Buying citizenship: how a passport by investment really works

"Buying citizenship" sounds like a back-room deal. In reality it is a tightly regulated procedure with a statutory basis. The technical term is citizenship by investment, CBI for short, and everywhere it follows the same pattern: law, application, vetting, payment, naturalisation, passport.

What buying citizenship really means

You are not buying a passport. You are acquiring a citizenship, and the passport follows from it. That is more than hair-splitting, because this is exactly where the value lies: a passport is a document, citizenship is a right. A state can refuse, decline to extend or revoke a visa or a residence permit. As a citizen you have the right to enter, to stay and to return without asking anyone's permission.

Every programme rests on a law of its own in the state that naturalises you. In St Kitts and Nevis it is the Citizenship Act together with the Citizenship by Substantial Investment Regulations, in Dominica the constitution together with the Citizenship by Investment Regulations, and in Antigua and Barbuda the Citizenship by Investment Act of 2013. In each case a government body is in charge, usually a dedicated Citizenship by Investment Unit. It reviews your application, it decides, and it arranges your certificate of naturalisation.

Is buying a passport legal?

Yes, as long as you go through the state's official programme. The competent authority then grants citizenship under its own law, and the regular passport office issues the passport afterwards, just as it does for every other citizen. So you get the same passport as any other citizen of that country.

Stay well away, on the other hand, from anything that promises you a passport without an application, without vetting and without an authority. A legitimate route always includes due diligence, meaning a background check, and always ends with a decision by the state. What that check covers and how to pass it calmly is explained in Due diligence in your passport application.

Donation or investment: the two basic forms

Almost every programme offers two basic routes. On the first you pay a fixed contribution into a state fund, such as the National Transformation Fund in Grenada or the Economic Diversification Fund in Dominica. The money is gone, but this route is the fastest and simplest. On the second you invest, usually in approved real estate, and hold that investment for a number of years. After that you can sell it. Larger programmes also accept business investments, and Türkiye accepts bank deposits and government bonds as well.

Why people buy a second citizenship

Anyone who buys a second citizenship is above all buying one thing: options. At heart the reasons are always the same; all eight are set out in detail under Why a second passport.

• A second way out. If a state changes the rules or closes its borders, or if your only passport is lost, stolen or held up abroad, you are stuck. A second passport gives you a second door. Why even the German passport cannot be taken for granted is shown in Passport withdrawal.
• A right instead of a permission. A golden visa is a permit for a limited time. Citizenship is your own right; why that makes the difference is explained in Second passport or golden visa.
• Protection for your family. In almost every programme your spouse and children can join the application, and in many your parents and grandparents too. One application often protects three generations at once.
• Freedom of movement for entrepreneurs. If you do business in several countries, you benefit from a passport that opens different doors there than the German one. Which passport travels where is shown in the passport ranking.
• Peace of mind. A second passport is an insurance policy you hope never to need. That is exactly how it works.

What matters is the whole picture. A second passport only shows its full strength when it works together with your residence, your accounts and your company. That idea is described by flag theory, and the complete introduction to the subject is the second passport guide.

Which citizenship can you buy? The 2026 list

Only a handful of states in the world officially grant citizenship in return for an investment. The programmes accepting applications in 2026 are spread across Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Middle East with Türkiye, Asia and Latin America.

All amounts apply to the main applicant and are subject to government fees on top. You can check the programmes side by side in the comparison of all programmes, and if you would rather choose by region first, the differences between the Caribbean, the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East are set out in Which CBI region suits you.

The programmes one by one

Sierra Leone offers four routes for different situations in life. Solo Entrepreneur costs 95,000 USD for single applicants without dependants, Enterprise Citizenship 80,000 USD per person for exactly two applicants, Heritage Citizenship 120,000 USD for applicants of African descent, and Fast Track 140,000 USD for a main applicant who wants to bring family along. The whole procedure runs remotely, with no travel. Everything about it is in Sierra Leone: citizenship at a fixed price and in the news item on Solo Entrepreneur and Enterprise Citizenship.

