Most CBI cost pages quote the headline government fee and leave the rest in fine print. The headline does not equal the total. This page itemises every line: government donation, due diligence, advisory, and per-applicant document fees. Paid in BTC, Lightning, or USDT; credit cards and bank transfers also accepted as needed.
Single Applicant
$90,000
Government donation
Family of Four
$95,000
Government donation, flat
Additional Dependent
+$5,000
Per person beyond four
Government donation (FNT)
$90,000
Non-refundable contribution to the Fundo Nacional de Transformação.
21 CBI advisory fee (5% of the government donation)
$4,500
Engagement, source-of-funds documentation, UCID liaison, oath coordination.
Due diligence fee
$5,000
UCID background, AML/CTF, sanctions, and source-of-funds assessment. Paid at engagement; flat.
Passport issuance
$350
Per applicant.
National ID
$150
Per applicant.
Citizenship certificate
$250
Per applicant.
Single applicant all-in
$100,250
| Line item | Single | Family of 4 |
|---|---|---|
Government donation (FNT) Non-refundable contribution to the Fundo Nacional de Transformação. | $90,000 | $95,000 |
21 CBI advisory fee (5% of government donation) Engagement, source-of-funds documentation, UCID liaison, oath coordination. | $4,500 | $4,750 |
Due diligence fee UCID background, AML/CTF, sanctions, source-of-funds assessment. Paid at engagement; flat. | $5,000 | $5,000 |
Passport issuance (per applicant) | $350 | $1,400 |
National ID (per applicant) | $150 | $600 |
Citizenship certificate (per applicant) | $250 | $1,000 |
All-in total | $100,250 | $107,750 |
For live BTC and sats equivalents at today’s exchange rate, use the Cost Calculator. BTC rates shift; static sats figures go stale quickly.
Document-fee note: cip.gov.st publishes the three citizenship-document line items (passport, national ID, citizenship certificate) as a single ~$750 per-applicant bundle. The line-item split shown above is illustrative against that government-disclosed total; the all-in figure is the operative number for budgeting.
The 21 CBI advisory fee and the due-diligence fee settle on Bitcoin (on-chain), Lightning, or USDT at engagement. Credit cards and bank transfers also accepted as needed. The government donation moves through our authorized legal channel after UCID Approval in Principle; we coordinate the conversion with full transparency and lock the BTC/USD rate at the moment of wire.
The 90-day window from Approval in Principle to settlement gives Bitcoiners flexibility on timing. Most clients move on the rate they want, not the rate the bank decides. If a 90-day extension is required, UCID grants it on request.
Writing the cheque is straightforward. The work that earns the engagement fee is the source-of-funds package: origin discovery, custody mapping, on-chain analysis, reconciliation, and the UCID-formatted submission. For most Bitcoin files, the source-of-funds work is the largest single piece of the engagement.
The full methodology is public: Bitcoin source-of-funds methodology.
São Tomé is less than half the floor of every Caribbean CBI program and one-eleventh the cost of El Salvador’s Freedom Passport. The trade-off is fewer visa-free destinations (~58 versus ~132 for El Salvador) and a lower-ranked passport (~rank 76). What you get is the lowest entry point in the global CBI market, plus Non-CRS posture (no automatic financial-account exchange under the OECD Common Reporting Standard) and Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) membership for Portugal/Brazil residency pathways.
If STP is the right shape for your family, the next step is a confidential call. Encrypted. No obligation. No payment required to start the conversation.
Adam Juchniewicz, CEO, 21 CBI
