Country guide
Moving to Grenada: the spice island that sells a door into America
A couple lives here on about $3,000 a month, everything runs in English, and foreign income goes untaxed. Here is the honest version, storms and all.
Grenada sells itself on one thing no other Caribbean island can offer: a treaty that lets its citizens apply for a US business visa. If you already hold a U.S. passport, that headline is worth nothing to you. What is left is still worth a look. A couple lives here on about $3,000 a month, the island runs in English, and money you earn outside Grenada isn't taxed here.
Reviewed and updated September 18, 2026 · 12 min read
01 · The case for Grenada
The one Caribbean passport built for getting into the United States
Grenada is a tri-island state of about 125,000 people, roughly five hours from the U.S. East Coast. Everyone calls it the Spice Isle. Nutmeg and cocoa still come off these hillsides, and nutmeg is on the national flag.
Here is what makes it different from every other island in the region. Grenada has held an E-2 Treaty Investor arrangement with the United States since 1989. No other Caribbean citizenship-by-investment country has one. That single fact is why Grenada's passport costs more than its neighbors' and why every agent leads with it.
For an American reader, it's the least useful benefit on the list. You already have the right to live and work in the United States. You can't buy your way into something you were born with. The E-2 route matters to a non-American spouse or adult child on your file, and it comes with a condition the marketing tends to bury: three continuous years of domicile in Grenada are needed before you can apply.
Who Grenada is really for
Strip out the passport story and a plainer island shows up. Grenada suits people who want a green, mountainous place rather than a flat resort strip. It suits sailors because the south coast is a real yachting base. It suits retirees and remote workers who can live on foreign income because Grenada does not tax that income. And it suits anyone who wants to be understood on day one. English is the working language everywhere.
Here's the catch
Three things should give you pause. Grenada still criminalizes sex between men under sections 430 and 431 of its Criminal Code, while Antigua, Dominica and St Lucia have all struck those laws down. The U.S. State Department raised Grenada from Level 1 to Level 2 in January 2026 and added a crime warning. And the island's reputation for sitting below the hurricane belt has failed twice in 20 years.
- Capital
- St. George's
- Population
- 125,000
- Currency
- Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD)
- English proficiency
- 100/100
- Safety index
- 75/100
- Internet speed
- 30 Mbps
02 · What a month costs
The monthly arithmetic
$1,700
One person, monthly
rent, food, transport, utilities
$3,000
A couple, monthly
the number to plan around
$11
Lunch out
an ordinary local restaurant
$46
Home internet
fixed line, before a mobile plan
Rent here has two different prices
Ask what a one-bedroom costs in Grenada and you'll get two answers that are four hundred dollars apart. Both are true; they just describe different markets.
The local tier is what a Grenadian pays for an unfurnished flat on a long lease. Our country data puts that near $600 in town and $400 outside it. The expat tier is furnished, short-lease, wired for internet and usually somewhere a foreigner has heard of. That runs $700 to $1,500 in St George's and $800 to $1,800 around Grand Anse. You reach the local tier by being here, speaking to people, and signing for a year. Many arrivals pay the expat price for the first year and local price after that.
Everything that arrives by ship costs more than it does at home. Imported groceries, appliances, a car, building materials. Local fish, fruit, root vegetables and the island's own spices are cheap. Households that eat what the island grows spend far less than households that shop for what they ate in Ohio.
The couple figure on the card above is a comfortable number, not a survival one. It assumes you rent rather than buy, and that you run one car between you. Add a second vehicle or private school fees and watch it move quickly.
Why the tax rule decides more than the rent does
Grenada taxes income earned in Grenada. It does not tax income you earn somewhere else. So a U.S. pension, a portfolio, Social Security or a salary from a company back home all arrive untouched by the local tax office. That's the real reason the monthly budget works. It's a different deal from Dominica, which taxes residents on worldwide income.
03 · Getting through a week
Minibuses, left-hand driving and a season you plan around
The bus is a van
Public transport is a fleet of privately run minibuses on fixed routes, with a conductor hanging out of the sliding door. Fares are about a dollar or two. They are built around where Grenadians work, not around where foreigners rent, and they thin out in the evening. Our data puts public transport near the bottom of its scale, which is honest. Plan on buying a car in the first few months.
