Marrying a Citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Grenada 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 Grenada to Saint Kitts and Nevis · Residency through marriage
Marriage does not get you residence here. It gets you citizenship. Section 92(1)(a) of the Constitution entitles any person married to a citizen to be registered as a citizen on application, with no qualifying period of marriage, no residence requirement and no language or civics test - the shortest route to citizenship in this entire comparison, and a constitutional entitlement rather than a Ministerial discretion. What stands between the entitlement and the certificate is the Citizenship Act's list of grounds on which the Minister may refuse, and seven of its fourteen paragraphs are about marriages: entered into primarily to get citizenship, no longer subsisting, annulled, under divorce proceedings, under a deed of separation, or where the parties have stopped living together.
At a glance
- Qualifying period of marriage
- None
Section 92(1)(a) of the Constitution reads in full: "any person who is married to a citizen". No duration is attached.
- Residence required
- None
Section 92(1)(a) imposes none, in contrast with section 92(1)(b), which requires fourteen years for a Commonwealth citizen registering on residence.
- Nature of the right
- A constitutional entitlement
Section 92(1) says such persons "shall, if they do not already possess citizenship, be entitled, upon making application, to be registered as citizens" - subject to the proviso allowing Parliament to let the Minister refuse on defence, public safety or public order grounds.
- Spousal residence permit
- None, except for a work permit holder's spouse
Section 6(4) of the Immigration Act confines temporary residence to spouses and minor children of work permit holders. There is no residence class for the spouse of a citizen, because the Constitution makes them a citizen instead.
- Marriage-related refusal grounds
- 7 of the 14 in section 3(11)
Counted from the printed text of section 3(11) of the Citizenship Act: paragraphs (f) to (l) all concern the marriage on which the application is based.
- If your spouse acquired citizenship by investment
- You cannot register under section 92(1)(a)
Section 3(11)(n) of the Citizenship Act lets the Minister refuse where the applicant is the spouse of a person who obtained citizenship under section 3(5).
Requirements
- A subsisting marriage to a citizen of Saint Christopher and Nevis
- An application for registration, made in the manner prescribed by law
- The oath of allegiance before registration, if you do not already owe allegiance to the Crown and are over eighteen
- A marriage that is not open to any of the objections in section 3(11) of the Citizenship Act - in particular, not entered into primarily to obtain citizenship, and still subsisting with the parties living together
- No separate residence permit: there is no spousal class among the Immigration Act's residents
In detail
An entitlement, qualified by a list
Two instruments have to be read together here and they pull in different directions. The Constitution confers an entitlement: a person married to a citizen is entitled to be registered, full stop. The Citizenship Act, acting on the proviso to section 92(1) that allows Parliament to let the Minister refuse in the interests of defence, public safety or public order, then supplies section 3(8) and section 3(11) - and section 3(11) is where the real conditions live. Act 5 of 2002 inserted seven marriage-specific paragraphs into it. The practical test is therefore not "have you been married long enough" but "is the marriage genuine, subsisting, and not in the process of ending", assessed by a Minister who may investigate and who has up to two years to decide.
Nothing to apply for in the Immigration Act
A reader coming from Spain, Chile or Costa Rica will look for the spousal residence permit and not find it. The Immigration Act's six classes of resident contain exactly one family provision, section 6(4), and it is for the spouse of a work permit holder. The spouse of a citizen is not covered, because the Constitution does not leave them needing cover: they are entitled to citizenship. The gap this leaves is in the interval - between the wedding and the registration there is no status, and the spouse of a citizen stands in the same position as any other visitor under section 14.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Grenada
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 following persons shall, if they do not already possess citizenship, be entitled, upon making application, to be registered as citizens—
(a) any person who is married to a citizen;»Eight words of substance. No country elsewhere in this comparison registers a spouse without either a qualifying period of marriage or a period of residence, and most require both.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Every person not already owing allegiance to the Crown who, having reached the age of eighteen years, applies for registration under subsection (1) shall, before such registration, take the oath of allegiance.»About this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«has entered into a marriage for the primary purpose of obtaining citizenship;»The whole of the sham-marriage test, and it is a test of purpose rather than of duration or cohabitation. Act 5 of 2002 added paragraphs (f) to (l) - before it, the Act had no marriage-specific refusal grounds at all.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«is a party to the marriage upon which the application for citizenship has been made but that marriage is no longer subsisting;»The first of six near-identical paragraphs covering a marriage that is not subsisting, is in divorce proceedings, has been annulled, is in annulment proceedings, is under a deed of separation, or where the parties are no longer living together as man and wife;
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«is a party to the marriage upon which the application for citizenship has been made but the parties to that marriage are no longer living together as man and wife;»Cohabitation is not a condition of the entitlement; its absence is a ground on which the Minister may refuse. The difference matters where a couple live apart for work.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«is the spouse of a person who obtained citizenship under section 3(5) and is applying for citizenship, by registration under section 92(1)(a) of the Constitution.»A citizen by investment cannot pass citizenship to a spouse by marrying afterwards. The spouse has to be on the investment application.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«the determination under subsection (8) must be made within a period not exceeding two years from the date of receipt of the application.»Where the Minister decides to investigate, this is the only time limit in the Act. Two years is the outer bound on a decision, not a processing estimate.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Act and the Constitution both say the application is made "in the prescribed manner" and neither prescribes it. The Saint Christopher and Nevis Citizenship Regulations printed as the Fourth Schedule to the Act set out forms and fees; we did not read them closely enough for this record to state a fee, and none is quoted.
Section 92(1)(a) says "married to a citizen" without qualification, so on its face it covers marriage to a citizen of any kind - by birth, by descent, by registration or by naturalisation. The one exception is written into the Citizenship Act rather than the Constitution: section 3(11)(n), for the spouse of a citizen by investment.
The Citizenship Act defines "spouse" nowhere, but the 2011 Citizenship by Investment Regulations printed in the Fifth Schedule defined it for their own purposes as "the partner of the opposite sex of the main applicant by marriage". That definition governed the investment programme as it then stood and is not a definition for section 92(1)(a). The 2024 Regulations drop it. What the law is on same-sex marriage for registration purposes is not answered by anything we read, and nothing is asserted here.
Section 92(1)(e) and (f) extend registration to the spouse of a long-resident Commonwealth citizen, to a widowed spouse of someone who would have become a citizen at independence, and to a spouse divorced before 19 September 1983 after at least three years of marriage. These are separate heads from 92(1)(a) and have their own conditions.
- consolidatesSaint Christopher and Nevis Constitution, Chapter VIII, printed with the West Indies Act, Cap. 1.01
Law Commission of Saint Christopher and Nevis · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesSaint Christopher and Nevis Citizenship Act, Cap. 1.05, Revised Edition showing the law as at 31 December 2020
Law Commission of Saint Christopher and Nevis · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Prepares the revised editions of Kittitian law and hosts the annual collections of Acts and statutory rules and orders.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current state of the citizenship-by-investment rules: it prints the 2011 Regulations as a schedule to the Citizenship Act with no indication they were repealed in 2023. Nor for completeness - the 2020 edition is a supplement of fifty-six chapters rather than a corpus, so absence from it is not evidence that a law does not exist, and the social security and income tax Acts are simply not in it. Nor for anything after a revision's cut-off: the income tax Act it serves is as at 31 December 2002 and prints Omitted because of cut-off date in place of a section. Its annual instrument folders are not exhaustive either; one begins at number five.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source