Citizenship by Investment — dependants framework
Citizenship in Dominica
- Eligibility
- Eligible dependants (SRO 8/2024 reg 2) are: the spouse; a child under 18; a child 18-30 in higher education and fully supported; an unmarried daughter under 25 living with and supported by the main applicant; a child 18+ physically/mentally challenged; and parents or grandparents aged 65+ substantially supported. A minor child born to or adopted by the main applicant after citizenship may be added with NO time limit (SRO 46/2025 deleted the former 5-year window in Sch.1 para 3(1)). Dominica's framework has no sibling category.
- Timeline
- medium
- Renunciation
- Not required
Overview
The dependants framework is the cross-cutting set of rules that defines who may be included in a Dominican CBI application and on what terms, applying equally to the EDF donation (DM-INV-01) and the approved real-estate route (DM-INV-02). It is modelled as its own route because Dominica's family rules are unusually broad and are a primary value driver: a single application can cover a spouse, children, an unmarried adult daughter, a disabled adult child, and parents or grandparents, and a child born or adopted after grant can now be added with no time limit at all. The framework is set entirely by S.R.O. No. 8 of 2024 - the definition of 'dependant' in regulation 2, the per-dependant pricing in Schedule 1, and the post-citizenship-additions rules in Schedule 1 paragraph 3 - as amended by S.R.O. No. 46 of 2025, which removed the former five-year window on adding post-grant newborns. Dominica's framework has NO sibling category; that is a positive feature of the design, not an omission to be inferred from any other Caribbean programme.
Who qualifies
A person may be included as a dependant only if he or she falls within one of the six reg 2 categories and meets the associated support and relationship conditions; relationship and support must be evidenced (sworn affidavit of support for dependants over 18 other than the spouse, and enrolment proof for student dependants). A dependant is also subject to the programme's integrity standards: a dependant aged 16 or over undergoes due-diligence checks and may, on the same denial grounds as the main applicant (reg 6, applied to applicants 'named in an application'), be a reason the application is refused if he or she presents a disqualifying profile. For post-citizenship additions the eligibility gate is relationship-based: a minor child must have been born to or adopted by the main applicant after grant (para 3(1)); a spouse must be a spouse to whom the person was not married at the time of the original application (para 3(3)); and an omitted dependant must have been a dependant at the time the original application was made (para 3(5)). There is no residency, presence, or language condition for any dependant.
Legal basis
The dependants framework draws on the same statutory base as the investment routes - Citizenship Act Chap 1:10 s.8 and s.20, and Constitution s.101 - and is given content by three parts of S.R.O. No. 8 of 2024. Regulation 2 defines 'dependant' (six categories), 'child' (biological or legally adopted child of the main applicant or spouse) and 'spouse' (partner of the opposite sex by marriage under the Marriage Act). Schedule 1 paragraphs 1(3)(a) and 2(3) set the per-dependant contribution/fee add-ons for the EDF and real-estate routes respectively. Schedule 1 paragraph 3 governs post-citizenship additions: a minor child born to or adopted by the main applicant after grant (para 3(1)), a later-acquired spouse (para 3(3)/(4)), and a dependant who existed at the time of but was omitted from the original application (para 3(5)-(7)). The single substantive change made by S.R.O. No. 46 of 2025 (gazetted 27 November 2025) was to amend paragraph 3(1) by deleting the words 'not more than five years after the main applicant obtained citizenship', removing the time cap on adding post-grant newborns. No dependant definition or per-dependant figure was changed.
Example scenarios
Not possible: Dominica's CBI framework has no sibling dependant category.
The exhaustive dependant definition in reg 2(a)-(f) covers spouse, child under 18, student child 18-30, unmarried daughter under 25, disabled adult child, and parent or grandparent over 65 - it does NOT include siblings. No provision of SRO 8/2024 or SRO 46/2025 admits a sibling as a dependant. The adult brother would have to pursue citizenship on his own footing (for example as his own CBI main applicant) rather than as a dependant. This absence of a sibling category is a deliberate feature of Dominica's own framework.
All listed relatives are eligible dependants; the application covers a multi-generation family with per-dependant add-ons beyond the family-of-four base.
Spouse (reg 2(a)), child under 18 (reg 2(b)), and parents or grandparents over 65 substantially supported (reg 2(f)) are all eligible dependants. With a main applicant plus four dependants, the EDF base of US$250,000 (family of four) applies plus one additional dependant add-on: US$25,000 for the child if counted as the additional under-18, or US$40,000 for an additional 18+ relative, depending on which four fill the base (Sch.1 para 1(3)(a)(iii)/(iv)). Each relative over 16 attends the interview and pays the US$4,000 due-diligence fee. The mother and grandmother must be substantially supported by the main applicant or spouse.
The 28-year-old student is eligible; the 31-year-old is NOT an eligible dependant.
Reg 2(c) allows a child aged 18-30 who is in attendance at a recognised institution of higher learning and fully supported - the 28-year-old master's student qualifies and must submit transcripts or an enrolment letter (reg 4(15)). The 31-year-old falls outside the 18-30 student category and outside every other category (he is not under 18, not an unmarried daughter under 25, not physically/mentally challenged, not a parent/grandparent over 65), so he cannot be included as a dependant. The age cap of 30 is exact.
Eligible to add the newborn with NO time limit, following SRO 46/2025; prior to that amendment a five-year window applied.
A minor child born to or adopted by the main applicant after grant may be registered under Sch.1 para 3(1). S.R.O. No. 46 of 2025 (gazetted 27 Nov 2025) amended para 3(1) by deleting 'not more than five years after the main applicant obtained citizenship', so there is now no time limit. A child born three years post-grant is comfortably addable now, and would also have been addable under the prior five-year rule; the amendment matters most for children born more than five years after grant. Fees are US$2,000 processing plus US$500 certificate (para 3(2)).
Eligible to add the later-acquired spouse under the post-citizenship-additions rules on payment of the prescribed fees.
Sch.1 para 3(3) allows a person who obtained citizenship through the programme to apply in respect of a spouse to whom that person was not married at the time the original application was made. Para 3(4) sets the fees: US$75,000 for the spouse, US$1,000 processing, US$4,000 due diligence on the spouse, US$7,500 due diligence on the original applicant where the application is made more than one year after the original (which applies here), and US$1,000 for the mandatory interview. The new spouse must satisfy the same due-diligence and interview requirements.
Informational summary compiled from primary legal sources — not legal advice. Citizenship law changes; verify with the competent authority before acting. Last verified 2026-06-14.
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