Citizenship by Investment: Every Program, Cost and Risk in 2026

A CBI program is a statutory route that lets a government grant nationality to a foreign investor without the usual years of residence, language tests or family ties. The investor pays into a state fund or buys approved real estate, bonds or a business stake, and after due diligence receives a certificate of citizenship and a passport. St Kitts and Nevis created the first modern program in 1984, Dominica followed in 1993, and Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Lucia joined between 2013 and 2015.

• Little or no residence. Most programs require no stay before or after the grant, although the Caribbean states are adding short presence rules (see below).
• Family inclusion. A spouse and children are normally included; many programs also accept dependent parents, and some siblings, for a fee per extra person.
• Full citizenship. The passport is the same as a citizen's by birth and can usually pass to children, although the state can revoke citizenship obtained by fraud.
• Dual nationality. The active programs let you keep your existing passport. Whether your country allows it is a separate question, covered in our guide to holding dual and triple citizenship.

No EU member state sells citizenship since the Court of Justice ruled in April 2025 that Malta's scheme breached EU law^[22]. Austria's discretionary grant for 'extraordinary achievements' under § 10(6) of its Citizenship Act has no price list^[34]. See our analysis of European citizenship for investors after the Malta ruling.

Investor residence programs give you a residence permit, not a passport. Citizenship comes only after years of legal residence, language and civics tests and, increasingly, real physical presence. Portugal is the clearest example: since 19 May 2026 most non-EU nationals need ten years of legal residence, so an investor starting now should plan on roughly 14–17 years from investment to passport, as our guide to Portuguese citizenship after the 2026 nationality law explains.

• Where you can live. A CBI passport gives you the right to live in a small state you may never visit. A residence permit lets you live where you actually want to be, such as an EU state.
• Cost structure. CBI payments are mostly non-refundable donations. Residence investments are often refundable assets.
• Political risk. CBI passports can lose visa-free access when the EU or US retaliates.

Many families combine the two: a Caribbean passport for travel plus a European residence permit as a place to live. Our side-by-side comparison of investor citizenship and investor residence covers this in detail, and the investor residence hub lists every residence program.

The five Eastern Caribbean programs (US$200,000–US$250,000)

St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Saint Lucia agreed a common US$200,000 minimum in 2024^[43] and signed an agreement creating a regional regulator, ECCIRA. Their passports still give visa-free Schengen travel and reach 143–157 destinations^[40], which is why they have issued the most passports of any group (the Commission counts about 107,000)^[2]. They are also under the heaviest political pressure. Our comparison of the five Caribbean passports sets out the fee differences.

Low-cost newcomers (US$90,000–US$140,000)

São Tomé and Príncipe (donation from US$90,000), Nauru's climate-resilience program, Sierra Leone's GO-FOR-GOLD routes and Vanuatu's donation program cost far less and open far fewer doors: São Tomé reaches about 59 destinations and Vanuatu 86, and none of the four has visa-free Schengen access^[40]. Vanuatu lost it in a precedent the Caribbean states are watching closely^[35]. These are mostly bought as a backup nationality. See the ranking of the lowest-cost citizenship programs and our tracker of newly launched and proposed programs.

Larger economies with property routes (US$250,000–US$1M+)

Turkish citizenship through a US$400,000 property purchase and Egypt's donation, property and deposit routes attract buyers who want a real asset and access to a large economy. Jordan's investor citizenship now asks for productive projects that create jobs. Türkiye and Grenada are US E-2 treaty countries, but the US requires investment-acquired nationals to have been domiciled in the treaty country for three years first; see the E-2 treaty investor visa.

Niche, high-ticket and discretionary routes

El Salvador's bitcoin-funded Freedom Visa (US$1M), Cambodian naturalisation by investment and Austrian citizenship for extraordinary merit serve very different buyers. Austria is the only EU route; it is decided case by case, typically for a large job-creating investment, with no published price^[34]. The UAE's nomination-based citizenship cannot be applied for at all.

There is no single best passport, only a best fit for your budget, family and goals.

1. Budget: the real all-in cost

The headline minimum is never the total. Add due diligence (typically US$5,000–US$10,000 for the main applicant), processing and passport fees, per-dependant charges and professional fees of roughly US$15,000–US$50,000. For a family of four using a fund donation, our Caribbean country guides put government charges at about US$258,000–US$290,000 before professional fees. The same family pays about US$103,000 in government charges in São Tomé^[7]. Property routes add transfer taxes and resale risk.

2. Travel access

Check the destinations you actually use, not the headline count. The Caribbean passports reach 143–157 destinations including Schengen; Türkiye about 112 without Schengen; São Tomé 59. Caribbean no longer means UK access: Dominica, Vanuatu and, since March 2026, Saint Lucia need UK visas, as does Nauru since December 2025. See our visa-free access matrix for investment passports.

3. Family

Family rules differ more than prices. Antigua's NDF donation does not rise with family size and its UWI option is for families of six or more^[5]. Saint Lucia's NEF covers up to four people, with processing and due-diligence fees per person^[6]. Sierra Leone's reported Solo route excludes dependants^[18]. Age limits for adult children (often up to 30) and parents (often 55+) also differ.

4. Tax

A new passport does not change where you pay tax: that depends on where you live, and US citizens stay taxable on worldwide income. A zero-tax Caribbean state only helps if you actually move there.

