-Investors must be over 21 years of age.
-Applicants for Economic Citizenship must be of outstanding character.
-Application must be on the prescribed form and all necessary supporting documentation must be provided.
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT ALL PHOTOCOPIED DOCUMENTS MUST BE CERTIFIED AS A TRUE COPY BY A NOTARY PUBLIC. FAX COPIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. ALSO ALL DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED MUST BE IN ENGLISH. DOCUMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN ISSUED IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE MUST BE TRANSLATED BY AN OFFICIAL TRANSLATOR
-Included in the package also must be a letter of application for economic citizenship addressed to the Minister responsible for Citizenship stating the reason(s) for applying for economic citizenship. (We can help you with this letter)
-Application forms must be signed by applicant or by the parent or lawful guardian of children below eighteen (18) years old.
-Applicants must have a basic knowledge of the English language.
Each investor/applicant under the programme shall deposit into the appropriate account at the National Commercial Bank of Dominica the amount of their investment. This amount shall not be withdrawn from the account unless the application is withdrawn, rejected or approved. In either of the first two cases the applicant will be refunded. However, if the application is rejected because of false information or declarations, forged or fraudulent documents submitted by the applicant then the investment will be forfeited to the Commonwealth of Dominica and shall not be refunded.
If the application is refused, all sums (net of bank charges and exchange rate differential) paid into the designated account shall be refunded to the applicant within one (1) month of the rejection of the application. However, no sums paid as fees to the Government shall be refunded or the fees paid to WHITCO Inc..
Processing of applications for economic citizenship can take at least eight (8) weeks.
1. Application Form 12 must be completed in duplicate for all persons desirous of Dominican citizenship, children included. A parent or legal guardian of applicants under eighteen (18) years of age must sign the application Form 12 on behalf of the minor. All Form 12s must be notarized to be complete. Reproductions of the Form 12 are accepted. The section of Form 12 labelled "REFERENCE" can be left undone.
2. Two (2) original personal references (Not Professional References) for the investor, spouse and any child over 18 years old. Testimonials should include a paragraph about the referee, who must be acquainted with the applicant for at least five (5) years. Identical testimonials will not be accepted. Also testimonials should not be from family members. An original letter of recommendation from the Principal/Dean of the school or university for children between 12 and 18 years old.
3. One (1) original Professional reference for the investor. References should be from person who has been acquainted with the investor's work for at least three (3) years.
4. One (1) original recommendation from the investor's banker (Not a certificate of Deposit/ Bank Statement). The investor must be a client of the bank for at least two (2) years. The recommendation should contain the contact information for the bank. Unsigned bank recommendations will not be accepted.
5. Original Letter of Employment for the investor. If self-employed most recent audited financial statement of the business.
6. Original affidavit by investor stating source of funds.
7. Marriage certificate where applicable. If an applicant is divorced and has remarried then a notarized copy of the Dissolution of the Marriage is required.
8. A letter of application addressed to the Honourable Minister responsible for Citizenship requesting citizenship is required of the investor or the head of the family applying for citizenship stating the reason(s) for applying for economic citizenship.
9. Original Police clearance certificate or a similar document provided by a law enforcement agency confirming the absence of a criminal record is required of all applicants sixteen (16) years and over. Police records are required from country of birth, citizenship and residence (where the applicant has lived for six (6) months or more) if different. Police records are required from a County/State and at Federal Level. All police records must be accompanied by a set of fingerprints. For children twelve to fifteen (12-15), sworn affidavit by parent that child does not have criminal record.
10. Four certified passport size photos. On the reverse side of each photo a notary public should endorse the following statement: I certify that is a true likeness of the applicant Mr./Miss/Mrs./Ms __________________".
11. Birth certificate for all applicants.
12. Notarized copies of University/College diplomas.
13. Completed medical for all applicants. Applicants between the ages of 0-5 years will not be required to take an HIV test.
14. Non-refundable Processing Fee of US$200.00.
15. The non-refundable application fee of US$200 and stamp cost of US$15.00 as stated in the list of fees apply to each applicant. These fees and stamp costs must accompany the rest of the application package. Payments can be made in EC dollars and must be net of all bank and transfer charges. The exchange rate is US$1.00 = EC$2.70.
