CBI and naturalisation: why you should pursue both

Second citizenship: naturalisation or investment?

If you have no ancestors with a foreign passport, there are essentially two routes to a second citizenship: naturalisation through residence, and citizenship by investment, known internationally as CBI. Both lead to a full passport. They just ask completely different things of you.

Naturalisation has three big strengths. It costs no investment, only the fees for the procedure. It gives you the passport of the country you actually live in, with every right that comes with it. And it opens countries whose passports no CBI programme offers: Switzerland, the US, Canada, Japan. Every country and its residence period is listed under naturalisation abroad.

CBI has one strength that outshines everything else: speed. You apply from wherever you live today, your family joins the same application, and a few months later you hold the passport. How these programmes are built is explained in buying citizenship.

The mistake is to weigh the two routes against each other. They don't compete. They solve different problems at different times.

How long does naturalisation abroad take?

You pay for naturalisation with time. And that time often starts not on the day you arrive, but only once you hold the right residence status.

Three things make these periods longer in practice than they look on paper.

First, often only one particular status counts. In the US the five years run from the Green Card, not from your first visa. In Canada you need permanent resident status, and Switzerland requires the settlement permit C (Niederlassungsbewilligung) at the time you apply.

Second, presence counts, not just an address on paper. The US requires 30 months of physical presence in the five years before the application, Canada counts every single day, and Argentina requires two years without one trip abroad. How the days are counted and proven is covered in the article on years of residence.

Third, after the period comes the application itself, with proof of language, a test or an interview and, at the end, an oath. Realistically, you plan with the period plus a buffer. Where the routes are shortest is shown in the fastest naturalisations in the world, and Latin America has its own overview of naturalisation in Latin America.

How fast is CBI? The programmes compared by time

On the other side are programmes that count in months. The timelines and amounts below are the ones the programmes state themselves.

On top come government fees and due diligence, the check on you and on the source of your funds. Interviews mostly take place online: Grenada holds one as part of the checks, Dominica for every applicant aged 16 and over. How long it really takes from the first document to the passport depends above all on how complete your application is. The details are under processing times for every programme, the steps under process, and every amount at a glance under costs.

The difference in one sentence: naturalisation is measured in years, CBI in months.

Which citizenship is the easiest to get?

There are two answers, depending on what you can more readily put in: capital or time.

If you have time and want to emigrate anyway, naturalisation is the easiest route. At two years, Argentina has one of the shortest periods in the world, as long as you're prepared not to leave the country in that time. What countries such as Paraguay, Uruguay and Panama ask today in capital or presence is set out in the comparison capital or time.

If you have capital but don't want to, or can't, spend years in one particular place, CBI is the easiest route. No move, no language test, no residence period.

And if you want both, security now and the passport of your chosen country later, then the easiest citizenship isn't one single passport: it's the right sequence.

Why you should pursue both in parallel

Naturalisation is the route without an investment and, in the end, the better one. But between today and the day you naturalise lie years. Those are exactly the years CBI buys you.

The waiting period is the period of greatest risk

While you wait to naturalise, your life in your chosen country hangs on a residence permit. It has to be renewed, it comes with conditions, and rules change. At the same time, your freedom to travel hangs on a single passport. A second passport turns that dependence into a choice. Why this belongs in any safety net today is set out in the eight reasons for a second passport.

The CBI passport carries you through your years abroad

Live abroad and you soon notice how much depends on a valid passport: travel, bank accounts, dealing with the authorities. If your German passport is lost or stolen abroad, or is sitting at an embassy for a visa, a second passport is the lawful way to keep travelling and keep your affairs moving.

Plans change, a passport stays

A job offer, a separation, a sick parent back in Germany: many people who move abroad leave their chosen country before the period is complete. Leave in year four of ten in Switzerland and you walk away without a Swiss passport. Citizenship from a CBI programme stays with you wherever you live. In Dominica you don't have to live there either before or after naturalisation.

Naturalisation remains the goal

CBI doesn't replace naturalisation. A Swiss, Canadian or US passport opens rights no programme can sell you: the right to live and work in the country where you've settled, for you and your children. Pursue both and you have a Plan B within a few months and the passport of your chosen country within a few years.

How CBI and naturalisation fit together: three examples

The family on its way to Switzerland

A family with two children moves to Zurich. To naturalise, they need ten years of residence, three of them in the last five years, and the settlement permit C. In Grenada, a contribution of USD 235,000 to the National Transformation Fund covers the main applicant and up to three dependants; approval comes within 60 working days, and nobody has to travel to Grenada for it. So the family holds a second passport from the first year and builds up its Swiss years alongside. Which programmes include spouses, children and parents is covered under family.

The entrepreneur heading for the US

An entrepreneur receives her Green Card and plans for a US passport. Five years as a permanent resident, 30 months of them physically in the country, plus three months in the state or district before applying. During that time she travels a lot and needs room to manoeuvre. A CBI passport from São Tomé and Príncipe, from USD 90,000 and with no stay in the country, gives her that room while her US years run.

The emigrant to Argentina

Argentina naturalises after two years of continuous legal residence, but it requires that you don't leave the country even once in that time. This strict way of counting comes from Decree 366/2025, on which the Corte Suprema has yet to rule. Two years without leaving means this: if something happens in Germany, you have to choose between your family and your deadline. If you secured a CBI passport before the move, you lose the Argentine period in that case, but not your Plan B.

Do you keep your German passport?

Yes. Since 27 June 2024, the Nationality Modernisation Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsmodernisierungsgesetz) has been in force: Germans can acquire a foreign nationality on application without losing their German one. You no longer need a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung) for this. That applies to naturalisation just as much as to CBI. The details are under dual citizenship for Germans and, for programme passports, in the article on the CBI passport and the German passport.

The limit is set not by Germany but by the other country. With the CBI programmes it's a non-issue: Grenada and Dominica expressly allow dual citizenship, and Sierra Leone accepts multiple citizenships without restriction. Naturalisation is a different story:

If your chosen country requires renunciation, that applies to every other passport, a CBI passport included. This is best decided before you commit to a chosen country.

What to watch when you combine the two

The two routes together don't mean double the work if you align them from the start.

• Sequence: CBI first. The passport comes in months, and the residence permit for your chosen country can run in parallel. That way you're covered before the long stretch begins.
• One set of data for every authority: name, dates of birth, marital status and addresses must match in both procedures. Discrepancies cost time, in due diligence just as in naturalisation.
• Count days from day one: keep a travel log from the day you arrive. In Canada, the US and Argentina, your physical presence decides when you can apply.
• Choose the right residence permit: not every permit leads to naturalisation. Which residence permits and golden visas exist is shown in the overview of residence permits (in German).
• Check the rules on multiple nationality: before you commit to a chosen country, check whether it requires renunciation on naturalisation.
• Know the CBI country's obligations: Antigua and Barbuda requires at least five days in the country in the first five calendar years after naturalisation. Build obligations like this into your travel plans.

Go about it this way and you use the strengths of both routes: CBI for speed, naturalisation for the passport of the country that is truly home.

Frequently asked questions