The Bahamas · Passive income
Annual Residence Permit
Open
Last verified July 2026
Open. Renewable annually at the discretion of the Director of Immigration.
A cheap, low-commitment way to establish lawful residence in a zero-tax jurisdiction without deploying BSD 1m — useful as a bridge or a trial, and adequate on its own for a family whose only goal is to break tax residency elsewhere and spend real time in The Bahamas.
Qualifying routes
$3k
General resident
BSD 3,000 per year for the head of household, plus BSD 300 per dependant. Retired persons of 20+ years' standing: BSD 250/yr.
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- $3k
- Total landed cost
- BSD 3,000 per year plus BSD 300 per dependant, plus a BSD 200 processing fee (BSD 400 or a 10% surcharge to expedite)
- Timeline
- 1–4 months — Discretionary
- Physical presence
- No minimum, but the permit is a permission to reside, not to visit
- Family
- spousedependent children
- Permanent residency
- Time on annual permits can support a later permanent residence application, but there is no automatic accrual
- Citizenship
- Not directly — see the EPR entry
- Language test
- none
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- financial self-sufficiencypolice certificatemedical certificateno local employment
What can go wrong
- Annual and discretionary. It can simply not be renewed, and there is no security of tenure.
- A residence permit is NOT a work permit. You cannot work in The Bahamas on one, full stop.
- Many circulating guides still quote BSD 1,000 for the head of household and BSD 25 per dependant. That is a roughly 2018 figure. The official Immigration fee scale now says BSD 3,000 and BSD 300. Do not use the old numbers.