It is very important you understand the how the total fee is calculated with Citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes, after all you are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and fee structure should be clear and transparent.
First you must know, over 90% of the fee you pay goes to government. There are only two types of fee involved
Total fee = Govt fee + Agent fee
- Government fee (Donation + Due diligence fee + Passport fee + Processing fee)
- Law firm or Agent fee
Law firms will charge you a chunk of fee to apply for citizenship. For example, to apply for caribbean citizenship programs, the law firm costs averages around $15,000 to $20,000 depending on the size of family, your country and how complicated the process is. Our CBI calculator aggregates all the Govt fees together and is updated frequently
It is important to understand, that you pay 90% of the amount ONLY after the Govt approval letter is issued (also applies with real estate). These are the government rules to protect you. This way you can protect yourself from passport scams by unscrupulous agents. You can start the process by paying $5000 agent fee and due diligence fee for Govt to do a background check on you. All fee is paid in gradual steps.
It is also possible to buy real estate in exchange for citizenship. In the Caribbean, the Govt levies additional processing fee for this option, which is around $30,000. Montenegro Govt charges €100,000 per application when you buy a real estate for 250K. Please cross check the CBI official sites
