Bermuda Immigration and Residence Options in 2026

Bermuda has several useful immigration mechanisms, but the current system is easy to misunderstand if older remote-work articles are treated as current law. The most important 2026 correction is that new Work From Bermuda / One Year Residential Certificate applications stopped on 28 February 2025. A legacy government service page remains online, but the Government announced that new applications would no longer be accepted after that date. People seeking non-employment residence now need to assess the current Permission to Reside on an Annual Basis or another legal category that fits their facts.

Bermuda also separates residence from local employment. A person can have permission to live in Bermuda without permission to take a Bermuda job. Conversely, most non-Bermudians who work locally need an employer-sponsored work permit. Investors, long-term residents and partners each have their own frameworks.

Bermuda routes at a glance

| Route | Best fit | Current position | Main limitation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Digital nomad / remote-work intent | Remote workers researching the former Work From Bermuda program | New Work From Bermuda applications closed 28 February 2025 | No current dedicated digital-nomad certificate for new applicants | | Annual residence permission | Financially independent people, retirees and foreign-income residents not taking local employment | Current policy uses a $75,000 annual-income baseline and requires at least 90 days in Bermuda per calendar year | Does not authorize local employment | | Bermuda College student residence | Non-Bermudian adult students accepted full-time by Bermuda College | Residence permission linked to study and good standing | Not a general student visa for any institution | | Work permits | Foreign nationals hired for local jobs | Employer-led Standard and other permit categories under the May 2026 policy | Labour-market and job-category rules apply | | Entrepreneur and business permits | Founders, investors and new-company personnel who need a business-linked work mechanism | Global Entrepreneur, New Business and related permit mechanisms | Incorporation alone is not immigration permission | | Partner and family residence | Eligible partners/dependants of Bermudians, PRC holders and qualifying Work Permit holders | September 2025 partner guidelines apply | Work rights are not automatic | | Economic Investment Residential Certificate | Applicants making a qualifying Bermuda investment of at least BMD $2.5 million | Indefinite residence if approved, subject to continuing conditions | Investment and residence conditions must be maintained for five years | | Permanent Resident's Certificate | Qualifying long-term residents | Current law includes a 20-year ordinary-residence route and other statutory categories | PRC is separate from Bermudian Status |

Remote work after the Work From Bermuda closure

The former one-year certificate was designed for overseas-employed remote workers and remote post-secondary students. It did not authorize gainful local employment. Bermuda formally stopped taking new applications effective 28 February 2025 and directed people who wanted to remain to the ordinary permission-to-reside framework.

That means a 2026 applicant should not rely on old articles describing a $275 one-year digital-nomad certificate as an open program. Start with the Bermuda remote-work guide, then compare the Annual Residence Permission if the plan is to live in Bermuda on foreign income without local employment.

Annual residence for people without local employment

The September 2025 residence policy gives Bermuda a current pathway for adults who can support themselves without taking local employment. The published baseline is $75,000 of annual income, together with private health insurance and evidence of financial means. The current policy also requires the holder to spend at least 90 days in Bermuda in each calendar year.

The Government has said permission can be granted for periods of up to five years, and the current fee schedule distinguishes permissions of up to one year and up to five years. Dependant-income expectations rise with household size. This is a residence permission, not a work permit, so local employment needs its own legal basis.

Read the Annual Residence Permission guide.

Local employment and work permits

Bermuda's work-permit regime is employer-led. The Government's May 2026 policy says almost all non-Bermudians outside exempt categories need permission before taking local employment. The Standard Work Permit is the common route and can normally be granted for one to five years. Employers generally need to advertise and demonstrate that no suitably qualified and available Bermudian, spouse of a Bermudian, other protected local worker or PRC holder is available, subject to the permit and occupation category.

The 2026 policy also uses Short-Term, Periodic, New Business, Global/Intra-Company Transfer, Fintech Business, Family Office and other mechanisms. Some occupations are closed or restricted. A residence permission should never be treated as a substitute for these employment rules.

See the Bermuda Work Permit guide.

