Living in Antigua and Barbuda on Income From Abroad
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Saint Kitts and Nevis on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Saint Kitts and Nevis to Antigua and Barbuda · Residency on passive income
There are two doors and they are priced a world apart. The ordinary one is section 38(4) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014: an extension of time of up to 24 months, without the right to work, for a homeowner or someone who has made Antigua and Barbuda their country of retirement, with the Chief Immigration Officer entitled to weigh whether the applicant has a continuous source of annual income of at least the prescribed amount. The other is the permanent residence permit in section 42, the scheme every intermediary sells as Antigua's tax-residency programme: it requires a permanent place of abode and thirty days a year in the country, and since 2021 it requires an annual income of not less than US$500,000. Every guide we checked still says US$100,000. That figure was replaced on the face of the statute by section 8 of the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act 2021.
At a glance
- Permanent residence: minimum annual income
- US$500,000as of 2021-09-07
Section 42(2)(d)(ii) as substituted by section 8(b) of the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act 2021. The figure enacted in 2014 was US$100,000, and that is the figure still published by every intermediary we checked.
- Permanent residence: physical presence
- 30 days in a calendar yearas of 2021-09-07
Section 42(2)(a) as substituted in 2021. The 2014 text required only that a permanent place of abode be maintained for at least 30 days in a calendar year; the 2021 text adds that the person resides here for that period.
- Permanent residence: validity
- 12 months, renewable
Section 42(5)(b). A permit issued under the separate section 42A route runs for ten years.
- Permanent residence: right to work
- Included, without a work permit
Section 42(4)(a), conditional on registration under section 43.
- Ordinary extension for a homeowner or retiree
- Up to 24 months, no right to work
Section 38(4). It requires the Minister's approval as well as the Chief Immigration Officer's decision.
- Residence permit: qualifying period
- 4 continuous yearsas of 2021-09-07
Section 40(1)(b) as substituted in 2021 and amended in 2023 to read "lawfully ordinarily resident". This is the route to a three-year residence permit, not to permanent residence.
Requirements
- Under section 38(4): a homeowner in Antigua and Barbuda, or someone who has made it their country of retirement, with the Minister's approval and the prescribed fees - and no right to work
- Under section 42: a permanent place of abode in Antigua and Barbuda and residence here for at least 30 days in a calendar year, or a substantial economic activity approved by Cabinet
- Under section 42: an annual income of not less than US$500,000 or such other sum as may be prescribed
- Under section 42: a medical certificate, a police certificate of character from Antigua and Barbuda or anywhere lived in for over six months, and not being a prohibited immigrant
- Under section 42: an annual payment of the prescribed fees to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for as long as the status is held
How the process runs
- Step 1
Decide which scheme you are applying to
Department of Immigration
Section 38(4) is an extension of an existing permission, up to 24 months, with no right to work. Section 42 is a permanent residence permit with the right to work and a US$500,000 income test. They are different applications with different decision-makers: the Chief Immigration Officer with the Minister's approval, against the Minister acting on Cabinet's advice.
- Step 2
Assemble the documents section 42(3) requires
Department of Immigration
Evidence of the prescribed fees, a police certificate of character from Antigua and Barbuda or from anywhere you have lived for over six months, documentary evidence of the abode, the income and the economic activity, and whatever else the Minister asks for.
- Step 3
Be registered before the permit is issued
Register of Residency
Section 42(5)(a) requires the Chief Immigration Officer to enter the holder in the Register of Residency under section 43 before the permanent residence permit is handed over. The right to work in section 42(4) is expressed as conditional on that registration.
- Step 4
Pay annually and renew annually
Inland Revenue Department
Section 42(6) requires an annual payment of prescribed fees to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for as long as the status is held, and section 42(5)(b) makes the permit valid for twelve months at a time.
In detail
The figure that moved and the figure everyone still quotes
Antigua and Barbuda's permanent residence scheme is marketed everywhere as asking for a minimum annual income of US$100,000, thirty days a year in the country and a flat annual tax of US$20,000. Two of those three are in the statute and one of them is out of date. Section 42(2)(d)(ii) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 did read US$100,000 when it was enacted. Section 8(b) of the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act 2021, No. 20 of 2021, assented to on 5 October 2021 and published in the Gazette on 7 September 2021, repealed that paragraph and substituted US$500,000. The thirty days survived and was tightened: the 2014 text required a permanent place of abode to be maintained for at least thirty days in a calendar year, and the 2021 text requires the person to reside here for that period as well. The US$20,000 is not in the Act at all - section 42(6) requires "the prescribed fees" to be paid annually to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue and does not say what they are.
A conjunction that changed the whole route
Section 40(1) of the 2014 Act as enacted listed four things the Chief Immigration Officer had to be satisfied of before granting a residence permit, and joined them with "and": an intent to reside permanently, four years of lawful residence, one year of marriage to a citizen, and the other requirements. Read as printed, that made every ordinary residence permit a marriage permit. Section 7(a) of the 2021 Act repealed subsection (1) and substituted a version in which paragraph (b) ends "; or" - four continuous years of residence, or a year in a marital union with a citizen. That single word is the difference between a country with a general residence route and a country without one, and it only shows if you read the amending Act against the Act it amends.
