Dominican Descent and the Right to Come
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Barbados 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 Barbados to Dominica · Residency through ancestry
Descent reaches citizenship here, not residence - and for the generation after that, it reaches citizenship only while the child is under eighteen. There is no ancestry visa and no grandparent rule we could find. The Constitution makes every person born in Dominica a citizen, subject to two narrow exceptions, so a parent born on the island passes something on; but the provision that says what, section 99 of the Constitution, is missing from the stored reading of the published text and we do not state its terms. What we can state is the route for a minor: section 100(1)(c) of the Constitution entitles a child under eighteen who is the child, stepchild or adopted child of a Dominican citizen by birth to be registered, and section 6(b) of the Citizenship Act gives the Minister a parallel power where the constitutional entitlement does not apply, on three years' residence.
At a glance
- Ancestry residence route
- None
The Immigration and Passport Act has no category for a descendant of a citizen. Descent is a citizenship question in Dominica, not a residence one.
- Born in Dominica
- Citizen at birth
Section 98 of the Constitution, subject to two exceptions: a parent with diplomatic immunity who is not a citizen, and birth in enemy-occupied territory to a parent who is a citizen of a country at war with Dominica.
- Child under 18 of a citizen by birth
- Entitled to be registered
Section 100(1)(c) of the Constitution. The application must be made on the child's behalf by a parent or guardian before the child turns eighteen, or by such later age as may be prescribed.
- Child under 18 not entitled under the Constitution
- 3 years' residence, at the Minister's discretion
Section 6(b) of the Citizenship Act, which is expressly for a child "not entitled to be registered as a citizen by virtue of the provisions of section 100(1)(c) of the Constitution". The Minister may accept a shorter period in special circumstances.
- Adult child or grandchild of a citizen
- No route identified
Section 6 of the Citizenship Act reaches a spouse, a child under eighteen, and a Commonwealth citizen with five years' residence. None of those is an adult child or a grandchild as such.
- Citizenship by descent
- Not stated here
Section 99 of the Constitution is headed "Persons born outside Dominica on or after 3rd November 1978" in the arrangement of sections, but its text is absent from the stored reading of the published Constitution, which runs from the proviso to section 98 straight into section 100. We do not state what it says.
Requirements
- For a child under eighteen of a Dominican citizen by birth: an application for registration under section 100(1)(c) of the Constitution, made by a parent or guardian before the child turns eighteen
- For a child under eighteen not entitled under the Constitution: three years' residence in Dominica immediately before the application, or such shorter period as the Minister accepts, under section 6(b) of the Citizenship Act
- The oath or affirmation of allegiance before registration takes effect
- For an adult descendant with no other route: naturalisation under section 8, which needs twelve months' residence and seven years in all
- For residence as such: a permit under section 9 of the Immigration and Passport Act, on the same discretionary terms as anyone else
In detail
What is missing, and why we say so
The question a reader brings to this topic is whether a Dominican parent or grandparent gets them a passport. The provision that answers the first half is section 99 of the Constitution, "Persons born outside Dominica on or after 3rd November 1978". The published Constitution is a photocopy with no text layer, and the reading extracted from it jumps from the proviso to section 98 directly to section 100(1), losing section 99 entirely. We checked a second copy of the same document, hosted by the Citizenship by Investment Unit, and it is the same scan. So we do not state Dominica's rule on citizenship by descent. The honest form of the answer is that the rule exists, is in section 99, and is not reproduced here.
The route that is legible closes at eighteen
Section 100(1)(c) of the Constitution entitles a person under eighteen who is the child, stepchild or adopted child of someone who is or was a citizen under section 97(1) or (2) or section 98 to be registered as a citizen, on application made on his behalf by a parent or guardian. Section 100(2) requires the application to be made before the child turns eighteen or by such later age as may be prescribed. Section 6(b) of the Citizenship Act then covers the minor whom the constitutional entitlement does not reach, at the price of three years' residence. Both doors shut at majority. An adult who discovers a Dominican grandparent has, on the provisions we read, no route built for him: section 6 of the Citizenship Act reaches a spouse, a minor child and a Commonwealth citizen resident five years, and nothing else.
