How to choose a second citizenship or residency programme

Programmes differ in what they give you, so name your main goal before you compare prices. Most families start from one of these:

• Mobility: a second passport can change where you can travel without a visa. Visa-free lists change, so check the official rules of the countries that matter to you.
• Residence: the right to live in another country while you keep your nationality.
• Family: including a spouse and children, sometimes parents, and a nationality that passes to the next generation.
• Education: residence in the country where your children would study. Admission and fees follow each country’s rules.
• Business: easier business travel or a presence in a new market. For example, Grenada is a US E-2 treaty country, but US law requires three years’ continuous domicile in Grenada for people who obtained citizenship by investment, and the decision rests with the US authorities.

Citizenship gives you a passport. Residency gives you the right to live in the country, and may allow naturalisation later under each country’s law. Our golden visa comparison covers the residency side in detail. Note that many countries use the name “golden visa” for different schemes; in this guide it means residency by investment in Portugal, Greece, Malta and Cyprus.

These are the lowest qualifying amounts published by each official programme source. They exclude government, due-diligence, passport and professional fees, and they change. For every route, see the 2026 official minimums tracker or download the table (CSV). Any price below the official minimum is a warning sign.

Most programmes allow a spouse and dependent children, and some allow parents, under each programme’s rules. Some official minimums already cover a family:

• St Kitts and Nevis: from US$250,000 for a family of up to 4 (SISC contribution).
• Antigua and Barbuda: from US$230,000 per application of up to 4 (NDF).
• Grenada: from US$235,000 for the applicant and up to 3 dependants (NTF).
• St Lucia: from US$240,000 for the applicant and up to 3 dependants (NEF).
• São Tomé and Príncipe: from US$90,000 for a single applicant, and from US$95,000 for a family of up to 4.

So compare the total for your family, including fees, not the headline figure. Check the age limits for children and the dependency rules for parents in each programme.

This is a question about your own country’s law, not the programme’s. Some countries do not allow their citizens to hold another nationality, some require permission or notification, and some restrict dual nationals in certain jobs or rights. The Caribbean programmes, Türkiye and São Tomé generally allow dual citizenship, but that does not replace the law of your home country.

• Check your country’s nationality law with its official authority or your embassy before you commit to anything.
• If you already hold more than one nationality, check the law of each.
• Residency does not change your nationality, but naturalising later in the country of residence depends on its law and on yours.

• Citizenship: most of the citizenship programmes we cover do not require you to live there. Interviews are now part of the Caribbean programmes, and some programmes ask for a visit, under each programme’s rules.
• Residency in Portugal and Greece: renewable permits, each with its own rules on time spent there and on renewal.
• Residency in Malta and Cyprus: permanent residence, with conditions you must keep meeting.
• Naturalising later: if your goal is that European country’s passport, the conditions (including actual time lived there) are set by its nationality law and differ from the investment permit’s rules.

Rules change, so check the current conditions in the official source before applying.

What the government does: background, criminal-record and sanctions checks, verification of your source of funds and wealth, and sometimes an interview. You will usually need police certificates from your country of nationality and the countries where you have lived, plus attested and translated civil documents. The decision, and how long it takes, rest with the government.

What you check yourself, with any firm, including us:

• Open the programme’s official website (linked at the end of this guide) and compare every figure with it.
• Ask in writing who will prepare and submit your application, and to which official body, and match that name against the programme’s official website.
• Get a written split of government fees, due-diligence fees and professional fees.
• Pay contributions and government fees only through the official channels the programme specifies.
• Ask for the firm’s company registration and office address.
• A firm that promises approval or a fixed date is promising something only a government can decide.

1. Write down your first and second goal.
2. Choose between citizenship and residency, or decide you need both.
3. Check your home country’s rules on dual nationality.
4. Decide who you will include, and work out the official cost for the whole family, with fees.
5. Compare the stay, visit and interview rules with your real plans.
6. Check your eligibility against each programme’s current rules, including restricted nationalities.
7. Gather your documents early, because attestation and translation take time.