Residences at Secret Bay — Cliffside Kampesh II, Dominica
Cliffside Kampesh II sits on the cliffs above Tibay Beach near Portsmouth, on Dominica's north-west coast, in the Residences at Secret Bay — a Relais & Châteaux resort on the government's approved list for citizenship by investment. The villa is built and trading, not sold off a rendering. It suits a buyer who wants a finished house somewhere quiet, is content for the resort to let it during the weeks they are not in it, and treats the Dominican passport as a by-product rather than the reason to buy. I act for you, not the developer and not the resort.
What you actually own
Whole ownership, freehold, construction complete. But whole ownership here is advertised with 10 to 24 weeks of personal use a year, which implies the villa is in the rental program for the balance. Before you sign, get in writing where in that band this villa falls, whether the weeks are fixed or floating, and how Christmas and Easter are allocated between you and the rental calendar.
Secret Bay also sells fractional shares and residence-club memberships; those are different products. The resort's own pages quote fractional entry at US$208,000, US$216,000 and US$220,000 depending which page you read — a fair warning about how carefully the published material is maintained. My record carries no interior floor area here; ask for the architect's schedule of areas and the surveyed lot plan.
The honest cost of buying and holding
Invest Dominica's schedule puts on the buyer: 2% stamp duty, a 1% judicial fee, a 1% assurance fund contribution, and a solicitor's fee of 2.5% plus 15% VAT on that fee. The seller pays 2.5% stamp duty.
Settle the alien landholding licence first. It is published at 10% of the market value of the land, though the same page also says an alien may hold under one acre without a licence — contradictory on its face. Get it in a letter from the conveyancing solicitor, with the statutory reference, before a deposit moves.
Holding is light: no wealth, gift, inheritance, foreign-income or capital-gains tax, though US citizens are taxed on worldwide income regardless of a second citizenship. The variable is the resort's service charge, which is not published; ask for three years of actual statements and the windstorm deductible as a percentage of sum insured.
This property qualifies for the Dominica Citizenship by Investment program.
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Interested in Residences at Secret Bay — Cliffside Kampesh II, Dominica?
Book a private call with Dan to explore availability, ownership options and eligibility.
Book a Private CallDan Merriam & Associates acts for the buyer. Our advice is independent, not contingent on any sale, and we hold no brokerage or developer mandate.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to hold each year?
Dominica levies no wealth, gift, inheritance, foreign-income or capital-gains tax, so the annual bill is essentially the resort's service charge and insurance — neither of which is published. Ask for three years of actual service-charge statements, split into management fee, shared resort cost and reserve, plus the windstorm deductible as a percentage of sum insured.
Can I rent it out?
Yes — whole ownership here is advertised with 10 to 24 weeks of personal use, so the villa is let the rest of the year through the resort. The owner's split is not published, so nobody, including me, can honestly quote you a yield. Ask for the management agreement, three years of gross revenue and owner net, occupancy and average daily rate, and every deduction between them.
Does it qualify for Dominican citizenship?
Yes. The Residences are on the government's approved list and the minimum qualifying real-estate investment is US$200,000, which this purchase clears many times over. The contribution is US$75,000 for a single applicant or US$100,000 for a main applicant plus up to three dependants, with due diligence at US$7,500 for the main applicant and US$4,000 per dependant aged 16 or over — on top of the price, not inside it. The passport gives visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 145 destinations, and it does nothing to a US citizen's worldwide tax obligation.
What is the catch?
Resale is slow: the buyer pool at this price is small, and citizenship buyers must hold three years from the grant, or five if the next buyer is also an applicant. Dominica is hurricane-exposed — Maria made landfall at category 5 with 145-knot sustained winds in 2017 — so buy on the structural specification, design wind speed and glazing rating rather than on photographs. Access rests on one direct American Airlines service from Miami plus hub connections, which is both a convenience and a concentration risk.