São Tomé and Príncipe asks for a donation to the National Transformation Fund of 90,000 USD for a single applicant or 95,000 USD for a family of two to four, due only after approval in principle. More in São Tomé and Príncipe.

Vanuatu is the Pacific classic: 130,000 USD for a single person in the Development Support Program, 150,000 USD for a married couple. You take the oath of citizenship before a court in Vanuatu. Costs, timelines and visa-free travel are covered in The Vanuatu passport.

Dominica starts at 200,000 USD into the Economic Diversification Fund for a single applicant, or 200,000 USD in an approved real estate project. No residence is required either before or after naturalisation; more in The Dominica passport.

Antigua and Barbuda takes 230,000 USD into the National Development Fund per application, whether for one person or the whole family. Details on the residence requirement and on family are in Antigua and Barbuda.

Grenada asks for 235,000 USD into the National Transformation Fund for the main applicant with up to three dependants. If you are an entrepreneur with plans in the United States, the E-2 visa is worth a look: see The Grenada passport and the E-2 visa and the news item on the residence requirement in Grenada.

Saint Lucia starts at 240,000 USD into the National Economic Fund for the applicant with up to three dependants; alongside that there are real estate projects, government bonds and enterprise projects, see Saint Lucia: donation, real estate or government bonds.

St Kitts and Nevis requires 250,000 USD as a Sustainable Island State Contribution for the main applicant or a family of up to four. What applies to biometrics and the interview is set out in St Kitts and Nevis.

Türkiye grants citizenship for, among other things, real estate from 400,000 USD held for three years, or bank deposits, government bonds and funds from 500,000 USD. Read Turkish citizenship through property and The Turkish passport: visa-free countries.

Jordan relies on business investment tied to jobs for Jordanians: from 350,000 JOD in an existing business outside the capital region, from 500,000 JOD in a new productive project there, plus stakes, strategic sectors and Amra City, or on shares on the Amman Stock Exchange from 1,500,000 JOD, see Jordan. Cambodia requires an investment of 4 billion KHR in a sector it promotes or a donation of 12 billion KHR to the state budget, see Cambodia.

Nauru asks a 90,000 USD contribution instead of the regular 115,000 USD for applications the Program Office accepts by 31 December 2026, with no duty to live there; see The Nauru passport. Egypt offers four statutory routes from 250,000 USD, El Salvador accepts 1 million USD in Bitcoin or USDt for the whole family, and Pakistan registers Commonwealth citizens in return for a foreign currency transfer of PKR 5 million. The Dominican Republic leads through investor residence from 200,000 USD to naturalisation, after just six months if you own land there.

Announced programmes and routes by merit

Announced, but not yet accepting applications, are Argentina, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Tonga; Botswana has passed its law, which is not yet in force. Without a fixed amount, for merit or in the state's particular interest, North Macedonia, Italy, Albania, the UAE and Austria grant their citizenship, and Peru has passed such routes with Law 32421, in force once its regulation is published; see Peru. There are articles of their own on Argentina, North Macedonia and the UAE. Who is launching and who is tightening up is tracked in New passport programmes 2026.

What does citizenship by investment cost?

The entry amount is only part of the bill. Every citizenship by investment comes with three blocks of cost: the contribution or investment itself, the government fees, and the surcharges for family members. Each state sets its fees in its regulations, and they differ more than many people expect.

An example makes the arithmetic tangible. On Sierra Leone's Solo Entrepreneur route, the calculator shows 103,750 USD in total: a 3,750 USD submission fee to start, the 95,000 USD programme fee into the escrow account, and a 5,000 USD processing fee including the background check. If naturalisation does not go ahead, the programme fee flows back from the escrow account, except for the submission and processing costs.

