Dominica Citizenship by Investment Cost & Fees

Key takeaways

Dominica's Economic Diversification Fund route starts at a non-refundable USD 200,000 for a single applicant and USD 250,000 for a main applicant with up to three qualifying dependants. Additional dependants cost USD 25,000 under 18 and USD 40,000 at 18 or over.

The fees on top are set by law rather than by marketing: USD 1,000 processing per application, USD 7,500 due diligence for the main applicant, USD 4,000 for each dependant aged 16 or over, USD 1,000 per interview and USD 500 per certificate of naturalisation.

Government totals come to about USD 210,000 for a single applicant, USD 265,500 for a couple and USD 266,500 for a family of four. A couple and a family of four are separated by USD 1,000, because two young children fall inside the contribution band and under both age thresholds.

The real estate route adds a government fee the fund route does not have: USD 75,000 for a main applicant or USD 100,000 with up to three dependants, on top of a minimum USD 200,000 purchase. That takes a single applicant to about USD 285,000.

Enhanced due diligence is the largest single cost variable and almost no comparison page mentions it. Where it applies it is USD 25,000 for a main applicant and USD 15,000 for a spouse, and it replaces the standard due diligence and interview charges rather than sitting on top of them.

Where the numbers come from, and why that matters here

Dominica is unusual among Caribbean programmes in that its entire fee structure is published as law rather than as marketing. Schedule 1 of the Commonwealth of Dominica Citizenship by Investment (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2024, made on 28 June 2024 and gazetted as S.R.O. 8 of 2024, sets every amount below. The CBIU's website reproduces the same figures. Where the two differ in wording, this page follows the Regulations and says so.

That matters because Dominica's own Promotional Guidelines, in Schedule 2 of the same instrument, prohibit an agent from claiming citizenship at a cost lower than the minimum prescribed in Schedule 1. If a quote you have been sent is below the numbers on this page, the problem is the quote.

The Economic Diversification Fund route

The fund, known as the EDF, is the donation route. The contribution is non-refundable and there is no government fee stacked on top of it, which is the structural difference from the real estate route further down.

Read the contribution line carefully, because it is where Dominica's pricing logic sits. Adding a spouse costs USD 50,000, and so does adding a spouse plus two children, because USD 250,000 covers the main applicant and up to three dependants. The fourth dependant is where the increments begin, and they are age-dependent: USD 25,000 under 18, USD 40,000 at 18 or over.

One wording difference worth knowing. The CBIU's EDF page describes the USD 4,000 due diligence fee as applying to dependants aged 16 or above. The Regulations, at paragraph 1(3)(b)(ii) of Schedule 1, say "each dependant" without the age qualifier for the fund route, while using the 16-and-over wording for the real estate route. The worked examples below follow the CBIU's published position that children under 16 are not charged, but confirm it for your own file rather than assuming it.

Worked totals on the fund route

Government charges only. These exclude the agent's fee, legal fees, translation, legalisation, courier and bank charges, none of which Dominica publishes. The family of four assumes two children aged under 16.

The interesting number in that table is the last column minus the second-to-last: a couple and a family of four are separated by USD 1,000 in government charges. Two children added to a couple's application cost a thousand dollars, because they fall inside the USD 250,000 contribution band, are under the due diligence age threshold, and are under the interview age threshold. Dominica prices young families about as cheaply as any programme in the region.

The single applicant is the opposite case. At USD 210,000, Dominica is only about USD 34,000 below Grenada for one person while charging USD 55,500 more for a couple, because Grenada's contribution stays flat to four people and Dominica's does not. Which programme is cheaper depends entirely on how many people are on the application, and the headline minimum will mislead you in both directions.

The real estate route adds a government fee the fund route does not have

Under the real estate option the applicant buys a unit in a pre-approved project for at least USD 200,000 and then pays a separate government fee on approval in principle. That fee is substantial and is the item most often left out of comparison tables.

A single applicant therefore reaches about USD 285,000 and a family of four about USD 316,500, against USD 210,000 and USD 266,500 on the fund. The trade is that USD 200,000 of the real estate figure is an asset you own rather than a donation you have made.

