Employer-sponsored work permission for employment lasting more than ninety days.
Eligibility: 4Process & costs: 2Report facts: 10
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Caribbean · Immigration
Bahamas
Bahamas sits in Caribbean. Its immigration system runs 16 distinct routes — led by work, family and short stays and visits, each set out in official law. All 16 cite an official government source, shown on the route with the date we last read it. Who actually qualifies depends on your full profile.
1 further route is recorded for Bahamas but not shown here — its details are still under review.
- Immigration routes
- 16across 9 route categories, each set out in official law
- Source-cited routes
- 16 of 16cite an official government source, with the date we last read it
- Largest category
- Work3 of the 16 routes — see them under Work below
- Region
- Caribbean
- Capital
- Nassau
- Population
- 403,033
- Official language
- English
- Currency
- BSD
- Time zone
- UTC-05:00
Source-cited pathways
Immigration routes
All 16 routes, grouped by purpose — 16 of 16 cite an official government source directly.
Work
3 routes
Work and residence permission for a foreign national directly employed under a Bahamian government contract.
Eligibility: 4Documents: 1Process & costs: 1Report facts: 4
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Work permission for a specific assignment lasting from one to ninety days.
Eligibility: 3Process & costs: 2Report facts: 10
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Investment
1 route
Economic permanent residence based on a qualifying investment in real estate or zero-coupon bonds.
Eligibility: 2Documents: 1Process & costs: 2Report facts: 7
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Study
1 route
Non-work residence permission for a person attending a school, college or university in The Bahamas.
Eligibility: 2Documents: 2Process & costs: 2Report facts: 5
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Family
3 routes
Permanent residence for the foreign spouse of a Bahamian after at least five years of marriage and cohabitation.
Process & costs: 3Report facts: 9
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Non-work residence permission for the dependent spouse or minor child of a person lawfully based in The Bahamas.
Documents: 1Process & costs: 2Report facts: 10
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Residence and work permission for the foreign spouse of a Bahamian citizen during the first five years of marriage.
Process & costs: 1Report facts: 11
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Living from your own income
1 route
Residence-entry facilitation card for a person whose primary residence is abroad and who owns a habitable home in The Bahamas.
Eligibility: 1Documents: 1Process & costs: 1Report facts: 6
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-08-03
Long-term residence
1 route
Permanent residence through specified long service, work-permit history or long residence categories.
Report facts: 1
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Short stays and visits
3 routes
Discretionary short entry permission for a non-Bahamian visitor whose name appears on the Restricted List.
Documents: 2Process & costs: 3Report facts: 8
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Short professional visit for eligible senior managers, listed professionals, researchers or event exhibitors without gainful employment.
Process & costs: 1Report facts: 8
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Entry as a visitor, with an advance visa required only for listed nationalities.
Process & costs: 2Report facts: 6
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Ancestry and return
2 routes
Permanent residence for the published category of persons born abroad to a married Bahamian woman and non-Bahamian husband.
Eligibility: 1Documents: 1Process & costs: 1Report facts: 5
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Resident status for specified constitutional birth and Bahamian-parentage cases.
Eligibility: 1Documents: 1Process & costs: 1Report facts: 5
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Special cases
1 route
Institutional resident status for accredited diplomats and consular officers taking up an official post.
Eligibility: 1Process & costs: 1Report facts: 6
Official government source: immigration.gov.bs · checked 2026-07-26
Official sources
- Bahamas Department of ImmigrationGovernment
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