Quick Comparison of CBI/RBI schemes

The following are quick comparison list of countries offering “Citizenship-by-investment” (CBI) vs “Residency-by-investment” (CBI) programs available to third nationals..

The key difference is “Citizenship-by-investment” programs offer investors direct passport to investors within few months or a year. “Residency-by-investment” aka “Golden visa” or “Investor visa” programs initially offer residency to investors, and then after certain number of years of living, it is possible to apply for the Citizenship and passport (indirect route) through naturalisation. The common route is residence permit converted to PR then PR later converted to citizenship.

Country	Minimum Investment	Program Name	Processing Time	Permanent Residency (PR)	Naturalisation Time
Australia	A$ 1.5 million (closed)	Significant Investor stream	no standard processing times	After 4 years	PR + 4 years
Austria	€100,000 (Residence scheme)	No official citizenship by investment exists	3 months	5 year	10 years
Albania	$100,000	opening in the future	3 months		5 years
Antigua & Barbuda	$ 230,000 (donation) $300,000 (real estate)	Citizenship by investment	12–20 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Anguilla	$750,000 (real estate) or $150,000 (donation)	Anguilla Residence by Investment (ARBI)	3 months	5 years	5 years
Andorra	€1 million (assets) or €800,000 (property), plus €50,000 deposit	Passive residence	2–4 months	10-year permits from year 7	20 years
Argentina	$350,000 (treasury contribution)	Citizenship by investment (Decree 524/2025), applications expected late 2026	TBA	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Bahamas	$500,000	Economic Investment PR	4 months	Immediate PR	10 years
Bulgaria	€ 250,000 (PR residency)	Immigrant investor program	6 months	Immediate	After 5 years
Barbados	$2,000	Digital Nomad Residence
Bangladesh	$500,000	Citizenship investment	Unknown
Bahrain	BHD 130,000 (real estate)	Golden Residency (10 years, renewable)	5–10 working days	10-year renewable residency	25 years (20 for Arab nationals)
Brazil	R$1 million (real estate; R$700,000 in the North and Northeast) or R$500,000 (business)	Investor visa (VIPER)	2–6 months	Renewable while invested	4 years
Canada (Quebec)	CAD 1,200,000 or C$350,000 financing	Immigrant Investor Program	40 months	Immediate	3 years
Cambodia	$250,000 (cash donation) or $1.5m (business)	Citizenship by Investment	Case by case	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Costa Rica	$10 million Investor visa
Croatia	$100,000	Business scheme	3 months	5 years	10 years
Cyprus	€300,000 Golden visa	Residence	6 months	Immediate	8 years
Czechia	No limit specified	Significant Investment	3 months	5 years	8 years
Cayman Islands	$1.2 million (real estate)	25-year residency	3–4 months	From $2.4 million	15 years (Right to be Caymanian; reform pending)
Denmark	no program exists			6 years	9 years
Dominica	$200,000 (donation) $200,000 (real estate)	Citizenship by investment	6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Dominican Republic	$200,000 (real estate)	Investor residency (fast track)	45–90 days	Immediate	2 years
Estonia	€1 million	Major investor scheme	2 months	5 years	8 years
Egypt	$250,000 (donation) or $500,000 (real estate)	Citizenship by Investment	6–12 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
El Salvador	$1 million (Bitcoin or USDT donation)	Freedom Visa (citizenship by investment)	3 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
France	€300,000 (Talent passport) for startups	Investor Residence	3 months	5 years	10 years
Germany	€50,000 Business residency	Residence by Investment	6+ months	5 years	8 years
Grenada	$235,000 (donation)$270,000 (real estate)	Citizenship by investment	6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Greece	€ 250,000 (real estate)	Greece Golden visa	10+ months	Immediate PR granted	7 years
Georgia	$150,000 (real estate) or $300,000 (investment residence)	Residence by investment	About 30 days	5 years ($300,000 route)	10 years
Hungary	€250,000 Real Estate Fund or Public donation €1m	Guest Investor Residency	6+ months	Immediate PR	8 years
Hong Kong	HK$ 30 million	Capital Investment Scheme (suspended)	3-5 months	After 7 years
Indonesia	Golden Visa	$2.5 million	3 months	5 years	10 years
Iceland	No such program exists			4 years	7 years
Ireland	Irish Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) closed	€400,000 joint endowment or €1,000,000 enterprise or €2 million (funds) or	6 months	Immediate Stamp 4	8 years
Italy	€250,000 startups or €2m bonds	Golden visa	3 months	5 years	10 years
Japan	Investor visa ($50,000)			10 years	5 years
Jordan	$1.5 million (bank deposit or bonds)	Citizenship Investment scheme		Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Laos	$1.5 million	Honorary citizenship	Case by case	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Malta	€100,000 Malta Residency	Malta Residence Visa schemes	6+ months	Immediate	5 years
Monaco (Monte Carlo)	€ 1 million	Investor visa	3 months	5 years	10 years
Mauritius	$375,000 (business or real estate) with fast track citizenship in 2 years.	Golden visa
Malaysia	$125,000 (RM 500K)	MM2H Residency	2 months	5 years	10 years