16. A detailed resume/business background report is required of all applicants who are working adults. The occupation of all working adults must be clearly indicated.
17. Completed Disclosure Form for all applicants over 16 years old.
18. Statutory declaration attesting that the information submitted in the application package is correct. If the applicant is experiencing difficulties in obtaining a statutory declaration, the document may be processed in Dominica.
19. Any other document deemed necessary by the Minister.
DOCUMENTS SHOULD NOT PRE-DATE THE SUBMISSION OF THE APPLICATION TO THE FSU BY MORE THAN THREE (3) MONTHS
The complete application package should be submitted to:
WHITCO Inc.
P.O. Box 2130
Roseau
Commonwealth of Dominica
Tel No.: 1 (767) 277 8399
After careful consideration of the application by the Financial Services Unit, the WHITCO Inc. company will be issued a comfort letter from the Minister of Finance and Social Security. Upon receipt of the comfort letter, the stipulated investment should be deposited into the Citizenship account at the:
National Bank of Dominica
For credit to Ministry of Finance & Planning Government of Dominica – Economic Citizenship
Account No. 115003026
64 Hillsborough Street
Roseau
Commonwealth of Dominica
Swift code: NCDMDMDM at BANK OF AMERICA, NEW YORK
The name of the investor should be indicated clearly on the Wire Transfer/Deposit Slip.
Simultaneously, notification of the payment/deposit should be faxed to the Manager of the
Financial Services Unit. All investments should be net of bank and transfer charges.
INVESTMENTS WILL NOT BE TRANSFERRED FROM THIS ACCOUNT EITHER FOR PRIVATE OR PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTS' USE UNTIL NATURALIZATION CERTIFICATES HAVE BEEN ISSUED.
It is mandatory that all investors be interviewed by a government appointed committee or
committee members. Interviews are to be conducted in Dominica. The interview will be
conducted in English and therefore applicants are expected at a minimum to be able to
communicate verbally in English. Also if an investor is unable to travel to Dominica and wish to
have his interview conducted overseas then he would be required to pay US$3,000 plus the full
cost (hotel, airfare and Per Diem) for three members of the interview panel. It should be noted
that under no circumstances will an interview be waived. Government has an approved list of
translators who are able to assist in the case where an applicant is not fluent in the English
language. A fee of US$100 will be charged for the use of a translator. Interviews will only be
conducted where all documents are in order one (1) week prior to the date of the interview and
WHITCO Inc. confirms that the investor will be attending the interview. The
questions posed at the interview will fall within the following categories:
- Personal information and eligibility for Dominica citizenship
- Social, political and economic life in Dominica
- Reason for seeking Dominica Citizenship and proposed contribution to Dominica's socio-
economic growth
It is the responsibility of WHITCO Inc. to make the appropriate arrangements
and appointments through the Financial Services Unit with regard to the interview. This
interview will last approximately one hour and you will be expected to have a basic knowledge
of the country. WHITCO Inc. will also help you to prepare for this interview
thoroughly.
WHITCO Inc. will be notified about the results of the interview one month (1)
after the interview date. If the application is recommended by the interviewing committee for
further processing, it will be forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and
Labour, that is the ministry responsible for granting economic citizenship. It should be noted that
submission of an application to this ministry does not guarantee economic citizenship.
Upon final approval of application by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Labour each applicant is required to sign an Oath of Allegiance before a Notary Public, Justice of Peace or Commissioner of Oaths. Parents or legally appointed guardians of minors, ages zero to sixteen (0 - 16) must sign the Oath of Allegiance on the behalf of the minor. At this point, each applicant is to pay a registration fee of US$1,000.00. A Certificate of Naturalization is then prepared and forwarded to WHITCO Inc..
