Dominica unveils diaspora citizenship plan as CBI revenue under threat

Finance Minister Irving McIntyre unveiled the grandparent citizenship pathway during the August 4 budget address, framing it as one pillar of a sweeping diaspora-engagement strategy.

• According to the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget, necessary legislation will be taken to Parliament to allow a person with at least one grandparent born in Dominica to apply for citizenship, subject to proof of ancestry, identity, and good character, beginning 1 January 2027.
• The government says it will launch a Global Dominican Talent Register to identify and match athletes, teachers, artists, engineers and medical professionals of Dominican ancestry with national opportunities.
• A new One-Stop Service is planned to help returning Dominicans navigate housing, business registration, school placement, licences and utilities through a single point of contact.
• The government says it will offer a free two-year 'Live in Dominica' residence visa to eligible remote workers, retirees and financially independent applicants who can demonstrate self-sufficiency, health coverage and compliance with immigration and security requirements.
• Dominica's existing CBI programme, established in 1993, offers a minimum US$200,000 contribution to the Economic Diversification Fund for a single applicant, or US$250,000 for a main applicant with up to three dependants, alongside a US$200,000 approved real-estate investment route.
• Opposition Leader Jesma Paul-Victor cited a CBI revenue decline from approximately EC$605 million in the prior year to a budget projection of approximately EC$514.9 million for the current year, with a further projected fall to approximately EC$474.8 million for 2027-2028.

If Parliament passes the enabling legislation on schedule, the grandparent pathway will widen the legal definition of Dominican belonging for a diaspora that, by the government's own account, now extends two or three generations beyond the island. 

Combined with the talent register and the One-Stop Service, the package is the most substantive diaspora-engagement framework Dominica has announced in years — and it arrives precisely when the country's primary revenue engine is under threat.

The timing matters enormously. CBI receipts are projected to fall a further 15 per cent in the current fiscal year and slide again in 2027-2028, according to Paul-Victor's budget response. 

The EU has formally requested that all five Eastern Caribbean CBI states phase out their programmes by 1 June 2028, and the United States has already imposed visa restrictions on Dominican nationals. 

A broadened citizenship base built on ancestry rather than investment alone could, in theory, provide Dominica with a more internationally defensible population-growth strategy — but only if the underlying CBI integrity questions raised publicly by developer Gregor Nassief are addressed in parallel.

What to watch: • Whether Parliament passes the grandparent citizenship legislation before the stated 1 January 2027 start date. • The trajectory of CBI revenue against the government's EC$558.6 million non-tax revenue budget for 2026-2027, and the projected further decline to approximately EC$474.8 million in 2027-2028. • The outcome of the five Eastern Caribbean CBI states' high-level mission to Brussels in response to the EU's June 2028 phase-out demand.

"Dominica's 2025-2026 budget projected that 56.7 per cent of recurrent government revenue would come from CBI, against non-CBI recurrent revenue of approximately EC$456.2 million and recurrent spending of EC$679.9 million."

— Dominica Freedom Party, as cited in source reporting

The Skerrit government frames ancestry-based citizenship and diaspora re-engagement as complementary to — not a replacement for — the existing CBI programme, positioning both as tools to rebuild population and close skills gaps.: The administration's budget commits to the 100,000 population target by 2040, the talent register, the One-Stop Service and the 'Live in Dominica' visa as a coordinated package, while continuing to defend CBI against EU and US pressure and urging Washington to reconsider its visa restrictions at 'the soonest opportunity.'

Opposition Leader Paul-Victor broadly supports CBI's contribution to national development but warns that falling revenues and dangerous over-dependence on a single source demand a deliberate pivot toward agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, financial services, digital industries, renewable energy and the creative economy.: Paul-Victor's budget response acknowledged CBI's role in financing schools, hospitals and infrastructure, but cited the 15% revenue decline and warned that the downward trajectory could undermine funded development programmes if economic diversification is not accelerated.

Developer and CHTA president-elect Gregor Nassief argues that neither the grandparent pathway nor any other population strategy can succeed while the CBI programme remains, in his characterisation, riddled with illegal discounting, opacity and unverified construction approvals.: Nassief has sent 14 letters to Prime Minister Skerrit over seven years alleging that discounts of up to 55% on citizenship prices are draining treasury revenue and fuelling the international crackdowns. He has called for a parliamentary hearing, judicial review, commission of inquiry and independent forensic audit, warning that legal action remains an option.

"It is neither reasonable nor acceptable that, to develop Dominica, we must break our own laws and hand over our future to interests that are not aligned with Dominica's, under a veil of secrecy and opacity. Development and integrity are not, and must never be, mutually exclusive."

— Gregor Nassief, Proprietor, Secret Bay Resort & Residences; President-elect, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, via Press conference, Roseau, Dominica — as reported by Caribbean Times and related outlets