You're viewing help for Bahamas Investment Authority Browse the whole help centre →

Submitting an IPLA Certificate

25:17
Show transcript

[0:00] Thank you for joining today's training. In this training, we'll be going over how to submit an IPLA application. This can either be done as a certificate or a permit. For the purposes of this video, we will be going over the certificate process. As you can see here, I'm at the Bahamas government portal.

[0:31] To get to the Bahamas investment portal, you can come to this tab over here called Other sites and select Bahamas investment portal. This portal can also be reached by typing in the URL above and logging in directly from here. As you can see here, this main portal has three tabs.

[1:01] My task, applications, and available forms. To move forward with the application process, you need to select whether or not you are going to be doing a certificate or permit. For this demo, we are going to be doing the certificate. By selecting this link, we will be able to load the application document.

[1:32] As you can see here, it says certificate. So we know that we have gone to the right document. Also, you can find your information here where it says indicators organization. For this example, we are using test1 law firm and initiating user. This is going to exhibit your user information. By selecting these fields, you will have different information, populate, as you click through.

[2:09] It's important to note that some fields are required. This is known by the asteriskdicated nest to the field title. Please note that you will not be able to submit this application without all required information or required fields being completed. For today's example, we are going to be doing a company type for the investor.

[2:44] As you can see, as we move forward through this application, there will be different fields that will populate for each section that you select. We are going to move through this as this was a real application being submitted. Today we are going to be using test demo company.

[3:15] The date of incorporation we are going to say is today's date. We are going to use a fake street address, main street, and the city is going to be Nassau and the island will be new property. If you know the zip code, great. We are going to go ahead and put it there. Please add all company beneficial owners.

[3:51] This can be done by simply filling out the form. If you have more than one beneficial owner, you select the green button at the bottom and it will populate as you need. Please note that if you accidentally press the button more than you need for adding an additional person, all that is needed is for you to simply press the remove button, the

[4:22] x, and it will go away. Though one is always going to be required, so we are going to keep moving forward. Say that the fake passport ID is going to be 111 and the company owner, I am going to use my first name, Nina and the last name as owner. Giving a fake address again and we are going to say it is 323 and we are going to say fake

[5:01] street. Postal code is 32309. Country. I am United States citizen, so I am just going to go ahead and say this is from the United States. Nationality. Same thing. Data birth. Now you have two ways to go ahead and write your data birth.

[5:34] You can either select or hear and as you can see it only goes back to 2012. I was definitely not born in 2012 but you will worry as you click back you will have more options for dates or you can simply write in a date.

[6:01] Personally I prefer just to write it but you do also have the option to select it. Place a birth. I am going to say United States America. Self-employed if you say no, occupation and company of employment. If you say yes, nature of business. For today's example, say no, occupation is tester and the company is fake company.

[6:41] Immigration status. Now, if you write your immigration status it will be needed later on the document you provide an attachment that corresponds with whatever you select here. For this example, I am just going to go ahead and say that I am a home owner resident. If you select none, please note that you will not be required to submit an application attachment.

[7:13] Occupation and I am going to say fake email at ctcfl.com and the phone number. It is important to note that when you are writing the phone number it will not let you move forward unless you use plus and then your country's code for me it is 1 or 0, 0 and then the

[7:43] remainder of the number. I am going to do plus 1 and a fake number is going to be writing. Add another person and you need to do this information and remove them. Now we are going to move forward to the next section which is property information.

[8:17] The question says do you slash your company own or have you slash your company previously own properties in the Bahamas. If you say yes, it will bring up fields for you to provide information regarding that property. If you own or have own more than one property again you select the add own property button and you can simply add more fields for you to list all the properties that you have

[8:48] owned. If you do not own any properties, simply say no and you will be able to move on to the next section which is new property information. I am going to say for this example that the new property we are getting is through a mortgage slash loan. The condition is developed. As you can see when we said it is developed property size populated.

[9:20] If we say it is undeveloped you can see that the property size field becomes required. Please note this as you move forward so that you can make sure to be able to successfully submit this application. We are going to say it is already developed. Say unit is 1. Name is main street, island is new providence, lot, block.

[9:51] If you do not have this information no worries, it is not required. Settlement is required. For today's example I am just going to write demo. Settlement. Property size is 1,000 square feet. The property slash legal description is going to come from your conveyance.

[10:24] For today's example I am just going to write this as a legal description from the conveyance. This section is required so please make sure that you have your conveyance information at hand. Let's say you don't and you need to at any point reference other documents. We have this very handy dandy save and continue button which I will show you later on how

[11:00] to use. Convince date. We are going to go ahead and say it is today's date. It is also a stamp today. And the real property tax assessment number is just going to be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Again, make sure you have this information beforehand. And if not just continue and save.

