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Bahamas: visas, tax & cost of living

Moving to the Bahamas as a remote worker: the real BEATS visa, honest Nassau costs, zero income tax, healthcare and banking, from someone who did it.

Bahamas: visas, tax & cost of living
Your passport

United KingdomBahamas

Your move to Bahamas on a United Kingdom passport

  • VisitHardExceeds visa-free stay
  • NomadFairly easyNomad visa, stricter rules
  • RelocateMediumResidence with conditions

Visiting

Visa-free for up to 30 days. Travel on a passport valid for your whole stay, with a return or onward ticket and proof you can support yourself.

Passport validity: Passport valid for at least six months beyond the date you plan to leave

At the border: Signed immigration card, a return or onward ticket and, if asked, proof you can support yourself; the officer at entry decides how long you may stay, up to a maximum of 8 months, and visitors may not do any paid work

Working remotely

Bahamas Extended Access Travel Stay (BEATS), an annual residence permit for remote workers and remote students.

Income needed: No income floor is published for remote workers; you show a job letter from your current employer or proof of self-employment instead (remote students must show enough money for living costs and the trip home) (estimate)

Duration: 12 months

Fee: BSD 25 application fee per person, dependents included, then a BSD 1,000 permit fee for the remote worker plus BSD 500 per dependent; remote students pay a BSD 500 permit fee. The Bahamian dollar is pegged one to one to the US dollar. (estimate)

Who qualifies: Remote workers employed by, or self-employed for, businesses outside the Bahamas, and students enrolled remotely at an accredited institution. You need a valid passport and medical insurance for yourself and every dependent. The permit runs 12 months from issue, and renewals are considered one year at a time up to a maximum of three years. If a married couple both plan to work remotely, each files a separate application. It is built for remote work only: taking a job in the Bahamas needs a separate work permit, and no published route leads from BEATS to permanent residence.

Tax and residency

The Bahamas has no personal income tax: the Ministry of Finance lists personal income, capital gains, inheritance and dividends as tax exempt, so there is no Bahamian tax-residency day count to track. The state is funded instead by VAT (10% standard rate), customs duties, property tax and stamp duty. The residence test that matters is your home country's, which moving here does not end on its own. (estimate)

The UK decides residence with its Statutory Residence Test (days in the UK plus your ties). As a non-resident you are usually taxed only on UK income; where one exists, a double-tax treaty with the destination decides who taxes what.

Practical

Currency: BSD. Cost of living: high.

Healthcare: No free public cover for foreigners; private travel or international health insurance is strongly advised.

Driving: Visitors may drive on a valid foreign licence for up to three months; an IDP helps if it is not in English, and driving is on the left.

Sources: Bahamas Department of Immigration, Entry Requirements (visa exemptions, 8-month maximum stay, no work for visitors) · Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who does not need a visa to enter The Bahamas (incl. the India rule) · Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, eVisa online services (countries that need a visa) · BEATS official FAQ (annual residence permit, renewals up to three years, fees, documents) · BEATS official, How it Works (permit fees in Bahamian dollars, 5-day processing) · Bahamas Department of Immigration, Permanent Residence (economic route: USD 1.0 million held 10 years) · Bahamas Ministry of Finance, The Economy (no tax on personal income, capital gains, inheritance) · Bahamas Department of Inland Revenue, VAT FAQs (10% standard rate) · UK FCDO, Bahamas entry requirements · Government of Canada, travel advice for the Bahamas · GOV.UK: tax on foreign income · HMRC: double-taxation treaties

Estimates, not advice. Confirm with the official sources before you act.

Should you move to Bahamas?

Picture a version of remote work where your lunch break is a swim, your colleagues are three time zones behind you, and nobody asks you to file a tax return. That is the pitch for the Bahamas, and a lot of it holds up. English is the working language, the country sits a short flight from Miami, and there is genuinely no personal income tax. For a US or UK remote worker who bills in dollars, that combination is rare.

It suits a specific kind of person: someone earning a solid remote salary who wants sun, sea, and simplicity, and who will not flinch when the grocery bill lands. Most newcomers base themselves in Nassau (on New Providence), the capital and the only place with a real city rhythm, reliable flights, and hospitals. Others chase the postcard version in Exuma or Eleuthera, quieter, prettier, and slower in every sense, including the internet.

Budget honestly. A single person living comfortably in Nassau should plan for roughly USD 2,800 to 4,500 a month once rent is included, and more if you want a waterfront view. The trade-offs are real. Almost everything is imported, so it is expensive. Hurricane season runs June to November and it is not theoretical (Dorian in 2019 was catastrophic). Power cuts happen. And parts of Nassau have genuine crime, so location and common sense matter.

Cost of living in Bahamas

The Bahamas is one of the pricier places a nomad can pick, and the reason is simple: it imports nearly everything, then adds duty. A one-bedroom apartment runs around USD 1,300 to 1,450 a month on average, though central Nassau and gated communities push well past USD 2,000, according to Numbeo.

Groceries are where the sticker shock lands. Expect around USD 8 to 9 for a dozen eggs and USD 4 to 5 for a litre of milk, again per Numbeo. A modest restaurant meal sits near USD 45, and a night out with drinks climbs fast. Utilities for a mid-size apartment, mostly air conditioning, hover around USD 340 a month, and that figure spikes in the summer heat.

Numbeo puts a single person’s monthly costs at roughly USD 1,800 before rent. Add housing and the real all-in number for a comfortable life in Nassau is closer to USD 3,000 to 4,500. You can trim it by cooking, sharing, and skipping the imported wine, but nobody moves to the Bahamas to live cheaply. Treat every figure here as an estimate and price your own basket before you commit.

