Of the nine citizenship-by-investment programmes covered on this site, only one is run from the UAE. São Tomé and Príncipe's Citizenship Investment Unit, the government body that receives and processes applications, lists its main address as Office 1504, Mazaya Business Avenue BB1, in the JLT district of Dubai. A second office, in São Tomé itself, handles dealings with the national authorities.
For UAE residents that is unusual and, on the face of it, convenient. This post sets out what the unit itself publishes about the Dubai office and the process, and corrects one assumption people often make.
When the Dubai office opened
The unit's own news page records the opening of its representative office in Dubai in September 2025. That same month the unit said its programme would run on blockchain technology.
A Dubai office does not mean you apply in Dubai
This is the assumption worth correcting. Having the unit nearby does not let you walk in and file. The unit says every application must be submitted exclusively through an authorised marketing agent licensed under the programme, as required by government regulations; agents apply to the unit for their licence. The unit publishes the list of licensed marketing agents on its website.
In practice, then, your relationship is with a licensed agent, and the agent deals with the unit. Before signing with anyone, check their name against the unit's published list.
Who can apply
Eligibility, as the unit states it, starts with an adult main applicant (18 or older) with no convictions on file and sound finances. No nationality is excluded by name, although the unit reserves the right to restrict some applicants on legal, policy or jurisdictional grounds.
On family, a single application can carry children until their thirtieth year and both parents and grandparents once they reach 55.
How the process runs
The programme has one route, a donation to the National Transformation Fund, starting at USD 90,000 for a single applicant, the government minimum before agent and professional fees. Money changes hands in two stages: a filing charge goes in with the application, and the gift to the fund falls due only once the unit grants provisional approval, together with the charges for the three citizenship documents. The unit publishes no deadline in days for that second payment.
Timing is harder to pin down, because the unit publishes four figures that do not agree. One page puts approval at roughly eight weeks with the passport following within another quarter or so; one gives a total of five to six months; one says two to three months; and one speaks of approval within two months at the quickest. Until the unit settles on one figure, plan on the longest.
What you receive
A successful applicant ends up with three documents: a certificate of registration, a passport and a national identity card, all issued together. Nothing in the rules asks the new citizen to live in, or even visit, São Tomé, either before the grant or after it.
The passport's travel picture is the main limitation. The EU lists the country among those whose citizens need a visa for short Schengen trips, and Britain likewise requires its nationals to obtain a visit visa. Anyone buying a second passport mainly for European travel should weigh that first.
The legal basis
Two instruments sit behind the programme, according to the unit: the 2022 nationality law (No. 07/2022) and a 2025 decree-law (No. 07/2025) setting out how nationality is granted for an investment or a gift to the state. We could not locate either text on an official government site, so anyone wanting to read the rules first-hand will have to ask the agent or the unit for a copy.
What others report
Some recent news has appeared only in non-government outlets. We pass it on as reported, not as established fact:
- Reported by IMI Daily, republished by Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative: in April 2026 the unit paused new files from anyone who already holds at least three other nationalities, pointing to a limit in the 2022 law.
- Reported in the unit's first-year report, as hosted by IMI Daily: a January 2026 legislative amendment allows fully remote issuance of national ID cards and passports, and São Tomé and Príncipe opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi in April 2026.
Where the other programmes are run from
To put the Dubai office in context, here is where the other programmes covered on this site say their units are based. All of them operate from their own countries; one keeps an office abroad.
- Dominica: Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica
- Grenada: Investment Migration Agency Grenada, 1st Floor, Galleria Mall, Grand Anse, St
- St Kitts and Nevis: Basseterre, St Kitts, St Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia: Castries, Saint Lucia
- Antigua and Barbuda: St
- Vanuatu: Port Vila, Vanuatu — Citizenship Office & Commission at the Presidential Palace compound
- Nauru: Naoero Program Office Inc., Unit 1, MRF Building, Yaren District, Nauru
Nauru is the other programme with a presence abroad: its programme office has an overseas office in Auckland, New Zealand. Türkiye has no single unit at all; applications go through the provincial population directorates or Turkish missions.
Questions to ask a São Tomé agent
These are our suggestions, based on the gaps in the unit's published information:
- Is your firm on the unit's published list of licensed marketing agents, and under which name?
- The unit publishes four different processing times. Which do you see in practice, and from which date do you count?
- Once provisional approval arrives, how many days will I have to pay the gift to the fund?
- How will the certificate, passport and national ID card reach me in the UAE?
Is it a good fit?
In our view, São Tomé suits someone who wants a second nationality at the lowest starting price, values a unit in the same city, and does not need visa-free travel to Europe or the UK. It suits less well someone whose main aim is short-notice trips to Schengen countries. The São Tomé programme page covers the rules in full, and the comparison with Nauru sets it beside the other low-priced option, which does keep visa-free Schengen access.
If you live in the UAE and want to know whether it fits your nationality and family, our programme match gives a shortlist in two minutes.