Seychelles · Citizenship by investment
Citizenship by Investment (section 5C)
REPEALED. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2023 (Act 25 of 2023), assented by President Wavel Ramkalawan on 19 December 2023, states: 'Repeal of section 5C — 6. Section 5C of the principal Act is repealed.' Section 5C was the investor citizenship route (USD 1,000,000 plus 11 years' residence) inserted by Act 11 of 2013. The student route in section 5B was repealed at the same time and presidential discretion was narrowed to distinguished service and surviving spouses.
The strongest passport in Africa is no longer for sale at any price, and has not been since December 2023. Agencies still marketing 'Seychelles citizenship by investment' are selling a repealed section of an Act. Treat it as a decisive signal about the firm.
Qualifying routes
USD 1m plus 11 years' residence — repealed 19 December 2023
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $1M
- Total landed cost
- Not applicable — repealed
- Physical presence
- not applicable
- Permanent residency
- not applicable
- Citizenship
- Surviving routes only: marriage (15 years married, raised from 10 by the same 2023 Act, plus 2 years' aggregate residence, reduced from 5), constitutional entitlement, and presidential grant for distinguished service
- Language test
- 80% in a qualifying examination in English, French or Seychellois Creole
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Repealed by Act 25 of 2023. Any firm quoting you a price for Seychelles citizenship by investment is either working from stale material or misleading you.
- The marriage route was made harder at the same time, not easier — the marriage requirement went from 10 to 15 years (the residence element fell from 5 to 2).
- The government's own ICS FAQ page was still publishing the pre-2023 rule (10 years' marriage, 5 years' residence) when we checked in July 2026, while a different ICS page publishes the post-2023 rule. Rely on the Act, not either page.
- Seychelles retains constitutionally guaranteed dual citizenship — no law may require renunciation as a condition of acquiring Seychellois citizenship. That makes the repeal more painful, not less: it was the only African CBI whose passport was worth having and whose citizenship you could hold alongside others.