In Dominica, the fund route comes to a 200,000 USD contribution plus a 1,000 USD processing fee, a 7,500 USD due diligence fee, 1,000 USD for the interview and 500 USD for the certificate of naturalisation. On the real estate route there, you pay a government fee of 75,000 USD for the main applicant on top of the 200,000 USD investment.

The full breakdown for every programme with every fee is on the Costs page. If price is your main concern, you will find the most affordable routes in Cheapest citizenship by investment.

What your family costs

In many programmes the base amount already covers a small family. In St Kitts and Nevis the 250,000 USD contribution applies to a family of up to four, and in Grenada and Saint Lucia to the applicant with up to three dependants. In Antigua and Barbuda the fund contribution is per application, whatever the size of the family. For each additional family member the programmes charge fixed surcharges, for example 5,000 USD per additional dependant in São Tomé and Príncipe and 10,000 USD in Vanuatu.

Donation, property, business: which investment suits you?

The type of investment decides whether your money is gone or comes back one day, and how long you are tied in.

The donation is the clear, fast route. You pay once, the authority vets you, and after naturalisation you are free. Real estate pays off if you want to invest anyway or would like to use a holiday home there. In St Kitts and Nevis the holding period is seven years, in Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada five years, and in Dominica three years from naturalisation, or five years if the buyer uses the property to apply for citizenship themselves. Türkiye is a special case: what counts here is an investment you can unwind after three years, and during that time the property carries a ban on sale in the land register.

How the investment types add up and what pitfalls the real estate route holds is explained in Donation, real estate, government bonds.

How does the application work? From decision to passport

The procedure is similar in every programme; the order of payments and the timelines differ.

1. Choose a programme

It starts with the question of what the passport should do for you: visa-free travel, family, cost, speed or a particular region. That usually narrows the choice to two or three programmes.

2. Gather your documents

Typically you need your passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, proof of address, passport photos and evidence of where your money comes from. Foreign documents need a certified translation. The programmes differ considerably here: Sierra Leone, for example, asks for neither a police certificate nor a medical examination.

3. Due diligence and interview

The state checks your identity, the source of your funds, sanctions lists and criminal records. In St Kitts and Nevis and in Dominica an interview is compulsory for every applicant aged 16 and over, and in Grenada it takes place online as part of the vetting. St Kitts and Nevis excludes nationals and residents of Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. What the reviewers look for is explained in Due diligence in your passport application. Why thorough vetting is in your own interest too is shown by the revoked citizenships in Cyprus.

4. Approval, payment, oath

In most programmes you pay the contribution or make the investment only after approval in principle; in São Tomé and Príncipe, for example, the donation falls due at exactly that point. Then come the oath and the certificate of naturalisation, and with that certificate you apply for the passport.

How long it takes

The steps in detail are on the How it works page, and every processing time side by side in How soon will you hold your second passport.

Family: who can be included in the application

The biggest lever of citizenship by investment is the family. With one application you often protect three generations.

Sierra Leone goes furthest on the Fast Track route: besides spouses, children, parents and grandparents, siblings, their spouses and children can come along, and through the Plus One even an unrelated person, such as a partner you are not married to. The Solo Entrepreneur and Enterprise Citizenship routes, by contrast, take no dependants.

All the family rules are on the Family page, and the programmes that include parents and grandparents in the application are in Bringing parents and grandparents.

Do you have to live in the new country?

This is the most common misconception. In most programmes you need to live there neither before nor after naturalisation. Dominica requires no residence before or after, Grenada no visit before, during or after the application, and São Tomé and Príncipe no stay and no move. Sierra Leone runs 100 % remotely, and you swear the oath of allegiance by Zoom before a notary.

Some programmes do still ask for a link to the country:

• Antigua and Barbuda: at least five days' stay in the first five calendar years after naturalisation.
• Vanuatu: the oath before a court in Vanuatu, which means travelling there if you live abroad.
• Saint Lucia: residence and a genuine link have been mandatory since 1 January 2026, with the details set by regulation.
• Cambodia: presence in person when you apply.
• Türkiye: an investor residence permit before you apply.