Driving is on the left
That surprises Americans more than it should. You'll also need a local permit. The roads are narrow, steep and often without a shoulder. There's no Uber. Taxis aren't metered, so agree on the fare before you get in and use a Grenada Taxi Association driver where you can. The association requires extra driving tests and tourism board training.
Storm season is not theoretical here
The Atlantic season runs June 1 to November 30. Grenada was long sold as sitting below the worst of it, and that held for 50 years. It has now failed twice. Plan your roof, your documents and your insurance around the season rather than hoping. The grid below names the two storms that broke the rule.
Six facts that tend to settle it
English is the working language
Not a second language taught in schools. The courts, the banks, the hospital and the paperwork all run in English.
The exchange rate never moves
The Eastern Caribbean dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar and has been for decades. Budget once and it stays true.
Four U.S. cities, nonstop
Miami and Atlanta year-round, New York JFK year-round, Charlotte seasonally. Nearly half of all arriving flights come via Barbados or Trinidad.
An American medical school is here
St George's University sits on a peninsula south of the capital and puts a genuine pool of medical talent on a small island.
Foreign income is not taxed
Grenada taxes what you earn inside Grenada. Pensions, dividends and remote salaries from abroad fall outside that.
You are inside the storm belt
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Beryl in 2024 both proved the island's safe reputation wrong.
04 · The ways in
Four doors, and what each one costs
Grenada has no retirement visa or permanent residency route in our database. That's worth saying plainly because several countries nearby do. Here's what exists.
Citizenship by investment, and the E-2 promise
Run by the Investment Migration Agency under the 2013 Act. The floor is a non-refundable $235,000 donation to the National Transformation Fund, covering you plus up to three dependents. Property is the other route: $270,000 for a share in an approved project or $350,000 to own one outright. Both must be held five years, plus make a $50,000 government contribution. Add processing, due diligence and a mandatory online interview for everyone 17 and over. Nobody pays only the headline figure. Decisions take three to six months on the official line but closer to seven in practice.
The nomad visa, at a lower bar than you might expect
The Remote Employment Act route launched in October 2021. One year, renewable once. You need to earn EC$100,000, which is about US$37,000, and your employer or your clients must sit outside Grenada. The fee is $1,500 for one person and $2,000 for a family of four. The application goes to a Grenada embassy by physical mail with a money order, which is genuinely unusual in 2026.
A work permit, if somebody hires you
Your employer starts it and the Ministry of Labour approves it. One year at a time. On an island this size, very few jobs go to foreigners. Treat this as a route for people holding an offer, not a plan.
Studying, which is bigger here than it sounds
St George's University draws a large American student body, and the student visa is the cheapest and fastest thing on this list. If you are moving as a family with someone entering medicine, this route is doing more work than its price suggests.
All four routes, side by side
| Visa | Category | Application cost | Processing | Difficulty | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizenship by Investment | investment | $150,000 | ~120 days | 4/10 | |
| Digital Nomad Visa | digital nomad | $1,500 | ~14 days | 3/10 | |
| Student Visa | student | $50 | ~14 days | 2/10 | |
| Work Permit | skilled work | $100 | ~30 days | 3/10 |
About that data card
Two figures in the table above are behind the current rules; we'd rather flag them for you than quietly agree with them. The investment row still shows $150,000. The real floor moved to $235,000 after the five Eastern Caribbean states agreed a common minimum in 2024. The nomad row asks for $60,000 of income; the published threshold is EC$100,000, about US$37,000, which is a lower bar. Confirm both with the agency before you move money.
05 · The fine print
Money, medicine and land
Grenada taxes where you earn, not who you are
The system is territorial. The first EC$36,000 of Grenada-source income is free, then 15 percent to EC$60,000, then 30 percent above it. Sources disagree about that top rate, so get an opinion before you rely on it. There's no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax and no wealth tax. Residency has three triggers rather than the single one most countries use. Spend 122 days in each of three straight years and you're a resident. Average 91 days a year across four and you're a resident. The familiar 183 inside one calendar year is only the third test, and the multi-year ones catch snowbirds who assume they're in the clear.
For an American, the arithmetic cuts the other way. No local tax on foreign income means no foreign tax credit, so your U.S. bill barely changes. Wages and self-employment income can shelter under the foreign earned income exclusion, capped at $132,900 a person for 2026. Pensions, dividends and Social Security get no relief at all. Washington and St George's have neither a tax treaty nor a totalization agreement, so you keep filing a 1040, an FBAR and your FATCA forms no matter what. Have that conversation with MyExpatTaxes before you go.