Nothing here is a tax ruling
The permanent residence permit is an immigration status that happens to be administered with the tax authority collecting the annual fee. It is not, on the face of the Act, a determination of tax residence, and Antigua and Barbuda has had no personal income tax since 1 July 2016 in any event - see the tax record. What the Act gives a section 42 holder is the right to accept employment without a work permit, the right to have listed dependants reside with them, and a permit that has to be renewed every twelve months.
Country-level policy
The government's laws site carries a Revised Edition whose chapters were revised to 1992, and a separate collection of Acts and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition is where search engines land, and for immigration it is wrong: it still presents the Immigration and Passport Act, Cap. 208, as the law, although section 87(1) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 repealed it outright. There is no consolidated edition of the 2014 Act carrying its 2015, 2021 and 2023 amendments, so the rules in force exist only as an Act plus three amending Acts applied by hand. The same shape repeats for citizenship by investment, where the current Regulations are a Schedule inside an amending Act and six Statutory Instruments have been applied to them since.
Section 42 of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 creates a permit that is marketed as a tax arrangement and drafted as an immigration status. It asks for a permanent place of abode and thirty days a year in the country, or a substantial economic activity approved by Cabinet; it asks for an annual income of not less than US$500,000, raised from US$100,000 by the 2021 amendment; it gives the right to work without a work permit; it runs for twelve months at a time; and it requires an annual payment of prescribed fees to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. In 2021 a second limb was added: section 42A lets a holder apply for citizenship by registration after seven unbroken years of ninety days a year, substantial economic activity and tax compliance, and makes the permit issued under that section valid for ten years.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«maintain a permanent place of abode in Antigua and
Barbuda and resides in Antigua and Barbuda for at least 30 days in a calendar year; or»Cite the amended Act: the rule in force is section 42(2)(a) of the 2014 Act reading this way, and the 2021 Act is what put it there.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«(ii) has an annual income of not less than US$500,000 or such other sum as may be
prescribed; and»This is the single most widely misstated figure about Antigua and Barbuda. It replaced US$500,000 for US$100,000 with effect from the 2021 Act, and the old number is still in print almost everywhere.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«has an annual income of not less than US$100,000 or such other sum as may be prescribed; and»The superseded figure, quoted so the change can be seen rather than asserted.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«the permit holder is entitled to accept employment in Antigua and Barbuda without the requirement of a work permit; and»Conditional on registration in the Register of Residency under section 43, which section 42(5)(a) says must happen before the permit is handed over.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«shall be valid for a period of 12 months; and»About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«A person who is granted a permanent residence permit shall, while the person remains a
permanent resident under the scheme, pay annually to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue the prescribed fees.»The annual payment goes to the tax authority rather than to immigration, which is why the scheme is sold as a tax arrangement. The Act does not state the amount; it is prescribed, and we did not find the instrument prescribing it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Subject to the approval of the Minister and the payment of the prescribed fees, the Chief
Immigration Officer may, in accordance with Regulations, grant to an applicant an extension of time not exceeding 24 months to remain in Antigua and Barbuda without the right to work to-»About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«has a continuous source of annual income of at least the prescribed amount without the need to engage in employment in Antigua and Barbuda;»A matter the Chief Immigration Officer "may take into consideration", not a threshold the applicant must clear. The prescribed amount is not stated in the Act.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«has been lawfully resident in Antigua and Barbuda for a period of not less than 4
continuous years immediately preceding the date of the application; or»The word "ordinarily" was inserted between "lawfully" and "resident" by the 2023 Act, so the provision in force reads "lawfully ordinarily resident". The 2021 Act is the instrument that added "continuous" and, crucially, the "or" at the end.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«is valid for 3 years from the date of grant unless revoked earlier under section 45; and»About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«resides outside Antigua and Barbuda continuously for a period of 6 months or more; or»A ground for revoking a residence permit. It is a continuous-absence test, not a quota: two absences of five months each do not trigger it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The US$500,000 figure is quoted here from the amending Act, section 8(b) of Act 20 of 2021, because that is where it exists: the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 is published only as enacted, and no consolidated edition carrying the 2015, 2021 and 2023 amendments exists on the government's site or anywhere else we looked.
The prescribed fees under section 42(6), the prescribed annual income under section 38(2)(c) and the Regulations contemplated by section 38(4) were all looked for and not found. We searched the Statutory Instruments collection on the government's laws site and the only immigration instrument we reached was the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Regulations 2014, Statutory Instrument No. 13 of 2014, which deals with passport application forms and nothing else. No amount is published on this record for any of them.
Section 38(4) grants an extension "without the right to work" and section 42(4) grants permanent residence with it. A reader comparing the two should notice that the cheap route is the one that forbids working and the expensive route is the one that permits it, which is the reverse of the usual arrangement.
Section 45(2) lets the Minister revoke a permanent residence permit if the holder "fails to maintain the level of financial investment stated in his application". The Act nowhere requires a financial investment to be stated in a section 42 application, so the ground presupposes something the application form may ask for and the statute does not.
- consolidatesImmigration and Passport Act, 2014, No. 6 of 2014
Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesImmigration and Passport (Amendment) Act, 2021, No. 20 of 2021, published in the Official Gazette Vol. XLI No. 72 of 7 September 2021
Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source