DOMINICA
Investor Program
Advantages
• Citizenship and a second passport for life for the applicant and dependent family members • Travel visa-free to more than 115 countries
• Visa Free access to Schengen Area countries granted in May 2015
• Enjoy tax free status
• No requirement to reside in Dominica
• No management or educational requirements
• No country restrictions (Open to all applicants)
Requirements
• Applicants can make a non-refundable donation to the government fund or invest
in a government approved real-estate project
• Be over 18 years old
• Have no criminal record
• Provide all the documents are required in English
• Provide a letter of application for economic citizenship addressed to the Minister
responsible for Citizenship
• Have basic knowledge of the English language
• Make a deposit in a bank account at the National Commercial Bank of Dominica
• Must use a government authorised agent
Investment Options
1. The Government Fund option (non-refundable) Minimum to be invested:
• USD 100,000 for a single applicant
• USD 175,000 for applicant accompanied by a spouse
• USD 175,000 for applicant accompanied by up to two children under 18 years old
• USD 200,000 for applicant accompanied by a spouse and two children under 18
years old
• Add USD 50,000 for each additional dependent of the main applicant other than
a spouse 2. The Real Estate option (saleable after 3 years) Purchase authorised
real estate with a minimum value of USD 200,000, which must be held for at least
three years. In addition to the cost of the real-estate the following additional
government fees apply:
• Main applicant: USD 50,000
• Spouse: USD 25,000
• Dependent under 18: USD 20,000
• Dependant aged 18-25: USD 50,000
Process (3-4 months)
• Prepare all the documents required and submit them via an authorised agent, and
pay due diligence fees
• After approval, every applicant must sign an oath of allegiance in front of a Notary
Public, Justice of Peace or Commissioner of Oaths
• Obtain the passport after the citizenship confirmation
Australia: The Country That Abolished Its Golden Visa
Canberra closed the Business Innovation and Investment Program in 2024 and ceased the last investor visa in March 2025. What replaced money is merit: the invitation-only National Innovation Visa — permanent residence, no investment required, and only 3,500 places.
The context
Australia is the market's counter-example: the BIIP — including the A$5 million Significant Investor 'golden ticket' — was scrapped after reviews found investor migrants contributed less over a lifetime than skilled entrants, and the last investor visa (Subclass 891) ceased new applications on 22 March 2025. The Grattan Institute's estimate that abolition would add at least A$3.7 billion in lifetime fiscal dividend per annual cohort provided the intellectual cover; the 2024 budget provided the execution.
Programme mechanics
In its place stands the National Innovation Visa (Subclass 858): a direct permanent-residence pathway for individuals with an internationally recognised record of exceptional achievement — researchers, founders, significant angel investors with documented track records, creatives, athletes — entered by Expression of Interest and granted by invitation only, with no points test and no capital threshold. Nomination by an Australian entity or individual of national standing is required at application stage. Partners and dependent children to 23 are included; permanent residence is immediate on grant.
PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE — JULY 2026
INVESTMENT REQUIRED : None — merit only
STATUS GRANTED : Permanent residence
PLACES 2026/27 : 3,500
Q1 2026 ODDS : 146 invitations / 1,815 EOIs
Strategic analysis
The gate is narrowing by design: 5,300 places in 2025/26 fell to 3,500 for 2026/27, and the January–March 2026 quarter saw 1,815 EOIs yield just 146 invitations, concentrated in Tier One sectors — critical technologies (66), health industries (34), renewables and low-emission technologies (18). For wealthy applicants the honest reading is stark: Australian permanent residence can no longer be bought, only argued — through patents, IPOs led, ventures backed, and a nominator of national standing. Capital helps exactly insofar as it evidences judgement.
Startup & Entrepreneur Route
The entrepreneur-specific Subclass 188E stream died with the BIIP, and no capital-based replacement exists. Founders now enter through the NIV itself — the Department's published examples explicitly include significant angel investors with track records of backing successful ventures, founders who led companies to IPO, and promising entrepreneurial activity leading to commercialisation in Australia, particularly when linked to state-backed incubators.
The practical playbook in 2026: secure accelerator or state-agency backing, document the venture's Australian nexus (jobs, IP, capital raised), obtain a nominator of national reputation, and file the EOI into a Tier One sector where invitation odds concentrate. Employed founders and senior startup operators have a parallel door through the Skills in Demand visa's specialist stream. Australia has not closed to entrepreneurs; it has closed to entrepreneurs without evidence.
INVESTOR CASES — ANONYMISED COMPOSITE PROFILES
The Silicon Valley angel with an IPO record, 52
Rejected the assumption that the SIV's closure ended his Australian option: his NIV file leads with two portfolio companies taken public, a documented decade of early-stage cheques into climate-tech, and nomination by a state investment agency. Invited in the critical-technologies tier, he received permanent residence for his family without investing a mandated dollar — though he has since deployed several million into Sydney venture funds, which is precisely the behaviour the policy was designed to select for.
The Seoul biotech professor, 47
Her file was publications, patents and a research chair — no balance sheet at all. Invited in the health-industries tier with a university nominator, she contrasts the process with the old investor stream her brother-in-law used in 2016: his took capital and four years of compliance; hers took a career and eleven weeks from invitation to grant. Between them, the two visas describe exactly what Australia changed.
