, and the processing fee is set per single applicant or family of up to four.

Grenada: the US business angle. Grenada is the only one of the five whose citizens can apply for the US E-2 treaty investor visa, which allows a substantial investor to run a business in the United States. There is a condition that matters: since a US law of December 2022, a person who obtained treaty country citizenship through investment must have been domiciled in that country for at least three years before applying for E-2 status. In practice, Grenada works for E-2 if you plan for genuine life there first, not as a shortcut. We tell you that on day one, not after you have paid.

Saint Lucia: the bond route. Instead of a donation, an applicant can buy government bonds of USD 300,000 and hold them for five years, plus an administrative fee of USD 50,000. The economics differ from a donation, because the capital sits in a government instrument for a fixed period under the programme rules instead of going into a fund. For families who think in terms of capital rather than contributions, that is a different conversation, and we model it with you before you choose.

Dominica: the entry point. Dominica sits at the floor, with a long history of processing family applications. It is the natural first look when the goal is a second citizenship for the whole family at the lowest official minimum.

St Kitts and Nevis: the pioneer. The world's first CBI programme, running since 1984. Its minimum is the highest of the five, and it has added biometric enrolment for applicants, which strengthens the credibility of every passport it issues.

All five: family and generations. Each programme allows spouses and dependent children, and in many cases parents, to be included under conditions set out in its rules. Citizenship can be passed to children born later. This is the long game the wealthy have always played.

The new pressure from Brussels, Washington and London

Freedom tools attract attention from those who prefer you without them. The last two years have brought real changes, and you deserve to know them before you decide, not after.

The EU. Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, in force since late 2025, revised the visa suspension mechanism. It allows the EU to suspend visa-free travel for nationals of a country that operates an investor citizenship scheme. On 25 June 2026, the European Commission wrote to the five Caribbean governments asking them to phase out their programmes by 1 June 2028, with a 24-month transition and interim measures by September 2026, including exclusion of persons under EU sanctions and reinforced vetting. Antigua and Barbuda published its response on 6 July 2026 and said it will continue its programme. As of October 2026, all five countries remain visa-free for short stays in the Schengen area. The EU has already acted against Vanuatu over its investor citizenship scheme: visa-free travel was fully suspended from February 2023, and the exemption was revoked altogether in 2025. In April 2025, in case C-181/23, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Malta's citizenship by investment scheme breached EU law. That ruling concerns an EU member state, not the Caribbean, but it shows the political direction.

The United States. Presidential Proclamation 10998, effective 1 January 2026, partially suspended visas for nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, including visitor, student and immigrant visas, with listed exceptions. Nationals of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada who qualify for a US visitor visa must post a bond of USD 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000, set by the consular officer; St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia are not on the list as of October 2026. None of the five passports gives visa-free entry to the United States.

The United Kingdom. The UK has required visas from nationals of Dominica since July 2023 and added Saint Lucia to its visa nationals list in March 2026. Nationals of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis travel with an Electronic Travel Authorisation.

What does this mean for you? It means the passport must be chosen for what it reliably does today, with a clear view of what could change by 2028, and as one layer of a larger plan rather than the whole plan. An EU citizen already has EU travel. For you, the Caribbean passport adds a second sovereign behind you, a second consular door and a citizenship that is not tied to your current government. Even in the scenario Brussels is pushing, the citizenship stays yours. What can change is how Schengen treats it.

Do not let a headline make your decision, in either direction. Ask us for the current state of the programme you are considering.

A passport does not change your taxes; residence does

This is the sentence that separates a good plan from an expensive souvenir. Germany, Romania and Cyprus tax individuals based on residence, not nationality. A Caribbean passport, alone, does not end your tax residence anywhere. It does not change what you owe on your salary, your dividends or the sale of your company.

The good news is the other half of the sentence. Residence is something you can choose. Once you combine a second citizenship with a genuine move to a jurisdiction that treats you better, you have both layers the wealthy use: a mobility layer and a tax layer. For many of our readers, that tax layer is Cyprus: an EU base, 15% corporate tax and, for Non-Doms, no SDC on dividends and interest until you have been resident for 17 of the last 20 years, with GESY at 2.65% capped at EUR 180,000 of income a year. Read our guide on Cyprus as your EU base and Plan B.

Two more facts you should know. Banks and financial institutions report accounts under the OECD Common Reporting Standard based on tax residence, and they ask for proof of where you are tax resident, not which passports you hold. The OECD has listed several citizenship and residence by investment schemes, including Caribbean ones, as potentially high risk for misuse under that standard, so expect banks to ask for your tax residence certificate. And for Germans, the extended limited tax liability in § 2 AStG can follow German citizens who move to a low tax country and keep substantial economic interests in Germany for up to ten years; a second passport does not switch it off, because you remain German.

The German risks: how we do it right for you

For German readers, 2024 changed the game. Since 27 June 2024, the reformed Nationality Act allows Germans to acquire another citizenship without losing German citizenship. Before, a voluntary foreign naturalisation generally meant the loss of German citizenship unless a retention permit had been granted. Today, a German can hold a Caribbean passport alongside the German one.

