Grenada's $235,000 passport, and the U.S. treaty Congress narrowed
The donation route runs about $245,000 once the government's fees are counted. Most of what agents sell you on is worth nothing to a US citizen.
Grenada has sold citizenship since 2013, and the Investment Migration Agency has run the program since it replaced the old citizenship unit in 2024. Right now, you don't have to visit at all. This page covers what the two routes really cost, where the passport goes, and the presence rule sitting in a drawer at the Ministry. Checked September 2026.
- Population
- 125,000
- Capital
- St. George's
- Currency
- Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD)
- English proficiency
- 100/100
The price
Start at $235,000, then keep adding
Grenada quotes $235,000. That is the donation, and it is the only number most agents put in an email.
The government charges for everything around it. Due diligence is $5,000 a head. The application fee is $1,500, processing is another $1,500, the interview is $1,000, the passport is $350 and the oath is $500. For one adult on the fund route that is $9,850 on top, so about $245,000 before a single agent or lawyer is paid. Independent estimates land between $242,500 and $246,500, which is close enough to treat $245,000 as the real entry price.
Families scatter much more widely, and the reason is a birthday. Due diligence and the interview both kick in at 17. A child who turns 17 before you file costs roughly $6,000 more than one who hasn't. Published family-of-four totals run from about $256,000 to $270,000 depending on how old the children are.
One caveat on all of it. The IMA's own fee page was down when we checked, so these are the figures licensed agents publish and agree on, not figures we read off the government's tariff.
The money, line by line
$235,000
Donation to the National Transformation Fund
covers up to four people
~$245,000
One adult, all in
before agent and legal fees
$320,000
Real estate floor
$270,000 share plus the $50,000 fee
3 to 7 months
Decision, in practice
60 business days is the promise
The routes
Give the money away, or buy something with it
Give it away: the National Transformation Fund
$235,000, non-refundable, and it covers you plus up to three dependents. After that, it's $25,000 per extra dependent, $50,000 for a parent or grandparent under 55, and $75,000 for a sibling. Grenada takes spouses, children under 30, parents, grandparents and unmarried siblings, which is one of the widest family definitions in the region. You get nothing back. You also get no property to manage, no holding period and nothing to resell.
Buy something: approved real estate
$270,000 buys a share in an approved project. $350,000 buys a unit outright. Either way there is a separate $50,000 government contribution for a family of up to four, so the honest floor on this route is $320,000, not $270,000. Hold it five years. There were eight approved projects as of the 2026 budget. Resale in a market this small is thin; it's your contract, not the brochure, that decides your exit.
Citizenship by Investment
Offers Grenada citizenship through qualifying investment in real estate or the National Transformation Fund. Includes visa-free travel to over 140 countries and access to the E-2 Treaty Investor Visa program with the United States.
- Government cost
- $150,000
- Processing time
- ~120 days
- Timeline
- Citizenship granted upon approval
- Difficulty
- Hard
About that data card
Our card reads "Citizenship granted upon approval" under Timeline. True, and it tells you nothing. Two other lines are worse. The $150,000 government cost is the pre-2024 threshold and has been wrong since SRO No. 12 of 2024 moved the floor to $235,000. The 120-day processing figure is optimistic: the IMA promises a decision within 60 business days; agents say three to six months, while several licensed firms put the real average nearer seven. We switched the requirements list off because both money lines in it are from the old regulations, too. All of it is flagged for our data team.
The E-2 question
Congress wrote a law about this exact passport
The rule, and the year it changed
Grenada is the only Caribbean citizenship program with a U.S. E-2 treaty. That treaty is why this program is priced above its neighbors, and it's the first thing any agent tells you.
Then Congress narrowed it. Section 5901 of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, signed in December 2022, amended the Immigration and Nationality Act. Anyone who took a treaty nationality through a financial investment must now show three continuous years of domicile there before filing for an E visa. Lawyers who tracked the bill say Grenada was the target. Domicile isn't a day count. It means a permanent home and the intent to stay in it.
Worth the most to the person next to you on the form
Here's the catch, and it's a strange one. You're American. Working and living in the United States is a right you were born with, so the headline benefit of this passport is worth nothing to you. It matters to a non-American spouse, adult child or partner on the same file.