Being Commonwealth is worth more than being descended
This is the comparison that matters. An adult descendant of a Dominican who is not himself a Commonwealth citizen must naturalise under section 8: twelve months' residence immediately before the application and seven years in all. An adult with no Dominican ancestry at all who happens to hold a Commonwealth passport is entitled - not merely permitted - to be registered after seven years' ordinary residence under section 100(1)(a) of the Constitution, and may apply to the Minister after five under section 6(c) of the Citizenship Act. In Dominica the Commonwealth is a stronger connection than blood.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Barbados
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
«98. Every person born in Dominica after the commencement of this Constitution shall become a citizen of Dominica at the date of his birth:»Unqualified jus soli, subject only to the two provisos that follow. Dominica did not narrow it the way several Commonwealth Caribbean states did.
«(c) any person under the age of eighteen years who is a child, stepchild or child - adopted in a manner recognised by law of a person who is or was before his death or would but for his death have become a citizen of Dominica by virtue of the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) of section 97 or section 98 of this Constitution.»An entitlement, not a discretion: section 100(1) says such persons "shall be entitled" to be registered. It reaches a stepchild and an adopted child as well as a biological one, and it closes at eighteen.
«(b) that such child being under the age of eighteen years is the child, step-child, or child adopted in a manner recognised by law of a person who is, or was before his death, a citizen of Dominica but that he is not entitled to be registered as a citizen by virtue of the provisions of section 100(1)(c) of the Constitution and has resided in Dominica for a period of three years, or such shorter period as the Minister may in the special circumstances of any particular case accept, immediately preceding the date of his application; or»The residual power for a minor the Constitution does not reach. Three years' residence, or less if the Minister accepts it in the special circumstances of the case.
«5. Where under a law in force in Dominica relating to the adoption of children, an adoption order is made by a competent court in respect of a minor who is not a citizen of Dominica, then, if the adopter or, in the case of a joint adoption, either adopter is a citizen of Dominica by virtue of the provisions of section 97(1) and (2) of the Constitution, the minor shall become a citizen of Dominica as from the date of the order.»Adoption by a citizen who is such by virtue of section 97(1) or (2) of the Constitution makes the minor a citizen from the date of the order - automatically, with no application.
«7. A person shall not be registered as a citizen of Dominica under the provisions of section 6 until he has first taken the oath or affirmation of allegiance in the form set out in the Schedule, but he shall upon taking the oath or affirmation as aforesaid and being registered, be a citizen of Dominica by registration, as from the date on which he is registered.»The oath is a condition precedent to registration, and citizenship runs from the date of registration rather than from the application.
Practical notes
This record rests on the Immigration and Passport Act, Chapter 18:01 as consolidated, including sections 5, 7, 9, 10, 18, 19 and 28 and the Immigration (Restrictions) Regulations printed with it, and on the Government portal's residence-permit, permanent-residence and extension-of-stay pages. None of them names a category of the kind this topic describes. The Act's own list of amendments stops at 1995 and six later amending Acts exist that the consolidation does not carry, so this is an absence in what we read.
The claim that there is no ancestry route for an adult is bounded by section 6 of the Citizenship Act, sections 97, 98, 100, 101 and 102 of the Constitution as they appear in the stored reading, and the Citizenship Regulations printed with the Act. Section 99 of the Constitution is not in that reading, and if it confers anything on an adult born abroad we have not seen it.
The published Constitution, Chapter 1:01 Schedule 1, is a scan of a photocopy: one hundred and twelve pages, one bitmap each, no text layer. Everything quoted from it is a recognition of a picture and is marked as such. The reading also interleaves the marginal notes with the body text, which is why quotations are taken only from passages that read continuously.
Section 13 of the Citizenship Act preserves, for a person born in Dominica who renounces citizenship to acquire another, the right to reside, to be gainfully employed and to own land. That is the nearest thing in Dominican law to a right of return, and it is confined to people who were themselves citizens.
- consolidatesThe Constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Chapter 1:01 Schedule 1
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica - Laws of Dominica
About this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- consolidatesCommonwealth of Dominica Citizenship Act, Chapter 1:10, Revised Laws of Dominica
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica - Laws of Dominica
About this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source