Mexico	MXN 10.8 million property (about $600,000) or MXN 5.4 million company investment	Temporary residence (investor or property owner)	Varies by consulate	After 4 years	5 years
Nauru	$105,000 NECCRP	Treasury Donation	6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Netherlands	€ 1.25 million (startups or funds) closed	Foreign Investor visa	3 months	5 years	5 years
North Macedonia	€200,000 investment donation	Citizenship by Investment	6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Oman	OMR 250,000 (5-year permit) or OMR 500,000 (10-year permit)	Investor Residency Programme	Varies	5- or 10-year renewable permit	15 years
Poland	no program exists			5 years	8 years
Portugal	€ 200,000	Portugal Golden visa	12 months	5 years	10 years
Paraguay	$70,000 (business, SUACE) or $200,000 (real estate)	Investor permanent residence	1–3 months	Immediate	3 years
Philippines	$75,000	Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV)	1–3 months	Indefinite while invested	10 years
Qatar	$200,000 (property) or $1 million (permanent residency)	Property residency	Days to 6 weeks	From $1 million (annual quota)	25 years
Romania	€1 million Citizenship after 4 years	€100K Business (Residence)	2 months	5 years	8 years
Russia	$10 million or $160,000	Simplified or Discretionary Naturalization only		2 years year	3-5 years
Spain	€2m bonds (real estate closed)	Spain Golden visa	3-4 months	After 5 years	10 years
Samoa	$1.2 million	Citizenship Investment Program	3 years (permanent residence first)	Permanent residence first	Citizenship after 3 years
Sao Tome and Principe	$90,000	CBI Investment	8 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Switzerland	CHF 1 million	Swiss Lump Sum Taxation	6+ months	10 years	12 years
St Lucia	$240,000 (donation) $300,000 (real estate)	Citizenship by investment	12–20 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Saint Kitts and Nevis	$250,000 (Sustainable Island Fund)$400,000 (real estate)	Citizenship by investment	4–6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Slovenia	no limits	Economic investor permit	3 months	5 years	10 years
Slovakia	€100 million and create 300 jobsCitizenship on state’s interest	Major investor scheme	2 years plus	5 years	8 years
Solomon islands	coming soon	Economic Citizenship Program
Saudi Arabia	SAR 4 million (real estate) or SAR 7 million (investor)	Premium Residency	1–3 months	Investor route: permanent	Discretionary (royal decree)
Sierra Leone	$95,000 (single applicant) or $120,000 (Heritage, family)	Citizenship by investment	90 days	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Thailand	$15,000	Elite Visa	1 month	5 years	6 years
Turks and Caicos	$1 million (real estate) or $750,000–$1.5 million (business)	Permanent Residence Certificate	1–2 months	Immediate	12 months after PR (British Overseas Territories citizenship)
United Kingdom (UK)	GBP £2 million closed	Investor visa (tier-1)	1-3 weeks	5 years	6 years
United States (U.S.A)	$800,000	EB-5 Investor visa	15-30 months	Immediate	5 years
Uruguay	No fixed minimum for residency; about $2 million in real estate for tax residency	Residency (tax holiday route)	6–12 months	Immediate (legal permanent residency)	3 years (families) or 5 years
Liechtenstein	no program exists			5 years	30 years
Latvia	€100,000 (business) or €250,000 (real estate/ government bond)	Latvia Golden visa	6+ months	Immediate	10 years
Lithuania	€250,000	Business investment		5 years	10 years
Luxembourg	€500,000	Golden visa	3 months	5 years	7 years
New Zealand	NZ$ 3 million	Investor 1 and 2 scheme	3-4 months	2 years	5 years
Norway	no program exists			3 years	7 years
Nauru	Climate citizenship	Donation $105,000	6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Poland	€100,000 business investment		3 months	5 years	10 years
Panama	$300,000	Real Estate	3 months		5 years
Serbia	unknown			5 years
Sweden	no program exists			5 years	5 years
Sri Lanka	Golden Paradise ($100,000)		3 months	5 years	5 years
Sao Tome and Principe	$90,000	Donation	8 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
South Korea	Investor visa ($250,000)	F5 PR		5 years	5 years
Singapore	SG$ 2.5 million (approx US$ 2 million)	Global Investor Program (GIP)	3 months	Immediate Permanent Residency	2-6 years with PR
Vanuatu	$100,000 (donation) Citizenship by Investment	Vanuatu Development Support Program (DSP/VCP)	4–6 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
Moldova	€100,000 MCBI launched in 2018 closed	closed			10 years
Montenegro	€350,000 (real estate) closed	Special Citizenship by Investment	1 month	Immediate	10 years
Turkiye	$400,000 (real estate) or $500,000 in Govt Bonds, bank deposit	Turkish Citizenship by investment (TCBI)	6–8 months	Not required (direct citizenship)	Not required (direct citizenship)
United Arab Emirates	Golden Visa $450,000	Property investment	3 months	No	No
United States	$800K EB-5 / $5m Gold Card	Job creation / Donation	1-2 yrs / 3 months	Immediate	5 years

The table was prepared assuming you are Non-EU/EEA foreign national who wish to immigrate. Please note that most european country passports require electronic registration prior to visiting USA. Please check with the US embassy. Naturalisation time is total number of years spent living (inclusive of PR). Some countries require PR status before applying for Citizenship through naturalisation.