Grenada Citizenship by Investment

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment program isn't a visa and it’s not a long-stay permit. It’s a route to full Grenadian citizenship, including a Grenadian passport, for foreign investors who make a qualifying investment under the Citizenship by Investment Act 2013. Once approved, you’re a citizen, not a visitor passing through on borrowed time.

The program is run by the Investment Migration Agency Grenada, which was set up in February 2014 to handle these applications. The government uses the program to attract capital into national development, mainly through the National Transformation Fund and approved real estate projects such as hotels, resorts and villas. That’s the whole point, really, money in exchange for citizenship, with due diligence attached.

There are two main investment routes publicly highlighted by the official agency:

• National Transformation Fund: a nonrefundable contribution of $235,000.
• Approved real estate: investment in a government-approved project, with the minimum threshold raised in 2024. The exact post-amendment minimum isn’t clearly reproduced in the public material I reviewed.

That last point matters. Grenada did tighten the real-estate side in 2024, but the official snippets available here don’t give a clean, fully confirmed figure for the revised floor. If you’re comparing routes, don’t assume the old numbers still apply.

CBI is also separate from ordinary visa processing. Visitor visas, visa-on-arrival arrangements and port-of-entry rules are handled through immigration and consular channels, while citizenship applications are processed in Grenada by the Department of Home Affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister. Embassies don’t process citizenship cases themselves.

The appeal is obvious for people who want a second passport, not a temporary stay. Citizenship can support residence, work, study and business in Grenada and it’s the route that also made Grenada popular with U.S. E-2 visa applicants. Just remember, this is an investment migration program with serious screening, not a fast-track tourist workaround.

Who qualifies

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment program is open to adults who can make the required investment and pass due diligence. There’s no fixed income test, so the real question is whether you have lawful funds and can document where they came from.

The main applicant must be at least 18, in good health and free of a criminal record. Grenada also looks for a clean due-diligence result, a medical certificate showing no communicable disease and proof that your funds are legal. If you’ve ever been refused a visa to a country Grenada can visit visa-free, that can also hurt your case unless you later got that visa.

• Age: Main applicant must be 18 or older.
• Health: Medical certificate showing no communicable disease.
• Funds: Enough lawful money to cover the investment and fees.
• Background: No criminal record and pass due-diligence checks.

Some applicants are rejected outright. That includes anyone who gives false information, is under criminal investigation, has been convicted of an offense carrying more than six months in prison in Grenada or is seen as a security risk. The government can also turn down people whose activities could bring Grenada into disrepute.

Nationality restrictions are real. Grenada has said it doesn’t accept applications from nationals of Russia and Belarus and bans on Iran and North Korea remain in force. Some private advisors list other restricted nationalities too, but the official portal doesn’t publish a single clean master list, so that part needs a direct check with an authorized agent.

Family members can usually be included, but the rules are tighter than many people expect. The program’s fee schedule clearly covers spouses, children, parents, grandparents and siblings, with different fees depending on age and relationship. The public materials don’t spell out every dependency test in detail, so if you’re adding adult children, parents or siblings, ask for the current official checklist before you file.

• Spouse: Can be included.
• Children: Can be included, with different fees by age group.
• Parents and grandparents: Can be included under the program schedule.
• Siblings: Can be included, but the fees are higher.

To qualify financially, you need to be able to fund one of the approved routes, either the National Transformation Fund donation or the real-estate option. The official rules don’t set a salary floor. They do expect a clear source of funds and that’s where many applicants get slowed down.

Source 1 | Source 2

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment filework is picky and the government doesn’t leave much room for improvisation. Applications have to go through an authorised local or marketing agent, not by self-filing and every document must be in English and appropriately legalised.

Core application forms

The Investment Migration Agency uses a fixed set of forms for the program. You’ll need to complete all of the official CBI forms, which cover personal details, fingerprints, Home Affairs particulars, medical information, employment and wealth and investment confirmation.

