Marrying a Citizen of Antigua and Barbuda
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Trinidad and Tobago 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 Trinidad and Tobago to Antigua and Barbuda · Residency through marriage
Marriage opens two doors at different speeds. One year of marriage opens the residence permit in section 47 of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014, and that permit carries the right to remain and work in any occupation for as long as the marriage subsists - a broader work right than a permanent resident's. Three years of marriage opens registration as a citizen under section 114(1)(b) of the Constitution, and that is an entitlement rather than a discretion. Between the two sits a protective apparatus added in 2021: the applicant must swear that the marriage is not a marriage of convenience, the Chief Immigration Officer must be satisfied of the same, entering into one is a criminal offence, and so is solemnising a marriage you have reasonable grounds to suspect is one.
At a glance
- Marriage before a residence permit
- 1 year
Section 47(1) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014.
- Marriage before registration as a citizen
- Upwards of 3 years
Section 114(1)(b) of the Constitution. The words are "upwards of three years", which is more than three, not three.
- Right to work on the spousal permit
- Any occupation, while the marriage subsists
Section 47(4)(a)(i) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014.
- Residence permit validity
- 3 years
Section 40(6)(a). Section 47 permits are granted under section 39 and share this duration.
- Alternative to four years of residence
- 1 year in a marital unionas of 2021-09-07
Section 40(1)(c) as substituted by section 7(a) of the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act 2021, which also turned the paragraph before it from "and" to "or".
- Revocation window after the grant
- 3 yearsas of 2021-09-07
Section 48(1)(d) as substituted by section 11 of the 2021 Act. The 2014 text ran the three years from the marriage; the 2021 text runs them from the grant of the permit, which is later.
Requirements
- For the residence permit: one year of marriage to a citizen, an application under section 39, and an affidavit that you are married, living together as husband and wife, and that the marriage is not a marriage of convenience
- For the residence permit: good character, good health evidenced by a recent medical certificate, and financial means - the applicant's or the spouse's
- For registration as a citizen: a marriage that has subsisted for upwards of three years, and not living apart under a decree or a deed of separation
- Under the 2021 amendments: the marriage must not be a marriage of convenience, which is defined as one entered into with the primary intention of avoiding or benefiting from any provision of the Act
- Since 2023: a visitor who intends to reside here on the basis of marriage must apply for a change of status
How the process runs
- Step 1
Marry, then wait a year
Antigua and Barbuda
Section 47(1) sets one year of marriage before an application may be made. A visitor who marries must also change status under section 70A.
- Step 2
Apply under section 39 with the affidavit
Department of Immigration
Section 47(2) requires an affidavit sworn by the applicant attesting to the marriage, to living together as husband and wife, that the marriage is not a marriage of convenience, and to the number of dependants.
- Step 3
Satisfy the four tests in section 47(3)
Department of Immigration
That the spouse is a citizen, that the applicant is of good character, that the applicant is in good health on a recent medical certificate, that the applicant or the spouse has the financial means, and since 2021 that the marriage is not one of convenience.
- Step 4
Register as a citizen after three years of marriage
Ministry responsible for citizenship
Section 114(1)(b) of the Constitution gives an entitlement to be registered once the marriage has subsisted for upwards of three years, subject to the refusal grounds in section 116(2) and in section 3(7) and (8) of the Citizenship Act.
In detail
The widest work right in the Act
It is worth noticing which permission carries the strongest right to work. A permanent resident under section 42 may accept employment without a work permit, but only once registered in the Register of Residency under section 43. A spouse under section 47 is entitled, so long as the marriage subsists, to remain and work in Antigua and Barbuda in any occupation - no registration condition, no restriction to employment as against self-employment, and the words "any occupation" rather than "employment". The price is that the right is hostage to the marriage: section 48 lets the permit be revoked if, within three years of its grant, the marriage is dissolved, annulled, ceases to subsist, or declines to the point where the parties live apart.
What 2021 added, and why
Three of the fourteen clauses of the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act 2021 are about marriages of convenience. Clause 3 inserted the definition. Clause 10 added the applicant's sworn denial to the section 47 affidavit and the officer's satisfaction to the section 47 tests. Clause 14 created the offence, and made it an offence for a marriage officer who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the marriage they are about to solemnise is one. Clause 11 at the same time moved the revocation window so that it runs from the grant of the permit rather than from the marriage. Taken together, these are the signature of a government that had decided spousal permits were being obtained on paper marriages, and they are the single most consequential change to the family route since the Act was passed.
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.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago
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
«The spouse of a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda may, after one year of marriage, apply under
section 39 for a residence permit.»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
«(i) the applicant shall, so long as the marriage subsists, be entitled to remain and work in Antigua and Barbuda in any occupation; and»An entitlement, not a discretion, and it reaches any occupation. Dependants listed on the application may reside here until they reach 18, when they may apply in their own right.
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 marriage of the applicant to the citizen of Antigua and Barbuda is not a marriage of
convenience.»The 2021 Act added this as a new paragraph (e) to the matters the Chief Immigration Officer must be satisfied of, and a new paragraph (ba) to the affidavit the applicant swears.
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
«“marriage of convenience” means a marriage entered into with the primary intention of
avoiding, or benefiting from, any of the provisions of this Act;»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
«(b) being a marriage officer, he or she has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a
marriage which will be solemnized by him or her is a marriage of convenience.»The offence reaches the officiant as well as the parties, and it bites on suspicion rather than on knowledge.
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
«(d) within 3 years of the grant of the residence permit to the person –»The three subparagraphs that follow are dissolution or annulment, the marriage having declined to the point where the parties live apart, and the marriage no longer subsisting. The 2014 text had run the window from the marriage; running it from the grant extends it by at least the year section 47(1) requires.
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, from a period of at least one year immediately preceding the date of the
application, been living in a marital union with a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda;
and»Read with the new subsection (1A), which defines a marital union as the applicant and the citizen spouse residing together in the same household in a marital relationship.
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
«Provided that no application shall be allowed from such person before the marriage has subsisted for upwards of three years and that such person is not, or was not at the time of the death of the spouse, living apart from the spouse under a decree of a competent court or a deed of separation;»Section 114(1) says the persons it lists "shall be entitled, upon making application, to be registered". The entitlement survives the spouse's death; it does not survive separation.
«(c) marriage to an Antiguan and Barbudan national;»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
Practical notes
The constitutional entitlement in section 114(1)(b) and the immigration permit in section 47 answer different questions and nothing requires the permit first. A person married for upwards of three years may apply to be registered as a citizen whether or not they ever held a residence permit, subject to the Minister's power under section 116(2) of the Constitution to refuse on defence, public safety, public morality or public order grounds.
Section 48(2) and (3) give a surviving spouse a route: a holder of a residence permit who is the surviving spouse of a citizen may apply for an extension, and the Chief Immigration Officer may either allow it or revoke the permit. There is no automatic continuation.
The quotation from the Constitution is taken from a recognition of a scanned Revised Edition volume and is declared as such. Chapter VIII of the Constitution was read in full, sections 111 to 117, so that nothing in the marriage route was taken from the Citizenship Act alone.
This record states no fee. Section 39(2)(a) requires evidence of payment of the prescribed fees and we did not find the instrument prescribing them.
- 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
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
- consolidatesThe Antigua and Barbuda Constitution, Cap. 23, Revised Edition of the Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
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