Whether that trade is worth USD 75,000 to USD 100,000 depends on the resale market, and Dominica attaches a holding period that shapes it: the property must be held for three years from the date citizenship is granted, or five years if the next purchaser is also a citizenship-by-investment applicant. In other words, the shorter hold applies only when you sell into the open market, and the longer one applies when you sell to the pool of buyers most likely to want it. Price that in before treating the purchase as recoverable capital.

Enhanced due diligence, and the applicants it applies to

This is the largest single cost variable in Dominica's schedule and almost no comparison page mentions it. Where an applicant is a citizen of a specified country or region, regulation 11 of S.R.O. 8 of 2024 requires the Financial Intelligence Unit to run an enhanced due diligence check, and the fees replace the standard due diligence and interview charges entirely.

The CBIU states that these amounts are inclusive of the standard USD 7,500 and USD 4,000 due diligence fees and of the mandatory interview fee, so they are not charged on top. The CBIU currently identifies Iranian applicants, meaning citizens of Iran and applicants domiciled in Iran, as the group to which enhanced due diligence is applied.

For a single Iranian applicant on the fund route that changes the arithmetic to roughly USD 226,500: the USD 200,000 contribution, USD 1,000 processing, USD 25,000 enhanced due diligence and USD 500 certificate of naturalisation. Dominica separately publishes a list of banned nationalities, which currently includes Belarus, Russia, northern Iraq and Yemen, and applies additional conditions to nationals of North Korea, Sudan and Iran. Check that list before spending anything.

Timeline, agents, and the caveats that actually bite

On timing, the Regulations are specific in a way that marketing pages rarely are: within three months of submission the Unit must notify the Authorised Agent whether the application has been approved in principle, delayed for cause, or refused. The CBIU's own guidance says applicants should generally expect to wait at least three months to an approval in principle. That is the decision, not the passport, and the investment is made after it.

You cannot apply directly. Applications go through an Authorised Agent, and Dominica charges those agents heavily for the privilege: USD 20,000 to register and USD 15,500 a year to keep the licence, with licensed promoters paying USD 20,000 and USD 15,000. Those costs are recovered in the agent fee you are quoted, which no government schedule publishes. Ask for it as a separate line.

Two more things that bite. Where an application is denied, the Regulations state expressly that fees paid are not refundable, so a refusal costs you the due diligence and processing charges. And the contribution or purchase is only called for after approval in principle, which is the protection that matters most in the sequence: get your agent to confirm in writing which payments fall before that point and which fall after.

Dominica sits on the USD 200,000 floor that the five Eastern Caribbean programmes adopted region-wide on 23 September 2025, alongside a commitment to a common regulator. That floor is why the old sub-USD 150,000 figures still circulating online are dead. Compare against St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Vanuatu on the total for your actual household, and see what a Dominica passport itself costs if the travel document rather than the status is your question.

What is fixed by law, and what is not

Two things on this page are set by law and one is not, and the one that is not is where quotes diverge.

The amounts are law. Schedule 1 of S.R.O. 8 of 2024 fixes the contribution, the processing fee, both due diligence tiers, the interview fee and the certificate of naturalisation, and Schedule 2 of the same instrument prohibits an agent from claiming citizenship at a cost lower than that minimum. If a quote sits below the totals above, the quote is the problem, not the schedule. Verify the current figures against the Citizenship by Investment Unit before applying rather than against any third-party comparison table, because Dominica does amend the instrument: the current structure dates from 28 June 2024 and a further amending instrument followed in December 2025.

The sequence is also law, and it protects you. Applications may not be filed directly with the Unit and must go through an Authorised Agent. The Unit must notify that agent within three months of submission whether the application is approved in principle, delayed for cause, or refused. Fees paid are not refundable on a refusal, but the contribution or property purchase sits after approval in principle, so a refusal at the vetting stage should not cost you the investment itself. Confirm the payment order with your agent in writing before sending funds, and check the provider against the Unit's published lists of Authorised Agents, licensed promoters and blacklisted agents.

The agent's own fee is the part that is not published anywhere, on any schedule, by anyone. It is legitimate work and can reasonably be charged for, but it is not a government charge and should never be blended into one. Ask for it as a separate line, and ask whether it is charged per application or per person, because on a family file those two answers differ by a multiple.