Founders, entrepreneurs and company owners

Bermuda does not publish a generic unrestricted “startup visa” or “freelancer visa.” Founders have to match their activity to actual legal mechanisms. The Global Entrepreneur Work Permit is a narrow one-year route for a bona fide investor or businessperson carrying out business planning or seeking regulatory approval while likely to domicile a company in Bermuda. The New Business Work Permit supports qualifying personnel of a recently established exempted company and can run for one to five years.

Neither company registration nor share ownership, by itself, gives a person the right to reside or work. Read the Entrepreneur and Business Permits guide.

Investor residence: EIRC

Bermuda's current investor-linked residence mechanism is the Economic Investment Residential Certificate (EIRC). Under the revised policy effective 7 June 2024, an applicant must make a qualifying Bermuda investment of at least BMD $2,500,000. Eligible categories include Bermuda real estate, specified government or charitable funds, qualifying Bermuda business investment, development of a new Bermuda business, and other approved socially useful ventures.

If approved, the Residential Certificate gives an indefinite right to reside, subject to the policy's continuing requirements. For the first five years, the qualifying investment must remain at or above the minimum and the holder must reside in Bermuda for at least 90 days in each calendar year. The holder can receive automatic work-permit approval for a business in which the qualifying investment was made; that does not create unrestricted work authorization for every employer.

This is not citizenship by investment and should not be marketed as a passive “golden visa.” See the EIRC guide.

Long-term residence and Bermudian Status

A Permanent Resident's Certificate (PRC) is a different legal status from EIRC. Current law includes a section 31ZA route for a person with at least 20 years of ordinary residence, including the two years immediately before application, subject to statutory character and eligibility requirements. The Government also describes a 15-year route for a non-Bermudian parent of a son or daughter with Bermudian Status, alongside other statutory categories.

A PRC holder can live and work in Bermuda, but PRC is not the same as Bermudian Status. Status has its own statutory routes, including qualifying Bermudian-connection and spouse/widow/widower provisions. Ordinary time on a work permit, annual residence permission or EIRC does not automatically become Bermudian Status simply because years pass.

Read Permanent Residence and Bermudian Status.

Partners and dependants

The September 2025 Partner Residence Application Guidelines address genuine partners of Bermudians, PRC holders and qualifying Work Permit holders. The relationship evidence is demanding and the sponsor must show financial capacity and medical insurance. A partner of a Bermudian or PRC holder can receive residence/re-entry permission for up to five years, while a partner of a qualifying Work Permit holder is normally tied to the sponsor's permit period.

Residence does not automatically authorize employment. A partner who wants to work must satisfy the applicable reside-and-seek-employment and Work Permit rules. See the Partner and Family Residence guide.

Students

Bermuda has a specific residence framework for non-Bermudian adults accepted as full-time students at Bermuda College. It is not a general student visa for any school. Students must maintain full-time status, good conduct and academic standing, with official guidance using a minimum 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale for continuation. Read the Bermuda College Student Residence guide.

Tax context

Bermuda does not impose a conventional personal income tax on individuals, but that does not mean every resident or remote worker has no Bermuda tax exposure. The Government levies Payroll Tax, which can apply to employers, self-employed people, deemed employees and services carried on in Bermuda. Immigration status and tax treatment are separate questions.

Anyone earning income while physically in Bermuda should confirm payroll-tax, business, social-insurance and home-country implications rather than treating a residence document as a tax exemption.

Practical route selection

Remote worker paid entirely from abroad: read the remote-work closure guide and the Annual Residence Permission.

Foreign employee hired by a Bermuda employer: use the Work Permit guide.

Founder establishing a Bermuda company: use the Entrepreneur and Business Permits guide, and do not assume incorporation creates residence.

Investor prepared to deploy at least BMD $2.5 million: assess the EIRC.

Long-term resident: compare the PRC framework rather than treating EIRC or annual residence as automatic settlement.

Partner or dependant: review Partner and Family Residence.

For broader discovery, compare North America destinations and the visa-type directory.

Official-source hierarchy used

ReloTide prioritizes the consolidated Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956, the Department of Immigration, the current 2026 Work Permit Policy summary, current residence-policy material and the current immigration fee schedule. Where an older service page conflicts with a newer policy or announcement, the newer current source controls and the conflict is disclosed.

Last verified: 17 September 2026. This page is informational and has not been reviewed by a Bermuda immigration lawyer or tax adviser.

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