What remains is tax and procedure:

• Residence decides. If you keep a home in Germany that you use, or your habitual abode stays there, you remain fully taxable in Germany on your worldwide income, whatever passports you hold (§ 8 and § 9 AO).
• Exit tax on shares. If you later move your residence abroad and hold at least 1% of a company, § 6 AStG may treat you as if you had sold the shares at market value. A passport does not trigger it; a move does. That is why we plan the move, not just the passport.
• Extended limited tax liability. § 2 AStG can apply for up to ten years to Germans who move to a low tax country while keeping substantial economic interests in Germany.
• Source of funds. Caribbean due diligence asks where the money comes from. German tax returns, annual accounts and sale documents are your best evidence. We assemble that file with you before the application.

The Romanian risks: how we do it right for you

Romania accepts multiple citizenship, so the passport itself creates no conflict with Romanian nationality. The risks are, again, tax and documentation:

• Romanian tax residence. Romania taxes residents on worldwide income based on domicile, centre of vital interests and days spent in the country. A Caribbean passport does not change it. Dividends paid to Romanian residents are taxed at 16% from 2026, and health contributions can apply above statutory thresholds.
• Source of funds. Funds that cannot be traced through Romanian tax returns and bank records will slow or stop due diligence. Clean records in Romania are the foundation.
• Company control. If your company is run from Romania, it can be treated as Romanian for tax purposes, whatever passport its owner carries.

The Cyprus angle: residence that does the tax work

Cyprus is where many of our clients put the tax layer. A Caribbean passport and Cyprus residence answer two different questions. The first: which states will stand behind me and my children? The second: which state taxes me, and how? Combining the two is how international families have long built their position, and Cyprus gives an EU citizen an EU base with an attractive regime. If you are not an EU citizen, Cyprus offers its own residence routes, which we cover in our long-run guide to Cyprus. For the salary and dividend side of a Cyprus move, read today's companion guide on Cyprus salary versus dividend.

How we do it: the sequence

The order is the strategy. This is the sequence we follow with clients.

1. Purpose first. Travel, family protection, a US business path, a bond route instead of a donation, or the lowest family entry point. The purpose decides the programme.
2. Eligibility and family map. Who applies, who is included, ages, previous visa refusals, sanctions screening and any issue that due diligence will find anyway.
3. Source of funds file. Tax returns, company accounts, sale contracts and bank records, organised before a licensed agent submits anything.
4. Programme choice. We compare the five against your purpose and today's mobility map, including the EU, US and UK changes above.
5. Application through a licensed agent. Every Caribbean programme requires applications through authorised agents. We coordinate the licensed partner; the partner files in its own name.
6. Due diligence and approval. The citizenship unit checks the file. Only after approval in principle is the investment made, under the rules of the programme.
7. Oath, certificate and passport. Then the practical part: passport renewal dates, presence rules where they apply and records for each family member.
8. The tax layer. If you also want to change your tax position, we plan the residence move separately, with German, Romanian or Cypriot tax advisers.

Common mistakes

• Choosing by price alone. The cheapest official minimum is not always the right passport for your purpose.
• Believing the passport moves your taxes. It does not. Residence does.
• Ignoring the 2028 question. A plan that only works with Schengen visa-free travel needs a fallback.
• Using Grenada as an instant E-2 ticket. The three-year domicile rule applies to citizens by investment.
• Weak source of funds evidence. Due diligence is thorough, and a file that does not add up is refused, not negotiated.
• Forgetting renewals and presence rules. Antigua's five days are easy, but only if you plan them.

Three illustrative cases

These cases are illustrations built from typical situations, not real clients. Figures are rounded and based on official minimums as of October 2026, before fees.

The family in Frankfurt. A couple in their forties with two children, both German, run a consulting firm. Since 2024 they can hold a second citizenship without losing their German one. What they want is simple: a second sovereign behind the children, for the rest of their lives. They look at Dominica's family route (USD 250,000 with up to three dependants) and Grenada's single or family route (USD 235,000) and choose based on travel, timeline and due diligence. They keep living in Germany and pay German tax as before. The passport is protection, not tax planning, and they know it from the start.

The founder already in Cyprus. A Romanian born founder, 37, moved to Cyprus, has her company managed there and receives dividends with no SDC as a Non-Dom. Her tax layer is in place. She wants a citizenship outside the EU as a hedge against the day EU rules turn against people like her. She chooses Antigua and Barbuda, because five days in five years fits a life already split between Larnaca and client trips, and because her source of funds file is simple: Cypriot accounts, Romanian tax returns from earlier years and a documented company sale.

The entrepreneur eyeing America. A German entrepreneur, 45, wants to open a US subsidiary and run it personally. Grenada interests him because of the E-2 treaty. We explain the three-year domicile rule for citizens by investment, so the plan becomes a real one: Grenadian citizenship, a genuine period of domicile in Grenada, then the E-2 application through US counsel. If that timeline does not fit, we look at other US routes with him. Either way, he decides with the facts in hand.

