# Negril.com Message Board Forums > Living in Jamaica >  Jamaica Citizenship by Marriage

## TheMillersWife

Hello! My husband is a dual Jamaican/US Citizen and I am a US Citizen. I am trying to obtain dual citizenship just in case we opt to move later on in life. 

Does anyone have experience with this process? Im assuming I can just fill out the form and show up w/my husband at the Embassy in DC with his Jamaican passport with a fee?

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## Rob

That is essentially it. The Embassy should be able to guide you.

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## rtitle

Me too - I am US and my wife is dual. She is from Jamaica but she moved to US and became naturalized US after we married.

Now I am planning to move to Jamaica for retirement. Just me, for now (she is not ready to retire). In the process of buying a property. I am looking forward to my new life there.

I was planning to apply for permanent residency & Jamaican citizenship after arriving there. Is that the wrong way to go about it? I.e. buy my retirement property, go there on a tourist visa like I always do, and apply for permanent residency there. Just myself - my wife would still be in the US - though I'll put on the application that I have a Jamaican wife. It might help, although it doesn't appear to be necessary; people do retire to Jamaica without Jamaican spouses. 

However I haven't yet looked into it in detail. I am interested in any advice here, especially if I am going about it wrong.

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## Dr Suess

I have been going through the process of citizenship by marriage... I'm happy to answer any questions you might have

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## Dr Suess

> Me too - I am US and my wife is dual. She is from Jamaica but she moved to US and became naturalized US after we married.
> 
> Now I am planning to move to Jamaica for retirement. Just me, for now (she is not ready to retire). In the process of buying a property. I am looking forward to my new life there.
> 
> I was planning to apply for permanent residency & Jamaican citizenship after arriving there. Is that the wrong way to go about it? I.e. buy my retirement property, go there on a tourist visa like I always do, and apply for permanent residency there. Just myself - my wife would still be in the US - though I'll put on the application that I have a Jamaican wife. It might help, although it doesn't appear to be necessary; people do retire to Jamaica without Jamaican spouses. 
> 
> However I haven't yet looked into it in detail. I am interested in any advice here, especially if I am going about it wrong.


Rather than permanent residency you can apply for a Marriage Exemption permit. This will allow you to live and work in Jamaica for 3 years at a time, renewable as long as you stay married. I think it's $15,000 JMD to apply at the ministry of labor, then the extension at PICA's office is  $10,000 JMD. After that they charge you an additional amount for the actual stamp in your passport, but it's smal (around $2,000 JMD).

You can apply for citizenship at any time while being married to a Jamaican national but it can take up to 2 years to process. In order to stay in Jamaica during that time you'll either need the Marriage Exemption permit or some other form of legal residency

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