Moving to Antigua and Barbuda in 2026: passport by investment and beaches

Antigua and Barbuda no longer levies personal income tax on residents' salaries, pensions and investment income. This is the feature that structures the country's appeal, and it explains why taxation is almost never the subject of the cases we handle: citizenship is.

This absence is confirmed by the tax authority: personal income tax, applied from April 2005 to June 2016, was repealed on 1 July 2016. There are two exceptions. Income from self-employment or from an unincorporated business falls under the Unincorporated Business Tax, a progressive scale on net profit: nil up to up to EC$42,000² for a sole proprietor, then 8%³ and finally 25%⁴ on the upper band, according to the scale published in 2021, to be confirmed for 2026. Non-residents, for their part, are subject on certain payments of Antiguan source to withholding tax of 25%⁵ at the standard rate, reduced under the CARICOM tax agreement.

We do not publish any rule on inheritance and gift tax: they do not appear in the sources we reviewed.

This situation calls for a caveat for an applicant. An absence of taxation observed today is neither a commitment nor a guarantee of stability: several states in the region have introduced or reintroduced levies under budget recovery programmes or international commitments.

Above all, the absence of local tax settles nothing for a French national. As long as the household or the centre of economic interests remains in France, French tax domicile continues within the meaning of Article 4 B of the French General Tax Code (code général des impôts), and an Antiguan passport changes nothing. This is the most frequent mistake regarding this destination: confusing the acquisition of a nationality with the transfer of tax residence.

Value added tax and excise duties make up the bulk of revenue, which shifts the burden to consumption. For an actual resident, the cost of living therefore includes indirect taxation that the absence of income tax does not always offset.

The country runs one of the oldest citizenship-by-investment programmes in the Caribbean. It is managed by a dedicated unit, which publishes its amounts.

The National Development Fund

The most commonly used route is the contribution to the National Development Fund. It requires a payment of at least $230,000⁶, or approximately about €230,000⁷.

The real estate route

Applicants who choose the real estate option must make an investment of at least from $300,000⁸ in an approved project.

Other options exist, notably a contribution of at least from $260,000⁹ to the University of the West Indies fund, reserved for large families and often the least expensive per person beyond a certain number of members.

The presence requirement

This is the Antiguan particularity, and it is decisive. Citizenship may be withdrawn if the citizen does not spend at least 5 days¹⁰ in the territory during the 5 years¹¹ following its acquisition.

The requirement is modest in volume, but it is real and enforced. It means organising at least one trip, documenting it and keeping proof of it — something many holders neglect, believing their naturalisation to be final.

Application fees, due diligence fees and government fees applicable to each option are not included here: they do not appear in full in our extracts and should be requested from an authorised agent.

Acquisition by a foreigner requires, as in several states of the region, a land holding licence issued by the authorities, except where the purchase is made under the citizenship programme, which carries its own regime.

The market open to citizenship applicants is a sub-market: approved projects are limited in number, priced above the threshold of from $300,000⁸, and their resale is most often aimed at another applicant to the programme.

Two consequences follow. Liquidity depends on the continuity of the programme itself, not on local demand. And a minimum holding period is generally imposed before any resale that in turn qualifies for citizenship.

Finally, the holding costs specific to an island must be factored in: insurance against climate risks, maintenance in a tropical climate, remote management. They weigh more heavily on net yield than a tax differential.

We do not publish transfer duties, Antiguan property tax, or the minimum holding period imposed on properties acquired through the programme: they do not appear in our sources.

Antigua is a small island economy that relies heavily on imports. Food, capital goods and fuel arrive by ship, and their price includes freight and excise duties.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget: we have not found an official Antiguan series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate.

Three items dominate the budget of an actual resident. Electricity, produced from imported fuels and significantly more expensive than in Europe. Healthcare, where serious cases require evacuation to a regional or North American centre, which makes international insurance indispensable. And private schooling for an international curriculum.

For the vast majority of citizenship holders, however, the question does not arise in these terms: they do not live on the island and stay there only as long as necessary to satisfy the presence requirement.

For those who actually settle, the island offers, by contrast, a quality of life that few low-tax destinations match: an established English-speaking community, direct flights to North America and Europe in season, and a human scale that simplifies administrative life. These are real factors in a relocation project, even if they cannot be quantified.

The hurricane season, from June to November, is the flip side of this picture. It determines the cost of home insurance, the availability of tradespeople and sometimes the continuity of services. An annual budget that ignores it is a six-month budget.

1. Go through an authorised agent: direct filing is not provided for by the programme;
2. choose the option according to the family's composition, as the cost per person varies widely from one option to another;
3. budget for the whole — contribution or investment, application fees, due diligence, professional fees — and not just the advertised threshold;
4. plan, as soon as citizenship is obtained, the trip that will satisfy the presence requirement, and keep proof of it;
5. treat the departure from France as a separate matter: nationality does not amount to a transfer of tax residence.

We do not publish processing times: we have no official, dated and quantified source for the Antiguan programme.

The order of steps has a direct consequence here: the presence requirement runs from the acquisition of citizenship, not from the decision to settle. A holder who postpones the first stay uses up part of the period without realising it, and ends up having to travel within a shortened window.

• The presence requirement of 5 days¹⁰ over 5 years¹¹ is backed by possible forfeiture of citizenship: it is not a formality.
• Citizenship carries neither tax residence nor an exit from French tax domicile.
• A property acquired through the programme is traded on a sub-market whose liquidity depends on the programme itself.
• The amounts displayed are not the full cost: government fees, due diligence and professional fees come on top.
• The Antiguan passport gives visa-free access to about 151¹² — markedly fewer than a European Union passport.

Finally, Caribbean programmes are under continuous international pressure: stricter vetting requirements, threshold revisions, and visa exemptions being called into question by major partners. For a French national, the value of a second, Antiguan passport therefore lies neither in mobility, which it reduces, nor in taxation, which it does not settle — it is, where relevant, a legal diversification whose value must be assessed on its own merits.