[11:31] If you do not save and continue you will have to restart this application process. It does not automatically save your document. This information is going to say I purchased this for $230,000. And it is a mortgage. We are going to say it is both foreign and local that amount.

[12:05] I don't know. I am going to say $12,000. That receipt number. Again this is from the stamp of the department of inland revenue. And I am just going to say that receipt number is 5556789. And now we have completed that. This information section is going to keep moving to vendor.

[12:39] For vendor you have the choice of doing individual vendor or company. As mentioned previously, all of these buttons allow you to add additional information as needed. For today's example we are going to say we are a company. The name of the company is going to be vendor fake company. We are going to say it is today's date.

[13:15] Say we are a company from the United States. Now we are going to say the address is 32309 and 207 and I don't know. Making up an address. Let's say we are from Florida and we are going to say that we live in Tallahassee just

[13:47] because I like football and my favorite team is in Tallahassee. And the zip code is also going to be the same as the street number just because in the country is United States America. Add each vendor beneficial owner.

[14:22] I am going to say that I am the beneficial owner. My personal information is going to say 111 and I will put the same address as the company.

[15:03] This information can be different for you. Obviously make sure that it reflects correctly for your specific needs. And we are going to say that I am the owner at ctcfl.com. I am going to say 00 this time, a fake number, still United States citizen.

[15:45] And I am now self-employed for this part. I am going to say I am a tester and a place of occupation is demo company. Now let's say I forgot to write the city here.

[16:20] I am actually going to remove this. As you can see it is blank. You must fill this out. You must fill out the section. As you can see it is required. And if we press submit here, the documents that are missing and the sections here above that are missing information be highlighted in red. This will again show if we do this here.

[16:52] We will do occupation. Let's go back up. And occupation will go back and say that it is tester.

[17:39] I am writing. As you can see here, it won't let you move forward. Let's say you know what, this is a lot of documentation. I need to go make sure that I have it already before moving forward. What do I do? I don't want to have to start this whole process over again, but I do think I need it a little bit of a break. So I am going to go ahead and press save and continue.

[18:16] Hopefully this will bring us back to the homepage and from there I will show you how we can access this document once again. So document has been saved. Okay, great. Where is it though? How do I find it? This is when this handy-danding section comes into play. It's my certificate application.

[18:48] We are going to go ahead and select this link. And as you can see, we just the one that we are just doing is saved as a draft has not been submitted. And if we want to open it again, we do is press more. So I will show that again. We press the three section or it says more options. Advanced.

[19:18] We will bring up all of this information that is not needed. At this time view items, edit and share, set permissions. All we need to do right here is focus on edit item. So we are going to go ahead and do that. And now we are back. As you can see, that the company information is available.

[19:53] All the information that we did last time is still there, which saves us a ton of time. And now you know what, I think it's a great time that we move forward and add these documents. To add attachments, all you have to do is select this button with the green plus sign next to it, said add attachment. Add file. And we are going to go ahead and say that this is the right one.

[20:28] All right, fill out all the information that is needed. So for this one, it is a background check or police report. That's here.

[21:01] Professional character reference. Financial reference. Self-absorbed source of wealth. Copy of land being acquired.

[21:34] Immigration status. So we are going to go ahead and add this attachment.

[22:21] And the last one for us today is going to be evidence of payment or real property tax.

[23:00] Now if you are aware that you will be needing to submit other documentation to support this application, all you have to do is follow the same process we've done previously for this tab right here and select the link for add attachment and you'll be able to add other documents. Otherwise you can review the document once more to make sure that all the information that you have input is correct and that you are not missing any information.

[23:34] And then once you've done that, you can press submit.

[23:42] After submitting, you will be brought back to the homepage as you can see here. Now to make sure that you have successfully submitted the application, all you have

[24:14] to do is go back to this tab here, says my certificate applications. You will be able to see that the one that we are just working on has now changed the status from draft to submitted. And now there is a specific application ID associated with it, which is REG 142027. You can go back.

[24:47] And now we have officially finished the application submission process. If there are other tasks that are needed, this will populate here. For example, if there is an issue with any of your attachments, that information will populate here and we will go into more detail about that process in another video. Thank you so much for joining us today and we hope that you've enjoyed this video. Thank you.

Submitting an IPLA Certificate

This article explains how to submit an IPLA certificate application through the Bahamas Investment Portal. The process is similar for a permit, but this guide covers the certificate workflow.

Access the Bahamas Investment Portal

  1. Log in to the Bahamas Government Portal.
  2. Select Other sites.
  3. Choose Bahamas Investment Portal.

You can also access the portal directly by entering the URL in your browser and logging in there.