• Form 1: Personal information
• Form 2: Fingerprints
• Form 3: Particulars for the Office of Home Affairs
• Form 4: Medical
• Form 5: Employment status, wealth and business
• Form 6: Investment confirmation

Identity, medical and police documents

The public guide says supporting documents must be originals or certified copies. It doesn’t publish one tidy master checklist, so some of the exact item-by-item requirements are handled through the forms and by authorised agents.

• Identity details: Full personal data, passport details and civil-status information for each applicant
• Medical certificate: A certificate from a medical practitioner showing the applicant and family members are free from communicable disease and otherwise in good health
• Medical examination: Applicants must attend one as part of the package
• Police certificate: Required for each applicant, along with due-diligence background checks

The government also makes clear that applicants can be refused for criminal, security or reputational reasons. If you’ve been convicted of an offence punishable by more than six months in Grenada or you’re under criminal investigation, that can sink the file.

Funds, translations and legalisation

Grenada wants proof that the money is legal and enough to cover the required investment. Form 5 is where employment, business and wealth details are declared, so this isn’t a box-ticking exercise. The public guide doesn’t give a fixed income threshold and it doesn’t publish a single official list of bank statements or account periods.

Everything has to be submitted in English. If a document starts in another language, expect to provide a certified translation, plus notarisation, apostille or other legalisation where applicable. The official guide doesn’t set a public minimum passport-validity rule for the applicant’s existing passport either, so don’t assume a private-agency shortcut is official.

Source

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment program is priced in U.S. dollars and the official schedule is pretty straightforward once you separate the investment from the government fees. The main choice is between a non-refundable donation to the National Transformation Fund or a qualifying real estate purchase. Either way, the paperwork isn't cheap.

The minimum investment starts at $235,000 for the National Transformation Fund route. For real estate, the official guide lists $350,000 or $270,000 in a government-approved project, depending on the property structure. The published thresholds are based on family size, not on any income test. Grenada doesn’t set a formal minimum annual income for CBI applicants, it looks at whether you can lawfully fund the investment.

Government fees

• Application fee: $1,500 per applicant.
• Due diligence fee: $5,000 for the main applicant and spouse, plus $5,000 for each dependent age 17 and older.
• Processing fee: $1,500 for applicants age 17 and older, $500 for applicants under 17.
• Interview fee: $1,000 per person age 17 and older.

The real estate route adds a separate $50,000 government fee. That fee doesn’t replace the property price, it sits on top of it. For family files, the official fee schedule still uses per-person charges for application, due diligence, processing and interview items, so the total can climb fast once children or additional dependents are added.

Typical cost picture

A single adult using the NTF route should expect government-mandated payments of about $244,000 once you add the contribution and fees. A family of four, with two adults and two children under 17, comes out to about $257,000 in government charges alone. That’s before any legal, agent, translation, courier or passport-related costs, which the official guide doesn’t price out in a fixed way.

The annoying part is that Grenada’s published schedules don’t give you a neat all-in number. You can see the core government charges clearly, but you’ll still need a licensed agent and you should budget extra for the professional side of the process.

Source

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment program isn’t a visa or a temporary residence route. It gives you citizenship directly under the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Act 2013 and the application has to go through an authorized agent. You can apply from abroad and the official process usually takes several months from initial file submission to approval.

How the application works

• Choose an authorized agent: You can’t file directly with the government.
• Prepare your documents: The official forms include personal information, fingerprints, home affairs particulars, medical details, employment or wealth information and investment confirmation.
• Submit the file: Your agent sends the application for review, along with the required fees and supporting papers.
• Complete due diligence and interview steps: The official fee schedule includes a mandatory interview for applicants aged 17 and over.
• Wait for a decision: If approved, you receive a certificate of registration as a citizen, then apply for the passport on that basis.

The main applicant has to be at least 18, in good health and able to show the investment money came from a lawful source. The government can refuse applications for false information, certain criminal records, security concerns or other conduct that could bring disrepute to Grenada.

