CBI — National Development Fund (NDF) donation (US$230,000)

AG-INV-01 is the crown signature route of the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme: the acquisition of citizenship by registration following a non-refundable cash contribution to the National Development Fund (NDF). It is the lowest-capital and most commonly used of the four investment options (NDF donation, approved real estate, business investment, and the University of the West Indies / higher-education option) because it requires neither the purchase, holding, and resale-management of property nor the operational commitment of a business. The route serves foreign nationals (and their dependants) seeking a second Commonwealth-realm citizenship and the associated travel mobility, who satisfy the programme's source-of-funds, due-diligence, and good-character conditions and who are willing to make a one-time donation to a government fund rather than acquire an asset they can later recover. The route is administered exclusively by the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU, cip.gov.ag) and applications can be lodged only through a licensed Agent — there is no direct-to-applicant filing channel. The grant takes the legal form of registration as a citizen under the Citizenship Act Cap. 22, made by the Minister (defined in the CBI Act as the Prime Minister) at his discretion and subject to Cabinet approval. As a donation route the contribution is a sunk cost: the applicant receives no asset and, on later deprivation, no repayment. The route has been continuously operative since the CBI Act came into force in 2013; the current contribution figure of US$230,000 was fixed by Statutory Instrument 2024 No. 50, reg 7(1), made 25 July 2024 and operative for applications from 1 August 2024 (after the prior limited-time-offer incentive ceased on 31 July 2024). This is the AG-distinctive donation route — the fund is the National Development Fund (NDF), an Antigua and Barbuda statutory fund, not any sibling state's fund.

Required evidence is set by the Regulations and assembled by the Agent for the CIU: - Application forms prescribed by the Unit, "completed in English" or accompanied by an authenticated translation (.txt`, Sch. reg 5(5)); each form "completed personally by the main applicant or the Agent and signed by the main applicant and by any dependants over the age of eighteen" (Sch. reg 5(7)). - Medical certificate — "a certificate in the prescribed form by a medical practitioner that the main applicant and his dependants are not suffering from any contagious disease and that they are otherwise in good health" (Sch. reg 5(2)(a)). - Police certificate — "a statement from the national law enforcement authority of each country or countries of residence of the applicant and his dependants on the status of the applicant and his dependants' criminal records" (s.2 definition); may be submitted at a later date before approval (Sch. reg 5(9)). - Sworn affidavit of support for each dependant over eighteen (except the spouse) (Sch. reg 5(6)). - Document authentication — notarised certified copies must be authenticated by apostille (Hague Convention of 5 October 1961) or, for non-party jurisdictions, by validation through the appropriate government department (Sch. reg 5(13)). - Source-of-funds / financial evidence as required by the Unit's due-diligence process (Sch. reg 5(11)). - University enrolment confirmation for a dependant aged 18–25 applying as a student dependant (Sch. reg 5(12)) — relevant where such a dependant is included.

