How to get USA citizenship through investment: green card first, passport after 5 years

USA citizenship by investment: why it does not exist

No. US nationality is acquired by birth, by derivation from a parent, or by naturalisation. Congress has never created a route that confers citizenship in exchange for a payment or investment. The naturalisation statute requires lawful permanent residence, five years of continuous residence, 30 months of physical presence, good moral character, English and civics knowledge, and attachment to the Constitution^[1][2]. No investment amount waives these requirements.

Investment therefore works only one step earlier, as a way to get the green card. Two routes do that:

• EB-5 immigrant investor, set out in the Immigration and Nationality Act and reformed by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. It requires $800,000 in a targeted employment area (rural, high-unemployment or infrastructure project) or $1,050,000 elsewhere, plus 10 full-time US jobs^[12].
• The Gold Card, created by Executive Order 14351 of 19 September 2025. It requires a $1 million unconditional gift to the US government plus a $15,000 processing fee, and the green card is issued in the EB-1 or EB-2 category^[18][20]. See our Trump Gold Card analysis for how it works and why only one approval had been reported by April 2026^[19].

Marketing that says "US citizenship by investment" usually means one of these green-card routes, followed by the standard five-year naturalisation clock. Some sellers instead mean a Caribbean passport that is used for the E-2 treaty visa. That route never leads to US citizenship on its own (see below). If you need a second passport quickly, look at genuine citizenship-by-investment countries in our guide to citizenship by investment versus golden visas.

Once you hold a green card, naturalisation follows the general rules in INA § 316 (8 U.S.C. § 1427). These apply in the same way to an EB-5 investor, a Gold Card holder and any other permanent resident^[1][2]:

• Age 18 or over when you file Form N-400.
• Five years as a lawful permanent resident. Time as a conditional resident counts. The EB-5 statute treats conditional residents as lawfully admitted for permanent residence for naturalisation purposes^[5].
• Continuous residence for those five years, and up to the oath. An absence of more than six months but less than a year is presumed to break continuity unless you rebut it. An absence of a year or more breaks it, apart from narrow exceptions^[2].
• Physical presence in the US for at least 30 months out of the five years before filing^[1].
• Three months' residence in the state or USCIS district where you file^[1].
• Good moral character for the statutory period and up to the oath. Since August 2025 this has been assessed on the "totality of circumstances", including positive contributions, and officers may order neighbourhood investigations^[11][37].
• English: reading, writing, speaking and understanding. The 2025 civics notice did not change the English test^[8].
• Civics: US history and government (see the 2025 test below).
• Attachment to the Constitution and taking the Oath of Allegiance^[1][32].

The 2025 civics test

USCIS brought back a revised version of the 2020 test through a Federal Register notice of 18 September 2025^[8][9]. For N-400s filed on or after 20 October 2025, the officer asks up to 20 questions from a bank of 128. You need 12 correct answers to pass, and the officer stops after 12 correct or 9 incorrect answers^[8]. Applicants aged 65 or over with 20 years as a permanent resident are asked 10 questions from a special set of 20 and need six correct^[8]. Applicants who filed before 20 October 2025 take the 2008 test (10 questions, 6 correct)^[8].

Conditional residents: the EB-5 catch

EB-5 green cards are conditional for two years. You must file Form I-829 in the 90 days before the second anniversary. It must show that the capital was invested and that the required jobs were created or are being created^[5]. USCIS policy is that conditional residents are generally not eligible to naturalise until the conditions are removed^[4]. In practice, a slow I-829 decision can delay your oath even after the five years have passed. Ask your project for its I-829 approval record before you invest.

An EB-5 or Gold Card petition covers the investor's spouse and unmarried children under 21 as derivative beneficiaries. Each family member gets their own green card, and each adult then naturalises separately. Each must meet the five-year, physical-presence and civics requirements and pay their own N-400 fee^[1][6].

Minor children often do not need to apply. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1431, a child under 18 who is a green card holder living in the US in the legal and physical custody of a parent becomes a citizen automatically when that parent naturalises^[31]. The family should plan to move together so that teenagers do not turn 18 before the parent's oath. Each I-485 is charged per person ($950 / $900 for a child under 14 filing with a parent)^[6].

Spouses of US citizens can usually naturalise after three years of marriage and residence rather than five. That rarely helps an investor couple, because both spouses reach the five-year mark at the same time.

The sequence below assumes the EB-5 regional centre route, which most investors use.

The legal minimum is five years from becoming a resident, and you can file 90 days early^[3]. The real timeline from wiring the investment to holding a passport is longer, because of how long it takes to get the green card in the first place:

The Gold Card does not shorten naturalisation. Holders receive green cards in the EB-1 or EB-2 category^[18], so the same five-year, 30-month physical presence, civics and English rules apply. Unlike EB-5, the green card is not conditional, so no I-829 step can delay the oath. The trade-off is a $1 million gift that you never get back, while EB-5 capital can in principle be repaid.

Uptake has been slow. Applications opened in December 2025. On 23 April 2026, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a House subcommittee that one applicant had been approved and "hundreds" were in the queue^[19]. On 3 February 2026 the American Association of University Professors and a group of immigrant professionals sued, arguing that the programme unlawfully turns merit-based EB-1 and EB-2 categories into a paid fast lane. We found no ruling at the time of writing^[36]. The official site describes a $5 million Platinum Card under which holders could spend up to 270 days a year in the US without US tax on non-US income. It has not launched, and we treat that tax treatment as unconfirmed until it appears in law^[18]. Full details are on our Gold Card requirements page.

