Sierra Leone: citizenship at a fixed price

The best-known second passport programmes are in the Caribbean, and they come at a price. Sierra Leone takes its own path: citizenship for a fixed programme fee in US dollars, with no property purchase, no holding period and no travel. For an overview of every programme worldwide, start with buying citizenship. Sierra Leone deserves a close look, because hardly any other programme is as flexible on family or as clear on price.

Sierra Leone citizenship: what the programme rests on

Sierra Leone grants citizenship to investors by way of Special Naturalization. The legal basis is section 27(a) of the Sierra Leone Citizenship Act 1973. It empowers the President to naturalise persons until the final legislation is published in the Gazette. Before the programme launched, a pilot ran in which whole families were already naturalised.

The programme is called GO-FOR-GOLD. Under this umbrella sit both citizenship and a permanent residence permit in exchange for an investment in gold. For your second passport, citizenship is what counts, and it is not a visa or a temporary permit but a right.

Two points show how firmly this naturalisation is anchored:

• The citizenship certificate is signed by the President of Sierra Leone. Until it is issued, the Chief Immigration Officer provides an interim confirmation.
• Citizenship itself does not expire. Only the passport has a validity, currently five years, and it can be renewed digitally.

Nationals of every country except North Korea can apply, from the age of 18. Your country of origin and your profession play no role, as long as you pass due diligence. For Germans, Austrians and Swiss, the route is therefore open.

Four routes to a Sierra Leone passport

Sierra Leone offers four programmes. They differ in who may be included in the application and in the size of the programme fee.

Every programme fee comes with the submission fee and the processing fee including the background check.

Enterprise Citizenship

Two people apply together, for example two business partners. Each pays 80,000 USD, both go through one joint due diligence, and the submission fee is reduced to 3,750 USD. Dependants cannot be included here. For two entrepreneurs who want to build a Plan B together, this is the cheapest route to a Sierra Leone passport.

Solo Entrepreneur

This programme is only for single applicants without dependants. The programme fee is 95,000 USD, and here too the submission fee is reduced to 3,750 USD. If you apply on your own, this is the cheapest option.

Heritage Citizenship

Heritage is for main applicants of African descent. You prove it with a DNA test. The programme fee is 120,000 USD, and unlike the two programmes without family, you can include dependants and a Plus One in your application.

Fast Track Citizenship

The Fast Track is the most flexible route. It is open to any main applicant, costs 140,000 USD and takes in the whole family: spouses, children, parents, grandparents and even siblings. For families, it is the programme of choice in most cases.

What does a Sierra Leone passport cost in 2026?

The fixed price is made up of three parts: the programme fee, the submission fee and the processing fee. All amounts are set in US dollars.

Notarisation of the oath of allegiance is included in the processing fee. Certification and notarisation of documents are free of charge in every programme.

Total cost for one person

For one person, the totals are:

• Solo Entrepreneur: 103,750 USD in total, made up of the 3,750 USD submission fee, the 95,000 USD programme fee and the 5,000 USD processing fee.
• Fast Track: 149,750 USD in total, made up of the 4,750 USD submission fee, the 140,000 USD programme fee and the 5,000 USD processing fee.

With Enterprise Citizenship, the two of you pay 160,000 USD in programme fees, plus the reduced submission fee of 3,750 USD and one joint processing fee of 5,000 USD.

Worked example: a family on the Fast Track

A married couple with two children under 18 reaches this total on the Fast Track:

For four passports, that is an amount at which many Caribbean programmes are only getting started.

Optional extras

• Priority Processing: 10,000 USD per application, covering every co-applicant in the same application. The passport is issued and sent by DHL within 120 days at the latest, or the full 4,750 USD submission fee is refunded. The deadline runs from complete receipt of all documents and the programme fee.
• Tax residency certificate: 10,000 USD, once per application.
• Personal bank account in Sierra Leone: for co-applicants too, once naturalisation is complete.

You pay in USD by bank transfer to the escrow account, or in USDT on the TRON network (TRC20), in which case an extra 1.6% off-ramp fee applies. If you want to see the cheapest programmes worldwide side by side, you will find them under buying citizenship cheaply.

Fast Track with family: who can be included

In many programmes, family ends with your spouse and minor children, sometimes with parents above a certain age. On the Fast Track and with Heritage, Sierra Leone draws the circle much wider.

Former spouses usually cost 10,000 USD, in individual cases up to 20,000 USD. Siblings over 30 are possible on request only.

The Plus One

The Plus One sets this programme apart: an unrelated person, for example your unmarried partner or your business partner. No marriage and no proof of the relationship are needed. Like every applicant, the Plus One goes through due diligence, but cannot add dependants of their own.

Plan the full application from the start

Adding people to an application that has been submitted or completed is, as a rule, not provided for. So plan from the outset who should come along, including your parents, who may not be thinking about a second passport today. For minors, the signature of one parent with custody or of the legal guardian is usually enough.

How Sierra Leone compares on parents and grandparents is shown in Parents and grandparents in a CBI application. The family rules of every programme are on the family page.

Process and timeline: your passport in 90-120 days

The entire application runs 100% remotely. You do not travel to Sierra Leone and have no embassy appointment. Your oath of allegiance and declarations are notarised over Zoom.

