Antigua and Barbuda citizenship by investment costs a non-refundable contribution of USD 230,000 to its National Development Fund, or USD 300,000 into approved real estate held for five years, or USD 1,500,000 into an eligible business, or USD 260,000 into the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus Fund. Government processing fees run from USD 10,000 for a single applicant to USD 20,000 for a family of four. And unlike most Caribbean programs, this one carries an obligation after you become a citizen: five days in the country within five calendar years, or the citizenship can be taken away with no refund.
What follows is drawn from the Citizenship by Investment Unit’s own published pages, read on 23 August 2026 and again on 30 September 2026. Nothing here comes from a comparison site or an agent’s brochure. Where the Unit publishes no figure, this page says so instead of supplying one.
The four routes and what they cost
The program runs under the Citizenship by Investment Act 2013 and the Citizenship by Investment Regulations 2014, most recently amended by the Citizenship by Investment (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The primary applicant must be over 18.
| Route | Minimum | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| National Development Fund | USD 230,000 | A one-time, non-refundable contribution per application. The fund sits under section 42(2) of the Finance Administration Act 2006, reports to Parliament every six months and is audited by an internationally recognized accounting firm. |
| Real estate | USD 300,000 | Purchase in an approved project. It cannot be resold for five years from purchase, unless the proceeds go into another officially approved Antiguan property. |
| Business investment | USD 1,500,000 | As a sole investor. A joint investment by at least two people is permitted at USD 5,000,000 in total, with each person contributing at least USD 400,000. |
| University of the West Indies Fund | USD 260,000 | Into the Five Islands Campus Fund. The Unit states this figure is inclusive of processing fees. |
Government processing fees are USD 10,000 for a single applicant, USD 20,000 for a family of up to four, and USD 20,000 plus USD 10,000 per additional dependant for a family of five or more.
Due diligence is charged per person: USD 8,500 for the principal applicant, USD 5,000 for a spouse, nothing for a child aged 0 to 11, USD 2,000 for a dependant aged 12 to 17, USD 4,000 for a dependant aged 18 to 30, USD 4,000 for a dependent parent aged 55 or over, and USD 5,000 for a benefactor. Passports are USD 300 each. The Unit states that all fees are quoted in US dollars and are subject to change.
One inconsistency is worth knowing before you build a budget. On the same schedule of fees, the block covering the business investment option prints a spouse due diligence figure of USD 75,000, while the Unit’s standalone due diligence table on that page gives USD 5,000. Confirm the figure with the Unit or through your agent before committing to the business route.
Who can be included
The Unit’s definition of a family application is wider than most Caribbean programs allow. It covers a spouse; a child of the applicant or the applicant’s spouse aged 0 to 30 who is financially dependent; a child aged 18 or over who is physically or mentally handicapped and lives with and is fully supported by the applicant; a parent or grandparent of the applicant or the spouse aged 55 or over who is financially dependent; an unmarried sibling of the applicant or the spouse; a future spouse, at a fee of USD 50,000 payable on application; the future spouse of a dependent child who is not older than thirty-five when the addition is filed; and a future child of a dependent child, at USD 10,000 for a child under six and USD 25,000 for a child aged six to seventeen. “Child” means a biological or legally adopted child of the applicant or of the applicant’s spouse.
Under the National Development Fund route, a principal applicant can include a spouse, dependent children and dependent parents over 55 without any additional contribution to the fund, though government and due diligence fees are payable for each person.
Adding a dependant after the grant is priced separately: USD 10,000 for a child aged 0 to 5, USD 25,000 for a child aged 6 to 17, and USD 50,000 for a dependant aged 18 or over.
How the money moves, and when
The sequence matters more than the total, because part of the spend is committed before any decision is made. On submission, the applicant pays the full due diligence fees and 10% of the government processing fee, and the Unit states that this portion is non-refundable. Only after a letter of approval is issued does the balance of the processing fee, the passport fees and the investment itself fall due. A National Development Fund contribution must reach the Government Special Fund within 30 days of that point.
The Unit publishes no processing time, and this page will not estimate one. It does note that the real estate route can take longer because the timing depends on the property chosen, and that an application under that route can be lodged once a binding purchase and sale agreement has been signed with the developer of an approved project, conditional on citizenship being granted.
The oath or affirmation of allegiance can be taken on a first visit to Antigua and Barbuda, or at an Antiguan embassy, high commission or consular office. That is a real difference from programs that require travel to the country itself.
The five-day rule
This clause sits after the grant rather than before it, which is why it is easy to miss. The Unit states that deprivation of citizenship may occur if the citizen does not spend at least five days in Antigua and Barbuda during the five calendar years after obtaining citizenship, and that a person deprived on that ground is not entitled to repayment of any investment, contribution or purchase price. Deprivation will also occur where the registration was obtained by false representation or fraud.
Five days across five years is not a demanding requirement. Forgetting it entirely is what costs people the citizenship they bought.
What rules a file out
The Unit publishes its ineligibility grounds directly. An applicant is ineligible where he has given false information; where a medical practitioner states that any family member has a contagious disease or serious health problems; where, absent a free pardon, he has at any time been convicted in any country of an offense carrying a maximum custodial penalty of more than six months; where he is the subject of a criminal investigation; where he is a potential national security risk to Antigua and Barbuda or to any other country; where he is involved in any activity likely to bring Antigua and Barbuda into disrepute; and where he has been refused a visa by a country with which Antigua and Barbuda has visa-free travel and has not since obtained a visa from that country.
