The Two Caribbean countries Commonwealth of Dominica and Dominican republic are often confused when it comes to citizenship. Out of these countries, only Dominica has official citizenship by investment scheme, while Dominican Republic does not have one.
You will find the two countries clearly in the map above.
Dominican Republic (DR) is a huge country with a big economy compared to Dominica.
Some 2.7 million Americans now visit the Dominican Republic every year. It is also richer than Dominica in terms of GDP per capita. Spanish is widely spoken in DR compared to english in Dominica.
Why so many Americans visit Dominican Republic?
The Dominican Republic is one of the Caribbean’s most geographically diverse countries, offering visitors stunning mountain scenery, desert scrublands, historic colonial architecture, vibrant city life, and famously warm people. While many americans visit for tourism or cruise arrivals, many chose to live in the country and also become citizens.
Music and sport are of great importance in the Dominican culture.
Passports
While Dominican Republic has one of the worst passports in the world, all is not about passports, natural beauty takes over passports. Dominica has powerful passport in terms of visa freedom, and the Dominica citizenship by investment (DCBI) scheme brings more than half the government revenues for the country.
Here are some of the differences
Commonwealth of Dominica | Dominican Republic | |
GDP | $0.6bn | $200bn |
Population | 73,000 | 10 million |
Citizenship | CBI scheme: Invest $100,000 and get citizenship in 3 months. | No official CBI scheme but citizenship can be obtained buying immovable property after 1 year of living. |
Passport | Powerful passport with visa free access to 135 countries, EU schengen, UK, Russia etc. | Weak passport with visa free access only 65 countries. No visa free access to EU schengen, UK, Russia etc. |