€10,000 an application. That is the whole of our fee.
A flat fee to run your application end to end, agreed in writing before you commit. It does not scale with the size of your investment and it does not move if the matter proves harder than expected.
Each programme you apply to is its own application — its own counterparties, its own schedule of disbursements, its own government reaching its own decision — and carries its own fee. Most families instruct one. A coordinated citizenship-and-residence position is two.
The advice is not the chargeable part. The first conversation, the comparison between jurisdictions and our view on whether a route fits you cost nothing.
What the fee covers.
And, just as usefully, what it does not. Scope is where advisory relationships go wrong, so it is set out before you engage rather than after.
Included in the €10,000
- The full application, run end to end, from engagement to the permit decision
- Programme selection — and the modelling behind why that programme, for you
- Independent analysis of any qualifying property you are considering, including the ten-year picture and the downside case
- Document preparation, the source-of-funds file and the submission pack
- Coordination of admitted local counsel in the jurisdiction, and of the developer or agent
- A single point of contact for the whole matter
Paid by you, to others
- ·Government and immigration fees — paid by you, directly to the authority, at published rates
- ·Legal fees for admitted local counsel, quoted by them and paid to them
- ·The investment itself, and its transaction taxes, VAT and transfer duties
- ·Translation, apostilles, medicals and courier costs
- ·Anything we would have to mark up. We do not resell third-party services.
These are itemised in full for your circumstances before you commit — see the cost calculator on the Grenada page, and the itemised quote we send for any other programme.
The same work, without the global overheads.
At some large international firms, advisory and professional fees for a single application run to €30,000 and beyond. Very little of that is the work itself. It is the worldwide office networks, the headcount behind them and the marketing — all of it carried in the price of your file.
We are a boutique. The same application is prepared by the same calibre of people, filed through the same admitted local counsel, before the same government departments — but run on modern systems rather than a global cost base. That is the whole of the difference, and it is why the number is €10,000 rather than a multiple of it.
Large international firms
€30,000 and beyond
Per application. Published and market-reported ranges for the global firms in this market. No firm is named.
Kestrel Private
€10,000
Flat, agreed in writing before you commit, and unchanged whether your investment is €300,000 or €3,000,000.
Fee ranges are indicative of what the largest firms in this market publish or are reported to charge; they vary by firm, programme and transaction, and no firm is named. What does not vary is ours.
Take the advice. Even as a second opinion.
You pay nothing until you are comfortable with the direction and the structure. The conversation, the programme comparison and our view on whether a route fits you are free. You are charged when you ask us to do the work — not for the thinking that comes before it.
Use it however you like. If what you want is a second opinion on advice you already have, take it and go back to your own adviser with it. We genuinely do not mind. These are long relationships, often years, and you should be with the team you are most comfortable with.
One thing worth weighing while you choose. You will deal with the senior partner throughout — the same person from the first conversation to the permit. In this market that is not the norm: a file is commonly won by a principal and then handed to juniors and administrators once the client has committed. Whether that matters to you is your call to make, and it is worth asking whoever else you are speaking to.
If it will not succeed, we say so first.
We do not submit applications we do not expect to succeed. If your circumstances do not fit a programme — the source-of-funds position, the timing, the property, the family composition — you will hear it before you have committed money to it, not after.
That occasionally means telling someone there is no route worth taking right now, and losing the engagement. We would rather do that than take a fee for a filing that was never going to work.
Answered before you ask.
Buyer guides in this market tell prospective clients to put these questions to an adviser in writing. Here they are, answered in public.
What does Kestrel charge?
A flat 10,000 for each application we run end to end — €10,000, or US$10,000 where the programme itself is dollar-denominated, as the Caribbean and São Tomé programmes are — VAT included, agreed in writing before you commit. It does not scale with the size of your investment, and it does not change if the matter turns out to be more work than expected.
If I do both citizenship and residence, is that one fee or two?
Two. Each programme is a separate application — a separate body of work, a separate set of counterparties, a separate schedule of disbursements, and a separate government reaching its own decision on its own criteria — so each carries its own €10,000. A family instructing the residence application alone pays one fee. A family instructing the citizenship application alone pays one fee. A coordinated position that uses both carries €18,000 — or US$10,000 plus €8,000 where the citizenship half is dollar-denominated — being €10,000 for the first and the second reduced by 20% to €8,000 when the two are instructed together, the reduction reflecting the onboarding, due-diligence and document work they share. The optional company, banking and tax layer is not a programme application and carries no Kestrel fee at all — that work is delivered by a corporate team and billed by them.
Is the first conversation chargeable?
No. The conversation, the programme comparison and our view on whether a route fits you are free. The fee applies when you engage us to run the application.
Why is your fee so much lower than the large international firms’?
Because you are not paying for their overheads. At some global firms, advisory and professional fees for a single application run to €30,000 and beyond, and much of that is the cost base behind it — a worldwide office network, the headcount, the marketing. The application itself is the same work, filed through the same admitted local counsel, before the same government department. We are a boutique running on modern systems, so we can do it for €10,000.
Do I pay anything before I commit?
No. You pay nothing until you are comfortable with the direction and the structure. The conversation, the programme comparison and our view on whether a route fits you are free — you are charged when you ask us to run the application, not for the advice that precedes it.
Can I use Kestrel for a second opinion only?
Yes, and we do not mind if that is all it is. Take the analysis back to your own adviser and act on it there if you prefer. These engagements run for years, so you should be with the team you are most comfortable with.
Who actually handles my file?
The senior partner, from the first conversation through to the permit decision. In this market a file is commonly won by a principal and then handed to juniors or an administration team once the client has committed; that does not happen here. Regulated legal, tax and immigration work is carried by admitted local counsel, whom we coordinate.
What happens if you think my application will not succeed?
We tell you before you spend anything. We do not submit applications we do not expect to succeed, and we would rather lose the engagement than take a fee for a filing that was never going to work.
What other programmes did you consider before recommending one?
You are shown the comparison, not just the conclusion. Our modelling covers the routes we ruled out and why, including the ones where our recommendation is that you do not proceed at all.
Do you have a conflict of interest — a government mandate or a programme quota?
No. We hold no marketing, concession or promotion agreement with any government. No government sets us a sales target, a minimum volume or a performance threshold, and there is no programme we are under any obligation to place you in — so nothing agreed elsewhere decides what we recommend before we have met you. Arrangements of that kind do exist in this market, and they shape what a firm puts in front of a family. Ours is not one of them. What you get instead: a fee to us that is €10,000 an application whichever route you take — reduced by 20% to €8,000 for a second instructed alongside it — the routes we ruled out shown alongside the one we recommend, and a plain answer where a programme is closed, restricted or simply wrong for your family. It is a fair question to put to any adviser you speak to.
Are there other costs?
Yes, and they are published. Government fees, admitted local counsel, transaction taxes and the investment itself are all paid by you directly to those parties. We itemise the whole stack for your circumstances before you commit, so the total is known in advance.
Is Kestrel a law firm?
No. Kestrel Private is an advisory firm — the trading name of Kestrel Private Advisory (Pty) Ltd. Regulated legal, tax and immigration work is delivered by admitted local counsel in the relevant jurisdiction, whom we coordinate on your behalf.
Know the number before the conversation.
You now know what we charge, who pays us, and what would make us tell you not to proceed. The next step costs nothing.