As the drab grey autumn days get shorter and the Budget looms, escaping to a life in the sun has never held more appeal.
You could pick southern Europe (and endure those new EU customs checks), or head to Dubai (like everyone else) – but why not plump for the palm-fringed beaches of the Caribbean?
Wealthy retirees – so-called swallows – have long wintered on islands like Barbados many Caribbean islands now offer digital nomad visas, with three (Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia ) featuring in the top 15 locations for ‘executive nomads’ in Savills’ 2025 rankings, which analysed internet speed, lifestyle, climate and connectivity.
According to Tom Vickery, head of Savills Caribbean desk, there’s been a notable uptick in interest from British residents in the past year amidst changing taxes and new rules for non-doms in the UK.
‘People are looking to spend more time in the region, especially on islands with citizenship schemes and tax benefits,’ he says.
Three of the world’s most popular ‘golden passport’ schemes – where you buy a property or invest locally and get citizenship – applied for in 2025 are in the Caribbean: Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, and Antigua & Barbuda, according to Henley & Partners, the immigration advisor.
We’ve spoken to property experts and analysed visas, house prices, cost of living and high speed internet to bring you our ultimate expat guide to moving to the Caribbean’s top islands.
BARBADOS
Offering arguably the warmest welcome in the Caribbean, as well as a high standard of living and investor-friendly environment, Barbados is top of many people’s lists.
Alleynes Bay on the west coast of Barbados in the Caribbean
In 2020 it was quick off the blocks to introduce a 12-month digital nomad visa, and more than 5,000 applications have been received from remote workers from mainly the United States, Canada and the UK.
Along with installing fibre-optic broadband, the island has been courting remote executives. ‘We’re seeing a real evolution in who is discovering Barbados – a younger generation of travellers and multigenerational families,’ says Robin Kennedy, chief development officer at Montage International, who have redeveloped the Port Ferdinand marina resort as Pendry Barbados (homes from $2.7million).
The revamped Apes Hill golf resort is popular – as is the iconic Sandy Lane – but interest has spread north up the West Coast to Speightstown, and to Bridgetown, the island’s historic capital, undergoing regeneration.
The Pierhead is going to be a new mixed-use neighbourhood on the site of the old Screw Dock with cafes, restaurants and a beach club. Properties are selling off plan from around £444,000. You can find a three-bedroom apartment for £313,000 in Holetown.
Visas and tax
You can spend up to six months on the island before applying for a visa, residency or work permit. The Barbados Welcome Stamp – a 12-month visa allowing Britons to relocate and work – requires an annual income of at least £37,500 from outside the island. Family and dependents can apply.
The Special Entry Permit (SEP) offers high-net-worth individuals the right to live but not work on the island (you must invest at least £1.5million), plus there are employer sponsored work permits. As with all the islands here, visa holders must (or should) have private healthcare cover.
Non-residents are only taxed on their Barbados-sourced income (Barbados has a double taxation agreement with the UK) and no taxes on capital gains, wealth, inheritance or gifts payable locally. There’s a corporate tax rate of 9 per cent. Property buyers do not pay stamp duty, just legal fees.
What you can buy
SPLASH THE CASH: This beachfront development, with its own communal pool, offers one to three-bed properties. Available with Savills from £440,897.
ON THE CHEAP: This one-bedroom villa in Mullins, St Peter has its own sundeck, and is a two-minute walk from the beach. Available with One Caribbean Estates for £159,831.
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
The yachting capital of the Caribbean is less developed than Barbados but amongst those seeing its scope to grow is actor Robert de Niro, who’s launched his own private resort development on its sister island of Barbuda (Nobu Beach Inn, properties prices from £5million).
Like Barbados, Antigua is also reached by direct flights from the UK (nine hours) and is part of the Commonwealth. Also in the pipeline is a new Nikki Beach Club opening at Jolly Harbour, a marina village on the west coast (one-bedroom apartments from £90,000, completion 2029).
Nikki Beach Club, which is opening at Jolly Harbour on the west coast
Most people who live on the island full time live close to the amenities and shopping of Jolly Harbour – or near Falmouth and English Harbours, the yachting hubs of the south coast. The Island International Academy school is in the centre of the island.
Unlike Barbados, Antigua offers an accessible citizenship scheme that is often a ‘useful by product’ of buying a property, says Vickery.
Property prices are generally more affordable than in Barbados – outside of luxury enclaves such as De Niro’s – and in Jolly Harbour you can buy a little two-bedroom cottage for £262,580, or a three-bed waterfront villa with a private mooring for £513,743.
Visas and tax
Aside from a two-year digital nomad visa (minimum income £37,500 per year), Antigua and Barbuda has one of the most popular citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes in the Caribbean, offering visa-free travel to 150 countries.
You must invest at least £172,000 – through contribution to the National Development Fund – or a real estate investment of £225,000 or buy a business.
Lime Cottage in Jolly Harbour, Antigua, is on the market for £505,555
For expats in Antigua, there are no taxes on wealth, inheritance, capital gains or global income. Foreigners need to pay for an Alien Landholding License to buy property (five to seven per cent), but those who buy through the CBI do not pay it. There is also 2.5 per cent stamp duty.
What you can buy
SPLASH THE CASH: Lime Cottage, a waterfront, three-bed villa is situated within a gated community, and is 100 metres from Jolly Beach. Available with Savills from £505,555.
