Nigeria is booming market for second passports, as wealth is fast growing in the oil rich country. More and more nigerians are seeking alternative citizenships for education, travel freedom and promote business and trade outside Africa.
US and Canada has been historically most popular immigration destinations for many wealthy destinations. These schemes have been plagued by slow processing and long waiting times despite making huge investments
- American Golden Visa (EB-5) – $900,000
- Canada Quebec IIP – $1,200,000
- American Investor Visa (E-2) – $100,000 onwards
Recently EB-5 has been increased to $900,000 (from $500K) making it expensive for African investors. As far as the waiting times are concerned, it takes 27 to 40 months to process an I-526 application for African EB-5 investors including Nigerians.
Canada Quebec scheme is currently closed until mid 2020 after all quotas has been exhausted. There is only 1900 admissions every year. The Immigration Canada takes 11 weeks processing time for Certificates, all in all On average, it takes anywhere between 12 to 44 months for processing.
So what is the cheap and best way for nigerians to get a US visa by investing?
The Answer is E-2 visa
Since Nigeria, does not have a E-2 treaty visa signed with United States, nigerians cannot apply for E-2 visas. But nigerians can apply for E-2 visas becoming a citizen of another country which has E-2 treaty with United States. Must have the citizenship of a treaty country to apply.
Nigerian constitution allows dual citizenship, so it is not illegal for nigerians to become a national of more than one country.
Grenada offers citizenship to Nigerian investors who can afford $150,000. These are the only citizenship by investment schemes with E-2 visa option. All the ot are quite expensive!
- Grenada – $150,000 (donation) or $220,000 (real estate)
- Montenegro – $400,000 (real estate + donation)
- Turkey – $250,000 (real estate)
We highly recommend Grenada passport as it offers visa free travel to United Kingdom, Europe Schengen area, China, Russia and over 140 countries.
Once citizenship is obtained and desired investments are made, an appointment is necessary at the US embassy in Nigeria. The US embassy in Lagos takes just 74 calendar days to process this visa and there is a $205 visa fee. This is so much faster than waiting for years after making half a million investment
E-2 visas are non-immigrant visas, this means there is no requirement to permanently live in United States for tax reasons. This visa is issued to maximum 2 years and extendable. E-2 visa applicants can switch to EB-5 anytime or apply for green card if they spend most of the time in the United States.
We assist Nigerians with Citizenship by investment and American E-2 visas through our partner law firms.
