In December 2025 the President of the United States signed a proclamation restricting entry for nationals of a list of countries. Two of the five Caribbean states that sell citizenship are on it. For anyone holding, or thinking of buying, a Caribbean passport with US travel in mind, the details matter more than the headlines, and the details are all in the published text.
Everything below comes from the proclamation as printed in the Federal Register, plus a check of later Federal Register notices for changes. Where the text is silent, we say so.
The document and its dates
The instrument is Proclamation 10998. It was signed on 16 December 2025, published in the Federal Register on 19 December 2025, and took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on 1 January 2026. This post covers what it says about the countries, not how it applies to any individual case.
Which Caribbean programmes it names
Of the five Eastern Caribbean citizenship-by-investment countries, two appear: Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica. Both are placed under a partial restriction.
Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia are not named. Nor are the other programme countries covered on this site: Vanuatu, Nauru, São Tomé and Príncipe and Türkiye.
| Programme country | Named in Proclamation 10998? |
|---|---|
| Antigua and Barbuda | Yes, partial restriction |
| Dominica | Yes, partial restriction |
| Grenada | No |
| St Kitts and Nevis | No |
| Saint Lucia | No |
| Vanuatu | No |
| Nauru | No |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | No |
| Türkiye | No |
What “partial restriction” means in practice
For Antigua and Barbuda and for Dominica the proclamation does two things. First, it suspends entry of their nationals as immigrants and as nonimmigrants on four visa groups: B-1 and B-2 (business and tourist visits, including the combined B-1/B-2), F and M (students) and J (exchange visitors). Second, it tells consular officers to reduce the validity of any other nonimmigrant visa issued to their nationals.
Put simply, the visas most people mean when they talk about “travelling to the US”, visitor and student visas, are the ones suspended. Other nonimmigrant categories are not suspended, but any such visa is to be issued with shorter validity.
The reason the text gives
The proclamation gives one country-specific reason for each of the two: that the country has historically had citizenship by investment without residency. Its preamble explains the wider concern, that citizenship granted without residence makes screening and vetting harder and can be used to get around travel restrictions.
That reasoning is notable because it is about the programmes themselves, not about the countries' own citizens or their governments in general. It is also a reason, in our view, why every Caribbean programme has been moving towards residence or genuine-link requirements, a trend covered in our post on the region's new regulator.
Has anything changed since?
We searched the Federal Register for presidential documents published in 2026 that amend or lift the restrictions on Antigua and Barbuda or Dominica. None was found up to early October 2026. The only 2026 Federal Register items that cite the proclamation are State Department notices delegating authority, not changes to the country list.
Antigua and Barbuda's government did publish its own statement in January 2026, telling citizens that US visas already issued remain usable. That is the government's interpretation for its nationals; the proclamation text is the controlling document.
What it means if you are choosing a programme
If US visitor visas are part of why you want a second passport, the proclamation is a deciding factor between otherwise similar Caribbean options. A Dominican or Antiguan passport holder currently cannot get a B-1 or B-2 visa, while holders of the other three Caribbean passports are not affected by this instrument. Ordinary US visa rules still apply to all of them.
Two other points are worth keeping in mind. Grenada's investor-treaty status with the US is a separate matter. Grenada is a treaty country for the E-2 investor visa, and the proclamation does not name it, but US law since December 2022 requires anyone who acquired the treaty nationality through a financial investment, and has not held E status before, to have been domiciled in Grenada for at least three continuous years before applying. The Grenada page explains the route. And the proclamation could be revised at any time, in either direction; the dates in this post are the ones to watch for.
Our pages on Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda carry the same facts alongside each programme's rules, and the Dominica visa-free list shows the passport's access elsewhere, including the Schengen area, which is unaffected by the US decision.
How the US decision compares with Europe and the UK
The US proclamation does not change how the two passports are treated elsewhere. A Dominican passport is still in Annex II of the EU visa regulation, so its holders visit the Schengen area without a visa for short stays. In the UK the picture differs between the two: Dominican nationals have needed a visit visa since July 2023, while Antigua and Barbuda nationals need only an electronic travel authorisation.
The result is that the two named passports now look quite different from each other for a traveller based in the UAE. Antigua and Barbuda keeps visa-free access to the Schengen area and the UK but has lost US visitor visas; Dominica keeps Europe, has lost easy UK access and has lost US visitor visas.
If you already hold one of these passports
A proclamation restricts entry; it does not withdraw anyone's citizenship or passport. Holders keep the nationality and every right that comes with it at home and in other countries. What changes is the route into the US for visitor, student and exchange purposes. If you hold another nationality as well, ask the US embassy how the proclamation applies to you before you plan a trip.
Reading the proclamation yourself
The full text is a public document in the Federal Register of 19 December 2025. If you are relying on a passport for US travel, read the entry for your country, check for any later amendment on the Federal Register, and confirm with the US embassy before you apply for a visa.