Grenada Citizenship for a Bolivian Family: Path to E‑2 US Visa, 140+ States Visa-Free, and More

For several years, Matías had been exporting Bolivian quinoa and maca to health brands across the US. The business worked, and the relationships were solid. Somewhere in California, New York, and other parts of the US, his product sat on shelves and sold well.

One morning, he woke before his alarm. His wife, Valeria, was asleep beside him, their one-year-old daughter Luna between them. Outside, Santa Cruz was already awake: horns, diesel, someone’s cumbia playing from a nearby window.

Matías picked up his phone and opened the email he had been rereading for 3 days. His San Francisco partner was proposing a joint brand, but there was one condition: Matías had to be in the US permanently. He put the phone down and stared at the ceiling.

Matías knew about the E‑2 visa: invest in a company and gain the right to live and work in the United States. The idea seemed straightforward. However, although Bolivia is formally an E‑2 treaty country, access to the visa is effectively restricted to legacy investors, so this route was not available to Matías. He spent a week looking for alternatives.

Everything changed when an old university friend called unexpectedly and, almost in passing, brought up Grenada, a Caribbean country with an E‑2 treaty and a citizenship by investment programme. He also referred to a fellow South American who had used this route to move to Houston 2 years earlier.

Matías wrote the name down and started researching. Grenada, known for nutmeg, has had a treaty with the United States since 1983 and remains the only Caribbean country offering access to the E‑2 visa. The logic became clear: obtain Grenadian citizenship and then apply for the visa. The path seemed elegant, but Matías was someone who paid attention to the details, and there were details to consider.

After a few days of research, he found Immigrant Invest. The materials were clear, without bold promises, and showed a willingness to discuss the more complex aspects of the process. He decided to book a consultation to explore the Grenada citizenship by investment programme in more detail.

The Immigrant Invest migration programmes expert opened with a question, not about the numbers, but about the business Matías wanted to build. Matías told him everything: the situation, the problem, and the plan for the future.

The expert listened without interrupting. Then he said something Matías had not expected: before going further, he clarified what this path would actually involve today.

Limit of the E‑2 visa route

The E‑2 visa, the investment migration expert explained, was the right instrument. But getting there from a Grenadian CBI passport was no longer the straightforward two-step process it had once been.

In December 2022, the US passed new legislation requiring that anyone who acquired treaty nationality through a financial investment must establish a genuine domicile in that country for a minimum of 3 years before applying. A registered address or occasional visits were not enough. 

An E‑2 visa required a real life in Grenada — a home, a bank account, and continuous physical presence.

Grenada citizenship requirements

After clarifying the E‑2 requirements, the expert returned to the Grenada citizenship by investment programme. He explained the details: family eligibility, the application process, and the available investment options.

The programme offered two routes:

• $235,000+ — non-refundable contribution to the National Transformation Fund;
• $350,000+ — purchase of property in sole ownership, with the option to recoup the investment after 5 years.

Both led to the same outcome: a Grenadian passport, issued within 8 months and valid for life.

Valeria listened without interrupting. Matías told her about the consultation, the three-year requirement, and the need to establish real residence. She did not ask about the money or the timeline. Instead, she asked what the island was actually like, and Matías realised he did not know. He had spent the afternoon thinking about the strategy, not the place.

The only way to understand Grenada was to go and see it. Valeria agreed immediately, and they flew there 4 weeks later.

Matías expected something touristy. Instead, they found a place that was calm, unhurried, and real. St George’s was easy to navigate within days. More importantly, it felt workable: a functioning business environment, reliable internet, and English as the official language. Matías found himself making notes, not as a visitor, but as someone thinking operationally.

Valeria focused on everyday life. She explored residential neighbourhoods, visited an international preschool, and spent time simply observing. By last evening, she had made her decision. Not just because it worked as a visa strategy, but because it felt right for Luna to grow up somewhere slower, quieter, and close to the seaside.

A Grenadian passport would also give their daughter access to over 140 countries before she turned 2. Growing up in an English-speaking environment meant she would absorb the language naturally. These were not small things. Valeria had done the math.

By the end of the trip, there was little left to question. Back in Santa Cruz, Matías reached out to Immigrant Invest, ready to move forward.

For a family with a one-year-old who planned to live on the island for at least 3 years, buying property was not just the smarter investment option. It was the obvious one. Valeria had already started thinking about which part of the island she wanted to live in — somewhere quiet, close to the water, with enough space for Luna to run.

Immigrant Invest helped the family navigate the property search by reviewing available options, explaining what qualified under the programme, and making sure the purchase was structured correctly. The property came to $350,000, with additional fees including:

• administrative fee — $50,000;
• Due Diligence fees for himself and Valeria — $10,000;
• other fees — $16,550+.

The total expenses amounted to $426,550.

Grenadian passports arrived in Santa Cruz on a Thursday in October. Three weeks later, the family landed in St George's, this time with Luna, luggage, and no return tickets booked.

What surprised Matías was how quickly Grenada stopped feeling like a strategy and started feeling like home. He arrived focused on the domicile requirement, but within weeks his attention shifted to the island’s agricultural ecosystem. He began meeting cocoa farmers and working with a small processing facility. 

Now, Matías has a clear idea for an export business that could supply Grenadian cocoa and spices to US specialty brands alongside the Bolivian quinoa and maca he already ships.

Valeria, for now, is fully present with Luna, long mornings on the beach, afternoons in the garden, the unhurried rhythm she had always wanted but never quite found in Santa Cruz. She is thinking about returning to freelance work and is planning the family’s first trip to Europe, a visa-free tour through Spain and Italy on their Grenadian passports.

Luna, now nearly 2, says her first words in both Spanish and English, mixing them freely, the way children do when they do not yet know the words are supposed to belong to different worlds.

The 3 years have not yet passed, and the E‑2 application has not yet been filed. But the foundation is there, in utility bills, in the business relationships, in the life that a family from landlocked Bolivia has built on an island surrounded by sea.

If you are considering Grenada citizenship by investment, whether to access the US E‑2 visa, expand your global mobility, or relocate to the Caribbean, Immigrant Invest can help you build a strategy that works in practice.