The Government of Antigua and Barbuda, through the Ministry of Immigration led by Honourable Minister E.P Chet Greene and the national Department of Immigration, has officially announced the launch of the 2026 Immigration Amnesty Programme, authorized under the recently passed Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act, 2026. This three-month initiative is designed to create a formal pathway for long-term residents with unresolved immigration status issues to bring their documentation into compliance with local law.
The amnesty initiative will run for exactly three months, opening for applications on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, and closing all submissions at the end of the day on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. Eligibility for the program is restricted to two core groups of residents: individuals who have maintained continuous residence in Antigua and Barbuda for a minimum of four years, and who currently face gaps, errors, or formal irregularities in their official immigration standing during that residency period.
To complete an application, eligible candidates must prepare a set of required documentation to submit alongside their formal request. This includes one passport-sized biometric photograph, a filled-out Amnesty Application Form (which will be provided directly by the Department of Immigration on the day an applicant submits their materials), and official police clearance records from every country or territory where the applicant has lived over the past four years. In terms of administrative costs, applicants are required to pay a non-refundable processing fee of 500 Eastern Caribbean dollars, plus an additional 150 Eastern Caribbean dollar fee for formal change of status processing. Immigration officials have urged all candidates to double-check their materials before submission, noting that incomplete applications will either face significant processing delays or be rejected outright until all missing requirements are fulfilled.
All applications are accepted exclusively at Antigua and Barbuda’s Immigration Headquarters, during a designated submission window of 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. To streamline the process and avoid crowding or disorder, all submissions will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis, with a formal numbered queue system in place to manage applicant flow.
For members of the public seeking general information outside of application submission hours, two dedicated enquiry channels are available. The first is a permanent Amnesty Information Desk located at the main entrance of Immigration Headquarters, and the second is a dedicated phone line staffed during regular business hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Additional guidance, program updates, and information on any unlisted supplementary requirements will be provided directly to applicants once they lodge their formal applications at headquarters.
Officials have emphasized a key clarification for all potential applicants: meeting the program’s basic eligibility requirements does not guarantee final approval of status regularization. Every submission will undergo an individual assessment based on criteria laid out in the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act, 2026, and all other relevant national immigration laws and policies. In a closing statement, the Department of Immigration encouraged all individuals who meet the eligibility criteria to take advantage of this limited-time opportunity to resolve their immigration status before the program closes in September 2026.