So nothing changes in your everyday life. You go on living wherever you like and have the second passport for the day you need it. If, on the other hand, you want to combine the passport with a real move, you will find the residence routes under Residence permits and golden visas (in German).

Do you keep your German passport?

Yes. That is the most important news for any German thinking about a second citizenship. Since 27 June 2024, with the Act to Modernise Nationality Law (Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Staatsangehörigkeitsrechts), acquiring a foreign citizenship by application no longer costs you your German citizenship. You no longer need the permission to retain it that used to be required.

So you hold both passports side by side and travel on whichever opens more doors at your destination. How that works in everyday life, which cases from before the cut-off date play out differently and what applies to children is explained in Your CBI passport and your German passport and in the guide to dual citizenship in Germany. How to travel with two passports is covered in Travelling with more than one passport.

And taxes?

On its own, a second citizenship changes nothing about your German tax liability. Under section 1 of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG), you are subject to unlimited income tax liability if you have a residence or your habitual abode in Germany. What counts is where you live, not which passport you hold. For tax purposes, a second passport only plays to its strengths in combination with a change of residence. More on this on the Taxes page and in Taxes and citizenship.

EU and US passports: what money cannot buy

Two wishes come up particularly often, and neither can be fulfilled through an investor programme.

Buying EU citizenship

On 29 April 2025, in case C-181/23, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Malta had breached EU law with its investor programme of 2020. Naturalisation in return for set payments or investments, the court held, turns nationality, and with it Union citizenship, into a commodity. That takes buying an EU passport directly off the table.

Today the way into the EU runs through descent, naturalisation after residence, or marriage. Which routes remain is shown in Buying EU citizenship, the routes through your ancestors in the guide to citizenship by descent, and the situation in Malta after the ruling in the article on Malta's Citizenship by Merit (in German).

Buying US citizenship

The United States has no programme that grants citizenship for money. An investment can lead you to a green card, meaning permanent residence. You then get the US passport through naturalisation, usually after five years as a permanent resident at the earliest, with at least 30 months of physical presence in the US during those five years. The requirements and the application are described in US citizenship: requirements and Form N-400.

For entrepreneurs who want to work in the United States without becoming citizens straight away, the E-2 investor visa is worth a look. What role a second passport plays in it is set out in The Grenada passport and the E-2 visa.

Visa-free travel: what your new passport can do

A passport you buy is worth as much as the doors it opens. Every programme passport has its own profile, and the differences between the Caribbean, the Pacific, Africa and Türkiye are large.

Visa-free travel is not set in stone, however. The EU has lifted visa-free travel for Vanuatu. What such a step can mean for Caribbean passports, and how to protect yourself with more than one passport, is explained in the article on the EU's visa suspension. The best answer to this risk is the same as with the German passport: never put everything on one document.

Which programme passports travel visa-free where is compared in the passport ranking, and how to combine passports with one another is covered in Which CBI region suits you.

Buy or naturalise? Ideally both

Citizenship by investment and classic naturalisation are not opposites. Naturalisation after years of genuine residence costs no investment amount and is often the stronger route in the end, especially when it brings you an EU passport or a passport with wide visa-free access. But it takes time, residence and patience.

That time is exactly what CBI buys you. Within a few months you secure a second passport, and in parallel you build the path to naturalisation in the country where you really want to live. How the two fit together is described in CBI and naturalisation, and the countries with the best naturalisation routes are in Naturalisation abroad.

For your children there is a third route: being born on foreign soil is a passport you give your child at birth. Which countries make that possible is shown in the guide to birth tourism.

Every guide to citizenship by investment

The other major guides cover the routes beside buying: the second passport guide, Naturalisation abroad, Citizenship by descent, Birth tourism, Dual citizenship in Germany, the passport ranking and flag theory. Common individual questions are answered in the questions and answers, and many programmes are explained in conversation in the videos.

Frequently asked questions