Moving to Antigua and Barbuda in 2026

The Nomad Digital Residence (NDR) is built for remote workers. The Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program is built for people who want a second passport. They don't overlap — the NDR carries no path to residency or citizenship, and the CBI is a separate track entirely. See every visa and residency route for Antigua and Barbuda if you want the full picture.

The NDR fee schedule is straightforward: $1,500 for a single applicant, $2,000 for a couple, $3,000 for a family of 3 or more. NDR holders pay no income tax in Antigua and Barbuda on their foreign income. The permit is one-time and cannot be renewed, so it's a two-year window, not a long-term base.

The CBI program has three investment routes. The National Development Fund option is $230,000 and covers a family of up to 4 — making it the best-value route for families at that size. The real estate route requires $300,000. Families of 6 or more have a University of the West Indies fund option at $260,000. All routes require a 5-day physical visit to Antigua within the first 5 years of citizenship.

Antigua and Barbuda sits in the premium tier for Caribbean living costs. The main city is Saint John's. Our estimate for a single person's monthly budget runs $2,800–4,000; a one-bedroom rental in a decent area typically lands at $1,400–2,400 per month. The living costs are our estimates — compare them against other destinations to calibrate.

The Eastern Caribbean dollar is pegged to the US dollar at 2.70, so there's no exchange-rate volatility to manage on day-to-day spending. That's a genuine convenience. The offset is that imported goods carry high import duties — Antigua and Barbuda imports almost everything, and that cost is baked into grocery and hardware prices.

• Monthly single budget (our estimate): $2,800–4,000
• One-bedroom rent (our estimate): $1,400–2,400/month
• EC dollar pegged to USD at 2.70 — no exchange risk on local spending
• High import duties push up the cost of most goods beyond food staples
• Hurricane season runs June to November and can disrupt plans and raise insurance costs

The system is a public-private mix with uneven standards. The Medical Benefits Scheme covers residents who contribute through employment or self-employment — it pays for treatment and listed prescriptions at Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre and approved providers. Residents without a contribution basis pay out of pocket or rely on private insurance.

The scheme's drug benefit is genuinely useful for chronic conditions, and Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre handles routine hospital work for the whole country. The hard limit is specialist and complex care: the scheme covers a defined list of conditions and medicines, not everything. Serious cases mean flying out — typically to Miami or Barbados.

Private insurance runs $70–180 per month (our estimate). For foreign residents, international cover with medical evacuation is the practical baseline, not an optional upgrade. More detail on how healthcare works for expats by country is at our healthcare guide.

Visitors are normally admitted for up to 3 months, extendable at the Immigration Department. If you're activating an NDR permit or converting to any other status, that has to happen before your entry stamp expires. The first-90-days playbook for Antigua and Barbuda walks through the sequence in detail.

• Register with the Immigration Department in St John's for your residence permit, or activate your NDR approval — before the entry stamp expires
• Get a TIN (taxpayer identification number) from the Inland Revenue Department — needed for property, business activity, and bank onboarding even though there's no personal income tax
• Register with the Social Security Board if you're taking up employment
• Open a local bank account: ACB Caribbean, CIBC Caribbean, and Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank all open accounts on a permit, reference letters, and source-of-funds evidence
• Get a temporary local driving licence from the Transport Board on presentation of your valid foreign licence and a fee — driving is on the left
• Sort international health insurance with evacuation cover before you need it

On banking: the EC dollar peg removes exchange risk locally, but international wires are slow and expensive. Keep a multi-currency account for anything cross-border. CBI passport holders should note that a CBI passport does not remove residence formalities for family members arriving on other documents — they go through the standard immigration track.

Antigua and Barbuda has a mature expat community, a well-developed nomad visa infrastructure, and the kind of setting — 365 beaches, a stable currency, no income or capital-gains tax on foreign income — that makes it a recurring name on Caribbean shortlists. The NDR in particular has clear published rules and a straightforward fee structure, which is more than can be said for many competing programs.

The trade-offs are real. The cost floor is high relative to much of Central America or Southeast Asia. Hurricane season (June to November) is a genuine disruption risk, not just a weather footnote. Healthcare limitations mean you're budgeting for international insurance and potentially evacuation costs. And the NDR's non-renewable two-year cap means it's a stint, not a settlement — unless you're also considering the CBI route.

Use the free route finder to check your own income and investment numbers against the published bars. Each government makes the actual approval decision — the published requirements are the threshold, not a guarantee.