Cape Verde residence permit and citizenship in 2026

A passport after 5 years with no language exam and permanent residency for a home from EUR 80,000, but visa-free access to just 64 destinations. We cover permit types, 2026 fees, naturalization under the 2023 law, citizenship by investment and taxes.

Cape Verde grants citizenship after 5 years of legal residence, and its naturalization rules contain no language exam and no civics test. The requirement sits in the new Nationality Law, Lei n.º 33/X/2023, published on 22 August 2023. For comparison, Portugal has required 10 years of residence since 19 May 2026, or 7 for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries.

Getting in is cheap too. The immigration service charges about $70 for a retiree's permanent residence card. The local Green Card, a permanent permit for buying a home, starts with property worth $91,000. The catch is the passport itself: a Cape Verdean passport opens 64 destinations without a visa, fewer than half of what a Portuguese passport offers. The Schengen Area, the UK and the US are not on the list.

Below: which residence permits work in 2026, what the fees are under the new fee table, how the path to a passport looks step by step, and whether citizenship by investment exists. Amounts are in US dollars at the rate of 6 October 2026. For a country overview, see our Cape Verde page.

What residence permits does Cape Verde offer in 2026

The Foreigners Law, Lei n.º 66/VIII/2014 (as amended, including by Lei n.º 27/X/2023 of 8 May 2023), has two kinds of permit. The temporary permit, ART (autorização de residência temporária), is issued for 2 years and renewed for further 2-year periods. The permanent permit, ARP (autorização de residência permanente), has no expiry date, but the plastic residence card, TRE (Título de Residência de Estrangeiros), must be replaced every 5 years.

Decisions are made by the immigration service DEF (Direção de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras, Directorate for Foreigners and Borders). Applications go through the e-residencia online portal and, by exception, in person at DEF offices and regional National Police commands.

The system's key feature: two statuses give permanent residence immediately, with no 5-year wait. These are the Green Card and the retiree permit. Every other route starts with a temporary permit, and almost all of them first require a residence visa (visto de residência) from a consulate. Investors are the exception: the law exempts them from that visa if they entered legally and apply within 60 days of their first entry. Other countries are covered in our residence permits section.

How to get a Cape Verde residence permit: steps and fees

Since 1 February 2026 DEF has charged fees under a new table (Portaria n.º 40/2025 of 27 November 2025, a ministerial order of the Interior Administration Ministry). The fees are modest; most of the money goes on documents, translations and travel. The typical route looks like this.

1. Residence visa. Apply at a Cape Verdean consulate or online: passport, criminal record certificate with an apostille and a Portuguese translation, proof of the purpose of the stay and of funds.
2. Local paperwork. After arrival, get a tax number, NIF (número de identificação fiscal), a certificate of residence (Atestado de Residência) from the town hall, a medical certificate, a vaccination certificate and a local criminal record.
3. Residence application. File on the e-residencia portal or at a DEF office. For renewals, the rules give DEF 45 days from the moment the file is complete.
4. TRE card. Issued for the term of the permit; after 5 years you can apply for permanent residence or go straight for citizenship.

Sources: the Portaria n.º 40/2025 fee table and card fees on the DEF portal. By law, CPLP nationals are exempt from fees for issuing and renewing residence permits, apart from the cost of the card itself. Russia, Ukraine, the UK and the US are not CPLP members and pay the full rate.

Entering Cape Verde in 2026: visa-free travel, EASE and new visa rules

Citizens of the EU, the UK, the US and Canada enter without a visa, and so do Russians under a mutual visa waiver in force since 4 July 2020, which allows up to 60 days per trip for people who do not work, study or live in the country (Russian Foreign Ministry). Every visa-free traveller must pre-register online on the EASE portal (ease.gov.cv, the government pre-arrival registration system) and pay the airport security fee TSA (Taxa de Segurança Aeroportuária) of about $35.