Start a Certificate Application

  1. From the main portal, review the available tabs:
    • My Task
    • Applications
    • Available Forms
  2. Select the certificate application link.
  3. Confirm that the form title says Certificate.

Fields marked with an asterisk are required. You cannot submit the application until all required fields are completed.

Complete Applicant and Company Information

The information shown in the form may change based on the fields you select. Complete each section carefully and provide all required details.

Company Details

  1. Select the applicable applicant type, such as Company.
  2. Enter the company name.
  3. Enter the Date of Incorporation.
  4. Enter the company address, including:
    • Street Address
    • City
    • Island
    • Zip Code, if known

Beneficial Owners

  1. Complete the information for each beneficial owner.
  2. If you need to add another owner, select the green add button at the bottom of the section.
  3. If you add too many owners by mistake, select the X button to remove the extra entry.

At least one beneficial owner is required.

Personal Information

  1. Enter the owner’s passport ID.
  2. Enter the owner’s first name and last name.
  3. Enter the owner’s address, postal code, country, and nationality.
  4. Enter the Date of Birth.
  5. Enter the Place of Birth.
  6. Answer whether the person is Self-Employed.
    • If No, provide the Occupation and Company of Employment.
    • If Yes, provide the Nature of Business.
  7. Select the appropriate Immigration Status.
  8. Enter the Email address.
  9. Enter the Phone Number using the plus sign and country code format, such as +1 followed by the number.

If you select an immigration status, you must upload a supporting attachment later. If you select None, no attachment is required for that field.

Property Information

Previous Property Ownership

  1. Answer whether you or your company currently own, or previously owned, property in the Bahamas.
  2. If you select Yes, additional fields appear for property details.
  3. If you own more than one property, use the Add Own Property button to add more entries.

If you do not own any property, select No and continue to the next section.

New Property Information

  1. Select how the property is being acquired, such as through a mortgage/loan.
  2. Select the Condition of the property.
  3. If the property is Undeveloped, the Property Size field becomes required.
  4. Enter the property details, including:
    • Unit
    • Name
    • Island
    • Lot and Block, if available
    • Settlement
    • Property Size
  5. Enter the Property/Legal Description from the conveyance document.
  6. Enter the Conveyance Date.
  7. Enter the Real Property Tax Assessment Number.
  8. Enter the purchase amount, financing details, and receipt information from the Department of Inland Revenue stamp.

Keep your conveyance and tax information available before starting this section. If you need to pause, use Save and Continue.

Vendor Information

The vendor section allows you to enter either an Individual Vendor or a Company.

Company Vendor Example

  1. Select Company.
  2. Enter the company name and date.
  3. Enter the vendor’s country, address, city, state, and zip code.
  4. Complete the vendor beneficial owner details.

Vendor Beneficial Owner

  1. Enter the beneficial owner’s personal information.
  2. Enter the owner’s address, email, phone number, citizenship, self-employment status, occupation, and place of occupation.

Make sure all required fields are completed. Missing required information will prevent submission.

Save Your Progress

The form does not save automatically. If you need to stop and return later, select Save and Continue.

  1. Select Save and Continue.
  2. Return to the homepage.
  3. Open My Certificate Applications.
  4. Find the saved application, which will appear as a Draft.
  5. Select More.
  6. Choose Edit Item to reopen the application.

All previously entered information will remain in the form.

Add Attachments

Use the attachment section to upload supporting documents.

  1. Select the green plus button next to Add Attachment.
  2. Select Add File.
  3. Upload the required document.
  4. Choose the correct attachment type from the list, such as:
    • Background Check or Police Report
    • Professional Character Reference
    • Financial Reference
    • Self-Declared Source of Wealth
    • Copy of Land Being Acquired
    • Immigration Status
    • Evidence of Payment or Real Property Tax

If additional supporting documents are needed, repeat the same process to add more attachments.

Submit the Application

  1. Review the form to confirm all information is complete and accurate.
  2. Check that all required fields and attachments are included.
  3. Select Submit.

After submission, you are returned to the homepage.

Confirm Submission

  1. Go back to My Certificate Applications.
  2. Find the application you just submitted.
  3. Confirm that the status has changed from Draft to Submitted.
  4. Note the assigned Application ID.

Once the status shows Submitted, the IPLA certificate application has been successfully submitted.

Important Notes

  • Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
  • The form will not submit if any required field is blank.
  • Use Save and Continue if you need to pause and return later.
  • Some fields trigger additional required attachments based on your selections.
  • If the submission has an issue, tasks or alerts will appear in My Task.

Can't find your answer?

Submit a support ticket and our team will help you.