Most articles on this subject open with travel freedom. This one opens with the legal point that decides whether the rest is relevant to you at all.
Article 9 of the Nationality Law
Article 9 of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China provides that a Chinese national who settles abroad and acquires foreign nationality of their own free will automatically loses Chinese nationality.
China does not recognise dual nationality. This is not a grey area and it is not selectively enforced at the applicant's convenience. Anyone selling you a Caribbean passport on the promise that you "keep both" is either misinformed or is telling you what you want to hear.
Get this wrong and the consequences are not theoretical: property registration, banking, hukou, and the passports of children born afterwards are all downstream of nationality status.
Take advice from PRC counsel before you apply, not after. Everything below assumes you have done that and understand your position.
So why do Chinese nationals still do this?
Because for a specific set of situations, a second citizenship solves a problem nothing else solves. Three of them come up repeatedly.
1. The E-2 route to the United States
Grenada holds a commerce treaty with the United States. Grenadian citizens may apply for the E-2 Investor Visa — permission to live in the US while operating a genuine business, with work authorisation available for a spouse and schooling for children.
China has no E-2 treaty. A PRC passport holder cannot apply for this visa at all. Grenada is one of the few programmes that opens the route, and it is the single most common reason applicants from China look at the Caribbean rather than Europe.
The E-2 is a non-immigrant visa. It needs a real operating business and periodic renewal, and it is not a green card. EB-5 remains the route to permanent residence, at a very different cost and timeline.
2. Travel that does not require a visa file
The Chinese passport ranks #48 and reaches 83 destinations without a visa in advance. Grenada ranks #15, with 146 on the published count.
| Destination | 🇨🇳 China | 🇬🇩 Grenada |
|---|---|---|
| Germany, France (Schengen) | Visa required | Visa-free |
| United Kingdom | Visa required | eTA — online |
| Russia | e-visa | Visa-free |
| Singapore | Visa-free | Visa-free |
| Japan | e-visa | Visa required |
| United States | Visa required | Visa required |
Note the fourth row carefully. A Chinese passport gets into Japan more easily than a Grenadian one does. Grenada is a Schengen and UK document, not a universally stronger one. Anyone claiming otherwise has not checked.
3. Asset and tax structuring
Grenada levies no wealth, inheritance, or capital gains tax. For families structuring holdings across jurisdictions this is a factor — but it is a factor that only works when it is set up correctly and disclosed correctly. This is advisory territory, not something to improvise from an article.
What the application involves
- Main applicant aged 18 or over
- Clean criminal record
- Passing due diligence — source of funds is examined thoroughly
- A qualifying investment in a government-approved project
Dependants may include a spouse, children, and dependent parents or grandparents. Processing typically runs 4–6 months.
The investment
The lowest qualifying entry into the largest approved project, Grenada National Resort, is a USD 270,000 resort share, paying an annual return for five years from the year after the resort opens, resalable once the Investment Migration Agency's conditions are met.
The alternative is freehold property — apartment or villa, 100% permanent ownership, higher outlay, resale under IMA conditions.
The first hotel tower has topped out, attended by Grenada's Prime Minister and the IMA. HSG International has been the developer since 2019, and the project maintains a working relationship with the Prime Minister's Office and the IMA.
Grenada National Resort by HSG International — full project analysis →
Before you decide
Programme terms are set by the Government of Grenada and have been revised repeatedly across the Caribbean in the past two years. Thresholds have risen, not fallen.
And to return to where this started: confirm your nationality position under PRC law with qualified counsel first. Every other consideration in this article is secondary to that one.
Viking Global Group (ARB Vietnam) is a strategic distribution partner for Grenada National Resort. Contact the advisory team for a free assessment.