Since 1 January 2026, nationals of 91 countries need a visa obtained in advance, including for airport transit. The list includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and the Philippines. Ukraine is not on it, but it has no visa waiver with Cape Verde either. Which visa does your passport need? Ask an expert. A valid Cape Verdean residence permit, or one from the EU, the UK, Switzerland, the US, Canada or Brazil, lifts the advance-visa requirement.

Another 2026 change concerns the TSA. In ruling n.º 50/2026, published on 28 July 2026, Cape Verde's Constitutional Court struck down the reading under which only holders of a Cape Verdean passport are exempt from the fee: the exemption must also cover foreigners legally resident in the country. Will the ruling apply to your flight? Ask an expert.

The remote work visa in brief

The Remote Working Cabo Verde program started in 2020 as a government initiative. It now has a footing in law: the 2023 amendments added a residence visa for remote work for foreign employers and clients, and Decreto-Lei n.º 13/2025 (a government decree with the force of law) of 15 May 2025 set out the document list.

According to the program's page, the visa is issued for 6 months with a further 6-month extension, and remote workers' income is exempt from Cape Verdean income tax. The DEF portal lists the digital nomad visa fee at about $55, plus the TSA airport fee. Bank balance requirements and the application process are on our Cape Verde digital nomad visa page. To build the 5 years needed for citizenship, you need a residence permit.

Investor residence and the Green Card for property

Cape Verde does not name a price for an investor's temporary permit. Article 55 of the Foreigners Law asks for something else: a real activity that is already authorized, registered or licensed, or capable of being licensed. You prove it with a certificate from the relevant authority, a foreign investor certificate (Certificado de Investidor Externo), a stake in a trading or industrial company, or a company where at least half of the staff are Cape Verdean nationals.

A foreigner may own 100% of a company, except in fishing (a local partner needs 51%) and inter-island shipping (25%), according to the state investment agency Cabo Verde TradeInvest. How to choose a business structure and where to register it is covered in our company formation section. Mind the deadline: the investor permit application is due within 60 days of first entry, with no residence visa required.

The Green Card is simpler and more expensive. It is a permanent permit for a foreigner who has bought a finished home or one under construction, paid with money transferred from abroad. The threshold depends on the municipality: $91,000 where GDP per capita is below the national average and $140,000 where it is at or above the average. Murblz specialists confirm the threshold for a specific address with DEF before you sign: in the tourist hubs of Sal and Boa Vista and in the capital, Praia, where incomes are above average, plan on $140,000.

The DEF document list for the Green Card: passport with visa and entry stamp, criminal record certificates, medical certificate, a purchase contract free of encumbrances, a letter from a local bank confirming the transfer from abroad, land registry and tax register extracts, and a building contract for property under construction.

Add the transaction taxes. Since 1 January 2026 the old property tax, IUP (Imposto Único sobre o Património, single property tax, charged at 1.5%), has been replaced by two new ones: ITI (Imposto sobre a Transmissão de Imóveis, property transfer tax) of 1% of the price, or 3% if the seller or buyer benefits from a privileged tax regime, and the annual IPI (Imposto sobre a Propriedade de Imóveis, property ownership tax) of 0.1% of the taxable value, 0.15% for land (2026 tax reform). Worked example: a $140,000 flat in Praia means about $1,400 in transfer tax and about $140 a year in ownership tax, if the taxable value equals the price.

A practical caveat: the online Green Card application on the DEF portal is marked brevemente (coming soon), so plan on filing in person at DEF. Do the Green Card tax breaks still apply to your property after the 2026 reform? Ask an expert.

Residence for retirees in Cape Verde

Retirees get what everyone else waits 5 years for: permanent residence from day one. Article 65 of the Foreigners Law puts people who have retired on the same footing as those who have spent 5 years on a temporary permit. The card fee is about $70, plus about $20 for processing.

The DEF document list: passport, pension statement, proof of means, an undertaking to pay for your own medical care, a criminal record certificate and an undertaking to respect the country's laws. Neither the law nor the DEF portal sets a minimum pension: the immigration service judges whether your means are sufficient. Proof of Portuguese, mandatory for standard permanent residence, can be waived by DEF for a retiree who asks, under the implementing rules.