The process is Agent-mediated, CIU-administered, and contribution-on-approval. 1. Agent engagement (mandatory). "An application for Citizenship by Investment shall be submitted only by an Agent who is the holder of an Agent's Licence" (.txt, Sch. reg 4(1)); application forms "shall be available only from the Unit upon request by an Agent" (Sch. reg 5(4)). Under the 2016 Amendment an Agent must be a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda who was lawfully ordinarily resident for not less than seven years, maintain a place of business in Antigua and Barbuda, and hold professional indemnity insurance of at least $3,000,000 (.txt, Sch. reg 4). 2. Submission and up-front fees. Applications must be accompanied by "ten percent of the processing fees and the full amount of the due diligence fees.. (which shall not be refunded in the event of an application not being granted)" plus a medical certificate and a police certificate (.txt, Sch. reg 5(2)). All forms must be in English or accompanied by an authenticated translation (Sch. reg 5(5)). 3. **Examination and due diligence.** Every application is examined by the Unit (Sch. reg 5(10)); DD is run on every applicant and dependant over 11 (Sch. reg 5(11)). The Minister may appoint a review panel (Sch. reg 12). 4. **Decision timeline (advertised / statutory).** "Within three months of the submission of an application for Citizenship by Investment, the Unit shall notify in writing the Agent.. that the application has been— (a) approved; (b) denied; or (c) delayed for cause and is still being processed." (.txt, Sch. reg 5(14)). Real-world end-to-end processing reported by industry trackers (e.g. IMI) commonly runs longer than three months; the three-month figure is the statutory notification deadline (which expressly contemplates a "delayed for cause" outcome), not a guaranteed grant time — treat the 3-month figure as the statutory notification target, not the IMI-observed actual. 5. Contribution on approval. Only after approval is the donation paid: "Within thirty days of the notification of the approval.. the applicant or applicants shall pay the balance of the processing fee and.. deposit the required contribution under regulation 7 into the National Development Fund" (.txt, Sch. reg 5(15)(a)). 6. **Oath of allegiance.** "Every successful applicant shall attend at such office in Antigua and Barbuda as may be specified.. to take the oath or affirmation of allegiance in the form contained in the Third Schedule to the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship Act, Cap 22." (Sch. reg 5(16)). **Fee schedule (SI 2024 No. 50, reg 9, in US$, current):** Processing fee — single applicant US$10,000; family of up to four US$20,000; each additional member over four +US$10,000. Due-diligence fee — single applicant US$8,500; spouse US$5,000; dependant child 0–11 FREE; 12–17 US$2,000; 18+ US$4,000. Passport fee US$300 per person. 5-year renewal application fee US$1,000 (18) / US$500 (17 and under) (.txt, reg 9). The 5-year renewal cycle operationally interlocks with the 5-day-in-first-5-years presence condition.

The route rests on a three-layer statutory architecture pinned to the decoded primary texts. 1. Enabling Act — power to register CBI citizens. The CBI Act 2013 long title states it is "AN ACT to enable persons to acquire citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda by registration following investment in Antigua and Barbuda and for incidental and connected purposes." (.txt, long title). Section 3(1) is the operative grant power: "Subject to the provisions of the Citizenship Act, a person may, after applying under this section to the Minister in the prescribed manner and upon payment of any fee that may be prescribed, be registered under the provisions of the Citizenship Act as a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda." (s.3(1)). Section 3(2) confirms the grant is discretionary: registration "shall be— (a) at the discretion of the Minister and subject to the approval of Cabinet; (b) subject to the Minister being satisfied that the applicant has invested in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule; and (c) subject to such conditions or limitations as may be prescribed." (s.3(2)(a)-(c)). The "Minister" is the Prime Minister (s.2). **2. Regulation-making power.** Section 6 of the Act delegates the procedural and threshold detail to regulations: "(2) The Minister may by regulations revoke, amend or add to the Regulations in the Schedule and may thereby make further provision for the purpose of carrying this Act into effect" and "(5) Regulations made under this Act shall be subject to affirmative resolution of the House of Representatives." (s.6(2),(5)). This is the source of authority under which SI 2024 No. 50 was made. **3. Current threshold regulation.** SI 2024 No. 50, reg 7 (which "repealed & replaced" the prior NDF regulation) sets the live figure: "An application may be submitted by an agent for a single applicant or family proposing to contribute to the National Development Fund (NDF) the amount of TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY THOUSAND (US$230,000.00) dollars in United States currency." (.txt, reg 7(1); made under "s.6 of the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Act, 2013", MADE_DATE 25 July 2024, amending the principal Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Regulations 2016). The fund itself is defined in the Act: "'National Development Fund' means a special fund established under section 42(2) of the Finance Administration Act 2006 for the purpose of funding government sponsored projects including public-private partnerships and approved charitable investments." (.txt, s.2 / Sch. interpretation). The historical base figure was higher: the original 2013 Regulations, reg 7, required "a contribution to the National Development Fund of at least $675,000" (.txt, Sch. reg 7) — the US$230,000 figure is the current gazetted value and supersedes it.