São Tomé & Príncipe

How you qualify.

Global mobility.

What's involved.

Family inclusion

The main applicant must be 18 or over. The decree text (RNID art. 10, referencing Lei 7/2022 arts. 10.º(4)–(5)) includes the spouse and children of the principal applicant; the CIU and licensed agents market a wider scope — spouse or de facto partner, unmarried financially-dependent children up to 30, and parents or grandparents from 55 — which sits in programme practice rather than the gazetted text, and we confirm the current position in writing before filing. Family pricing is unusually flat: USD 95,000 covers two to four family members in one application. A CIU memorandum of 10 April 2026 froze passport issuance for adult dependants (18+) pending clarification and placed applicants already holding three or more foreign nationalities on hold under art. 11.º of the Nationality Law — both restrictions confirmed before any family file is opened.

Due diligence

USD 5,000 due-diligence and processing fee per application (RNID Anexo I(2)). Files pass through a due-diligence report from a UCID-recognised provider, review by the AML/CFT Comité de Revisão (Ministério Público chair, with the Migration Service, Finance Ministry, Registries Directorate and the Financial Intelligence Unit), and a mandatory prior clearance (visto prévio) from the Ministério Público within 30 days — refusal ends the file. Requirements include criminal-record certificates from every country of nationality and of residence over the last five years (issued within three months), a medical certificate, and a source-of-funds declaration supported by bank documentation. The Ministério Público retains a six-month judicial opposition window after grant (non-suspensive).

Timeline

Statutory deadlines in the decree: Ministério Público visto prévio 30 days; UCID Director decision 15 days from a complete, cleared file; contribution deposit within 90 days of approval-in-principle; registration by the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais within 5 days of the oath. The portal markets two to three months to approval plus roughly four months to passport issuance; licensed-agent reporting of real-world files runs to eight months or more, and the widely-advertised '110-day official processing time' does not appear in the decree text. We plan client files on a six-to-nine-month working assumption and treat anything faster as upside.

Physical presence

None. No visit, residence, interview-in-country or language requirement — the residence and language conditions of ordinary naturalisation are expressly waived for investment and donation grants (Lei 7/2022 art. 10.º(3)). The oath of fidelity to the Constitution may be sworn before a São Toméan diplomatic or consular agent abroad, and remote biometric enrolment was introduced by the CIU in April 2026.

Tax

São Tomé & Príncipe taxes on the basis of residence, not citizenship: a CBI citizen who never becomes tax-resident does not, by the passport alone, come within São Toméan tax on foreign income. There is no wealth or inheritance tax regime of practical relevance to non-resident citizens. As ever, citizenship changes nothing about a client's existing tax residence — CRS reporting, home-country rules and any exit-tax exposure are unaffected, and we model the client's actual position before filing.

The governing law — in our library.

Two-tier framework, both instruments verified against the Diário da República. (1) Lei n.º 7/2022 — Lei da Nacionalidade (DR I Série, N.º 25, 10 March 2022; in force ≈June 2022; repeals Lei n.º 6/90): art. 10.º(2) authorises the Government to grant nationality for investment that unequivocally increases employment and contributes significantly to national development, for high-level sport/science/culture, or for a donation; art. 10.º(3) waives the residence and language requirements for such grants; art. 10.º(6) requires a prior clearance (visto prévio) from the Ministério Público on every naturalisation; art. 11.º bars grant to anyone already holding more than two foreign nationalities and strips STP nationality from a naturalised citizen who later acquires a fourth; art. 20.º gives the Ministério Público a six-month window to oppose an acquisition in court. (2) Decreto-Lei n.º 07/2025 — Regulamentação da Nacionalidade por Investimento ou Doação, RNID (approved in the Council of Ministers 10 May 2025, promulgated 28 July 2025, published DR I Série, N.º 33, 1 August 2025, pp. 430–440; in force on publication): creates the PCID programme (art. 5), the UCID unit (art. 4), the Fundo Nacional de Transformação — FNT (arts. 7–8: autonomous fund, exclusive supervised bank account, mandatory annual independent audit, Tribunal de Contas and Central Bank oversight) and an AML/CFT Review Committee chaired by a Ministério Público representative (art. 9); licenses marketing agents with fines up to USD 500,000 for unlicensed promotion (art. 6); sets the procedure and deadlines (art. 14); grants CBI citizens a permanent military-service exemption (art. 16); provides for a country-exclusion list by Council of Ministers resolution (art. 17); and provides sanctions up to revocation of nationality (art. 18). The official tariff is Anexo I of the decree. Note: the RNID is a Government decree-law issued under art. 111.º(c) of the Constitution and art. 26.º of Lei 7/2022 — it did not pass through the National Assembly, a point of live domestic political criticism. · Administered by Unidade de Cidadania por Investimento e Doação (UCID), branded internationally as the Citizenship Investment Unit (CIU), under the tutelage of the Minister of Justice in articulation with the minister responsible for investments. Official programme portal: cip.gov.st (info@stpcip.com). Day-to-day administration is operated from Dubai under a public-service concession by STP Service Advisory FZCO (UAE), reported in the Portuguese-language press to be a 10-year exclusive concession associated with Passport Legacy — the concession terms are press-reported, not gazetted..