Passports can only be issued after the applicant has been granted citizenship of the
Commonwealth of Dominica, that is, after he/she is issued a Certificate of Naturalization under
the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Labour. WHITCO Inc. is entirely responsible for the securing of passports. No government officer or
department is responsible for applying for passports for any individual. Passports can be
procured by submitting the following to the Immigration Office, Police Headquarters, Roseau:
1. Certificate of Naturalization
2. Certified copy of birth certificate
3. Completed passport application forms for each applicant along with Government Treasury
receipt of EC$100 on Form "A" for adults or Form "B" for children (0-16 years). These forms
must be submitted as issued by the Immigration Department. Reproduction or duplicates will not
be accepted.
4. Two passport-size photographs - 2.5" x 2"
Fees for:
1. Renewal of Passports – EC$100.00
2. Replacement of Lost Passports – EC$500.00
Government views the economic citizenship programme as one component of its national capital
mobilization portfolio towards its ultimate goal of national development and as such intends to
channel capital from the economic citizenship programme towards public and private sector
projects where a need is identified. Public sector projects identified for financing under the
programme include:
(1) building of schools
(2) renovation of the hospital
(3) building of a
national Sports stadium
(4) The promotion of the Offshore Sector.
With respect to
private sector projects, government emphasis is on the tourism, information technology and
agricultural sectors and therefore public sector projects to be financed under the programme will
fall within one of these sectors.
Chapter VII of the Constitution sets out the conditions under which citizenship may be obtained
or granted. Sections 97 to 100 make provisions for entitlement to citizenship by birth, parentage
and marriage respectively. Section 101 allows Parliament to pass laws to grant citizenship to
other persons who are not entitled under the preceding sections. Section 101 provides as follows:
101. There shall be such provision as may be made by Parliament for –
1.
the acquisition of citizenship of Dominica by persons who are not eligible or who are no
longer eligible to become citizens of Dominica under the provisions of this Chapter;
2.
depriving of his citizenship of Dominica any person who is a citizen of Dominica
otherwise than by virtue of section 97, 98 or 99 of this Constitution;
3.
the renunciation by any person of his citizenship of Dominica.
Citizenship provided for by section 101 of the Constitution could only be granted under the
Naturalization and Citizenship Act which stipulated that persons who had been continuously
resident in Dominica for five (5) years could apply for naturalization and may be eligible for
citizenship on payment of prescribed fees.
In 1993 the concept of Economic Citizenship was introduced whereby the residency requirement
was waived. This amendment to the Citizenship Act meant that for a stipulated investment,
persons could apply for Dominica citizenship.
Under this option the investor-applicant pays US$100,000 which qualifies the investor, spouse and two (2) children under eighteen for economic citizenship. An additional US$15,000 per child is required for children who have turned 18 years but are less than 21 years old (that is the child has yet to become 21 years old). Also, a cash contribution of US$25,000 will be required for any additional child under twenty-one (21).
A Single Option application is defined as one where the investor (whether single or married) is the sole applicant for economic citizenship. Under this option the "Single" investor would be required to make cash investment of US$75,000 which would be directed towards public sector financing.
Application fee - US$1,000 per investor (Non-refundable)
Processing Fee - US$200 per applicant (Non-refundable)
Naturalization Fee - US$550 per applicant
Stamp Fee - US$15 per applicant
Agent's (WHITCO Inc.) Fee - please email or call us
Phone:+1 767 277 8399
Email:info@whitco-inc.com
The following procedure is to be adopted for the conduct of due diligence investigations: -
1. The Disclosure Form is to be completed in duplicate for all applicants sixteen (16) years and
above.
2. The agent/promoter/investor should forward the original Disclosure Form together with the
necessary payment to the due diligence agency. The duplicate form together with the other
required application documents will be submitted to the FSU.
3. After the background investigation has been completed, the due diligence company will
forward the results directly to the FSU.
It should be noted that the cost of the investigation is the responsibility of the applicant.
Approved Due Diligence Agencies:-
Normally the costs vary from USD 5,000 to USD 10,000 per family, but can exceed this amount.
The cost depends upon: the number of people in the family, age of applicants, the country of
present citizenship and current residence, and how often you changed your residence. We have
no influence over such costs and you have to pay it before applying for citizenship.