ON THE CHEAP: This sophisticated one-bed, one-bath studio boasts its own private plunge pool, and is a five-minute walk from a white sandy beach. Available with Stanley’s Estate Agents from £149,111.
ST LUCIA
Dramatic landscapes – from volcanic peaks and lush rainforests to sugar-sand beaches and coral reefs – attract visitors to St Lucia. And some end up staying for good – including many digital nomads from the UK, Canada and the US.
There’s fibre-optic broadband and a growing cohort of eco-retreats, and many arrivals are attracted to the hub of Rodney Bay area in the north, where a resort with wellness and yachting facilities – called A’ILA – is opening soon.
‘The island offers a simple life with a lovely energy,’ says Juliet Sutherland who moved to St Lucia from south London 20 years ago and works for the Saint Lucia Hospitality & Tourism Association. ‘I was drawn by how welcoming everyone is.’
She says expats tend to live in Vieux Fort (handy for the airport), Soufriere or Laborie (calm natural beauty) or the more lively Rodney Bay.
There’s also sailing and golf – and the fact it’s more competitively priced compared with Barbados, says Robert Green of Sphere Estates, who sell luxury resort properties. The agent is selling new one-bedroom apartments at Cas en Bas Beach in the north from around £370,000, but you can find a three-bedroom townhouse in Rodney Bay for around £440,000.
A limited number of two-bedroom apartments are for sale within Cas en Bas Beach Resort
Visas and tax
St Lucia’s one-year digital nomad visa has no minimum income – your earnings must be from abroad but will not be taxed locally. There’s also the golden passport (CIP) offering visa-free travel to 151 countries with four routes to citizenship (minimum investment is £180,000), plus work permits or permanent residency (after two years). Non-citizens pay a 10 per cent transfer tax on property plus 2 per cent stamp duty.
If you are resident in St Lucia you will pay tax on worldwide incomes. If you are non-resident, you will pay tax on local incomes only. The highest personal income tax rate is 30 per cent. There is no inheritance, wealth or capital gains taxes.
What you can buy
SPLASH THE CASH: A number of two-bed apartments are available within the Cas en Bas Beach Resort, managed by Hyatt. Available from £537,419 with Sphere Estates.
ON THE CHEAP: This one-bedroom condo in Cap Estate, St Lucia, has access to a communal swimming pool, and is located near the beach and a golf course. Available with SL Homes for £185,000.
GRENADA
Enjoying a lower profile than Barbados and St Lucia, Grenada is none the less the top Caribbean location for UK nationals applying for golden passports.
Interest from the UK is more often from the yachting fraternity, according to Kareem Adams, senior valuation technician at Terra Caribbean properties.
Prime areas are in the south/south-east of the island where jagged wooded peninsulas drop down to sheltered marinas, hidden bays and sandy beaches.
True Blue, Lance aux Epines, Morne Rouge, Egmont, Petite Calivigny, Fort Jeudy and Westerhall Point are upscale neighbourhoods offering sweeping views and a handy location for amenities.
A three-bedroom villa in Grenada with panoramic views and a pool, available for £505,400
Visas and tax
Its golden passport scheme offers visa-free travel to 140 countries but also has an E-2 Investor Treaty with the USA so after three continuous years of living in Grenada, citizens have the right to move to the States to run a business.
It requires a donation to National Transformation Fund of £176,000 for family of up to four members, or a property purchase of at least £202,000, plus £37,500 contribution. There is a digital nomad visa (minimum income £28,000 per year).
There is no tax on foreign income or wealth for tax-resident expats and no wealth, capital gains taxes or inheritance taxes. The highest marginal tax rate for personal income tax is 28 per cent. For non-Grenadian buyers there is a 10 per cent property purchase tax.
What you can buy
SPLASH THE CASH: This beautiful three-bedroom villa has panoramic views, as well as its own pool. Available with Terra Caribbean for £505,400.
ON THE CHEAP: This one-bed apartment in Point Salines is just a stone’s throw away from both Portici and Groooms Beach. Available for £190,000 with Terra Caribbean.
Chef and food writer Sophie Michell says Barbados ‘offers a safer and calmer life’ for her and her son
‘Barbados offers a safer and calmer life for me and my son’
Chef and food writer Sophie Michell was on holiday in Barbados when the pandemic struck so she decided to stay. Leaving Battersea in south London, she now lives with her son Oscar, six, in an ‘old-school’ Caribbean house near Speightstown, with hummingbirds and monkeys in the garden.
‘I wanted a safer and calmer life for myself and Oscar,’ says Sophie, 44. ‘The pandemic made me realise we could be on a different path.’
After a successful career working in Michelin-starred restaurants, cooking for Leonardo de Caprio, two former prime ministers and the royals, Sophie set up Local & co, the first farm to table restaurant in Barbados, in 2021.
In a coral-stone building that took 2.5 years to renovate, the beachfront restaurant has since expanded to offer a social club, jazz nights and art installations.
‘Oscar swims and snorkels at the beach with his British and American friends from school [Codrington International School] and it’s a very safe and sheltered life, although a lot of people come for two or three years and then leave.
‘Yes I get island fever – I miss the diversity of the restaurants, H&M and Marks & Spencer – but Barbados punches above its weight for such a tiny island.’
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