The True Cost of a Caribbean Family Application: Who Charges What

Quick summary: A Caribbean citizenship application for a family doesn't have "one price." The number you receive is the sum of at least five different payers: the government, the real estate developer (if you choose the property route), a licensed local legal agent, your relocation consultant, and third parties for translation, medical exams, police records, and wire transfers. Knowing who charges what tells you which fees come back if you're denied, which ones jump when your child turns 17, and which ones you can't recover.

Clients often compare quotes by looking at the bottom line. That's the easiest way to compare wrong. Two quotes with the same total could differ by tens of thousands of dollars if one child just turned 17, or if an application fails at the due diligence stage.

This article breaks down one family quote line by line, showing who collects each fee and how. We use Grenada as our example because it's the program we handle most and has the most detailed fee schedule, but this structure applies to all five Caribbean citizenship programs.

One Quote, Five Payers

When you sign an "all-in" contract, money actually flows to five different places:

1. The citizenship-granting government: the national fund contribution (or mandatory contribution attached to the real estate route), background due diligence fees, processing fees, interview fees, passport issuance fees.
2. The approved real estate developer: only on the real estate route. This is an asset purchase, not a fee.
3. The licensed agent or law firm in that country: Caribbean governments only accept applications through licensed agents. They charge legal fees for filing and tracking your case.
4. Your relocation consultant at home: service fees for application prep, source of funds documentation, translation, client meetings.
5. Third parties: certified translation, notarization, consular legalization, medical exams, police records, international courier, bank wire fees.

The first question to ask any quote: Of this total, how much goes directly into a government account and comes with a government receipt? A reputable firm answers immediately.

Grenada's Fee Schedule by Payer

Below is Grenada's fee structure by who collects it, based on our current schedule dated 08/2026. Government fees can change; before you sign, ask for the current schedule with an effective date.

Two rows in this table are often skipped over. One is the "Charged per" column: due diligence and interview fees are per each person age 17+, not per application. The other is the surcharges: they don't fit in the advertised "from 235,000 USD" number you often see.

To compare the fund and real estate routes side by side, read National fund vs. real estate in Grenada. To calculate the exact number for your family, use the cost estimation tool — it calculates by person and by age group.

Example: Couple and Two Children, Numbers Change at a Child's 17th Birthday

Take a typical family: both spouses over 40, children ages 10 and 13, NTF fund route.

Government per-person fees (not including the contribution):

• Due diligence: both spouses, 10,000 USD. Both children under 17 are exempt.
• Processing: 1,500 × 2 + 500 × 2 = 4,000 USD.
• Interview: both spouses, 2,000 USD.

That's 16,000 USD in fees, plus the 235,000 USD contribution. Not counting registration, passport issuance, legal fees, service fees, or bank charges.

Now suppose the application is filed half a year late and the older child has turned 17. The family adds 5,000 USD due diligence, 1,000 USD processing difference, and 1,000 USD interview fee for just that child. The child also files their own police records and sits for their own interview. No one changed the price. Only birthdays changed.

This is why we always ask each person's birth date before quoting. A family quote without birth dates listed is an incomplete quote.

Price Movers: Older Children, Younger Parents, a Fifth Family Member

The Grenada contribution already factors in up to four people. Starting with the fifth person, add 25,000 USD per person, plus due diligence, processing, and interview fees if they're 17 or older.

Three scenarios push quotes highest in real life:

• Children 17 to 30 years old: can travel with the main application if still dependent, but pay adult fees. A child studying overseas also needs a police record from their study country — something that takes weeks and few budgets account for.
• Parent under 55 years old: Grenada adds a 50,000 USD surcharge. A parent age 55 and over doesn't trigger it. Some families delay their application a few months so a grandparent crosses the 55 threshold — a sensible move if there's no rush.
• Adult sibling: 75,000 USD surcharge per person. Sometimes filing as a separate application makes sense financially; ask your consultant to model both options.

Other Caribbean nations calculate dependents differently, but all use the concept of a "core family" and "additional members." After the five nations agreed on common ground in 2024, minimum investment thresholds rose — read five Caribbean nations align on 200,000 USD minimum for detail.

If Your Application Fails, What Refunds and What Doesn't

This is a question worth asking before you ask the price. Under Grenada's structure:

• Contribution or real estate purchase money: mostly only transfers after conditional approval in writing. On the schedule we use, the first installment is 10%, the rest after approval. If you're denied at due diligence, the main amount hasn't moved yet.
• Due diligence, processing fees: paid to the government for work performed; denial means no refund.
• Agent legal fees: typically non-refundable, since work was already done.
• Consultant service fees: refund policy is in the contract. Some refund a portion, some nothing. Read carefully the payment schedule in reading a relocation services contract.
• Third-party documents: once made, they're spent, though many stay valid for other programs if not expired.

In other words, the real cost of one denial is the sum of per-person fees plus non-refundable service fees — with four people, often tens of thousands of dollars. Not trivial, but also not a total loss of the entire investment like many worry.

Risks to Know Before You Wire the First Dollar

Government fees can rise mid-process. Caribbean nations raised minimums in 2024 and continue tightening terms. Ask: if fees rise between signing and filing, who pays the difference?

Sending government money through a middleman account. The contribution should go straight to a government account or a clearly named escrow account with official receipts. Wiring to a personal or consultant company account "to forward later" is a risk you don't need to take.

Currency and bank fees. All fees are in USD. A currency swing between signing and wire date can eat your entire legal fee. Read more on currency risk when investing in foreign currency.

Costs after you receive your passport. Caribbean passports now have shorter validity; some require in-person presence or biometrics collection. Antigua raised residency requirements, St. Kitts now mandates biometrics — see Antigua raises 30-day residency requirement for investment citizenship. Each trip means airfare for the whole family.

No tax, insurance, or real estate advice here. This article describes fee structure, not asset value or your tax obligations.

Many smaller line items sit outside the quote; we've listed them separately in costs not in the all-in quote.

Checklist: Reading an All-In Quote

Print or save this, then work through each line with your consultant:

• [ ] Does the quote have a date and cite which government fee schedule it uses?
• [ ] Does it list each person's birth date, and are fees calculated by correct age?
• [ ] Can you separate government payments, developer payments, agent fees, and consultant fees?
• [ ] Are interview fees, passport issuance, registration all included or calculated separately?
• [ ] Which account does the contribution go to, and is there a government receipt?
• [ ] If denied at due diligence, which fees refund—in writing?
• [ ] If government fees rise before filing, who pays the difference?
• [ ] Are travel costs for interviews, oath-taking, or biometrics included?
• [ ] How much does first passport renewal cost, and where is it done?

Any consultant who leaves more than three items blank deserves a request for a revised quote.

Next Steps

Send your consultant three pieces of information before asking for a price: each person's birth date, who travels with the main application, and which investment route you're leaning toward. Then place the quote you receive next to the table above and check off each line. If you want to model it yourself first, the Grenada page and cost estimation tool give you the number broken down by household structure; the rest is building a payment schedule by installment, as building a payment schedule before signing walks you through.