Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia have signed the treaty for ECCIRA, a regional authority that will set binding rules for all five citizenship by investment programs.
The five Caribbean countries that sell citizenship by investment have agreed to be supervised by a single regional body. On September 23, 2025, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the regional group that links the smaller eastern Caribbean islands, announced that the heads of government of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia had signed an agreement creating the Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority, known as ECCIRA.
Until now each country has run its own program under its own law, with its own Citizenship by Investment Unit, the government office that processes applications. ECCIRA is meant to sit above all five and hold them to one standard.
The agreement runs to 92 articles. According to the OECS and the St Kitts and Nevis government, the regulator's main functions are:
Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has said ECCIRA will have its headquarters in Grenada, with offices across the other member states. Descriptions of the draft text published in August added further detail: enhanced due diligence standards, a residence requirement of 30 days, annual caps on applications, and a rule that an applicant refused by one country should generally not be approved by another. Governments have not yet published the signed text, so those points should be treated as reported until it appears.
Signing is the first step, not the last. The heads of government have committed to pass the national laws establishing ECCIRA by October 2025. Each of the five parliaments must ratify the agreement, and under its own terms ECCIRA comes into operation on the thirtieth day after the fifth country deposits its instrument of ratification, the formal document confirming that it has approved the treaty. Lawyers quoted by IMI Daily, a trade publication covering investment migration, expect the body to be working in early 2026. Any country may later withdraw on six months' notice.
Preparation has been overseen by an Interim Regulatory Commission chaired by Timothy Antoine, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, which manages the shared currency of most of these islands. Draft legislation was shared with the United States and the United Kingdom in July for comment.
The agreement is the product of more than two years of talks with outside governments, starting with a roundtable with the US Treasury in St Kitts in February 2023. St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew said it shows the programs can keep funding climate resilience and development while meeting international expectations.
The pressure has been real. The United Kingdom removed visa free entry for Dominica in 2023. A State Department memo reported in June 2025 named four of the five countries among those facing possible US entry restrictions, and the European Union is preparing rules that would let it suspend visa free travel for countries selling citizenship. A credible regional regulator is the countries' main answer to all three.
For applicants, ECCIRA should bring more consistency between the islands and less room for discounted or poorly vetted applications. Expect interviews, biometrics and stricter source of funds checks to be standard everywhere, and expect a refusal in one country to follow you to the others. Prices will not fall below the regional floor, and some routes may rise as the countries align.
For existing citizens, the most visible change will be biometrics at passport renewal. Citizenship already granted is not affected by the agreement. Over time, a regulated market should help protect the travel access that gives these passports much of their value. We help clients compare the five programs, apply through authorised agents, work with our local team in each country, and quote our fees in writing, and we will update clients as the regulations take effect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
The Council of the EU has adopted a tougher visa suspension mechanism that names investor citizenship schemes as a ground for removing visa free access. The five Caribbean programs are the obvious focus.
Read
Four Eastern Caribbean governments have signed an agreement to raise and align the minimum price of citizenship by investment at US$200,000 by June 30, 2024, alongside shared vetting and a regional regulator.
Read
Prices have eased 5% to 15% since the end of 2025 and sales are down sharply, while the very top of the market keeps trading. A look at what the data shows, and the risks on both sides.
ReadThis is a big decision, and there is a lot of information to take in. That is why we start with a free 15 minute call: we look at your situation and your goals, then tell you which programs genuinely fit you, and which do not. We never push one program over another. If staying where you are is your best move, we will tell you that and sell you nothing.