Tax is a separate matter. Under the Cape Verdean tax code, pensions of up to $9,900 a year are exempt from income tax, and a new tax resident who was not resident in Cape Verde for the previous 5 years can apply for NHR status (regime de residente não habitual, non-habitual resident regime) for 7 years. Under it, foreign-source income is exempt if conditions are met. The application is due by 31 March of the year after the move. What daily life in the capital looks like is described in our Praia guide.

How to get Cape Verde citizenship: 5 years and a declaration

Naturalization in Cape Verde has four conditions, all listed in Article 13 of Lei n.º 33/X/2023: 5 years of legal residence, adulthood, no conviction for a crime carrying 3 years in prison or more under Cape Verdean law, and the ability to support yourself. The word legal was added in 2023 on purpose: the government explained that years spent without papers no longer count. Your residence is proven by a DEF certificate of legal residence, so the clock runs on years with a residence permit, not on tourist trips.

The procedure is set out in the implementing decree, Decreto-Lei n.º 29/2024 of 13 June 2024. You file a declaration of your wish to become a citizen, and the Minister of Justice decides by order (despacho). The decree gives the minister up to 90 days from filing. The minister may ask DEF and the Foreign Ministry to check the applicant's character and any possible drawbacks for Cape Verde's relations with the applicant's country. For nationals of sanctioned countries this is an added risk factor: naturalization is the state's right, not its obligation.

The most unusual thing on this list is what is missing: language. Neither the law nor the decree requires Portuguese or Creole from a person naturalizing. Language is tested at other stages: for permanent residence, for citizenship by investment and for citizenship for special merit. Still, without Portuguese even gathering the certificates is hard.

There are shorter routes too. A foreigner married to a Cape Verdean citizen for at least 4 years, or in a recognized de facto union for at least 4 years, acquires citizenship by declaration (the amendments in Lei n.º 37/X/2024 of 22 March 2024 cut the marriage requirement from 5 to 4 years). Children of Cape Verdeans by birth who are born abroad become citizens automatically once the birth is registered, while grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren can claim it by declaration. The public prosecutor may challenge such acquisitions in court within 12 months, for example over a sham marriage or a lack of real ties to the country.

Dual citizenship: can you keep your passport

Yes. Cape Verde has allowed dual citizenship since the 1992 amendments, and the 2023 law does not require new citizens to give up their previous passport. The only voluntary way to lose Cape Verdean citizenship is to hold another nationality and declare that you no longer wish to be Cape Verdean. The other grounds for loss cover forged documents, acquiring citizenship to commit crimes or avoid extradition, and a conviction for terrorism.

One caveat matters for life on the islands. Article 32 of the law says that if a person has several nationalities and one of them is Cape Verdean, only that one counts under Cape Verdean law. Inside the country the authorities treat you solely as a Cape Verdean. The second condition depends on your first country: Russian citizens, for example, must notify the Interior Ministry of a second citizenship within 60 days, and Ukraine and several other countries restrict dual nationality. How this works around the world is covered in our article on dual citizenship.

Does Cape Verde offer citizenship by investment

In the law, yes; as a priced program, no. Article 14 of Lei n.º 33/X/2023 allows citizenship for a foreigner who, personally or through a company, has made investments of significant interest to Cape Verde or has given secure guarantees that they will. The investments must clearly create jobs and contribute significantly to the country's development.

The law lists the options: projects that create jobs and exports, tourism properties, capital placed in investment funds, projects under agreements with the government or municipalities, significant stakes in companies in strategic sectors, and other investments recognized as relevant by the Council of Ministers.

The key detail: the law leaves minimum amounts to a separate law and the application procedure to a special regulation (Article 61 of Decreto-Lei n.º 29/2024). We found no act with specific amounts in the official gazette, the Boletim Oficial. So you cannot buy a Cape Verdean passport at a fixed price the way you can in the Caribbean: the Minister of Justice decides each case individually.

