Top 23 Countries With Residencies & Citizenships Up For Grabs

What is the price for a new life? Is it just a new passport or a residence permit? What are the requirements for those applications? You’ll have an opportunity to find your perfect place and all the answers in this article!

Spending money on a second passport has become a new guilty pleasure for millionaires in line with purchasing new sport cars, private jets and yachts. Today, various countries offer special programs which allow people to obtain a citizenship through various investment schemes. Moreover, the option of applying for residency permit is also available and comes with fewer requirements and far less spendings. In case you ever decide to get a second citizenship or to apply for a residence permit, here is the list of countries and their requirements:

There are 3 options to get a residence permit. First option is to get a 5-year-visa for 500,000 Thai baht ($15,000). You can save about $6,000 in case you have a partner in crime in adventures, as the 5-year-visa for two will cost 800,000 Thai baht ($24,000), and extra 300,000 Thai baht ($9,000) for each dependant.

To extend the full year summer for more than five years there is an option which costs 2,14 million Thai baht ($65,000), for that price you will get the visa for 20 years with not-to-miss VIP privileges, like concierge service and additional services at the airport.

For the residence permit, Latvia demands investments (not less than 286,000 Euro) into a credit organisation for 5 years or investments (36,000 Euro) in local company with further minimum 28,600 Euro payment the next year.

Here are the amounts to pay for Saint Lucia citizenship:

There are two possible investment types required for the Dominican citizenship: a donation to the fund of national transformation – 100,000 dollars for a person, or 200,000 dollars for a family of four. The second type is an estate investment of 200,000 dollars.

Here you have three typical options of investments: national development fund; estate or business project. The amounts of payments are 100, 400, and 400 thousand respectively.

To get the citizenship in the country on the islands between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea you need to donate 250,000 dollars to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation or make a more practical purchase of estate costing not less than 200,000 dollars which you should not sell in the next 10 years or spend 200,000 more to give yourself a bit more flexibility with restriction for sale for only 5 years.

The citizenship of this Caribbean island requires a donation of 150,000 dollars to the Grenada national fund of transformation or about 350,000 dollars of estate investments (additional fees are also applicable).

This Oceania country, which consists of more than 80 islands, was once established as one of the happiest countries. In case you are searching for heaven on earth, that could be one of the options. The citizenship may be obtained through the program of economical contribution. The requirements of the program are the payment of minimum 130,000 dollars with 25,000 dollars application fees. Another requirement is to possess 250,000 dollars.

The citizenship price consist of: a minimum contribution of 100,000 Euros to the Public Investment Fund per person with 35,000 Euros service fees, the governmental charge of a 5,000, a 6,000 fee for the police check and finally €300 charge for a biometric passport.

The options outlined by Cambodian government are as follows: investing $294,000 in the country’s economy, noting that the investment in Cambodia will be considered for approval by the development council or the Royal Government. Another option is a $245,000 donation for Cambodia economical improvement and development.

There is only one financial requirement for applying for the residence permit in Greece – investing 250,000 Euros in a national estate.

There are several ways a Portuguese citizenship can be obtained: transfer at least a million Euros to a Portuguese bank or invest through one of the government approved ways;

Purchase real estate: spend at least half a million euros on any real estate.

Business:

Montenegro outlines two investment paths through which the citizenship can be gained:

However, a 2,000 applicants limit is applied over a three-year period. Also, to file an application a mandatory donation of €100,000 is required. It takes at least 6 months to process the application.

After the EB-5 visa, a resident permit can be granted, (green card) and then the American passport. There are three requirements:

Span has a “Golden Visa” program which allows applicants to get the citizenship in the future. To begin with, applicant should get “Golden Visa” and there are various options for that:

After holding the residence permit for 5 years there is an option to apply for the permanent residence permit, and after 10 years, application for citizenship will be reviewed.

In Bulgaria there are two types of programs. The standart one is to invest $593,000 in governmental bonds for 5 years. These investments will be returned after 5 years without interest. And the quicker option is to invest the same amount in government bonds following with the second investment the next year and after the year of Bulgarian residence. These investments will be kept for the next two years after the citizenship was gained.

In order to get the permanent residence permit in Canada, applicant should demonstrate a personal capital which is more than $1,6 million and the ownership of trustworthy business, which operates for more than 2 years out of 5 before applying for citizenship. Additionally, 5 years of investment totalling more than $612,000 should be made.

Turkey suggests plenty of options for getting the citizenship. Along with 3 typical investment methods such as estate investment (1 million dollar purchase), bank investment ($3 million) and investment in government bonds ($3 million) there are two more options: create 100 workplaces or invest £2 million in fixed capital.

Currently there are 3 ways to get an investor citizenship in Malta: a €650,000 donation to the national development and social projects fund; placing 150,000 in state shares (bonds); estate deal (either €350,000 purchase or 5 years rent) - €16,000 per year.

Australia grants residence permits through a special program which allows applying for citizenship in the future. The requirements are: possess personal capital which is more than 1,62 million dollars plus 1,5 million dollars investment in business or business project which is significant to Australia’s economy.

Lately, Cyprus has been providing one of the cheapest investment citizenship programs. Yet, recently the situation has changed and the available options for citizenship application are now as follows:

Otherwise, the residence permit could be gained by purchasing estate which costs more than 300,000 Euro, 30,000 Euro international bank transaction to the account which will be blocked for 3 years. Moreover, an annually salary which should not be earned in Cyprus has to be more than 30,000 euro.

First option is to invest money totaling 6,6 million dollars for three years. This option has no age restrictions, experience or language requirements. If the option is way too expensive, New Zealand suggests another way. An investment alternative is a 3 million payment during 4 years. If second option is more realistic financially, there are two requirements to consider: minimum 3 years of business work experience and 1,6 million dollars in assets. In case you don’t meet the requirements now, you can try to meet these objectives by the time you are 65, as that is the minimum age for the applicant.

First option is to invest money totaling 6,6 million dollars for three years. This option has no age restrictions, experience or language requirements. If the option is way too expensive, New Zealand suggests another way. An investment alternative is a 3 million payment during 4 years. If second option is more realistic financially, there are two requirements to consider: minimum 3 years of business work experience and 1,6 million dollars in assets. In case you don’t meet the requirements now, you can try to meet these objectives by the time you are 65, as that is the minimum age for the applicant.