The Bahamas · Residency by investment
Homeowner's Residence Card
Open
Last verified July 2026Unconfirmed
Open. Issued under the International Persons Landholding Act, Ch. 140. Frequently and incorrectly described as a residency product.
It is a facilitated-entry card for second-home owners and nothing more. We list it because clients and brokers routinely conflate it with permanent residency, and the distinction is the whole point.
Qualifying routes
$250k
Bahamian residential property
Commonly cited threshold of BSD 250,000+, but this figure does not appear on the official Immigration page — treat as unverified.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $250k
- Total landed cost
- Fee sources conflict badly (BSD 250 vs 500, plus a BSD 200 processing fee). Low confidence — confirm with counsel.
- Timeline
- 1–3 months — The applicant is expected not to be in the country during processing
- Physical presence
- None — the card facilitates entry, it does not require residence
- Family
- spouseendorsed minor children
- Permanent residency
- none — this is not resident status
- Citizenship
- none via this route
- Language test
- n/a
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- habitable Bahamian residenceprimary residence outside The BahamasInternational Landholding CertificateReal Property Tax currentregistered deed
What can go wrong
- This is explicitly NOT resident status and NOT a work permit. It lets the owner, spouse and endorsed minor children enter and remain for the card's validity. Do not let a client conflate it with the Economic Certificate of Permanent Residence.
- Requires a habitable Bahamian residence AND a primary residence outside The Bahamas — by design it presumes you live somewhere else, which makes it useless for breaking tax residency.
- Requires current Real Property Tax paid, a registered deed and an International Landholding Certificate.
- The BSD 250,000 property threshold and the fee level are both unverified against official sources.