Cheapest citizenship to buy: the most affordable programmes

"Cheap" does not mean bargain-basement when it comes to citizenship. Every entry price is a minimum that a sovereign state has set for itself, and behind each one stands the same thing in return: a right of your own instead of a permission. A state can refuse or revoke a visa. Citizenship is not a permission, it is your right. So the question is not where to find a passport at a knock-down price, but where you obtain that right with the least capital.

Which citizenship is cheapest? The list by price

Sort the best-known programmes in the comparison by their lowest entry point and a clear ranking emerges for 2026. The amounts apply to the main applicant and exclude government fees.

Cambodia sits above this list altogether: the investment in a promoted sector is 4 billion KHR, the donation to the state budget 12 billion KHR, and you must be in the country in person when you apply. At the very top sits El Salvador with 1 million USD in Bitcoin or USDt, though that covers the whole family with spouse and children under 18. The Dominican Republic does not belong in this ranking, because its 200,000 USD opens residence and the passport follows through naturalisation, and Pakistan registers only Commonwealth citizens in return for a foreign currency transfer of PKR 5 million.

That gives three price bands. Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe, Nauru and Vanuatu lie below 150,000 USD, the Eastern Caribbean programmes and Egypt between 200,000 and 250,000 USD, and Turkey, Jordan, El Salvador and Cambodia well above. How the regions differ beyond price is set out in the overview Buying citizenship, and every programme side by side is in the comparison.

What a bought citizenship really costs

The entry price is the figure on every advertising page. What you actually transfer is more. Besides the donation or investment, every state charges its own fees, and they vary so much that the ranking shifts in places.

The fees on top of the entry price

Three items turn up almost everywhere. The due diligence fee pays for the background check on every adult applicant. The processing or application fee covers the authority's procedure. And at the end, the certificate and passport cost money again. Some programmes also charge an interview fee.

This is the bill for a single person, with the government fees the authorities publish:

Alongside the 235,000 USD for the National Transformation Fund, Grenada charges a 1,500 USD application fee per person, plus a 1,500 USD processing fee, a 1,000 USD interview fee and a 6,000 USD due diligence fee for each person aged 17 or over, the spouse included.

Left out of this bill are the items no state sets: certified translations, apostilles, fees for the licensed agent and lawyer, and travel costs where a programme requires a trip. In Sierra Leone, certification and notarisation of the documents are already included in every programme, and the oath of allegiance is notarised over Zoom. The full fee breakdown for each country is under Costs.

The two cheapest programmes are in Africa

Search for the cheapest citizenship and you end up first with two countries: São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea and Sierra Leone on the West African coast. Both lie well below 150,000 USD, both can be done without moving, and each has its own strength. Only Nauru in the Pacific is level at entry, with a 90,000 USD contribution until 31 December 2026 and 102,700 USD with all fees for one person; see Nauru.

São Tomé and Príncipe: the lowest single price

The Citizenship by Investment Unit asks for a donation to the National Transformation Fund of 90,000 USD for a single applicant and 95,000 USD for a family of two to four. Each further dependant costs 5,000 USD. On top come a 5,000 USD submission fee per application and 750 USD per person for the citizenship documents.

One detail makes the programme particularly comfortable: you pay the donation only once your application has been approved in principle. Until then, all you risk are the fees. The authority quotes around two months to approval and then around three to four months to the passport, and it states explicitly that no residence or move is required, either during or after the application. Every detail is in São Tomé and Príncipe.

Sierra Leone: the lowest price per head

Sierra Leone has four routes, and two of them are cut for a smaller budget. Solo Entrepreneur costs 95,000 USD for single applicants without dependants. With the reduced submission fee of 3,750 USD and a 5,000 USD processing fee including the background check, the calculator puts you at 103,750 USD in total.

Enterprise Citizenship is the cheapest route of all if there are two of you: 80,000 USD per person for exactly two applicants, business partners for example, without dependants and with one joint due diligence. With the reduced submission fee and the joint processing fee, the arithmetic comes to 168,750 USD for both, a little over 84,000 USD per head.

Then there is what many do not expect from an affordable programme. The process runs 100 % remotely, with no trip and no embassy appointment. The programme fee sits in an escrow account until naturalisation, and if naturalisation cannot be completed, it comes back in full, except for the submission and processing costs. You usually hold the passport 90-120 days after the complete application. How the programme works in detail is set out in Sierra Leone.

What citizenship in Vanuatu costs

For a long time Vanuatu was the best-known affordable passport, and its cost is still one of the questions asked most often. The answer is in the regulation on the Development Support Program, which fixes the price as a statutory minimum:

On top comes a Financial Intelligence Unit due diligence fee of 5,000 USD per applicant. You pay the minimum price itself only once the Commission has approved your application.

One cost item many people overlook: you take the oath of naturalisation before a court in Vanuatu. If you live abroad, you travel there for it, and after approval you have three months to do so. For a family from Germany that means flights to the South Pacific, and they belong in the sum before you compare Vanuatu with São Tomé or Sierra Leone. The passport is valid for no more than five years. Every figure and family rule is on the page on the Vanuatu programme.

The cheapest citizenship for the whole family

For a family, the ranking flips. Some programmes charge per person, others per application, and that is precisely what decides how much citizenship for four people costs you. Sierra Leone's Solo Entrepreneur and Enterprise Citizenship routes take no dependants at all; for families, Fast Track is the route there.

Programme amount for two parents and two minor children, excluding fees:

That makes São Tomé and Príncipe unbeatable for a family: with the submission fee and the document fees you come to just over 100,000 USD. Nauru asks a lower contribution until the end of 2026, but with application, due diligence, passports and bank checks it comes to 115,700 USD. The application can include a spouse or partner, children up to 30, and parents and grandparents, and each further dependant from the fifth person on costs only 5,000 USD.