The hospital, the school and the flight out
St George's General Hospital is the main public referral center, around 198 beds, with a new building opened in 2024. Princess Alice serves the east, and Carriacou has its own small hospital. Primary care is solid and largely free. Depth is the problem: oncology, radiology and emergency medicine all run behind, and CT scans and dialysis are mostly private. Complex cases fly to Barbados, Trinidad or Miami. Private clinics expect payment on the spot. Carry evacuation cover.
The ten percent a foreigner pays to own land
A foreigner needs an Alien Landholding License, and it costs 10 percent of the property's market value. Buyers who come through the citizenship program are exempt from it, and that waiver explains much of how the property route is priced. Transfer tax also runs higher for non-nationals than for citizens.
What Brussels is asking for
In June 2026, the European Commission wrote to Grenada and four neighbors asking them to phase out citizenship by investment by June 1, 2028. Nothing has been suspended. Grenadians still travel to the Schengen area and the UK without a visa, and any change needs a separate EU decision. The Commission reports again in December 2026.
Read the date on this page
Investment thresholds, the EU timetable and the State Department's advisory level all moved inside the last eighteen months, and at least one of them will move again. Treat every figure here as a starting point for a conversation with the relevant agency, not as the final word.
Six corners of a very small country
Carriacou
About two hours north by ferry, roughly 8,000 people, and the sailing heart of the state. Tyrrel Bay is a working anchorage. Beryl flattened it in 2024 and roughly seven in ten damaged homes had been repaired by early 2026. It's quiet, cheap and properly remote.
Sauteurs
The northern tip, looking across at the Grenadines. A working town with a fish market rather than a resort strip. Rents in the $350 to $800 range make it the cheapest place on this list.
Grenville
The second town on the Atlantic side. This is where rural Grenada does its business. Wetter and windier than the west coast, and almost no foreigners.
Gouyave
A west-coast fishing town best known for Fish Friday, when the streets fill with grills and the whole island turns up. Close to the nutmeg processing that built this economy.
Grand Anse and L'Anse aux Epines
The southern strip, and where a lot of arrivals land. Grand Anse is the two-mile beach and the shops. L'Anse aux Epines is the marina peninsula where much of the university faculty and the yachting crowd live. Expect to pay for it.
St George's
The capital, wrapped around the Carenage harbor in pastel tiers. Hilly enough to be a workout. It has the hospital, the ministries, the market and the only real downtown in the country.
Where outside help earns its fee
Much of a Grenada move is straightforward enough to do yourself. Four things are not: the investment file, the U.S. tax position, the healthcare gap and the pile of certified documents every application demands. These are the partners we point people to for those four.
Arton Capital
Golden Visas
Arton Capital is the one partner in our network that lists Grenada by name. Worth a call mainly to pressure-test which of the four investment routes fits your family shape, since the per-dependent surcharges differ sharply for siblings, parents and grandparents.
Learn more
Beacon Global Advisors
Financial Planning
Beacon Global Advisors handles the part people forget: what happens to an IRA or a 401k once you live somewhere your brokerage may not want to serve. Ask them before you change your mailing address, not after.
Learn more
Go deeper
Three sessions from our library that map onto the questions this island raises.
Can I get healthcare?
Our partner Hunter Schultz explains what you need to know if you're concerned about healthcare abroad.
Start here if the medevac paragraph above worried you. Covers how expats piece together coverage.
Making Friends
Practical ways to meet people and build friendships abroad.
Our data marks the American community here as tiny. That is a feature for some people and a problem for others.
You CAN Move Abroad
Thinking about moving abroad but not sure where to start—or if it’s even realistic for you? This webinar is your roadmap. We’ll walk you through what it actually takes to move overseas, from choosing the right country and understanding visa options to budgeting, timelines, and avoiding the most common (and costly) mistakes. You’ll leave with a clear picture of what’s possible based on your situation, plus simple next steps to turn the idea into a real plan—and get your questions answered live along the way.
The starting-point session, for anyone still deciding whether a move abroad is realistic at all.
People working the same paperwork
Visa Path: Digital nomad visa
Expatsi Community
Grenada's nomad visa is the realistic route for many readers of this page. Our remote-work group is where people compare income evidence, insurance and what the embassies are asking for this month.
Join the communityThe questions that come up most
How much does it cost to live in Grenada?