Investment routes and fees

The official program uses USD figures, not XCD. The National Transformation Fund donation starts at $235,000 for a single applicant, a spouse or a family of up to four. The real estate route starts at $270,000 or $350,000, depending on the approved project, plus a government fee of $50,000 for a single applicant or a family of up to four.

• Application fee: $1,500 per person.
• Due diligence fee: $5,000 for the main applicant and for each adult dependent.
• Processing fee: $1,500 for applicants 17 and over, $500 for those under 17.
• Interview fee: $1,000 per person aged 17 and over.

There’s no official ongoing residence requirement in the published guidance and citizenship itself is lifelong. The passport still needs periodic renewal like any other passport and for the real estate option, the property has to be held for 5 years if it’s sold to another CBI investor.

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment program doesn’t give you a temporary status that needs renewing. It gives you citizenship outright, so there’s no visa expiry date, no extension clock and no need to keep filing paperwork just to stay in the country.

Once your application is approved, you receive a certificate of registration as a citizen. That certificate is then used to apply for a Grenadian passport. The citizenship itself is permanent and there’s no separate renewal of “status” under the CBI route.

What does expire is the passport. The official CBI material doesn’t publish a separate passport-validity table for adults and children, but Grenadian passports do have to be renewed periodically under the country’s normal passport rules. The passport renewal process is handled through standard passport procedures, not through the Citizenship by Investment unit.

• Citizenship: Granted for life, with no renewal fee for the citizenship itself.
• Passport: Must be renewed when it expires, using standard Grenadian passport procedures.
• Stay in Grenada: Unrestricted for citizens, so there’s no maximum stay limit.
• Extensions: None needed, because you’re not entering as a visitor.

That’s the clean part of the program. The annoying part is that passport renewal is separate from citizenship, so you’ll still need to keep track of expiry dates and handle the usual consular or local passport paperwork when the time comes. The CBI office isn’t involved in those renewals.

If you’re looking at timelines, the government’s CBI pages don’t give a fixed statutory processing period. Private professional summaries commonly put approval at about 3 to 6 months once the file is complete, but that’s an estimate, not a hard rule published on the official portal.

For long-term planning, the main point is simple: Grenada’s CBI route is the end of the residency question, not the start of it. You’re not building toward permanent residence. You already have citizenship and that status can be passed on under Grenadian nationality law if descendants qualify.

Grenada’s tax system is source-based, not citizenship-based. That means holding Grenadian citizenship by investment doesn’t, by itself, make you liable for Grenadian tax on foreign-sourced income. You’re taxed in Grenada only if you have Grenada-source income or otherwise meet local tax rules.

The Inland Revenue Division taxes chargeable income tied to Grenada, including business income, employment in Grenada, local rentals and certain fees, commissions, interest and similar gains. It also says employees who earn more than $3,000 monthly or $36,000 a year must pay income tax. The public guidance doesn’t spell out a simple day-count test for tax residence, so there’s no official blanket rule saying, for example, that 183 days automatically makes you resident.

That leaves a bit of gray area for long-stay CBI holders. Grenada’s online guidance doesn’t offer a separate tax regime for CBI citizens and there’s no official promise of lower rates, tax holidays or special exemptions just because you got your passport through investment. The practical rule is simple, though not always tidy: if your income is foreign-source and you’re not running it through a Grenada-based structure, Grenada generally isn’t looking to tax it.

What to keep in mind

• Foreign income: CBI status alone doesn’t create tax on overseas earnings.
• Local income: Grenada-source business and employment income can be taxable.
• Residence status: The official portal doesn’t publish a detailed day-count test, so confirm your position before you move full-time.
• Treaty coverage: Grenada doesn’t appear to have a wide network of modern double-tax treaties. There’s no current U.S.-Grenada income tax treaty in force.

Grenada also uses a Model 1B FATCA agreement with the U.S., so local financial institutions report certain account information to the Grenadian authorities, which then pass it to the IRS. If you’re trying to structure your move around tax residency, don’t guess. Get a written opinion from a Grenadian tax adviser and, if needed, from an adviser in your home country too.