Money alone is not enough; you also need a genuine link to the country. It is shown by reasonable knowledge of Portuguese or Cape Verdean Creole (an interview at the registry, a school certificate or an exam certificate) or by travel: at least two entries a year of 15 days or more over 3 consecutive years, or 2 years of legal residence with at least 6 months in the country each year. People born in and holding the nationality of a Portuguese-speaking country, and those married for 2 years to a Cape Verdean by birth, are presumed to meet the language test. Cape Verdean citizenship has no fixed price, and a promise to sell it is a red flag. Where such programs genuinely work is covered in our second passport section.

What a Cape Verdean passport gives you

The Cape Verdean passport opens 64 destinations without a visa. For comparison, Russia's passport opens 114, Ukraine's 142, Brazil's 170 and Portugal's 185. As a travel document on its own, it is weak.

Its value lies elsewhere. Cape Verde is a member of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), and the visa-free list includes Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana and other countries in the region. It is also a CPLP member, and under Portugal's new nationality law, in force since 19 May 2026, nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries can apply for Portuguese citizenship after 7 years of residence in Portugal instead of 10. Brazil's constitution asks only 1 year of residence from people from Portuguese-speaking countries, but the benefit is written for originários, citizens by birth, not by naturalization. Russia, Singapore and Malaysia also admit Cape Verdean passport holders without a visa.

Taxes in Cape Verde for residents

You become a Cape Verdean tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in the country in a calendar year, or if on 31 December you have a home that suggests habitual residence. Residents are taxed on worldwide income. Under the tax code, personal income tax, IRPS (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares), is progressive: 16.5% on income up to $9,900 a year, 23.1% up to $19,000 and 27.5% above that. Net income up to $2,300 a year is exempt.

Relief exists but has to be claimed: the 7-year NHR regime with a 10% rate for high value-added work and an exemption for foreign income if conditions are met, a separate exemption for remote workers, and the property taxes that replaced the old IUP in 2026. Social security is 8.5% for employees, 16% for employers and 19.5% for the self-employed; VAT is 15%. The full breakdown is on our Cape Verde taxes page.

Cape Verde vs Portugal, Brazil, Mauritius and Seychelles

Cape Verde wins on time and entry cost but loses on passport strength.

Sources: national citizenship laws (Portugal, the Lei da Nacionalidade as amended in 2026; Brazil, Law 13.445/2017; Mauritius and Seychelles, the Mauritius Citizenship Act and Seychelles Citizenship Act). The bottom line: for a strong passport, go to Portugal or Brazil, with a language requirement and a longer wait. For fast, cheap permanent residence in a warm country, go to Cape Verde.

Pitfalls the brochures leave out

• Citizenship is not automatic. The law says citizenship may be granted (pode ser concedida). The Minister of Justice decides and may weigh Cape Verde's relations with your country.
• Only legal residence counts. Years without a permit, missed renewals and visa-free stays do not count toward the 5 years. Late renewal costs extra, and an expired permit is renewed at a higher rate.
• Citizenship by investment has no price. No published act sets amounts, and each case is individual, so a fixed price for such citizenship is a promise, not a program.
• The Green Card is for homes only, paid from abroad. A bank in Cape Verde must confirm in writing that the purchase money came from abroad. Online filing on the DEF portal is not open yet.
• You still need Portuguese. There is no exam for naturalization, but standard permanent residence requires the language, and every certificate and court case is in Portuguese.
• The islands are not one city. Sal and Boa Vista live on tourism; Praia is the capital with the ministries and DEF. When choosing an island, look at healthcare and flights.

How we help with Cape Verde residence and citizenship

We match the residence basis to your income, family and plans, gather and translate the documents, and work out in advance how many years it will realistically take to reach a passport. Legal representation before Cape Verdean authorities is handled by partners with a local licence.

FAQ