Budget roughly $1,700 monthly for a single person, or $3,000 for two, covering rent, food, transport and utilities. A one-bedroom runs roughly $600 in town on the local market and $700 to $1,500 on the furnished expat market. Imported groceries and anything electrical cost noticeably more than at home. Local fish, produce and spices cost much less.
Is Grenada safe?
The US State Department moved Grenada from Level 1 to Level 2 in January 2026 and added a crime warning, citing armed robbery, assault and burglary affecting Americans. Level 2 is the same rating carried by Germany and France. Grenada still scores well on regional safety comparisons. Take the usual city precautions, avoid isolated beaches after dark, and use association taxis at night.
What is the Grenada E-2 visa, and is it useful to an American?
Grenada is the only Caribbean citizenship-by-investment country with a US E-2 treaty, which lets its citizens apply to run a business in the United States. If you are already a US citizen it does nothing for you. It can matter for a non-American spouse or adult child on your application, and it usually requires three continuous years of domicile in Grenada before applying.
How much is Grenada citizenship by investment in 2026?
The floor is a $235,000 donation to the National Transformation Fund for a main applicant plus up to three dependents. Property alternatives start at $270,000 for a share or $350,000 outright, held five years, plus a $50,000 government contribution. Processing, due diligence and interview fees come on top, so nobody pays only the headline number.
Does Grenada tax foreign income?
No. Grenada runs a territorial system, so it taxes income earned inside Grenada and leaves foreign income alone. A US pension, portfolio income or a remote salary from an American employer is not taxed locally. Because there is no local tax, there is also no foreign tax credit to offset your US return, so your IRS bill stays roughly where it was.
Can Americans move to Grenada permanently?
There is no retirement visa and no straightforward permanent residency route in Grenada's published options. Arriving as a visitor buys an American 90 days. Beyond that the realistic options are the one-year nomad visa, a sponsored work permit, a student visa, or buying citizenship outright. That is a shorter menu than Panama, Costa Rica or Portugal offer.
How bad are hurricanes in Grenada?
Worse than the marketing suggests. Hurricane Ivan hit in September 2004 and damaged around 90 percent of homes, with losses near twice the country's annual output. Hurricane Beryl struck Carriacou in July 2024 as a Category 4 and destroyed or damaged almost every building there. Before Ivan, the last comparable storm was in the 1950s. Season runs June through November.
Is Grenada a good place to live if you are gay?
Honestly, it is the hardest question on this page. Grenada still criminalizes sex between men under its Criminal Code, with penalties up to ten years, and a constitutional challenge has been waiting on a ruling for years. Prosecutions are effectively unheard of and the public prosecutor has called the law obsolete. But there is no anti-discrimination protection, no recognition of same-sex couples, and neighboring islands have already repealed theirs.
Sources
- Grenada Travel Advisory (Level 2, 5 January 2026) · U.S. Department of State (checked 2026-09-18)
- Grenada International Travel Information · U.S. Department of State (checked 2026-09-18)
- Income Tax · Grenada Inland Revenue Division (checked 2026-09-18)
- All you need to know about Personal Income Tax · Ministry of Finance, Grenada (checked 2026-09-18)
- Investment Migration Agency, Grenada · Government of Grenada (checked 2026-09-18)
- Grenada Citizenship by Investment · Henley & Partners (checked 2026-09-18)
- Grenada Citizenship by Investment 2026: Cost, Process and ECCIRA Changes · Golden Harbors (checked 2026-09-18)
- The Citizenship Crossroads · NOW Grenada (checked 2026-09-18)
- End CBI by June 2028 or risk Schengen access: EU writes to Caribbean States · NOW Grenada (checked 2026-09-18)
- Criminalisation of LGBT People in Grenada · Human Dignity Trust (checked 2026-09-18)
- Hurricane Beryl · Wikipedia (checked 2026-09-18)
- Grenada: Dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan · World Bank via ReliefWeb (checked 2026-09-18)
- Carriacou After Beryl · NASA Earth Observatory (checked 2026-09-18)
- Flights to Grenada (GND) · FlightConnections (checked 2026-09-18)
- Grenada Healthcare in 2026: Insurance, Hospitals, and Medical Access · Immigrant Invest (checked 2026-09-18)
- Grenada General Hospital: Number, Location and Services · GrenadaSearch (checked 2026-09-18)
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