How to Meet St Lucia Citizenship Requirements in 2024

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Do you ever find yourself daydreaming? Contemplating a new life in the Caribbean where you enjoy downtime on ivory beaches where palm trees sway gently in the ocean breeze? One of the most popular CBI programmes in the region is St Lucia Citizenship by Investment. Here are the St Lucia citizenship requirements you need to meet if you want to apply for a Saint Lucia passport, and enjoy enhanced global mobility including securing access to more visa-free countries and finding it easier to travel to destinations offering visas on arrival.

Step 1: Be of Legal Age

Two key legal frameworks govern Saint Lucia Citizenship requirements. They are the Citizenship by Investment Act No. 14 of 2015 and Regulations No. 89 of 2015. The first condition is that you, the applicant, “must be at least 18 years of age”.

This is a standard pre-requisite across Citizenship by Investment Programmes. It’s the same minimum legal age as the four other Eastern Caribbean CBI programmes. 18 is also the magic number for European and Pacific Citizenship, in Malta and Vanuatu.

Step 2: Select Your Investment Type in St Lucia

Initially, there were four St Lucia Citizenship by Investment Program options. Presently, there are no Enterprise Projects to invest in although St Lucia welcomes tenders. The three remaining routes to citizenship are as follows:

• Become a St Lucia National Economic Fund Investor by contributing at least $100,000
• Invest a fixed $300,000 in non-interest-bearing National Action Government Bonds that must be held for five years
• Contribute a minimum $200,000 to an approved real estate project that focuses on touristic developments

Step 3: Pass a Background Check

Due diligence is a key part of the St Lucia Citizenship by Investment application process. It’s how the programme preserves integrity. St Lucia wants to assure transparency.

August 2023 saw an Official Memorandum go out. This introduced a mandatory in-person or virtual interview.

The memo states: “With the use of trained specialists and advanced technology, this added feature to the country’s already robust due diligence process will enhance the authentication of critical bio-data information and eliminate any information gaps that can potentially exist in the application process.”

As the principal applicant, you must not:

• Have been convicted for anything other than a minor traffic offence
• Have been refused any category of visa from a country which has a visa-free agreement with St Lucia
• Be subject to an ongoing criminal investigation
• Bring disrepute to St Lucia 
• Be adjudged by a court or doctor to be mentally incapacitated

Step 4: Pay Relevant Non-Refundable Administrative, Dependant, Due Diligence, and Processing Fees

If you’re applying via the National Economic Fund route with a spouse, $100,000 becomes $140,000. This increases to $150,000 if you add two further qualifying dependants.

For every extra qualifying dependant, you must pay $25,000. St Lucia charges an additional $15,000 for every dependant on top of a family of four.

You can add as many eligible dependants as you like to the set National Action Bonds option. St Lucia does apply a non-refundable $50,000 administration fee, however.

The Real Estate Project path is similarly fixed. But you pay a $30,000 administrative charge as a solo applicant. This rises to $45,000 if you include a spouse.

You will need to pay $10,000 for each eligible dependant over 18 and $5,000 if they’re under 18. If you’re applying with a spouse and 4+ dependants, you’re liable for a $10,000 fee.

For all three options, you will pay a non-refundable processing fee of $2,000. Add $1,000 for a spouse and each qualifying dependant.

Finally, there is a non-refundable due diligence fee of $8,000 (increased from $7,500 following the introduction of the mandatory interview). For spouses and eligible dependants, St Lucia charges $5,000 for their due diligence.

How to Guarantee You’ll Meet St Lucia Citizenship by Investment Requirements

The only way to ensure that you and family members will qualify for a St Lucia passport is to employ a specialist investment migration firm like RIF Trust. We can guide you at all times of the application process, such as navigating due diligence checks. So, don’t delay and contact RIF Trust today.