The circle you join

People who hold a second passport think differently. They do not ask permission to plan. They know that rules change, that governments drift, and that the best time to build an exit is when nobody needs one. They keep their records clean, their residence deliberate and their family's options open. They pay what the law requires where they actually live, and they never confuse a passport with a tax plan.

Until now, that mindset belonged to families with an office, a private banker and a lawyer on each continent. Today it belongs to engineers, founders and freelancers who have decided that their freedom will not depend on a single government. You do not have to sort it out alone. Bogdan and the ENCC team coordinate the licensed professionals who do it right.

FAQ

What is the minimum investment for Caribbean citizenship by investment in 2026?

Since 1 July 2024, the five Eastern Caribbean programmes apply a common floor of USD 200,000. As of October 2026, the official donation routes start at USD 200,000 in Dominica, USD 230,000 in Antigua and Barbuda, USD 235,000 in Grenada, USD 240,000 in Saint Lucia and USD 250,000 in St Kitts and Nevis, before government fees.

Which Caribbean passport is best?

There is no single best. Antigua and Barbuda has the lightest presence rule, Grenada has the US E-2 treaty, Saint Lucia has a bond route, Dominica is the lowest official minimum and St Kitts and Nevis is the oldest programme. The right one depends on what you want the passport to do.

Will the Caribbean passports keep visa-free access to the Schengen area?

As of October 2026, all five remain visa-free for short stays. The EU has a legal basis to suspend visa-free travel for countries with investor citizenship schemes and has asked the five to phase out their programmes by 1 June 2028. We monitor this and update clients as it develops.

Does a Caribbean passport reduce my taxes?

Not by itself. Germany, Romania and Cyprus tax people based on residence. The passport is your mobility layer. To change your taxes, you change your residence, for example to Cyprus.

Can Germans keep German citizenship if they acquire a Caribbean one?

Yes. Since 27 June 2024, Germany allows dual and multiple citizenship, so acquiring another citizenship no longer causes the loss of German citizenship.

Can Romanians hold a second citizenship?

Yes. Romania accepts multiple citizenship.

Do I have to live in the Caribbean?

Most programmes have no ongoing residence requirement for citizenship. Antigua and Barbuda asks for five days of physical presence in the first five years. For the Grenada E-2 route, the US requires three years of domicile in Grenada before applying.

Can my family be included?

Yes. Spouses and dependent children can be included, and some programmes allow parents under specific conditions. Each programme publishes its own family rules and fees.

Next steps

For your EU base, read Cyprus as your EU base and Plan B. For another citizenship route outside Europe, read Argentina citizenship by investment. For the long horizon in Cyprus, read Cyprus in the long run. Today's companion guide covers Cyprus salary versus dividend. Browse every guide on the English blog.

Sources

• Dominica Citizenship by Investment Unit, official site and Citizenship by Investment Regulations (SRO 8 of 2024): https://cbiu.gov.dm/
• Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Unit, National Development Fund: https://cip.gov.ag/investment-options/ndf
• Grenada Investment Migration Agency, becoming a citizen: https://imagrenada.gd/becoming-a-citizen
• Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment Unit: https://www.cipsaintlucia.com/
• St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit and Citizenship by Investment Regulations (SRO 26 of 2023): https://www.ciu.gov.kn/
• Regulation (EU) 2025/2441 revising the visa suspension mechanism (EUR-Lex): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202502441
• Government of Antigua and Barbuda, response to the European Commission communication on CBI (6 July 2026): https://embassy.ag/dario-item-antigua-barbuda-government-of-antigua-and-barbuda-responds-to-european-union-communication-on-citizenship-by-investment-programme/
• US Presidential Proclamation 10998 (Federal Register): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/19/2025-23570/restricting-and-limiting-the-entry-of-foreign-nationals-to-protect-the-security-of-the-united-states
• USCIS, E-2 treaty investors: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/e-2-treaty-investors
• UK Home Office, visa requirements list for carriers: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-visa-requirements-list-for-carriers
• UK Home Office, explanatory memorandum HC 1715 (Dominica visa requirement, 19 July 2023): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-changes-to-the-immigration-rules-hc-1715-19-july-2023/explanatory-memorandum-to-the-statement-of-changes-in-immigration-rules-hc-1715-19-july-2023-accessible
• UK Home Office, statements of changes to the Immigration Rules: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes
• Court of Justice of the EU, case C-181/23, Commission v Malta: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-181/23
• German Nationality Act (StAG): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stag/
• German Foreign Tax Act, § 2 AStG: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/astg/__2.html
• German Fiscal Code, § 8 AO: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ao_1977/__8.html
• US Department of State, Countries Subject to Visa Bonds: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/countries-subject-to-visa-bonds.html

Verified on 24 October 2026.

Cover photo: The Pitons, Soufrière district, Saint Lucia. Photo: DavidMPyle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped.