Barbados Advances a $5 Million Investment Route to Permanent Residence

On October 27, Barbados's House of Assembly approved rewritten immigration and citizenship bills; the Senate received notice two days later, according to the IMI Daily report.

"We are not selling citizenship." — Gregory Nicholls, Minister of Home Affairs, in the Barbados Today report.

$5 million defines the residence route

The proposed investment route leads to permanent residence rather than citizenship itself. Section 10 of the Immigration Bill allows a foreign national to apply after making a qualifying investment of at least $5 million in an approved national development project.

Although the bill leaves the currency unspecified, its bare dollar sign would conventionally denote Barbados dollars; at the fixed 2:1 peg, that would imply an entry price of about US$2.5 million.

Projects would be designated by ministerial order. To qualify, they must serve a public purpose and contribute to national development; permitted forms include a programme, fund, undertaking, asset or other initiative, allowing a pooled vehicle to qualify.

What is changing

Readers should check:

• Which sectors are designated by ministerial order once the legislation enters force.
• How the bills define the approved period, which the House-passed text does not define.

Five years is the default residence period

Permanent residence ordinarily follows five years of continuous lawful residence. Applicants who have spent at least 180 days in Barbados during the previous three years can cover the shortfall through points, with each point worth six months.

National-development-project investments earn two points for each $1 million, rising to eight points just below the $5 million threshold. Each $1 million invested in designated private businesses produces one point, with a maximum of eight.

The schedule assigns three points to applicants under 50, another three for Barbadian descent and ten for diplomatic or international service. On the published schedule, an investor under 50 who commits three million dollars to a national project and spends six months on the island would gain nine points and reach the threshold.

360 and 270 days frame citizenship

Following the grant of permanent residence, a non-CARICOM applicant, their spouse and their dependents may seek citizen registration after an aggregate 360 days of residence as permanent residents within at least 1,460 days immediately preceding the application. A reduced threshold of 270 days within at least 1,095 days applies to CARICOM nationals.

Registration remains discretionary. The minister may refuse an application in the interests of national security and public policy, where the applicant received a criminal sentence of 12 months or more, or where the applicant lacks the necessary means. Neither bill prevents a resident who qualified through investment from applying for citizenship.

Senate review follows a House vote

Home Affairs Minister Gregory Nicholls told the House that ministerial orders were expected to identify eligible sectors. Nicholls expected future orders to cover water reclamation, sewage treatment, healthcare, education, housing, renewable energy, infrastructure, technology, agriculture and tourism.

Permanent residence could be revoked if the investment was withdrawn, redeemed or disposed of before the approved period, if the project was not completed on time, or if the investor breached labour law. The House-passed text does not define that approved period.

For related programme developments, see Greece's Golden Visa revocations over price rebates and illegal sublets and Latvia's residence-permit investigation.

IMI Daily reported that a committee tried in August to close the 270-day CARICOM route for people who obtained CARICOM citizenship through investment, but its proposed fix was not included in the version passed by the House.

Sources

• Barbados House Passes Investor Residence Bill With a Fast Lane to Citizenship — imidaily.com, 2026-10-30
• Investment opens door to residency, not citizenship, Nicholls tells MPs — google.com, 2026-10-28