Antigua Nomad Digital Residence

Antigua and Barbuda’s Nomad Digital Residence, usually shortened to NDR, is a two-year stay for remote workers who want to live in the islands while earning from employers or clients outside the country. It isn’t a tourist stamp with a nicer name. It’s a separate special-resident authorisation and officials still describe it that way.

The program is aimed at people whose work can be done remotely, including employees and self-employed applicants. You’ll need to show foreign-earned income of at least $50,000 a year for each of the two years, plus medical insurance for the full stay. The paperwork is heavier than a normal visitor entry and the fee isn’t small either.

• Single applicant: $1,500
• Couple: $2,000
• Family of 3 and over: $3,000

The official checklist also calls for a passport biographical page, a passport-style photo, police clearance for applicants over 16, proof of relationship for dependants and evidence of employment or self-employment. Fees are non-refundable and paid through the application process.

This isn’t a route to local employment. If you want to work for an Antiguan employer, you’ll need a separate work permit. The NDR is really for people who want a longer, cleaner legal stay without switching into the local labor market.

For remote workers, that’s the appeal. You get a defined two-year basis to live in Antigua and Barbuda, keep your job or business abroad and avoid local income tax on that foreign income. The tradeoff is simple, though not exactly light: prove your income, carry insurance and be ready to submit more documentation than you would for a short holiday entry.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Nomad Digital Residence or NDR, was built for remote workers who earn outside the country. The catch is that the government now says the programme was discontinued on Nov. 15, 2025, so there’s no live application route to use right now. The terms below are the last verified official rules.

To qualify, applicants had to be 18 or older, employed by an overseas company or self-employed outside Antigua and Barbuda and able to work remotely. The income test was strict: at least $50,000 a year or EC$135,000, from outside the country. That threshold applied to each individual applicant, not the household.

Dependants could be included, but they had to fit the relationship rules in the application and be backed by proof of relationship. The official materials also required proof of employment or self-employment, so casual income streams without documentation wouldn’t have cut it.

• Age: 18 or older
• Work profile: Employed outside Antigua and Barbuda or self-employed with remote work
• Income: At least $50,000 a year or EC$135,000
• Allowed dependants: Spouse, children and some other dependants, with proof of relationship

There were also clear disqualifiers. You couldn’t use NDR status to work for an Antiguan employer, serve the domestic market or run a business inside the local economy. The law also required a police certificate for applicants over 16, plus a declaration that you hadn’t been convicted of a serious criminal offence.

For the last verified version of the programme, applicants needed passport photos, the biodata page of a passport, income evidence, proof of employment, police clearance and valid medical insurance. The official fee schedule was $1,500 for a single applicant, $2,000 for a couple and $3,000 for a family of three or more. The visa was valid for 24 months and wasn’t renewable.

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The Nomad Digital Residence is pretty straightforward on paper, but the document list isn’t light. The program is for remote workers, asks for a minimum income of $50,000 a year and is valid for up to two years in the first instance.

The official portal doesn’t publish a separate processing-time guarantee, so don’t assume it’ll move in a fixed number of days. You’ll want everything ready before you submit, because missing paperwork is the sort of thing that slows these applications down.

• Fee: $1,500 for a single applicant, $2,000 for a couple, $3,000 for a family of 3 or more, plus $650 for each additional dependent beyond 3
• Passport: Copy of the biographical data page
• Photo: Passport photo for each applicant, 2 x 2 inches, with the head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches from chin to top of head
• Health insurance: Certificate showing coverage for the period of intended stay in Antigua
• Police clearance: Required for each applicant over 16
• Income and work proof: Evidence of employment, including self-employment, plus a declaration from the main applicant confirming expected income of at least $50,000 a year for each of the 2 years in Antigua
• Dependents: Proof of relationship to any dependent included on the application
• Payment: Proof that the non-refundable fee was paid for each applicant

The government page doesn’t clearly spell out every possible supporting document. It doesn’t confirm a fixed bank-statement requirement, a minimum balance or a standard list for remote contracts, birth certificates or marriage certificates, so don’t rely on those unless your own case or adviser asks for them.

It also doesn’t give a published rule on translations, notarization or apostilles. That’s annoying, because it leaves a bit too much room for interpretation, so applicants with foreign-language documents should check before uploading anything.

For the income side, the key point is the applicant’s declaration. The portal asks you to certify that you expect to earn at least $50,000 a year and that you can support yourself and any dependents for the full stay. There isn’t an official monthly-equivalent requirement or a stated proof-of-funds minimum on the pages reviewed.

If you’re applying with family, make sure the relationship documents are clean and easy to read. The portal does say the program covers dependents, but it doesn’t publish a more detailed dependent checklist on the pages reviewed.

The Antigua and Barbuda Nomad Digital Residence isn’t complicated on the fee side, but it isn’t cheap either. The government sets one non-refundable charge in U.S. dollars and that fee covers the full two-year residence period if your application is approved.

• Single applicant: $1,500 or EC$4,050
• Couple: $2,000 or EC$5,400
• Family of three or more: $3,000 or EC$8,100

There’s no separate government processing fee or hidden surcharge listed in the official rules. You pay the one fee when you apply, usually by credit card through the online portal and it’s non-refundable even if the application doesn’t go your way.

The income rule is separate from the fee. You need to show at least $50,000 a year in foreign-earned income or EC$135,000, but that’s an eligibility threshold, not a payment to the government.

Other costs you should budget for

The official NDR rules also require documents that can bring their own private costs. Antigua and Barbuda doesn’t fix those prices, so what you pay depends on your home country and the service provider.

