Bahamas digital nomad visa: requirements (2026)

The Department of Immigration published revised temporary-work-permit regulations effective 1 July 2025 for certain private-destination workers, with broader changes to all short-term work-permit categories by 31 December 2025. The rules clarify authorisation requirements for short-stay foreign contractors, affecting project-based remote workers entering The Bahamas.

Sections 49A-49C, effective 1 July 2025, insert a mandatory licensing requirement for immigration consultants into the Immigration Act, creating formal oversight of the advisers who guide remote workers and investors through BEATS, EPR, and work-permit applications. This adds accountability and consumer protection to the residency-advisory market.

New fee regulations introduce an optional BSD $400 expedited track guaranteeing work-permit decisions within 14 calendar days; standard processing and the 5% levy continue. Though targeted at traditional work permits, the measure speeds up ancillary authorisations that long-stay residents and EPR holders sometimes need.

Effective 1 July 2023, a new 5% levy applies to all work-permit government fees and Economic Permanent Residence certificate fees are substantially restructured upward, raising the cost of the primary long-term investment-residency route used by high-net-worth remote workers and retirees.

The Department of Immigration halted the BEATS programme in early 2022, barely 15 months after launch, with no formal public explanation, affecting both new applicants and holders already resident in The Bahamas. Only ~34 permits had been issued in total; the programme's website and official government email ([email protected]) remained live, creating ongoing confusion about whether the scheme was still accepting applications.

Section 17A is inserted into the Immigration Act, creating a distinct statutory category of Economic Permanent Residency (EPR) requiring a minimum USD $1 million investment in Bahamian real estate or Central Bank Zero Coupon Bonds held for at least 10 years, and at least 90 days of annual residence. EPR grants lifetime residency plus the right to operate one's own business, becoming the primary long-term pathway for high-net-worth remote workers and investors.

The Ministry of Tourism & Aviation and Department of Immigration jointly launched the Bahamas Extended Access Travel Stay (BEATS), a 12-month renewable permit (renewable up to three years total) enabling overseas professionals and full-time students to live and work remotely across all 16 Bahamian islands. Cost: USD $1,025 for professionals, USD $525 for students; no minimum income requirement; no Bahamian tax on foreign-sourced earnings. The first purpose-built remote-work residency permit in Bahamian history, introduced as a COVID-era economic recovery measure.

The Bahamas Immigration Act, Chapter 191 of the Statute Law of The Bahamas, established the core legal architecture for entry, stay, annual residence permits ('Permit to Reside', the long-standing non-working long-term-resident pathway), work permits, and permanent residency. Every subsequent pathway used by remote workers, annual permits, BEATS, EPR, derives its authority from this Act and its amending legislation.