Nevis Style Realty: New Citizenship Bill Could Exempt Diaspora From 10% Property Fee

The Bill’s new grandparent pathway to citizenship would let eligible applicants buy St. Kitts and Nevis properties without the 10% Alien Landholder License fee.

CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS, SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS, September 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2026, approved by Cabinet and given its first reading in the National Assembly, would allow adults born abroad to register as citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis through a grandparent, not only a parent, closing a gap in the law that has stood since Independence in 1983. Nevis Style Realty, a real estate agency based in Charlestown, says the reform has a direct effect on property ownership in the Federation that has drawn little public attention so far.

Under current law, non-citizens must obtain an Alien Landholder License to purchase property in St. Kitts and Nevis, a process that carries a 10% fee on the purchase price. Citizens are exempt from both the license and the fee. The proposed Bill would extend citizenship eligibility, and with it that exemption, to a wider group of people with family ties to the Federation.

Key facts about the Bill:

Eligible applicants are adults born abroad on or after September 19, 1983, whose parent or grandparent held citizenship at Independence.

The prior law recognized only the parent pathway; the amendment adds the grandparent pathway.

The Bill has passed Cabinet and had its first reading on September 18, 2026. It is not yet law, and no application process, fee schedule, or filing date has been announced. Those details will follow in regulations once the Bill is enacted.

A non-citizen buyer currently pays a 10% Alien Landholder License fee on a property purchase; a citizen does not.

“This is a group of people who, in many cases, do not yet know they qualify,” said Wayne Tyson, owner of Nevis Style Realty. “Once the pathway opens, someone with a Nevisian or Kittitian grandparent will be able to buy property here on the same terms as any other citizen, without the license or the fee. That changes the calculation for families who have thought about owning something in the Federation but assumed they would be treated as foreign buyers.”

Tyson noted that the registration process itself falls outside real estate and requires proof of the qualifying family connection along with the standard security screening the government has outlined. Nevis Style Realty works with independent, Nevis-based legal counsel who handle citizenship registration matters, and the firm plans to make that resource available to prospective applicants alongside its own property guidance once the application process is confirmed.

In the meantime, the practical step for anyone who believes they may qualify is locating the documentation, birth and marriage records connecting them to the parent or grandparent who held citizenship at Independence, so that a filing can be made without delay once regulations are published.

About Nevis Style Realty

Nevis Style Realty is a real estate agency based in Charlestown, Nevis, providing residential and commercial property sales, listings, and marketing across St. Kitts and Nevis. The agency has worked with both local and international buyers, including transactions involving the Federation’s citizenship-linked property requirements.

Contact:
Wayne Tyson, Owner
Nevis Style Realty
P.O. Box 117, Charlestown, Nevis, West Indies
Phone: 1-869-469-1120 (Int’l: 1-305-735-3345)
Email: contactus@nevisstylerealty.com
Website: nevisstylerealty.com

Wayne Tyson
Nevis Style Realty
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
X

Media gallery