Bermuda Economic Investment Residential Certificate
- Processing time
- 1–3 months
- Physical presence
- Holders must spend at least 90 days in Bermuda in each calendar year for the five years following the grant, and keep the qualifying investment at 2.5 million or more over the same period; both are verified at the end of year five to retain the certificate. Two or more years of continuous residence outside Bermuda without prior leave from the Minister can trigger revocation.
- Family
- Spouse (or legally recognised equivalent) and children aged 18 or under, or 18 to 25 if enrolled in higher education. Dependants receive the right to reside, not to work: employment requires a work permit under the ordinary policy. On death or divorce, the spouse must reapply in their own right.
See the investment routes and what each one really costs →
Limits and drawbacks
- At 2.5 million BMD this is one of the highest entry tickets of any residency programme, and the amount must be held for five years.
- This is residency, not a passport. The certificate does not lead to Bermudian status, and British Overseas Territories citizenship is a separate British-law process that does not itself confer Bermudian status. Treat a second citizenship as outside this programme’s scope.
- Ninety days of physical presence every year for five years is a real obligation, verified at the end of year five; two years of continuous absence without leave can cost the certificate.
- Buying property adds a land-holding licence of 12.5% for a freehold house or 8% for a condominium, plus stamp duty, and the eligible housing stock is limited by minimum annual rental value thresholds.
- Sources still describe the old 2021 Economic Investment Certificate with its five-year wait, and government bonds are no longer an eligible asset since June 2024 — check the June 2024 policy text, not older summaries.
- No official processing time is published; the timeline depends on assembling a complete file through the Bermuda Business Development Agency.
What it gets you
- Indefinite right to reside and seek employment, granted directly — no five-year probationary certificate since March 2023
- No personal income tax, capital gains tax or VAT in Bermuda; payroll tax applies to local employment only
- An automatic work-permit approval for any Bermuda business you invest in
- Investment amounts denominated in a currency pegged 1:1 to the US dollar
- A British Overseas Territory with English common law, two hours from the US east coast