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Savory & Partners

Pillar guide

Citizenship by investment, explained for international families

A working guide to buying nothing you do not understand. What each sovereign program requires, what the file really costs once government charges are added, and how to decide between them.

Citizenship by investment is a statutory route. A parliament passes a law, sets a qualifying contribution or investment, appoints a due diligence regime, and licenses agents to file. There is no discretion to negotiate the amounts, and no legitimate way to shortcut the background check. Everything that varies between programs, cost, speed, dependant rules, is written into that legislation.

The decision is therefore not which country markets itself best. It is which statute matches your household, your capital, your tolerance for physical presence, and the passport you already hold.

Facts on this page reviewed 2026-08-06 by the Savory & Partners advisory desk

The four qualifying routes

Almost every active program uses one of four mechanisms. They are not interchangeable, and the cheapest headline number is rarely the cheapest total.

  • Non-refundable contribution to a national development or sustainability fund. Lowest entry, fastest, nothing recovered.
  • Approved real estate, usually with a mandatory hold period of five to seven years before resale.
  • Government bonds or a treasury deposit, refundable at term, with a higher capital lock and lower net cost.
  • Enterprise or business investment, requiring an operating entity and, in most cases, local employment.

What the file actually costs

The advertised figure is the qualifying investment only. On top of it sit government processing charges per applicant, due diligence per adult and often per child over a set age, legal and filing costs, passport and certificate issuance, and the adviser's professional fee.

We publish our professional fee separately from every third party charge, and every program page on this site itemises the two. A family of four is routinely 30 to 45 percent above the single-applicant headline once those charges are added.

Due diligence is the real gate

Programs compete on price. They do not compete on background checks, and the serious ones actively market their rejection rates. Expect a licensed external firm to verify identity, source of funds, source of wealth, litigation history, sanctions and adverse media across every jurisdiction you have lived in or held assets in.

Applications fail on documentation quality far more often than on the applicant. Unexplained transfers, gifts without a deed, business income without filed accounts, and gaps in address history are the recurring causes.

How to choose between two programs that look identical

When cost and timeline are close, decide on the things that do not appear in the brochure: whether your dependants remain eligible as they age, whether the passport is renewable from outside the country, whether the program has survived a change of government, and what visa-free access it adds to the passport you already hold rather than in absolute terms.

A holder of a strong passport gains little travel utility and a great deal of optionality. A holder of a restricted passport may gain both. That difference should change the shortlist, and on most advisory sites it does not.

International considerations

Acquiring a second citizenship does not by itself change your tax residency, and in some countries it triggers reporting obligations. United States persons remain taxable on worldwide income regardless of any additional citizenship. Several countries restrict or do not recognise dual nationality. Confirm both points with a qualified tax and legal adviser in your home jurisdiction before you file, not after.

From the catalogue

Programs in this category

Each page itemises our professional fee separately from every government and third-party charge.

View every program

Questions

Frequently asked

Is citizenship by investment legal?
Where it exists, it exists by statute. The programs we advise on are created by national legislation and administered by a government unit, and every file is submitted through a licensed agent. Any offer outside that framework is not a program.
How long does a citizenship application take?
Published processing windows for active Caribbean programs currently run from roughly four to nine months from a complete file, with European routes materially longer. Incomplete documentation, not the government, is the usual cause of delay.
Can my parents and adult children be included?
It depends on the statute. Age ceilings for children, dependency tests for parents, and rules on married or working dependants differ by program and change periodically. We check the current rule against your actual household before recommending anything.
Do I have to visit the country?
Most contribution-based citizenship programs require no residence. A small number require a short visit for an oath or biometrics. Residency programs are the opposite: presence is usually the point.
Will a second passport reduce my taxes?
Not on its own. Tax follows residency in most systems, and citizenship in a small number, including the United States. Any plan that treats a passport as a tax outcome is being sold to you incorrectly.

Next step

Get a costed shortlist, not a brochure

Tell us your nationality, household and budget. You receive a written comparison with our fee separated from every government charge.

Your details stay with our licensed advisory team. We never share client data with third parties, and no fee is payable until you sign an engagement letter.

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