Grenada May 2026 Rule: Interviews for Family Members 17 and Older Are Now Mandatory

May 17, 2026. The Investment Migration Agency of Grenada (IMA) has rewritten the wording in its latest due diligence operating notes. The clause covering interviews for main applicants and family members aged 17 and above has moved from "ordinarily required" to a mandatory step. Due diligence fees remain at $5,000 per adult, but interview recordings and questioning transcripts now enter the applicant's permanent file.

The shift looks small on paper. In practice it is significant. Over the past decade, roughly 35 percent of Grenada families I have worked on were called for an interview; the rest cleared through written due diligence. From May 2026 onward, the figure goes to 100 percent for any household with a member 17 or older. That person must sit in front of a camera, alone, for at least half an hour.

Three family profiles feel the change most. First, families with a teenager about to enter college. Where a 17-year-old still in high school used to clear on paperwork, the family now has to coordinate time zones, visa status, and exam schedules so the teenager can take a thirty-minute English-language session of their own. Second, families adding parents to the application. A parent who does not work in English now needs an accredited translator registered with the IMA in advance — self-funded, and the translator's credentials must be vetted by the agency. Third, couples where the non-main spouse used to communicate entirely through their licensed agent. That spouse now faces the interviewer alone and has to articulate source of funds logic, household decision flow, and migration intent in their own words.

The interview is not a formality. An internal SOP that the IMA made public in 2024 frames it directly: the purpose is "to verify the consistency of an applicant's stated facts beyond what the documents say." The questions are not an English test. They are fact-level cross-checks. If you wrote in your file that the contribution funds came from dividends paid by company X, the interviewer will ask when company X was incorporated, who currently owns it, which quarter you last received a dividend, and whether any relative sits on the payroll. Any answer that conflicts with the written record stops the file.

None of this affects Grenada's headline numbers. Contribution from $235,000 via the National Transformation Fund, processing in 6 to 12 months, 145 countries visa-free, Schengen and 180 days in the UK still valid. The US E-2 channel is theoretically available, but only with deep relocation to Grenada and a real operating business on-island — a passport alone will not pass the E-2 consular interview. That has not changed in the 11 years I have been working this program. China's conditional 30-day visa-free access requires renunciation of Chinese nationality first; for most mainland applicants that condition is non-trivial.

I'm based in California, licensed, and have closed more than 40 Grenada family files inside the broader 300+ client book. Starting today, every new Grenada engagement I sign goes through a mock interview before the contract is even drafted — every family member 17 or older walks through their source-of-funds narrative, the translator's credentials are pre-registered with IMA, and the interview hardware and connection are rehearsed from LA. None of that is a sales process. It is the actual preparation that gets a file through IMA in 2026.

The table below compares the interview policies of Grenada against the other live Caribbean CBI programs. Figures verified as of May 17, 2026.

If you have a family member who is 17 or older and you are weighing Grenada against one of the other eight programs, message me on WhatsApp at +15595666666 with "Grenada interview" in the note. Fifteen minutes is enough to tell you whether this rule materially affects your case, or whether Sao Tome or Antigua — with lighter interview pressure — fits better. No fee. If the answer is "this is not for you," I will say so.