The documents

• passport (copy of the data page)
• biometric passport photo
• birth certificate
• marriage certificate, if your spouse is in the application
• proof of address, for example a recent utility bill
• signature
• depending on the payment agreement, proof of source of funds and a CV
• at the end, the notarised oath of allegiance and a declaration of financial self-sufficiency

Just as important is what you do not need: no police certificate, no medical examination, no proof of employment, no company documents and no reference letters. The background check of every applicant aged 18 and over, covering identity, sanctions lists and criminal records, is handled by the independent due diligence.

The steps

1. Submission: you submit your documents and pay the submission fee.
2. Escrow: within 5 days of the escrow documents being prepared, the programme fee goes into the escrow account.
3. Due diligence: after complete submission, the processing fee with the background check follows.
4. Oath of allegiance: you take the oath before a notary over Zoom.
5. Naturalisation and passport: the President signs the certificate, and the biometric passport reaches you by DHL together with your tax number and documents, or is handed over in person by arrangement.

As a rule, it takes 90-120 days from the complete application to the passport. With Priority Processing, the passport is dispatched within 120 days at the latest. How that compares with other programmes is set out in How soon will you hold your second passport.

The escrow guarantee

Until naturalisation, the programme fee sits in the escrow account of a lawyer licensed in West Africa or Hong Kong. If the naturalisation cannot be completed, the programme fee is refunded in full. The only exceptions are the submission and processing costs such as due diligence, notary and lawyer. The big money is therefore only spent once you are a citizen.

The process of every programme, step by step, is on the process page.

What a Sierra Leone passport gives you

The Sierra Leone passport is a biometric passport, currently valid for five years. Renewal is digital, with no trip to Sierra Leone and no embassy appointment.

• Freedom to travel: more than 65 countries visa-free or with visa on arrival.
• ECOWAS: Sierra Leone belongs to the Economic Community of West African States, with its 12 member states and more than 350 million people. As a citizen, you travel visa-free to the other member states and in principle have the right to live, work and set up businesses there.
• Commonwealth: Sierra Leone has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1961, and its legal system follows British-style common law.
• Schengen: citizens of Sierra Leone usually need a visa for the Schengen area. As a German, you travel to Europe on your German passport anyway.
• USA: since 1 January 2026, Proclamation 10998 has suspended entry on a Sierra Leone passport; dual nationals travelling on the passport of a country not affected are expressly exempt. For the USA, you travel on your German passport.

The real value lies elsewhere. A visa can be refused or revoked; citizenship is a right. With a Sierra Leone passport, you have a second country you can enter as a citizen at any time, a second passport in case the first is lost, stolen or stuck abroad, and access to an entire economic area in West Africa. The eight reasons for a second passport are summed up on the page Why a second passport, and why this passport in particular is so often underestimated is the subject of the piece (in German) Sierra Leone Pass als Plan B.

Golden visa without a passport

If at first you only want a permanent right of residence, the GO-FOR-GOLD umbrella also offers permanent residence from 60,000 USD, including an investment of 1 kg of gold in Sierra Leone. It is valid for life but comes without a passport. The gold is stored at Sierra Leone's central bank, the purchase price is 2% below market price, and a later upgrade to citizenship is possible. If your goal is the second passport, the direct route runs through one of the four programmes.

Your German passport, taxes and bank account

You keep your German passport

Since 27 June 2024, acquiring a foreign citizenship by application no longer costs you your German citizenship. The former section 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) has been repealed. Sierra Leone, for its part, accepts multiple citizenships without restriction. So you become a citizen of both countries without giving anything up. What that means in everyday life is explained in CBI passport and German passport.

The passport does not change your tax liability

In Germany, income tax is tied to residence and habitual abode, not to your passport. Under section 1(1) of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG), any natural person with a residence or habitual abode in Germany has unlimited tax liability there. A second passport alone changes nothing about that. If you actually move your main home abroad, Sierra Leone offers an optional tax residency certificate for 10,000 USD per application. How the tax system there works is shown (in German) in the Steueratlas profile of Sierra Leone. The link between passport and taxes is explained on the taxes page.

Company and bank account

On request, the main applicant receives a company in Sierra Leone with a business bank account free of charge, after naturalisation and issue of the passport. The first year is free; from the second year, the regular costs for bookkeeping, compliance and filings apply. A personal account is possible for co-applicants too. More on opening an account as a non-resident is at Open a bank account in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone compared with other programmes

Sierra Leone is among the cheapest programmes in the world and at the same time one of the most generous on family. A look at the entry amounts:

The other African programme, São Tomé and Príncipe, comes close to Sierra Leone at entry level. Sierra Leone, on the other hand, scores with ECOWAS, the wide family circle on the Fast Track and the escrow guarantee. Every programme with amounts, fees and timelines side by side is in the comparison, and the details on Sierra Leone are on the page for the Sierra Leone programme. The latest overview of the two routes without dependants is under Solo Entrepreneur and Enterprise Citizenship.

Buy a passport and still naturalise

A Sierra Leone passport does not rule out naturalising in another country later. Quite the opposite: naturalisation through residence is the free route and often the stronger one in the end, but it takes years and requires genuine residence. The Sierra Leone passport buys you the time in between. Why the two belong together is shown in CBI and naturalisation.

Frequently asked questions