• Medical insurance: Required for the intended stay, but the government doesn’t publish a set premium or minimum coverage amount.
• Police certificates: Needed for applicants over 16, with fees set by the issuing authority in your own country.
• Translations and notarisation: Only needed if your documents aren’t already in the right form and prices vary by provider.
• Legal or immigration help: Optional, with no government-set rate.

If you’re bringing more than three dependants, the official public material doesn’t clearly spell out any extra government charge beyond the family rate. That’s one part of the program you should confirm directly before you pay, because the published fee schedule stops at the family-of-three-or-more tier.

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Antigua and Barbuda’s Nomad Digital Residence application is handled online, not through an embassy or an in-country office. You apply through the official NDR portal, upload your documents and pay the fee at the same time. The government says the program is for remote workers and gives approved applicants the right to live and work in Antigua and Barbuda for up to 2 years.

How to apply

• Fill out the application online. Use the official NDR portal or the program’s visa page.
• Upload the required documents. The portal asks for proof of income, passport details, health insurance and background checks, along with the other documents listed below.
• Pay the non-refundable fee. The fee is paid online by card when you submit the application.
• Wait for the email decision. The official pages don’t publish a fixed processing time, so don’t count on a guaranteed turnaround.
• Travel after approval. Once approved, you receive NDR authorization for the approved stay.

The income rule is straightforward but strict. You need expected earnings of at least $50,000 a year for each year of the 2-year stay or the equivalent in another currency. That’s annual income, not monthly income.

Fees and documents

• Single applicant: $1,500
• Couple: $2,000
• Family of 3 and over: $3,000
• Extra dependent beyond 3: $650 each

The official document list is pretty specific and missing items will slow you down. The portal asks for:

• Fee payment confirmation for each applicant
• Passport photo for each applicant, 2 x 2 inches
• Passport biographical page
• Medical insurance certificate covering the stay in Antigua
• Police clearance for each applicant over 16
• Proof of relationship for each dependent
• Evidence of employment, including self-employment
• Main applicant declaration confirming the income threshold and ability to support dependents

The official pages don’t confirm a separate renewal or permanent-residency path through the NDR itself, so treat it as a 2-year authorization unless you move into a different immigration category. If your plan is longer term, you’ll need to look at another route.

The Antigua and Barbuda Nomad Digital Residence is a fixed-term stay, not an open-ended route. The law sets it at up to 24 months and the official guidance matches that two-year limit. If you’re hoping for a longer stretch, the NDR doesn’t give you one.

There’s no renewal option. The Act says the visa isn't renewable and it also doesn’t spell out any extension process beyond the original 24 months. So once the permit runs out, you’ll need to leave or switch to a different immigration status if you want to stay in Antigua and Barbuda.

That distinction matters because NDR time doesn’t count toward longer-term residency. The law says time spent in the country under the NDR won’t qualify as residency for residence-permit purposes under section 40. In plain terms, the two years you spend there as a digital resident won’t help you build toward permanent residency.

There’s also no official route to stack back-to-back NDR stays under the same scheme. The government materials describe it as a single, self-contained two-year authorization, not a rolling program. They also don’t publish a grace period after expiry, so don’t assume you get extra time once the 24 months are up.

If you want to stay longer than the NDR allows, you’ll need to look at a different category entirely, such as a separate residence permit or citizenship pathway. The NDR itself doesn’t convert into permanent residency and it doesn’t create a shortcut to citizenship either.

• Initial validity: Up to 24 months
• Renewal: Not renewable
• Extension: No official extension option published
• Residency credit: NDR time doesn't count toward section 40 residency

The short version is simple. Treat the NDR as a two-year remote-work stay with a hard stop at the end, not a stepping stone to long-term settlement.

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Antigua and Barbuda’s tax position is simple and a little unusual. The country doesn’t have a personal income tax, so NDR holders aren’t taxed there on salary, freelance income or other personal earnings, whether the money comes from Antigua or abroad.

That doesn’t turn the Nomad Digital Residence into a special tax regime. It’s a visa status, not a tax certificate. You still have to deal with your home country’s rules and any other place where you’re tax resident, which is where most of the real complexity usually sits.

There’s also a local tax-residency program, but it’s separate from the NDR. The government’s tax-residency route charges a flat annual tax of $20,000, requires a place of abode and at least 30 days a year in Antigua and Barbuda, then issues a tax-residency certificate and tax identification number. That’s a different track and the NDR doesn’t automatically put you into it.

For most NDR applicants, the practical takeaway is cleaner than the paperwork sounds. Antigua and Barbuda doesn’t currently levy personal income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax or net-wealth tax on individuals, so there’s no local income-tax filing just because you’re living there on a remote-work permit.

Still, local compliance can pop up in other ways if you’re doing more than living quietly on foreign income. If you run an Antiguan business or provide local services, you may run into business tax or sales tax registration. If you buy property, transfer and property tax rules come into play too. Those aren’t handled through the NDR application and the government’s NDR materials don’t carve out any special exemption for them.

One more thing to keep in mind, Antigua and Barbuda’s tax-residency rules look at where you live and how long you stay. An individual is generally treated as tax resident if they have a permanent place of abode in the country and are physically present there for some period in the basis year or if they spend at least 183 days there. So if you’re settling in for the long haul, the immigration status and the tax picture can start to overlap, even without a personal income tax.

• Personal income tax: None on local or foreign personal income.
• NDR status: Doesn’t create a separate tax regime.
• Home-country tax: Still applies where relevant.
• Other taxes: Business, sales and property-related taxes can still apply.