Top Citizenship By Investment Programs 2023
Citizenship-by investment programs attract a number of high net worth individuals in developing nations, looking to add a second passport in their investment portfolio. A second passport provides a greater mobility along with visa free travel freedom. The CBI passport market has turned into a $5 billion dollar industry annually along the Golden visa market is valued at another $25 billion. Together the Investor Residence and Citizenship market is a combined $30 billion as of 2022 and is projected to grow further every year.
Joachim Stern (2011) coined the term jus pecuniae for acquisition of citizenship through financial contributions and to describe the bureaucratic fees for citizenship applications.
St Kitts introduced the first citizenship by investment program in 1984, then Dominica joined in 1993 and it was only in 2014 many more countries joined the CIP club and the market for investment citizenship gained momentum giving rise to a $2 billion dollar industry. Recently St Lucia and Vanuatu joined the citizenship by investment market along with Malta and Cyprus in Europe.
According to IMF article “Offering citizenship in return for investment has been a “win-win” for some small Caribbean states. The substantial inflows of funds from these programs have helped boost employment and growth. Inflows to the public sector alone in St. Kitts and Nevis had grown to nearly 25 percent of GDP as of 2013”.
Another IMF article says Citizenship by investment is a growing phenomenon – The rapid growth of private wealth, especially in emerging market economies, has led to a significant increase in affluent people interested in greater global mobility and fewer travel obstacles posed by visa restrictions, which became increasingly burdensome after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This prompted a recent proliferation of so-called citizenship-by-investment or economic citizenship programs, which allow high-net-worth people from developing or emerging economy countries to legitimately acquire passports that facilitate international travel in Europe and Schengen Area.
Christian Kalin, Chairman of Henley and Partners says, “A second citizenship is like an insurance policy of the 21st century”
Benefits of Second Passport
- Safety and protection in a second country.
- Mobility and visa free travel freedom (visa waiver)
- Perfect gift for your family transferring citizenship through generations.
- A Plan B option for Asset protection offshore
- Must in an investment portfolio for family offices, bankers and hedge fund managers
- Safety, privacy and protection from war, political problems.
- Protect you wealth offshore in a stable country with strong currency.
- Dual citizen status becoming a Global citizen expanding freedom across the globe.
- World class education for children at best universities abroad.
- Opportunity to invest in international real estate markets to setup second home.
- Tax free planning on your worldwide income
- Passport is a modern day insurance policy of the 21st century
- Ease of doing business
The most important reason why these ‘citizen by investment’ programs gained so much popularity recently, citizenships are approved very fast within 2-3 months without any trip to the country and there are no residency requirements. Exceptions are Malta requires one year residency, Cyprus requires 6 months prior residency.
Quick summary
| Country | Price USD/EUR | Citizenship / residency | Investment | Time (months) | Visa free |
| Antigua and Barbuda | $100,000 | Citizenship | Donation / Real estate ($200k) | 3 | 150 |
| St Kitts and Nevis | $125,000 (Limited offer 2023 ) | Citizenship | Donation / Real estate ($200k) | 3 | 157 |
| Vanuatu | $130,000 | Citizenship | Donation / Real estate ($200k) | 2 | 135 |
| Grenada | $150,000 | Citizenship | Donation / Real estate (200k) | 3 | 144 |
| St Lucia | $100,000 | Citizenship | Donation / Real estate ($300k) / Bonds ($250k) | 3 | 146 |
| Montenegro | €350,000 closed | Citizenship | Donation + Property | 3 | 123 |
| North Macedonia | €200,000 | Citizenship | Private investment | 3 | 125 |
| Moldova | €100,000 closed | Citizenship | Donation / RE | 3 | 120 |
| Cyprus | €2,000,000 closed | Citizenship | RE/ Bonds | 4 | 150+ |
| Dominica | $100,000 | Citizenship | Donation / Real estate (200k) | 3 | 144 |
| Portugal | €280,000 | Residency | Real Estate | 6 | 187 |
| Greece | €250,000 | Residency / Golden visa | Real Estate | 6 | 185 |
| Cambodia | $200,000 | Citizenship | Business | 4-6 | 53 |
| Samoa | $1,100,000 inactive | Citizenship | Business | 20 | 130 |
| Egypt | $250,000 | Citizenship | Real estate | 3 | 52 |
| Jordan | $1.5m | Citizenship | Capital | 12 | 52 |
| United Kingdom | £2m closed | Residency | Share Capital | 1 | 186 |
| Spain | €500,000 | Residency | Real Estate | 3 | 189 |
| Italy | €250,000 | Residency | Startups | 3 | 189 |
| Latvia | €250,000 | Residency / Golden visa | Bonds / Property | 3 | 181 |
| United States | $900,000 | EB-5 Residency | Business | 12 | 186 |
| Bulgaria | €1m (closed) | Citizenship | Capital Investment | 18 | 173 |
| Turkey | $400,000 | Citizenship | Real Estate | 3 | 110 |
| Ireland | €400,000 closed | Residency | Investment fund | 3 | 187 |
| Cyprus | €300,000 | Residency | Real Estate | 3 | 176 |
| Malta | €600,000 | Citizenship | Donation | 12 | 185 |
| Malta | €100,000 | Residency / Golden visa | Donation | 3 | 185 |
New updates 2023
- Portugal golden visa legislation to close the program will come into effect end of June 2023. We accept fast track application done for last minute investors (280k euro refundable hotel investment) last few slots.
