Home / Citizenship by Investment
Citizenship by investment (CBI) is a legal route by which a state grants citizenship, and a passport, in return for a qualifying contribution or investment defined in its law. This page tracks 17 citizenship programmes, of which 10 are active and ranked in this edition, ranked by the published Mirabello Investment Migration Index methodology, with the official source and verification date on every figure.
All programme figures are time-sensitive: governments amend thresholds, fees and rules with notice periods that vary from months to days. Verify any figure against the linked official source before acting. Information, not advice.
MCP
Decision shortcuts
There is no universal best and no universal winner: each of the four cards below simply reports which ranked programme currently leads on one published metric, with its source date and confidence band. A metric lead is not a recommendation.
Fastest documented route: Turkey
Published processing from 3 months (Approximately 3-6 months from complete application to citizenship)
Its published timeline lists the lowest documented lower bound among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
See its row in the rankingIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
Lowest verified entry: Vanuatu
Minimum qualifying contribution $130,000, Development Support Program contribution
Its published minimum is the lowest verified entry point among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
View the Vanuatu programmeIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
Strongest mobility: St. Kitts and Nevis
157 visa-free destinations
Its passport currently reports the highest visa-free destination count among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
View the St. Kitts and Nevis programmeIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
Broadest family inclusion: St. Kitts and Nevis
Family sub-score 100 / 100 on the published Index
It carries the lowest published cost premium to include a family of four among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
View the St. Kitts and Nevis programmeIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
The ranked table
The 10 citizenship-by-investment programmes that are both operational and ranked in the 2026 Q3 Edition of the Mirabello Investment Migration Index, in Index order. Each figure carries its source and verification date; emerging, reference and non-active programmes are tracked separately in the status register below.
| # | Programme | Minimum qualifying route | Typical processing | Visa-free | Index score | Confidence | Last verified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇰🇳 St. Kitts and Nevis | $250,000 Sustainable Island State Contribution ciu.gov.kn · 2026-06-28 |
4-6 months ciu.gov.kn · 2026-07-05 |
157 destinations | 85.7 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 2 | 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda | $230,000 National Development Fund donation cip.gov.ag · 2026-06-28 |
4-7 months cip.gov.ag · 2026-07-05 |
154 destinations | 83.2 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 3 | 🇩🇲 Dominica | $200,000 Economic Diversification Fund contribution cbiu.gov.dm · 2026-06-28 |
4-6 months cbiu.gov.dm · 2026-07-05 |
145 destinations | 81.8 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 4 | 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia | $240,000 National Economic Fund contribution cipsaintlucia.com · 2026-06-28 |
4-5 months cipsaintlucia.com · 2026-07-05 |
144 destinations | 81.5 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 5 | 🇬🇩 Grenada | $235,000 National Transformation Fund donation imagrenada.gd · 2026-06-28 |
6 months imagrenada.gd · 2026-07-05 |
147 destinations | 79.1 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 7 | 🇹🇷 Turkey Index | $400,000 Real estate (USD 400k, 3-yr hold) or USD 500k financial invest.gov.tr · 2026-06-04 |
Approximately 3-6 months from complete application to citizenship invest.gov.tr · 2026-06-04 |
114 destinations | 73.1 / 100 | High | 2026-07-09 | # |
| 9 | 🇸🇻 El Salvador (Freedom Visa) Index | $1,000,000 Non-refundable US$1m contribution (Bitcoin or Tether) adoptingelsalvador.gob.sv · 2026-06-04 |
Not published | 135 destinations | 70.2 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 13 | 🇻🇺 Vanuatu | $130,000 Development Support Program contribution immigration.gov.vu · 2026-06-28 |
Not published | 90 destinations | 66.6 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 15 | 🇯🇴 Jordan Index | $493,000 Business investment outside Amman (job-creation) moin.gov.jo · 2026-06-04 |
Approximately 3-6 months for the citizenship route moin.gov.jo · 2026-06-04 |
52 destinations | 63.1 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
| 16 | 🇪🇬 Egypt Index | $250,000 Non-refundable contribution investinegypt.gov.eg · 2026-06-28 |
Not published | 51 destinations | 59.5 / 100 | High | 2026-07-26 | # |
Confidence: High = ranked with field-level provenance records in the ledger; Medium = ranked, provenance records pending. Last verified is the most recent field-level verification date. Only programmes with rank_status "ranked" and operational status appear here.
Three taps to an indicative route
Three answers produce an indicative starting point from the 2026 Q3 ranked data, covering investment threshold, visa-free travel count and family eligibility. These are published figures only, never an eligibility determination. A Mirabello specialist reviews your full profile and confirms the appropriate route in a complimentary consultation.
Indicative starting point: St. Kitts and Nevis
$250,000, Sustainable Island State Contribution · Index composite 85.7 / 100 · verified 2026-07-26
Without the interactive controls, the presets above and the ranked table cover the same ground as plain links. Indicative routing only, from published figures; never an eligibility determination and not advice.
