Becoming a Citizen of Barbados
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.
91 exceptions recorded across 34 countries · none match Saint Kitts and Nevis to Barbados · Becoming a citizen
Citizenship is in the Constitution, not in an immigration act, and that is the structural fact to start from. Birth in Barbados makes you a citizen outright. Birth abroad makes you one only through a parent, and only one generation. For everyone else Chapter II gives a right to be registered after ordinary residence in Barbados throughout ten years, or after marriage to a citizen for a period left to be prescribed. Both rights are expressed as entitlements rather than discretions, subject only to exceptions prescribed in the interests of national security or public policy, and both require the oath of allegiance taken before an immigration officer sitting as a Justice of the Peace. Parliament may provide for further routes under section 9, and the Barbados Citizenship Act is that Act - but the Government's published copy of it is an unreadable scan, so the registration and naturalisation detail is not stated here.
At a glance
- Residence needed for registration as of right
- ten years of ordinary residence, or such longer period as may be prescribed
- Marriage period needed
- Such period as may be prescribed. Not stated in the Constitution
Prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament. The Barbados Citizenship Act is that Act and its published copy carries no text layer.
- Birth in Barbados
- Citizenship at the date of birth, with two narrow provisos
- Birth abroad
- Citizenship only where a parent was a citizen born in Barbados, or the father was a citizen otherwise than by descent
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted. The Constitution gives a citizen aged eighteen or over the right to renounce, which presupposes they may hold another
- Fee, as the Department charges
- $300.00 on application and $1500.00 on approval
The Immigration Department states the same pair of figures for every citizenship route it lists.
- Time as a student
- Excluded. Study time must not be taken into consideration on an application for citizenship
Requirements
- For registration on residence: ordinary residence in Barbados throughout the period of ten years, or such longer period as may be prescribed, immediately preceding the application
- For registration on marriage: marriage to and cohabitation with a citizen for the prescribed period immediately preceding the application
- An application in the prescribed manner; a person under eighteen cannot apply and a parent or guardian must apply for them
- The oath of allegiance before an officer of the Immigration Department acting as a Justice of the Peace, before a certificate is issued
- The Department's documents: birth certificate, medical form, police certificate of character, a personal statement covering every country lived in since birth with occupations and employers, letters from schools attended in Barbados, a job letter, a bank letter or statement, a land tax bill or property deed and photographs
In detail
An entitlement, not a grant
Section 3A does not say the Minister may register a long-resident applicant. It says the following descriptions of person have the right upon application to be registered as citizens of Barbados, and then lists ten years of ordinary residence and marriage to a citizen. The only qualification is sub-section (4), which allows exceptions prescribed in the interests of national security or public policy. That is a stronger position than a discretionary naturalisation, and it is in the Constitution rather than in an ordinary Act, so it cannot be narrowed by a change of policy.
The Act we could not read
Section 9 of the Constitution lets Parliament provide for the acquisition of citizenship by people the Chapter does not reach, and the Barbados Citizenship Act, Chapter 186, is that Act. It is where the prescribed period for a marriage application lives, where the manner of application is set, and where naturalisation sits. The only copy published on a Barbados government domain that we could find is a scanned image of the printed volume. What came back from it was a page of image references and no words at all, so nothing here is quoted from it and nothing here states what it says. The Immigration Department's citizenship page refers to applications under section 5(1) and section 4(3) of "the Act", so the Act plainly matters; we simply could not read it.
What the Department asks of a long-resident applicant
For an application under section 4(3) of the Act the Immigration Department asks for a personal statement giving full information from birth to the date of application: every state and country lived in, the occupation and education pursued in each, the names and addresses of every employer, the institutions attended and the highest attainment at each. It also asks for a job letter, a bank letter or statement, and a land tax bill or property deed. That is a fuller account of a life than any other country in this comparison requires on paper.
Country-level policy
Barbados publishes its law in three places that do not agree with each other about how current it is, and none of them says so on its face. The Supreme Court's statute library carries the Chapters, printed by the Government Printer, with a Law Revision Order year in the running head of each page - 2007 on the newest pages of the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act, 1997 on the Income Tax pages that carry the residence and domicile rules. The Attorney General's Office carries annual Acts and statutory instruments, and its series of annual Acts stops at 2020. The Government Printing Department publishes the Official Gazette, which is where an Act of 2021 or later is actually found. A reader looking for the law in force has to use all three, and an amendment made between 2021 and today is invisible in the first two.
On 21 April 2026 the Government laid the Immigration Bill, 2026 and the Barbados Citizenship Bill, 2026. The Immigration Bill would repeal Chapter 190 outright and replace it: a points test for permanent residence, an express route for the spouse of a citizen and for a retired person with sufficient financial resources, a right for a direct descendant of a citizen to be registered as a permanent resident, automated passport control kiosks, advance passenger information shared with intelligence agencies, and a lengthening of the long-stay permit from three years to five. Both Bills were still before the House of Assembly when this was written and neither has commenced. Nothing in this record is law. It is here because the Act they would replace is the Act every other Barbados record rests on, and because what the Bills do not contain is itself a finding: neither of them implements the 2025 free movement arrangement.