In Sierra Leone, Fast Track for the same family costs 179,750 USD with the submission fee and processing fee, both of which cover up to five people. In return you can bring an unusually wide circle with you: spouse, children, parents, grandparents and siblings.

The Caribbean for families: the fees decide in the end

Antigua and Barbuda has the lowest family contribution in the Caribbean, because the 230,000 USD covers the whole application. With children aged 8 and 13, the full bill looks like this: a 230,000 USD contribution, a 20,000 USD processing fee for a family of up to four, 15,500 USD in due diligence fees (8,500 USD for you, 5,000 USD for your spouse, nothing for the child under 12, 2,000 USD for the child between 12 and 17) and 1,200 USD for four passports. Together, 266,700 USD.

St Lucia asks for a 240,000 USD contribution, but charges far lower fees: 5,000 USD processing (2,000 USD for you, 1,000 USD each for three dependants) and 13,000 USD in due diligence fees, because due diligence only applies to dependants over 16. For the same family that is 258,000 USD, so less than Antigua. Grenada, with its 235,000 USD contribution, application, processing and interview fees and 12,000 USD in due diligence fees for you and your spouse, comes to 259,000 USD and so also ends up below Antigua.

St Kitts and Nevis comes to 267,500 USD plus application fees, with a 250,000 USD contribution and 17,500 USD in due diligence fees for you and your spouse, as long as both children are under 16. Because the due diligence fee applies to dependants from age 16, your children's ages count here. If you want to bring parents or grandparents, the rules of every programme are on the Family page.

Affordable in the Caribbean: Dominica, Antigua and Grenada

If you want a Caribbean passport, you pay more than in Africa, but in return you get programmes with a long track record and well-practised authorities. Within the Caribbean only 50,000 USD separate the cheapest route from the most expensive, and the fees often make the difference.

Dominica is the cheapest island for single applicants: 200,000 USD to the Economic Diversification Fund, 210,000 USD with all government fees. All applicants aged 16 and over sit an interview, with a fee of 1,000 USD per interview. More on the page on the Dominica programme.

Antigua and Barbuda has the lowest contribution in the region and charges it per application, not per person. As a single person you end up at 248,800 USD with all fees.

Grenada asks 235,000 USD for the National Transformation Fund, for you and up to three dependants. Children under 17 pay neither the interview fee nor the full processing fee, and that is exactly what makes Grenada attractive for families with younger children. Every fee and family rule is on the page on the Grenada programme.

St Lucia at 240,000 USD and St Kitts and Nevis at 250,000 USD round off the Caribbean at the top. How the islands compare in detail on travel freedom, timing and family is shown in the comparison.

Donation or real estate: which is cheaper in the end

On paper the donation is almost always the cheapest way in. The money goes to the state and does not come back, but one payment settles the matter. With real estate you invest more, but you can sell the property again after the holding period. Whether that works out cheaper in the end depends on what the property fetches when you sell and which fees the state charges for the real estate route.

Dominica shows the arithmetic most clearly. With the donation, 200,000 USD flows into the fund. On the real estate route you pay 200,000 USD for the property and a 75,000 USD government fee. If you sell at your purchase price once the holding period is over, the passport has cost you 75,000 USD on paper instead of 200,000 USD. Sell at a discount and the advantage melts away. When each route pays off is set out in Donation or real estate, and Plan B Projekt gives an overview of investment routes all the way to the golden visa in Investieren oder beitragen (in German).

How to spot a legitimate low-cost offer

With a low price, you want to be sure there is a real programme behind the offer. Four clear signs tell you, and the programmes in the comparison meet them.

• The price is not below the law. The amounts in Vanuatu, Dominica, Antigua, Grenada, St Lucia and St Kitts are written into regulations and published on the authorities' websites. An offer below that minimum cannot be a programme application.
• There is a background check. Every genuine programme checks every adult applicant; due diligence belongs to every application like the signature. Anyone who promises you a passport without it is not selling you a passport but a problem.
• A state decides in the end. Naturalisation is granted by an authority or an organ of state: in Sierra Leone the President signs the certificate, in Vanuatu you take the oath before a court.
• Your money is protected. In São Tomé you pay the donation only after approval in principle, in Sierra Leone the programme fee sits in an escrow account, and in Vanuatu you pay the minimum price only after the Commission has approved your application.

When these four points hold, a low price is no warning sign but simply an advantage.

The route without investment: naturalisation, and why you should pursue both

The truly cheapest citizenship costs nothing but fees: naturalisation after years of residence, or a passport by descent. In the long run naturalisation is even the better route, because it often brings you a passport with greater travel freedom and a real place to build your life. Its price is simply a different one: time. Five, eight or ten years of genuine residence, language tests, paperwork.

That is why it is not either-or. The bought passport gives you a second exit right away, and you build up naturalisation in parallel. CBI buys you the time that naturalisation needs. How to combine both routes is set out in CBI and naturalisation, and which route gets you there with the least effort in Which citizenship is easiest to get. Perspektive Ausland describes routes without investment, from descent to naturalisation, in Zweitpass ohne Investitionen (in German), and Wohnsitz Ausland shows all three routes to a second citizenship together in Zweite Staatsbürgerschaft erwerben (in German).

One thing holds for every route: you keep your German passport. Since 27 June 2024, as a German you can acquire a foreign citizenship by application without losing your German one. So the affordable second passport comes on top; it replaces nothing.

Frequently asked questions