Status register
A citizenship programme exists at a government's discretion, so the register below records, with official sources and dates, the tracked programmes that are not in the active ranking: frameworks that have ended, discretionary frameworks with no fixed threshold, and emerging programmes still being monitored. No citizenship-by-investment programme is currently recorded as suspended in the dataset.
| Status | Programme | Verified position | Official source | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | 🇲🇹 Malta, citizenship for exceptional services by direct investment | The Court of Justice of the European Union delivered judgment in Commission v Malta, Case C-181/23, on 29 April 2025; the former investor-citizenship framework was repealed following the judgment. Malta's successor discretionary route, citizenship by merit, is administered by the Community Malta Agency and is tracked separately below as a reference entry, not a continuation of the investment framework. | curia.europa.eu, Press Release No 52/25 · Community Malta Agency | 2026-07-26 |
| Closed | 🇲🇪 Montenegro, citizenship by investment | The programme ended on 31 December 2022, at the close of its final extension, by decision of the Government of Montenegro. | Government of Montenegro | 2026-07-26 |
| Reference | 🇲🇹 Malta Citizenship by Merit | No fixed investment threshold: Discretionary merit-based naturalisation (no investment). Unrankable under the cost-weighted Index methodology by design; tracked as a reference entry on the full Index. | Index entry | 2026-07-09 |
| Emerging | 🇦🇷 Argentina Citizenship by Investment Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 77 / 100) with a published minimum of $500,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | argentinacitizenships.com | 2026-07-26 |
| Emerging | 🇻🇨 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 71.2 / 100) with a published minimum of $500,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | imidaily.com | 2026-07-26 |
| Emerging | 🇳🇷 Nauru Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 67.5 / 100) with a published minimum of $115,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | ecrcp.gov.nr | 2026-07-26 |
| Emerging | 🇧🇼 Botswana Impact Investment Program Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 67.4 / 100) with a published minimum of $75,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | botswanacitizenship.com | 2026-07-26 |
| Emerging | 🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 67.2 / 100) with a published minimum of $90,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | cbi.st | 2026-07-26 |
| Emerging | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 64.2 / 100) with a published minimum of $140,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | slcbi.com | 2026-07-26 |
Register entries are recorded facts with official sources, stated without commentary. Closure or amendment of one programme says nothing about any other programme; verified changes are logged in the public observatory change log.
Risk and regulatory watch
Citizenship-by-investment rules and contribution levels are set by sovereign governments and can change with limited notice. The Mirabello research desk verifies changes against official sources and records each update with a date, source URL and confidence rating, so every figure on this page reflects the most recently confirmed government-published data.
Extended to 31 December 2026 (Program Office circular of 15 June 2026); standard contribution USD 115,000 thereafter
source: Nauru Economic Citizenship Programme (official programme site)Methodology and integrity
Each programme is scored 0-100 on seven verified dimensions combined into a weighted composite: cost 22%, mobility 22%, speed 16%, citizenship pathway 15%, stability 13%, family 7%, and tax environment 5%. Where a dimension has no verified data it is excluded and remaining weights are re-normalized. Rules-based analysis of published criteria, not a recommendation. Full methodology on the Index methodology page.
Generated from the Mirabello verified programme dataset, 2026 Q3 Edition.
How it works
Every citizenship-by-investment application follows five standard stages: eligibility screening, document preparation, submission through an authorised agent, independent government due diligence, and investment completion on approval. The total cost combines the contribution or investment threshold, government processing fees, per-adult due-diligence fees, and family scaling charges, typically totalling USD 250,000 to USD 350,000 for a single applicant in the Caribbean.
Programme pages with a verified fee schedule compute the government-side family total line by line:
Questions
The most frequently asked questions cover minimum investment thresholds, eligible nationalities, which family members qualify, typical processing timelines, and how citizenship by investment differs from residency. Detailed answers follow below; for questions specific to your nationality, financial profile and family structure, a Mirabello specialist provides a tailored answer in a complimentary consultation.
Citizenship by investment (CBI) is a legal route by which a state grants citizenship, and with it a passport, in return for a qualifying contribution or investment defined in its law. The Mirabello dataset currently tracks 17 citizenship programmes, of which 10 are operational and ranked in the 2026 Q3 Edition of the Mirabello Investment Migration Index; the rest are emerging, reference or non-active entries recorded in the status register.
There is no universal best and no universal winner. On the current 2026 Q3 Edition, St. Kitts and Nevis holds the highest composite in the active ranking (85.7 / 100), scored on the published weighted criteria; that is a rules-based reading of the data, not a recommendation. The right programme depends on your nationality, budget, family profile and goals, which is what a specialist consultation establishes.
Published minimum qualifying routes among the ranked active programmes currently run from $130,000 (Vanuatu) to $1,000,000 (El Salvador (Freedom Visa)), before government, due-diligence and passport fees, which scale with family size. Every figure in the table carries its official source and verification date.
Published processing timelines among the ranked programmes with a documented timeline currently start from around 3 months (Turkey); the Caribbean programmes publish roughly four to seven months. Timelines are indicative lower bounds; individual files vary with due diligence and documentation.
Yes. Programmes are created, amended and ended by governments: Malta's investor-citizenship framework was repealed following the Court of Justice of the EU judgment in Case C-181/23 (29 April 2025), and Montenegro's programme ended on 31 December 2022. The status register above records non-active programmes with official sources, and verified changes are logged in the public observatory change log.
A confidential, no-obligation conversation with a Mirabello specialist, in your language, on the verified 2026 Q3 figures. Mirabello holds IMC membership and ACAMS certification, with a 99% approval rate across 250+ citizenship cases. Book a complimentary session to confirm which programme fits your nationality, budget and family profile.
Book a free consultation WhatsApp usMirabello Consultancy provides information and advisory services on investment-migration programmes. Figures on this page are indicative, verified against official sources and provenance-tracked; they are informational only, not an eligibility determination and not legal, tax, immigration or investment advice. Programme terms change; confirm the detail with a specialist and seek independent advice where appropriate.