Dominica Citizenship by Investment

Two routes share a USD 200,000 entry point but differ sharply in total cost.

The first is a non-refundable contribution to the Economic Diversification Fund; its household level covers the main applicant and up to three qualifying dependants.

The second is the purchase of a unit in an Approved Project worth at least USD 200,000, which must then be held for three years from the date citizenship is granted, or five years where the future purchaser is also a Citizenship by Investment applicant.

The real difference sits in the layer of government fees that the real estate route adds. The fund contribution and that fee layer, in US dollars:

The authority states expressly that these government fees are not required of those applying through the fund.

Both routes additionally carry the following fees, in US dollars:

Payment is by bank transfer with all bank charges borne by the applicant, and payments in euros or pounds sterling must be equivalent to or greater than the USD minimum, failing which they are rejected as insufficient.

The outcome is full citizenship rather than a form of residence: the holder has the same right to live, work and study in Dominica as any other citizen, and the passport issued to an economic citizen is a fully legal passport recognised by all state parties to the United Nations.

Dominica recognises and allows dual citizenship, the applicant is not required to renounce any existing citizenship, and is not required to reside in Dominica before or after citizenship is granted, nor to travel to Dominica as part of the application process.

Against that sits a tight set of filing and character conditions. An application can only be submitted through an Authorised Agent — the applicant cannot file with the Citizenship by Investment Unit directly, the forms are not available online and can be obtained only through an agent, and the application must be submitted in English.

A mandatory interview, usually held virtually, applies to every applicant aged sixteen or over.

On receiving citizenship each applicant must sign an Oath of Allegiance before a Notary Public, Justice of the Peace or Commissioner of Oaths.

On nationality of origin, the authority states that there are explicit bans, limitations or enhanced due diligence requirements on applications from nationals of Belarus, Iran, Northern Iraq, North Korea, Russia, Yemen and Sudan.

And the citizenship granted is not beyond recall: a person who has provided information false in any material respect on the application forms, or who is or has been involved in activity likely to bring disrepute to Dominica, shall not be approved, and if already approved may be deprived of citizenship

The three months figure has to be read at its actual scope.

The authority states that from submission of the application to an approval in principle, applicants are generally expected to wait at least three months — that is a marker for an intermediate step rather than the point at which a passport is in hand, and "at least" sets a floor rather than a ceiling.

Before that marker there is a door the applicant cannot open themselves: the file is not submitted directly to the Citizenship by Investment Unit but must go through an authorised agent, and even the application forms can only be obtained through that agent — so the clock only starts once an agent has been chosen.

The application must be submitted in English. Within the waiting period there is a further step to be scheduled: every applicant aged sixteen or over must attend a mandatory interview, usually conducted virtually.

After citizenship is granted, each person must sign an oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Dominica, and that signature must be made before a Notary Public, a Justice of the Peace or a Commissioner of Oaths — a step requiring an appointment with an authorised officer rather than a posting.

One final limit is worth recording: across the whole FAQ the phrase approval in principle appears exactly once and the authority publishes no timeframe at all for the steps that follow it, so the total time to holding a passport cannot be inferred from the three-month figure.

This route imposes no residence obligation at either end. The Citizenship by Investment Unit's question-and-answer page states that no residence in Dominica is required either before or after the grant, and none is needed later to keep citizenship status.

Nor must anyone travel to Dominica during the application. Everyone aged 16 or over must attend a mandatory interview, but it is usually conducted virtually.

The absence can continue once the passport is held. Dominican passports are generally valid for up to ten years, and five years for children under 16; an expired passport, or one with no free pages, is renewed for a fee at the Passport and Immigration Department in Dominica or through any Dominican consulate, without travelling in person.

No address in Dominica is needed to renew; the holder may simply give their primary residence. Renewal remains possible after the investment property has been sold, provided it was held for the required number of years after citizenship was obtained.

Spouse; a child under 18; a child aged 18 to 30 attending a recognised institution of higher learning and fully supported; an unmarried daughter under 25 living with and fully supported by the main applicant; a child aged 18 or over who is physically or mentally challenged and fully supported.

A parent or grandparent over 65 who is primarily supported also counts as a dependant.

Each age group brings its own documents. Children aged 12 to 18 need a letter of recommendation from the head of their school; children aged 18 to 30 in study need official transcripts or confirmation of enrolment.

Each dependant aged 18 or over, other than the spouse, needs a notarised affidavit of support. Everyone aged 16 or over files police records; for children aged 12 to 15, a parent swears an affidavit that the child has no criminal record.

Everyone aged 12 or over takes an HIV test. Everyone aged 16 or over must attend the virtual interview in person, with no agent attending on their behalf; anyone who cannot join the family's interview pays for a separate one.

For minor children, forms must be signed by both parents or by the child's legal guardian.

A person granted citizenship under this programme receives the Dominica passport, so the figure in this cell is the figure for that passport itself.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the Dominica passport reaches 139 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

The administering unit states two limbs, and most external summaries copy only the first. The first limb: there is no wealth tax, no gift tax, no inheritance tax, no tax on foreign income and no capital gains tax in Dominica.

The second limb, written immediately after and usually dropped: as a citizen, the person would be liable to pay personal tax if they resided in Dominica.

The list of absent taxes above is therefore a list for a non-resident, not a tax regime attached to the passport.

That fits the structure of the programme itself: the unit states plainly that an applicant need not reside in Dominica before or after citizenship is granted, so a citizen who does not move there never enters the personal income tax net.

The unit publishes no rate schedule, no definition of tax residence and no referral to the revenue authority — so these two limbs are the whole of what the programme administrator names as a tax obligation

The standard fees, in US dollars:

Enhanced due diligence fees are published for one group: citizens of, or persons domiciled in, Iran. These charges are inclusive of the standard due diligence and interview fees, in US dollars:

The two investment routes do not carry the same fees, and the fund route has no government fee. The real estate route pays government fees on approval, in US dollars:

Bank charges on transfers are borne by the applicant, so that the Government receives the full amount. Payment is accepted in euros and pounds sterling, but it must equal or exceed the US dollar amount or it is rejected as insufficient.

Paperwork is a cost of its own: every colour copy must be notarised and legalised, and any document not in English must be translated, notarised and legalised before submission.