That last ground is the one that quietly ends files. A refused Schengen, UK, US or Canadian visa that was never resolved is a disqualifier in its own right, independent of why it was refused.
A restricted countries list also applies. The Cabinet updated it at its meeting of 26 February 2020 to cover Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Nationals of those countries can still apply, but only where they meet additional criteria, including having been born there and migrated before the age of majority, or having maintained permanent residence in a country not on the list for at least ten years, while holding no economic ties to any restricted country.
Separately, every applicant aged 16 or over who has lived in Canada for more than six months must produce a Canadian police certificate.
Where Antigua is strong, and where it is not
The strongest fact about the Antiguan passport is one the country did not have to advertise. In Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, the instrument setting the European Union’s visa lists, Antigua and Barbuda appears in Annex II, Part 1, the list of countries whose nationals are exempt from the short-stay visa requirement. That is still the position in the consolidated version of 30 December 2025. Vanuatu, which also runs investor citizenship schemes, was moved out of that annex and onto the visa-required list. Antigua and Barbuda was not.
The family definition is the other genuine advantage: dependent children to 30, dependent parents and grandparents from 55, unmarried siblings, and a future spouse. A single application can therefore carry three generations.
Two weaknesses are worth naming. The first is the five-day obligation, which attaches after the grant and carries the loss of the citizenship with no refund. The second is exposure to United States policy. On 19 December 2025 the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States published, on the Unit’s own site, a statement on the United States Proclamation of 16 December 2025 restricting and limiting the entry of foreign nationals: visas already issued to Antiguan passport holders continue to be respected, none issued before 31 December 2025 is revoked, and new applications after that date fall under biometric arrangements still being worked out with several Caribbean countries, citizens by investment included. It is a live matter, not a settled one, and a buyer whose objective is US travel should weigh it.
Set against Vanuatu, the comparison is not close on European access. Vanuatu now sits in Annex I of the same regulation, the list of countries whose nationals need a visa. Vanuatu’s published single-applicant fee is lower, and its process carries no post-grant presence requirement, but it also requires the applicant to travel to Vanuatu to swear the oath.
What Antigua and Barbuda and Türkiye each give a buyer
Antigua and Barbuda and Türkiye answer different buyers, and the table shows which. Each cell comes from the authority of that State.
| Point of comparison | Antigua and Barbuda | Türkiye |
|---|---|---|
| What the investment buys | Citizenship by registration | Turkish citizenship, decided by the President under Article 12(b) of Law No. 5901 |
| Minimum by route | USD 230,000 National Development Fund; USD 260,000 to the University of the West Indies Five Islands fund; USD 300,000 approved real estate; USD 1,500,000 business | USD 400,000 in real estate against Antigua’s USD 300,000; USD 500,000 via deposit, fixed capital, state debt, fund units or pension; or 50 jobs |
| What the money becomes | A contribution to the State on the two fund routes; owned real estate or a business on the others | Every Turkish route leaves the money in something the investor owns |
| Holding period | Real estate five years from purchase | Three years, two fewer than Antigua’s five, on property and the four financial routes; none on fixed capital and employment |
| Family in the same file | Spouse; children to 30 if dependent; parents and grandparents 55 or over; unmarried siblings; each person paying government and due diligence fees | Spouse and minor or dependent children: one file, no further investment |
| After the grant | Five days in the country within five calendar years, or citizenship may be lost with no refund | No residence requirement |
| Schengen short stays | Visa-exempt, in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 | A Schengen visa is required; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists each destination’s rule |
Antigua and Barbuda is the stronger passport for visa-free Schengen travel and the wider family. Türkiye is the route where the whole minimum stays an asset the investor owns, the hold is shorter and no presence duty follows the grant. How each Turkish route is run, document by document, is on the Turkish citizenship by investment page.
How Serka works on an Antiguan file
Applications reach the Citizenship by Investment Unit only through an authorized representative and a licensed agent based in Antigua and Barbuda, who submits the file in person. Serka is neither, and does not claim to be. We work as independent counsel on the client’s side of that arrangement.
In practice that means reading the source of funds evidence before it goes anywhere near due diligence, surfacing a refused visa or an old conviction early rather than letting it surface at screening, checking that the agent on the file is currently licensed by the Unit, preparing forms AB1 through AB5 and the supporting document set to the Unit’s own requirements, and holding the client to the five-day obligation after the passport is issued. The Unit also notes that an interview may be required and that further information can be requested, so the file has to hold up to questions rather than merely arrive complete.
Antigua’s National Development Fund and Türkiye’s routes are weighed on the same facts: your history against the ineligibility grounds and the restricted countries list, the family priced on the Unit’s schedule, and, on a Turkish property, proof that the unit was never used in another person’s citizenship file. Give us your nationality, the family members and any refusal on record before any money is committed: e-mail info@serkalaw.com or send a WhatsApp message to +90 530 127 59 35. Antigua and Barbuda stands beside the other open programs in the citizenship by investment country comparison.
Every figure and status on this page was taken on 23 August 2026 from the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Unit and from EUR-Lex, the European Union’s official law database; the Unit’s fee schedule, dependant, eligibility and investment pages and its statement of 19 December 2025 were read again on 30 September 2026. The Unit states that its fees are subject to change.