Bahamas digital nomad visa and entry

Yes, there is a real route, and it has a name: BEATS, the Bahamas Extended Access Travel Stay. Launched in 2020 for remote workers and students, it is an annual residence permit that lets you “call our islands home for up to a year,” per the official BEATS programme. It runs 12 months from the date of issue, and renewals are considered one year at a time, up to a maximum of three years in total.

The application is online through the government immigration portal, and approval takes around five business days. The fees are set out on the BEATS site: a BSD 25 application fee per person (each dependent pays it too), then, once you are approved, a BSD 1,000 permit fee for the remote worker plus BSD 500 for each dependent. Remote students pay a BSD 500 permit fee. The Bahamian dollar is pegged one to one to the US dollar, so read those as US dollars. There is no published income floor. What you send is a valid passport, proof of medical insurance for you and every dependent, and a job letter from your current employer or proof of self-employment (students show enrolment and enough money to live on and fly home). If you and your spouse both want to work remotely from the islands, you each file your own application. Fees can change, so check the official pages before you pay, and if you want a quick read on whether BEATS or a straight tourist stay fits your situation, run it through our digital nomad visa checker first.

If you just visit, the Department of Immigration caps any stay at 8 months, and the officer at the airport decides how long you actually get. US citizens can be admitted for up to 8 months; British travellers usually get 30 days and can ask to extend. Visitors may not do any paid work. Most other passports need a visa, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues online; Indian citizens are exempt if they hold a valid US, UK, Canadian or Schengen visa or residence.

One honest caveat: BEATS is built for remote work only. Taking a job in the Bahamas needs a separate work permit, and there is no published route from BEATS to permanent residency or citizenship. If long-term settlement is your goal, the economic permanent residence route is a very different conversation: the Department of Immigration asks for a minimum investment of USD 1.0 million in real estate or Central Bank zero-coupon bonds, held for at least 10 years.

Tax: no income tax here, but your home country still counts

This is the part people move for. The Bahamas has no personal income tax, and the Ministry of Finance lists personal income, capital gains, inheritance and dividends as tax exempt, so there is no Bahamian day count to track. That is not a loophole, it is simply how the country funds itself: through Value Added Tax (a 10 percent standard rate, per the Bahamas Department of Inland Revenue), customs duties, property tax and stamp duty. The tradeoff for zero income tax is the high cost of everything you buy.

Here is the catch that trips people up. Living tax-free in the Bahamas does not automatically end your tax obligations back home. Many countries treat you as tax resident based on where you spend 183 days or more in a year, or on where your center of life sits, and US citizens are taxed on worldwide income no matter where they live. Physically moving does not, by itself, break residency in the country you left. Where you actually owe tax depends on your citizenship, your ties, and the day count, so map it out with our tax residency checker and, for anything meaningful, a cross-border accountant. This is education, not advice.

Healthcare and insurance

Healthcare in Nassau is decent for routine and urgent care, thinner for anything complex. The main public facility is Princess Margaret Hospital, run by the Public Hospitals Authority; the leading private option is Doctors Hospital, also in Nassau. Serious or specialist cases are frequently flown to Miami, which is exactly why comprehensive private insurance with medical evacuation cover is not optional here.

Public care is not free at point of use for non-citizens, and quality is uneven. Most expats and nomads carry private international health insurance (global providers like Cigna Global or Allianz Care are common choices), typically running a few hundred dollars a month depending on age and coverage. On the outer islands, medical facilities shrink to a clinic and a plane, so factor evacuation coverage in seriously if you plan to live in Exuma or Eleuthera.

Money, banking and settling in

The Bahamian dollar is pegged one-to-one to the US dollar, and US dollars are accepted almost everywhere, so Americans skip currency exchange entirely. Cards work fine in Nassau; carry some cash on the outer islands where machines and card readers are patchier.

Opening a local bank account as a foreigner is possible but slow, with heavy documentation (proof of address, permit, reference letters), so many nomads simply keep their home bank plus a multi-currency card like Wise or Revolut for the first months. The main banks are Scotiabank, RBC Royal Bank, CIBC Caribbean, and Bank of The Bahamas.

For your first weeks: sort connectivity early (Aliv and BTC are the two carriers, and a backup mobile hotspot is wise given power cuts), rent short-term before signing anything long, and pick your Nassau neighborhood with local input rather than a map. Settle in slowly, and let the island set the pace.

Figures are estimates. Always check the official source.

Frequently asked questions

Bahamas: is there a digital nomad visa?
Bahamas Extended Access Travel Stay (BEATS), an annual residence permit for remote workers and remote students. Remote workers employed by, or self-employed for, businesses outside the Bahamas, and students enrolled remotely at an accredited institution. You need a valid passport and medical insurance for yourself and every dependent. The permit runs 12 months from issue, and renewals are considered one year at a time up to a maximum of three years. If a married couple both plan to work remotely, each files a separate application. It is built for remote work only: taking a job in the Bahamas needs a separate work permit, and no published route leads from BEATS to permanent residence.
Bahamas: when do you become a tax resident?
The Bahamas has no personal income tax: the Ministry of Finance lists personal income, capital gains, inheritance and dividends as tax exempt, so there is no Bahamian tax-residency day count to track. The state is funded instead by VAT (10% standard rate), customs duties, property tax and stamp duty. The residence test that matters is your home country's, which moving here does not end on its own.
Bahamas: what is the cost of living?
The cost of living is high and the local currency is the BSD. Treat any figures as estimates.
Bahamas: do you need health insurance?
No free public cover for foreigners; private travel or international health insurance is strongly advised.
Bahamas: can you drive on a foreign licence?
Visitors may drive on a valid foreign licence for up to three months; an IDP helps if it is not in English, and driving is on the left.

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Last verified: 2026-09-27

Voymo gives general information to help you organise your move. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice, always confirm with an official source or a qualified professional before you act.

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