The Bahamas.
How The Bahamas sells residence for investors (golden visa): one programme, open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.
- 3
- numbers
- 32
- prices and rules
- 8
- events
- 11
- documents and articles
Economic permanent residence
Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.
Official name: Bahamas Economic Permanent Residence (economic permanent residence certificate, s.17A Immigration Act Ch. 191)
BS$1 million in real estate or Central Bank zero-coupon bonds (or a mix), held 10 years. The rule has applied since 1 Jan 2025. The statute says only 'dollars' (Bahamian dollars, at par with US$). Fees excluded: BS$20,000-25,000 certificate fee.
Notes from the research
Before July 2021, investors applied for ordinary permanent residence under the Immigration Act with administrative "accelerated consideration" for home buyers (US$500,000, raised to US$1.5m in 2011; a $750,000 real estate threshold applied by 2019-2021). Section 17A (in force 1 July 2021) made it statutory: a home and/or investment of a ministerially prescribed amount, 90 days' residence a year, investment kept 10 years. From 1 January 2025: $1 million in real estate or Central Bank zero coupon bonds for 10 years. Certificates are for life; right to work only in own business. Fees $25,000 (with right to work) or $20,000. Permanent residence does not lead to citizenship automatically. No official count of economic PR grants was found. Listed by the OECD in 2018 as potentially high-risk for CRS avoidance.
Prices and rules
What is measured
No published numbers found for this programme. That is itself worth knowing: see the notes and the documents below.
All the numbers we have for The Bahamas
Pick what you want to see. Each dot is one number from one document; click anything to open its source.
What happened, and when
The 11 documents behind this page
- 2024-05 · NewsPermanent residency reform labelled 'huge' · The Tribune (Nassau)
- 2024-05 · GovernmentBudget Communication 2024/2025 · Government of The Bahamas (Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Philip Davis)
- 2024 · Law or regulationImmigration (Amendment) Bill, 2024 · Office of the Attorney General, The Bahamas
- 2021-06 · NewsEx-AG: Put real estate residency threshold to $1m · The Tribune (Nassau)
- 2021-06 · NewsGovt mulling $1m investment floor for permanent residency · The Tribune (Nassau)
- 2021-06 · Law or regulationImmigration (Amendment) Bill, 2021 · Government of The Bahamas (published by the Ministry of Economic Affairs)
- 2020-08 · GovernmentDepartment of Immigration Annual Report 2019 · Bahamas Department of Immigration
- 2018-10 · International organisationResidence/Citizenship by investment schemes (list of potentially high-risk CBI/RBI schemes) · OECD
- 2011-04 · NewsBahamas tightens immigration rules · Radio Turks & Caicos (RTC 107.7 FM)
- · GovernmentImmigration Fee Scale · Bahamas Department of Immigration
- · GovernmentApplying for Permanent Residence · Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas
Who buys passports and golden visas, what they cost, and what happens when governments change the rules. Written from this data, in the newsletter.