- Montenegro CBI is permanently closed from Jan 1, 2023
- Ireland and UK have closed down their investor visa programs.
- Turkey increased CBI property investment to USD 400,000 (from $250,000)
- St.Kitts & Nevis makes key changes to CBI, introduces Limited Time Offer for USD 125,000 from 2023
- Saint Lucia cuts real estate minimum to USD 200,000. Introduces National Action Govt Bonds for USD 300,000 (single/family) from 2023 (replacing Covid relief bond)
- Greece doubles minimum investment to EUR 500,000 for Golden visa.
- Americans are No.1 investors topping the table with Portugal golden visas.
- St Lucia now issues e-Passports and cut average CIP processing times to 45 days.
- Dominica removes addition of siblings for CBI program.
- Nationals of Russia, Belarus are banned from applying for All Golden visa and passport programs.
- Bulgaria citizenship by investment scheme is closed.
- European commission has imposed strict complying requirements with investor residence schemes to comply with money laundering, tax evasion and abuse of such schemes by oligarchs.
- Processing times for Portugal golden visa is stretched to 6-10 months. From 2022, Portugal has raised the investment for bank term deposits and treasury bonds to EUR 1.5 million
- EU has imposed full visa suspension for Vanuatu passport holders (applied through CBI) from entering schengen area until Aug 3, 2024.
Investment Options
There are number of investment options available under citizenship-by-investment.
- Donation or Contribution to Government fund (one time and non-refundable)
- Approved Real estate investment (buyback shares by developer / residential villas or properties with title)
- Approved Government bonds, Share capital or Investment funds (refundable)
- Bank term deposits (refundable)
- Lump sum Tax (non-refundable)
- Investment funds (refundable)
- Enterprise Companies / Startups / SME businesses
Among all the investment options, bank term deposit, government treasury bonds will give you a peace of mind, as these are fully refundable investments (with interest) paid back guaranteed by government after 5-6 years. Investment fund is a choice if you have experience in investing taking higher risk more the returns. Many property developers will give you buyback share option where you investment is returned after fixed period of five years (with returns/rental).
As of 2022, there are some 15 citizenship by investment available in the world.
The following list of countries that have official and legal citizen by investment programs. We will also compare the value of these passports using three different passport ranking indexes.
- St Lucia is the cheapest citizenship program for single persons
- Antigua is the cheapest citizenship program for families
- St Kitts is the most powerful caribbean passport in terms of visa free travel.
- Grenada, Turkey, Montenegro have E-2 treaty with United States, so becoming a citizen you have the chance to apply for E-2 non immigrant visa to United States
Cheapest CBI
The Caribbean citizenship by investment are currently the cheapest CBI for individual investors and families. You can see the true costs of CBI by donation which is more affordable than real estate for many people.
All in all, for one person Dominica and St Lucia are the cheapest. For families Antigua is the cheapest.
These are our rough price calculations on four CBI programs, to give you a better understanding if you can afford.
| CBI Donation | St Lucia | Antigua | Dominica | St Kitts |
| Single | $109,500 | $137,500 | $109,950 | $132,500 |
| Couple | $155,600 | $146,500 | $162,500 | $161,500 |
| Family (4) | $167,700 | $146,900 | $187,500 | $201,500 |
Note: Above are total costs you pay to government (agency fee not included). The family of 4 assumes two children below 10. Family of six assumes two children below 12 and two parents/siblings.
Government bonds
The Government bonds/stocks are debt securities issued by governments is a very popular investment route for those who want a peace of mind with their investments. These are risk free investments fully refunded after 5 years without interest. Only a few nations offer bonds for the purpose of citizenship or residency.
- St Lucia – USD 300,000 (Citizenship / 5 year investment)
- Portugal – EUR 1.5 million (Residency/ 5 year investment)
- Spain – EUR 2 million (Residency)
- Turkey – USD 500,000 (citizenship / 5 year investment)
- Italy – EUR 2 million (Investor Visa)
- North Macedonia – EUR 400,000 (Citizenship)
Real Estate
The Buyback shares in commercial real estate (eg. hotels) besides residential properties is a very interesting option invested in five star hotels/resorts in Portugal, St Kitts, Grenada, Dominica etc. for Residency/Citizenship.
The developer usually guarantees 3-4% returns and the entire share is redeemed by the same developer after 6 years.
Top Citizenship by Investment
These are the best citizenship by investment programs for 2023 with the top spots captured by
- St.Kitts and Nevis
- Grenada
- St Lucia
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Dominica