Documents marked “held by Kestrel” are mirrored on our own servers from the official source, so the reference is always available.

São Tomé & Príncipe, answered.

How much does São Tomé & Príncipe citizenship by investment cost?

The lowest qualifying investment is USD 90,000 via the Donation route. Government, due-diligence and professional fees are additional. Figures are indicative and confirmed in writing by licensed counsel before any commitment.

How long does the São Tomé & Príncipe citizenship process take?

Statutory deadlines in the decree: Ministério Público visto prévio 30 days; UCID Director decision 15 days from a complete, cleared file; contribution deposit within 90 days of approval-in-principle; registration by the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais within 5 days of the oath. The portal markets two to three months to approval plus roughly four months to passport issuance; licensed-agent reporting of real-world files runs to eight months or more, and the widely-advertised '110-day official processing time' does not appear in the decree text. We plan client files on a six-to-nine-month working assumption and treat anything faster as upside.

Does the São Tomé & Príncipe passport allow visa-free travel to the Schengen Area?

No Schengen access. São Tomé & Príncipe is on the EU visa-required list (Annex I, Regulation (EU) 2018/1806); no visa-waiver agreement exists or is publicly under negotiation. The honest travel figure is roughly 58–63 visa-free or visa-on-arrival destinations (Henley 2026 counts 58; agent counts of 93–102 fold in eVisas). Notable genuine access: South Africa visa-free 90 days — the standout — plus Singapore (30), Malaysia (30), Philippines (30), Hong Kong (14), Macau on arrival, and eVisa/eTA access across much of Southern and East Africa. Not accessible without a visa: the Schengen area, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Brazil, Russia, Japan and mainland China (agent claims of Chinese visa-on-arrival are unverified). This is a second travel document and a succession asset, not a mobility upgrade — clients who need Schengen pair it with an EU residence card.

Can I include my family in the São Tomé & Príncipe application?

The main applicant must be 18 or over. The decree text (RNID art. 10, referencing Lei 7/2022 arts. 10.º(4)–(5)) includes the spouse and children of the principal applicant; the CIU and licensed agents market a wider scope — spouse or de facto partner, unmarried financially-dependent children up to 30, and parents or grandparents from 55 — which sits in programme practice rather than the gazetted text, and we confirm the current position in writing before filing. Family pricing is unusually flat: USD 95,000 covers two to four family members in one application. A CIU memorandum of 10 April 2026 froze passport issuance for adult dependants (18+) pending clarification and placed applicants already holding three or more foreign nationalities on hold under art. 11.º of the Nationality Law — both restrictions confirmed before any family file is opened.

What due diligence does São Tomé & Príncipe require?

USD 5,000 due-diligence and processing fee per application (RNID Anexo I(2)). Files pass through a due-diligence report from a UCID-recognised provider, review by the AML/CFT Comité de Revisão (Ministério Público chair, with the Migration Service, Finance Ministry, Registries Directorate and the Financial Intelligence Unit), and a mandatory prior clearance (visto prévio) from the Ministério Público within 30 days — refusal ends the file. Requirements include criminal-record certificates from every country of nationality and of residence over the last five years (issued within three months), a medical certificate, and a source-of-funds declaration supported by bank documentation. The Ministério Público retains a six-month judicial opposition window after grant (non-suspensive).

Does São Tomé & Príncipe citizenship grant the right to live in the European Union?

No. São Tomé & Príncipe citizenship can confer a second passport and visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel, but it grants no right to live, work or settle in the EU and no path to an EU passport. For a European foothold, residence by investment is the direct route.