The E-2 treaty investor visa is often sold as a cheaper "US residency" route, but it is a non-immigrant status. Stays are granted for up to two years at a time and can be renewed without limit. Holders must intend to leave when their status ends, and the visa does not lead to a green card^[21]. Years spent on an E-2 therefore count for nothing toward naturalisation. Our E-2 treaty investor visa guide covers investment levels and the treaty-country list.

Nationals of non-treaty countries (China, India, Russia and others) sometimes first buy Grenadian citizenship, because Grenada is the only Caribbean citizenship-by-investment country with a US E-2 treaty. Since Pub. L. 117-263, § 5902 (signed 23 December 2022), anyone who acquired their nationality through a financial investment and has never held E status must have been domiciled in that country for a continuous period of at least three years, at any point before applying for an E visa^[22][33]. The Grenada citizenship by investment programme starts at about $235,000 (donation)^[23]. That buys a business visa, not a path to a US passport, unless you later qualify for a green card by another route.

Plan the tax position before you invest. A green card makes you a US tax resident under the "green card test", and residents are taxed on their worldwide income^[24]. Citizenship changes little at that point. US citizens are taxed on worldwide income wherever they live, which is unusual among developed countries. So the real tax decision comes at the green card stage, not at naturalisation.

Exit tax if you later leave

Under IRC § 877A, renouncing citizenship, or giving up a green card held in at least 8 of the last 15 tax years ("long-term resident"), can trigger a mark-to-market exit tax. This applies if you are a "covered expatriate", which means any one of the following^[25]:

• net worth of $2 million or more;
• average annual net income tax above $211,000 for the five prior years (2026 figure)^[26];
• failure to certify five years of tax compliance on Form 8854.

For 2026, the first $910,000 of deemed gain is excluded^[26]. Formally renouncing citizenship at a consulate now costs $450, down from $2,350 since 13 April 2026^[27]. Wealthy families often take pre-immigration tax advice to step up asset values, restructure trusts and time the move. Those decisions belong before the I-526E is filed, not after the oath.

US law allows dual nationality, although new citizens declare in the Oath of Allegiance that they "absolutely and entirely renounce" foreign allegiance^[32]. The US does not require you to prove that you have lost your former nationality. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1481, a US citizen loses nationality only by voluntarily performing an expatriating act with the intention of giving up US nationality^[28][29].

The binding constraint is usually your other country. Some countries end your citizenship automatically when you naturalise elsewhere. China and India, for example, both end citizenship when a national voluntarily acquires another one. Others, such as the UK, Canada and most of the EU, allow it. Check your home country's law before the oath. For families juggling three nationalities, see our guide to holding triple citizenship.

A US passport is issued only to US nationals. A foreigner can get one only by naturalising, so the five-year path above is the only legal route. In the July 2026 Henley Passport Index the passport gives visa-free, visa-on-arrival or electronic-authorisation access to 180 of 227 destinations and ranks joint 10th, behind 36 countries with higher scores^[34][35]. That is strong, but not the strongest. The bigger benefits are the unconditional right to live in the US, consular protection, the ability to sponsor relatives, and freedom from green card residence rules. If travel access is your main goal, compare the strongest passports available through investment.

• EB-5 investment adjustment, 1 January 2027: the statute indexes the $1,050,000 standard amount to CPI-U every five years, rounded down to the nearest $50,000, and resets the TEA and infrastructure amount to 75% of the new standard^[12]. Practitioners expect a standard amount of roughly $1.2–1.25 million, which would put the TEA minimum at $900,000 or $937,500. USCIS had not published official figures at the time of writing^[16].
• Grandfathering ended 30 September 2026: regional-centre petitions filed after that date are not protected if the Regional Center Program lapses. The programme itself is authorised until 30 September 2027^[12][16].
• EB-5 integrity rule: a proposed rule of 2 July 2026 would codify the Reform and Integrity Act. Comments closed on 31 August 2026^[15].
• N-400 fee rule: a final rule could raise the fee to $1,280–$1,330 and end waivers. If you are eligible, filing before it takes effect saves $570^[7].
• Gold Card litigation (the AAUP case) and the possible Platinum Card launch^[18][36].

It suits families who actually want to live in the US: for schooling, a US-based business or a career. They should be able to tie up $800k–$1.05M for several years and accept US worldwide taxation. It also suits investors from countries with long US visa waits, for whom a green card carries real value on its own.

Look elsewhere if you want a second passport without moving, want citizenship in under five years, or would face a large exit-tax bill. Faster naturalisation exists in Paraguay, where residence can lead to citizenship in about three years and in Uruguay's 3–5-year naturalisation path. In North America, Canadian citizenship after three years of presence in five is a closer match to the US. Panama's Qualified Investor route to citizenship takes about five years at lower cost. For speed-ranked options, see our ranking of residency routes with the fastest naturalisation. For an immediate passport, true citizenship-by-investment programmes are compared in our Caribbean programme comparison and on the citizenship hub.

• Canada: no citizenship by investment. Quebec's investor programme leads to permanent residence, then citizenship after 3 of 5 years.
• New Zealand: the Active Investor Plus visa leads to residence, then citizenship after about five years.
• Panama: Qualified Investor residence, then naturalisation after about five years.
• Grenada: genuine citizenship by investment, plus possible E-2 access after three years of domicile.
• Costa Rica: about $150,000 investor residency, then citizenship after roughly seven years.

For the US residency side, including EB-5 project types, TEA rules and regional centre selection, see the US investor green card page.