5. Timeline and risk

Vanuatu, Nauru and São Tomé can reach approval in 2–4 months; St Kitts, Dominica and Grenada usually take 3–8 months; Antigua and Saint Lucia currently take over a year in practice. Most delays come from due diligence queries. Political risk is now the deciding factor for many buyers: a passport bought today can lose visa-free access, as Vanuatu's did, and presence rules, interviews and biometrics are being added across the Caribbean.

The EU visa-suspension mechanism

Under Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, operating an investor citizenship scheme is an independent ground for suspending visa-free travel, initially for 12 months and extendable^[1]. The Commission's 8th report named Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia, citing low refusal rates (1.7% in Antigua in 2024) and the number of passports issued^[2]. According to Antigua's government, Commissioner Brunner's letters of 25 June 2026 asked for a phase-out by 1 June 2028^[12]. Regional leaders meeting in Roseau on 10 July 2026 rejected a unilateral phase-out, and on 27 September 2026 the five states asked the EU for more time, with technical talks set for October^[13][11]. No Caribbean visa waiver has been suspended so far; our explainer on the Caribbean Schengen phase-out tracks it.

Vanuatu shows the end point: the EU suspended visa-free travel first for CBI passports, then for all nationals, and the Council made it permanent in December 2024^[35].

United States restrictions

The US proclamation of 16 December 2025 partially restricts Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, citing CBI without residence: from 1 January 2026, immigrant visas and B-1/B-2, F, M and J visas are suspended for their nationals, subject to exceptions. The same proclamation fully suspends entry for Sierra Leone nationals^[3]. Separately, a permanent visa-bond rule effective 3 August 2026 lets consulates require bonds of US$10,000–US$20,000 from visitors of listed countries, which include Antigua, Dominica, Grenada and Vanuatu^[39]. If US travel matters, keep your original passport valid and use it for US visas.

ECCIRA and tighter Caribbean rules

The Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority (ECCIRA) is meant to set common due diligence, pricing and inspection standards across the five programs. The agreement enters into force 30 days after the fifth ratification; enactment is confirmed in several states but not all, and the authority is not operational. On 28 September 2026 the St Kitts CIU said the regional regime starts only once the authority is running and all states agree a commencement date^[28][41]. A 30-days-in-five-years presence rule is applied administratively in Antigua, legislated but not in force in Grenada, and only announced in Dominica and St Kitts (sources on each country page). If you buy now, budget for possible presence days and biometrics trips.

Europe's programs have all closed. Malta's investor citizenship scheme was struck down by the Court of Justice on 29 April 2025 (Case C-181/23) as a 'transactional' grant of nationality^[22]. Cyprus's investment program stopped taking applications on 1 November 2020 after the Commission opened infringement proceedings against Cyprus and Malta^[29]. Bulgaria abolished its route by a Citizenship Act amendment adopted on 24 March 2022^[24], Montenegro let its program expire on 31 December 2022^[38], and Moldova repealed its law on 18 June 2020 after about 20 investors had been naturalised^[23]. Their replacements are mostly residence routes such as Malta permanent residence and Cyprus permanent residency; see our review of closed investment migration programs.

North Macedonia published draft amendments in June 2026 that would scrap its €400,000-plus-10-jobs threshold in favour of a case-by-case 'special interest' test, which the EU says does not go far enough^[26]. Samoa's Citizenship Investment Act 2015 (SAT 4 million, about US$1.42 million) is effectively unused; its Chamber of Commerce proposed halving the threshold in October 2025^[31].

Among proposed programs, St Vincent and the Grenadines promised a launch by mid-2026 with residency requirements^[36][37], but no bill or price has been published. Argentina's program was formally presented in Paris on 2 October 2026 at US$350,000 (non-refundable Treasury payment) or US$800,000 (public bond), with applications promised for the fourth quarter of 2026^[44]. It is not open yet and remains under legal challenge: in June 2026 two appeal courts held the decree's citizenship provisions unconstitutional or void in individual cases, and the government has taken the question to the Supreme Court^[25]. Tonga has only a leaked US$190,000 single / US$220,000 family plan^[32]. Nigeria's constitutional amendment HB 2059 sets no amount and would need both chambers and at least 24 state assemblies^[27]. Treat every figure for an unlaunched program as provisional.

Many searches for 'citizenship by investment' concern countries that do not sell nationality. There, investment buys a residence permit and citizenship follows only after years of residence:

• Europe: Portugal (now 10 years), Greece (7 years), Spain (10 years, 2 for Latin Americans), Iceland and Norway.
• Americas: the United States via EB-5 or the Gold Card, Canada, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
• Asia-Pacific and Middle East: New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Fiji, Qatar and the UAE (nomination only).

If you can wait and will live in the country, a residence route can lead to a stronger passport for a refundable investment. Our list of residence programs with the shortest path to naturalisation compares timelines, and the European investor residence comparison covers the EU options.

The sequence is broadly the same in every active program; fees and details are on each country page.

Due diligence covers identity, criminal and civil records, sanctions and politically exposed person lists, adverse media and the origin of your money. A clean, documented source-of-wealth narrative is the best way to speed up approval. When choosing an agent:

• Confirm the licence on the government's own list of authorised agents.
• Insist that funds go to the government account or a regulated escrow, never to the agent.
• Be wary of 'discounts' on the official minimum, owner financing or buy-back promises. Grenada's regulator prohibited illegal discounting and owner financing in IMA Circular No. 2 of 2025^[8].
• Get a written, itemised quote separating government, due diligence and professional fees, with refund terms.

Our vetting checklist and agent reviews covers scams and how to verify a provider.