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Low confidence · transparency 1.0/5

How Many Americans Live in St. Lucia

Saint Lucia reports on its citizenship program every fiscal year and names the United States as a core source market. What it publishes about Americans who settle there is far thinner.

180k
St. Lucia's Population
The Point of Reference
824
Born in the US
UN DESA estimate · 2024
Born in the US, as a Share of St. Lucia
0.46%
824 ÷ 180,000
1 in every 218 residents · the “US-connected” rate

The American Emigration Revue counts US citizensPeople holding United States citizenship, as counted by St. Lucia's own official records. A separate population from US-born residents; the two are never added. Definitions ›, US-born residentsPeople born in the United States living in St. Lucia, whatever citizenship they hold today. A separate population from US citizens; the two are never added. Definitions ›, naturalizations and long-term permits from official government sources, with every figure cited. This page sets out what St. Lucia publishes, what it does not, and how far the published record can be trusted.

Every figure is shown with the year its source published it.
Dual citizenship
Recognized
Americans may keep their US passport
Years to naturalize
0.5 yrs
minimum residency requirement
01

Why St. Lucia's Records, Not Washington's

The Context

The context every page needs: who counts Americans abroad, and who doesn't.

The United States publishes no count of its own citizens abroad. Its best federal figure, 3.3 million Americans worldwide, is a statistical model built to size the overseas electorate, and the same model said 4.4 million two years earlier. The Census Bureau decided in 1976 to exclude private Americans abroad from the decennial enumeration (overseas federal employees and military are still counted). What Washington publishes instead is fragments: Social Security checks mailed to foreign addresses, tax returns claiming foreign income, quarterly lists of people who gave up their citizenship. See what each federal source actually counts ›

So this project counts from the receiving side. Every figure on this page comes from records St. Lucia itself publishes, read under the same rules applied to every country in the project. Where St. Lucia publishes, it is counted and cited. Where it does not, the gap is shown rather than filled — and where the only figure available is an estimate, it is labelled as one. How openly each country reports ›

02

How St. Lucia Counts Americans

The One Count

One "US presence," one official count. The other measures on this page answer different questions.

US-Born Headline
824
US-origin residents · UNDESA/IOM migrant stock, mid-2024 (model estimate; Saint Lucia publishes no national count of US citizens or US-born residents)
03

What the Research Found

The Findings

Findings from the St. Lucia research, drawn from the official record.

Findings
by Daniel ATZ
Application intake increased from 1,076 (2023) to 1,226 (2024).
Denials increased from 28 (2023) to 81 (2024), reflecting higher rejection volume alongside increased intake.
Citizenship issuance data is not consistently reported across periods in the dataset.
There is clear growth in intake and denials, but limited visibility on citizenship output and U.S. participation.
What the Public Record Says
Data transparency1.0 out of 5 (low confidence) — how much St. Lucia publishes about resident Americans, how often, and how easily the figures can be checked. Scored under How Far to Trust These Figures below.
04

The Figures as Data

The Evidence

Machine-readable copy of the figures on this page, each with the year its source published it. Free to download and reuse with attribution.

Key Figures as Data
St. Lucia · every figure with the year its source published it
FigureValueVintagePublisher
US-born residents824UN DESA

Vintage is the year the publishing authority reported the figure. A dash means the year or publisher is not yet recorded in our dataset for that figure; the Sources and Datasets section below names every publisher behind this page.

05

The National Lens

Country-Specific Data

Supplementary data obtained or derived specifically for this country — indicators not in the global framework.

National lens: CBI by the numbers
Citizenship by investment: applications and citizenships issued
2023 applications
1,076
2023 citizenships issued
544
2024 applications
5,642
2024 citizenships issued
1,171

Saint Lucia's CBI unit publishes total applications and citizenships issued only; it does not break out US applicants. CBI applicants need not reside in the country, so these figures are never read as migration.

06

Pathways, Status & Geography

How Americans get here, what permits they hold, and where they settle within the country.

Citizenship by investment
St. Lucia, established 2015
Program
Competent Authority (CIU)Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) of Saint Lucia
Statutory BasisCBI Act, Cap. 1.20 (formerly Act No. 14 of 2015)
Final Approval AuthorityCabinet of Ministers via Minister responsible for the CBI Programme
YearTotal ApplicationsUS ApplicationsDenials
2023107628
2024564277
2025
Investment Pathways
PathwayUmbrella CategoryStatus / Note
National Economic Fund (NEF)Contribution2023 ≈239 apps (~22.2% of 1,076 derived from CIU annual report percentage); 2024 NR; US-disaggregation NR
Approved Real Estate ProjectReal Estate2023 ≈751 apps (~69.8% of 1,076); 2024 NR — the dominant route in 2023; US-disaggregation NR
National Action Bond (NAB)Gov Bonds2023 ≈86 apps (~8% of 1,076); introduced 1 Jan 2023 to replace COVID-19 Government Bond; recorded zero applications during 2023 despite remaining operationally available
National Infrastructure & Road Improvement Project (NIRIP)Enterprise ProjectNR across all years; pathway exists but no quantified operational reporting
07

How Far to Trust These Figures

The Publishing Record

What St. Lucia publishes, how often it publishes, and the sources behind every number on this page.

What We Know · What’s Missing
Low confidence · transparency 1.0/5
Inflows
Permits
US-Born
Citizens
Naturalizations
published every yearone-off figurenot published

The gaps: No US-disaggregated official publication identified for this country.

Sources & Datasets
4 publishing authorities

Every figure on this page comes from one of the publishers below. Links go to the authority and, where stable, straight to the dataset.

08

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Answers

Every answer is drawn from the official record, from the same sources cited across this page.

Does St. Lucia recognize dual citizenship with the United States?
Yes. Americans may keep their US passport when they naturalize in St. Lucia; the minimum residency requirement is 0.5 years.Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia and Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Population Estimates Dataset
Where do the figures for Americans in St. Lucia come from?
Every figure on this page comes from St. Lucia's own official publishers: Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Population Estimates Dataset, Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) of Saint Lucia, Citizenship by Investment Board, Cabinet of Ministers (final approval authority), Immigration Department of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, and Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF). These are counts those bodies published themselves; the one estimate on this page is labelled as such. Where St. Lucia publishes nothing, the page says so rather than filling the gap. St. Lucia's published record scores 1.0 out of 5 for transparency, which measures how much it publishes, how often, and how easily the figures can be checked.Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia
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Edited by Daniel Atz, Founder and Editor in Chief.

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© 2026, American Emigration Revue. Every figure from a named official source.