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
«a person who has been ordinarily resident in Barbados throughout the period of ten years (or such longer period as may be
prescribed) immediately preceding that person's application;»A right upon application, not a discretion - subject under sub-section (4) to such exceptions or qualifications as may be prescribed in the interests of national security or public policy.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Every person born in Barbados after 29th November 1966 shall
become a citizen of Barbados at the date of his birth:»The provisos exclude the child of a foreign envoy where neither parent is a citizen, and the child of an enemy alien born in a place under enemy occupation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Any citizen of Barbados who has attained the age of eighteen years and who»The sentence continues: is also a citizen or national of any other country, or intends to become one, shall be entitled to renounce his citizenship of Barbados by a registered declaration. A proviso restores the citizenship if the other nationality is not acquired within six months.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Parliament may make provision
(a) for the acquisition of citizenship of Barbados by persons who do not become citizens of Barbados by virtue of the provisions of this Chapter; or»The power under which the Barbados Citizenship Act, Chapter 186, was made. Paragraph (b) lets Parliament provide for deprivation of citizenship, but not for a person who is a citizen by birth in Barbados, by descent under section 5, or under section 2(1) or (2).
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«the time spent by him in Barbados while pursuing a course of study must not be taken into consideration for the purpose of assessing his application.»Applies to an application for citizenship as well as to one for permanent resident status.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Barbados Citizenship Bill, 2026 was laid on 21 April 2026 together with the Immigration Bill and would replace Chapter 186. It had not passed when this was written.
The Constitution edition published by the Law Courts predates the republic of 30 November 2021 and still names Her Majesty and the Governor-General. Its latest marginal amendment reference is Act 2003-10 and it states no date to which it is current. Chapter II is quoted here as that edition prints it.
The Department states the same fees - $300 on application, $1,500 on approval - for registration by descent, by marriage, on residence and under section 4(3). A separate route carries a $500 application fee for a person who is already a citizen by descent, registration or naturalisation and is applying for something else; the page does not explain what.
This record rests on Chapter II of the Constitution of Barbados, regulation 9 of the Immigration (Students) Regulations, 1979 and the Immigration Department's citizenship page. It does not rest on the Barbados Citizenship Act, which we could not read.
- consolidatesThe Constitution of Barbados
Supreme Court of Barbados - Laws of Barbados
About this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- administersBarbadian Citizenship
Barbados Immigration Department
About this source
The department that applies the Immigration Act: it controls entry and departure at the ports and processes applications for citizenship, permanent residence, immigrant status, work permits and entry visas. Its pages set out the documents it actually asks for under each statutory head, name the section each application is made under, and state the fees it charges. It also hosts the prescribed forms.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It states practice, not law, and its fees are not the fees the Immigration (Forms and Fees) Regulations prescribe - it publishes $300 on application where the Regulations say $200, and $1,200 or $1,500 on the grant where the Regulations say $800. It must not be cited for what an instrument requires, for the length of any statutory period, or for the entry visa fee in United States dollars, which no instrument we found carries. Its visa guidance points to a list published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rather than carrying one.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesImmigration (Students) Regulations, 1979, Cap. 190
Supreme Court of Barbados - Laws of Barbados
About this source
The statute library of the Barbadian judiciary, publishing the Chapters of the Laws of Barbados and the subsidiary legislation as PDFs printed by the Government Printer. It is the only place the consolidated Chapters are published as a browsable set, and it carries the Constitution, the Immigration Act Chapter 190, the Income Tax Act Chapter 73, the Customs Act Chapter 66, the Exchange Control Act Chapter 71 and the Caribbean Community Acts.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It consolidates and does not issue, and its editions are old and dated per page rather than per Act: the Immigration Act and the Income Tax Act print Law Revision Order years of 2007 on their newest pages and 1997 or 2002 on others, and no page says what the Act looks like today. It must not be cited for anything amended after about 2008 without checking the amending Act - section 17(1) of the Immigration Act was substituted in 2020 and this edition does not show it. Several of its files are scans with no text layer: the Barbados Citizenship Act Chapter 186 is unreadable and the Road Traffic Act Chapter 295 is largely so, and neither may be quoted from this publisher. Extraction of the Immigration Act PDF silently loses four pairs of pages, so an absence in it is not evidence of absence in the Act. It must also not be relied on for completeness, and the gap is the publisher's rather than ours: its Immigration Act lists sections 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 30 and 31 in its own arrangement of sections and prints none of them. Two independent extractions of the file agree, every page but the last carries a text layer, and the headings Charging of member of crew, Persons unlawfully entering, Applications for work permits and Deportation orders each appear exactly once, in the contents. A negative claim read off this Chapter - that the Act says nothing about something - can be neither trusted nor disproved from it.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source