Seychelles

No, the investor citizenship route was repealed. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2023 (Act 25 of 2023), assented on 19 December 2023, repealed section 5C, which had allowed citizenship for a USD 1,000,000 investment plus 11 years' residence. The strongest passport in Africa is no longer for sale at any price, and has not been since December 2023. If a firm quotes you a price for Seychelles citizenship by investment, it is working from stale material or misleading you. Treat that as a decisive signal about the firm.

Only five days in any 12-month period. That is one of the lightest presence requirements of any residence permit anywhere. Combined with territorial taxation on foreign income and a cost of roughly USD 20,000 for a family of four, this is what makes it attractive. Understand what it is not. It confers no right to work, it runs for five years with discretionary renewal, and it does not lead to a passport.

For foreign-source income, yes. Seychelles has been territorial since 1 January 2019 under the Business Tax (Amendment) Act 2018, and there is no capital gains, wealth or inheritance tax. But the idea of a zero-tax Seychelles does not hold up once you look at a Gainful Occupation Permit. Seychelles-source employment income is taxable at up to 30%, and non-citizens get no tax-free threshold. They pay 15% from the first rupee. Non-Seychellois-owned residential property also attracts an annual Immovable Property Tax of 0.25% of market value under Act 19 of 2019.

Effectively, no. The investor citizenship route was repealed in 2023. A residence permit does not obviously even satisfy permanent residence, which requires roughly five years actually resident on a Gainful Occupation or Dependant Permit. The surviving citizenship routes are marriage, now 15 years married plus two years' aggregate residence, constitutional entitlement, and presidential grant for distinguished service. Anyone marketing a Seychelles residence-to-passport path is describing a route that no longer exists.

It is the strongest in Africa. Seychelles offers 154 visa-free destinations, ranking 24 on the Henley Passport Index for January 2026, tied with Antigua & Barbuda and comfortably ahead of every other African passport. Seychelles also guarantees dual citizenship constitutionally, so no law may require you to renounce another nationality as a condition of acquiring Seychellois citizenship. That is exactly what makes the 2023 repeal of the investor route so painful. It was the only African CBI whose passport was genuinely worth having, and one you could hold alongside others.

That figure refers to the Permanent Residence Permit by investment, and it is far narrower than marketed. The investment-promotion agency lists seven cumulative criteria, not alternatives. You need USD 1m+ invested, at least five years' business association, and roughly five years actually resident on a GOP or Dependant Permit, plus self-support and clean-record conditions. The money is the easy part. The residence and business-association years cannot be shortcut. A 2013 State House guide framed these as alternatives, but the current official page treats them as cumulative. Verify with Immigration before committing USD 1m.

No. The residence permit does not permit gainful occupation. Working in Seychelles requires a separate Gainful Occupation Permit, which is cheap at roughly USD 415 a year but requires Ministry of Employment approval first and a Seychelles Qualification Authority evaluation of your qualifications. Counter-intuitively, the cheap GOP is also the permit that actually builds the clock toward permanent residence, while the more expensive residence permit does not obviously do so. Sequencing matters more than money here.

Its track record is volatile. Seychelles was on Annex I in October 2020, removed in October 2021, re-added in October 2023, moved to Annex II in February 2024, and removed entirely on 17 February 2026. It is currently on neither list. The next EU revision is due in October 2026, so this is a moving target rather than a settled position. Seychelles has also been a full CRS participant since 2017. It is a transparent jurisdiction, not a secrecy one.