Ask your own lawyer about one open question. The statute never defines "financial investment," and several U.S. immigration firms argue a non-refundable donation isn't one, because you hold no asset and expect no return. If that reading holds, the fund route may never start the clock while the property route does. Nobody has settled it.
2026
What's changing, and what isn't
Thirty days, written and then shelved
The Citizenship by Investment (Amendment) Bill passed Grenada's House on July 28, 2026 and the Senate on July 31. Sixteen clauses, twenty-three new sections. It would make a family spend 30 days in Grenada across the first five years, add biometrics and a civics program, and allow revocation proceedings if you skip it without a reason.
None of it is in force. Commencement waits on an order in the Gazette that has not appeared, and the August 31 start date was pulled because the regional regulator still isn't running. Read that twice: the bill lets the residence rules reach applications already in the queue. Filing early is not the same as being grandfathered in.
Washington skipped Grenada. Brussels didn't.
The December 2025 US proclamation that restricted entry for Antiguan and Dominican nationals did not name Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis or St Lucia. That is a real, checkable difference and the strongest thing this program has going in 2026. Brussels made no such distinction. A European Commission letter in June 2026 gave all five programs a phase-out target of June 1, 2028. That is a request, not a suspension. Grenadian passports still clear Schengen and British borders today, and stripping that would take its own EU decision.
The one thing that doesn't move
Buying this passport does not make you a Grenadian tax resident, and it does nothing to your American filing. The US taxes citizens wherever they live. Our Grenada guide covers the local tax system if you plan to actually live there.
Who to have in the room
Arton Capital
Golden Visas
You can't file with the IMA yourself. Every application goes through an authorized agent, so the only real question is which one. Ask any firm for the dates of its last few approvals.
Legalize That Doc
Document Preparation
Police certificates from every country you lived in, apostilles, certified translations. A returned source-of-funds package is the most common reason a Grenada file stalls.
Flamingo Compliance | Tax Residency and Visa Tracker Platform
Tax Residency and Visa Tracker Platform
If the 30-day rule commences, somebody has to prove those days years after the fact. A tracker that logs entries and exits beats reconstructing five years of travel from old boarding passes.
The parts people ask us to repeat
Does a Grenada passport go anywhere a US passport can't?
A few places, and that is worth saying plainly. China admits Grenadians for 30 days without a visa, and Russia is visa-free too, neither of which your American passport manages. Otherwise the Grenadian document reaches about 145 destinations, well short of the US passport. Counts differ by index, so ignore precise figures.
How long does Grenada citizenship by investment take?
The IMA's site promises approval within 60 business days of filing. Authorized agents advertise a three to six month window. Firms that actually run these files describe something closer to seven months from start to passport in hand. Plan for six months, and read a shorter quote as a sales number.
Is Grenada affected by the US restrictions on Caribbean passports?
No. The December 2025 proclamation that limited US entry for nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica left out Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia. It carries a 180-day review cycle, so this could change. An American buying a Grenadian passport would fly on their US one regardless.
How much does Grenada citizenship by investment really cost in 2026?
Budget about $245,000 if you are applying alone through the fund: the $235,000 donation plus roughly $9,850 in government charges, before your agent and lawyer. The property route looks cheaper at $270,000 but carries a $50,000 state fee on top, which puts its true starting point at $320,000. A child who has already turned 17 adds about $6,000 more than a younger one.
Can an American use a Grenada passport to get a US E-2 visa?
There is no version of this that helps a US citizen. The E-2 lets a treaty national run a business in America, something you can already do. It exists for a foreign spouse or grown child on your file. Even they face a domicile test added in 2022, and domicile means a settled home in Grenada, not a tally of days.
Does buying Grenada citizenship change your US taxes?
No. A passport and a tax home are different things, and buying one does not move the other. American citizens owe US tax on income earned anywhere on earth. Grenada has no income tax treaty with Washington and no Social Security totalization deal, so there is nothing to offset. Your 1040, FBAR and FATCA filings carry on unchanged.
Do you have to live in Grenada to keep the citizenship?
Not today. No residence or visitation rule is in force, and you do not have to set foot on the island to apply or collect the passport. Parliament passed an amendment in July 2026 adding a presence obligation, but the minister has never signed the order that starts it. It can reach files already in the queue.
Not every plan needs a second passport
A short quiz, then a list of countries that fit your budget, your family and the passport you already hold.
Why not you?