Antigua: the UWI option remains the cheapest for families

Antigua and Barbuda grants citizenship in exchange for a contribution to the National Development Fund, a real estate investment, or a contribution to the University of the West Indies fund.

The contribution to the National Development Fund is $230,000¹. The real estate option is from $260,000².

The third route, the contribution to the university fund, is designed for families: its amount is set for a household of a certain size, which lowers the cost per person once the household reaches that size.

We publish neither the amount of the university fund contribution, nor the household size from which it applies, nor the related ancillary fees: we have not been able to verify them in an up-to-date official Antiguan source.

What can be said is that the other Caribbean programmes charge for each dependant on top, which makes their cost rise with household size. Saint Kitts and Nevis, for example, charges $25,000³ or $50,000⁴ per additional person.

The logic of this third route is worth noting: the contribution does not go into a sovereign fund but to a regional university, which gives the payment an identifiable destination. It is a presentational argument, but also a response to criticism of public funds whose use is poorly documented.

For an applicant, this destination changes nothing legally: the contribution remains a non-refundable payment, and it confers no rights over the beneficiary institution.

Antigua and Barbuda is the only one of the five Caribbean programmes to require actual presence: the new citizen must spend at least 5 days⁵ there over a period of 5 years⁶.

This obligation is modest in volume but real in principle: it turns a nationality acquired without any link to the territory into a status with a condition attached, however light.

It is also a defensive argument for the state: a programme requiring presence, even symbolic, is easier to defend against international criticism than a purely paper-based programme.

The Antiguan passport gives visa-free access to about 151⁷ destinations, in the upper range of Caribbean programmes, behind Saint Kitts and Nevis at about 154⁸.

It should be noted that this presence requirement is a condition for renewing the passport, not for keeping the nationality itself. The distinction is legally important: what has been acquired remains acquired, but the travel document may not be renewed.

Citizenship by investment does not change tax residency. A French national who acquires it without leaving France remains taxable there on all of their income.

Benefiting from these states' tax systems requires becoming tax resident there, and therefore living there. And their tax is not zero: Dominica taxes income at up to 35%⁹, Grenada under a progressive scale.

Finally, the value of the passport rests on visa-free access that third countries can withdraw. Vanuatu lost it with the European Union, and its passport fell to about 95¹⁰ destinations.

For a French national, the mobility gain is in any case nil: the French passport opens more destinations than any of the five Caribbean programmes offers.

• The university fund option lowers the cost per person for a large family.
• Antigua and Barbuda is the only programme to require actual presence.
• Due diligence fees are not refundable if the application is refused.
• The passport does not move tax residency.
• Visa-free access depends on decisions by third countries and has already been withdrawn elsewhere.

The reasoning to follow is therefore this: first determine whether you need a second nationality and for what precise purpose, then choose the programme that serves that purpose, and look at the price last. A cheaper family option is only an advantage if the need exists.