Grenada: US E-2 access drives applications

Grenada grants citizenship in exchange for a contribution to the National Transformation Fund or an approved real estate investment, with no prior residence requirement and no subsequent presence requirement.

The contribution for a single applicant is $235,000¹. The real estate option is from $270,000² for a single applicant.

The Grenadian passport gives visa-free access to about 148³ destinations, a level comparable to its Caribbean competitors, with no particular advantage.

On these factors, Grenada sits in the regional average: neither the cheapest, nor the most established, nor the best endowed in mobility.

Grenada is one of the states linked to the United States by a treaty of commerce and navigation, which allows its nationals to apply for the US treaty investor visa.

This visa allows the holder to live in the United States and run a business there, and it is renewable as long as the business continues. It does not lead to permanent residency, but it allows long-term settlement.

None of the other four Caribbean programmes offers this access. It is the only objective reason to choose Grenada over Dominica at about $200,000⁴ or Antigua and Barbuda at $230,000⁵.

France is not among the states covered by such a treaty. A French national therefore cannot apply for this visa on the basis of their original nationality: this is precisely what makes Grenadian citizenship relevant to them.

We do not publish the investment amount required for the US visa, processing times or renewal conditions: they fall under US law and we were unable to verify them in an up-to-date official source. They must be established with a US lawyer before starting the Grenadian procedure.

The sequence is longer than it appears. First, Grenadian citizenship must be obtained, which involves the contribution, due diligence and the processing time.

Next, a US visa application must be built on a genuine business project: a substantial investment, a non-marginal business, and effective management of the business by the applicant.

Some US authorities also require a period of holding the treaty country's nationality, or even residence there, before examining the application. This point must be checked beforehand.

The total cost therefore combines the Grenadian contribution, due diligence and agent fees, the US investment and legal fees. Reasoning on the Caribbean threshold alone leads to a large underestimate of the operation.

One point of method is essential before any commitment. The process is built in reverse chronological order: the US business project must be examined first, with a US lawyer, because it determines everything else. Acquiring Grenadian citizenship first only to discover afterwards that the project does not hold up amounts to having paid for nothing.

• Grenada sits in the Caribbean average on price and mobility.
• Its only differentiator is access to the US treaty investor visa.
• This visa requires a genuine business project, not a passive investment.
• Citizenship does not move tax residency: Grenada taxes its residents on local income.
• Grenadian tax residency requires a presence of 183 days⁶.

Finally, it is worth recalling the risk common to all these programmes: the visa-free access that gives them their value depends on decisions taken by third countries, and it has already been withdrawn from Vanuatu, whose passport has fallen to about 95⁷ destinations. Grenada's US access, for its part, rests on a bilateral treaty — more solid than a unilateral waiver, but not eternal.