World’s Top Citizenship and Residency Programs

More than 25 countries in the world are currently offering investment based citizenship and residency programs. But, what do we know about these countries before investing?

We will do a bit of homework and take into consideration the following economic factors backed by credible numbers, and you will see some interesting statistics. We will also rank top countries for investment based on safety, economy and quality of living at the end of this article.

• Minimum investment ( real estate, business, economic contribution)
• GDP growth in 2016
• Inflation in 2016
• Gross public debt as of 2016
• Global peace index rank (GPI)
• Safety index
• Worlds rich country ranking
• Geographic Location
• Passport ranking
• Visa free travel restrictions index
• Naturalisation time for citizenship

GDP Growth and Inflation

Inflation is based on percent of GDP and GDP growth as % of GDP in 2015-2016.

Public Debt

The public debt of the countries, shown as percentage of the GDP. Greece has huge external public debt.

Human Development Index (HDI)

Based on the 2015 report of country rankings of Human Development Index (HDI)

Investment Amounts

Investment minimums in business, real estate or economic contribution in order to acquire Citizenship (C) or Residency (R) in these countries against economic investment.

Real Estate Investment

Minimum real estate investment against citizenship or residency.

Business Investment

Minimum business investment in millions of euros.

Economic contribution

Non-refundable economic contribution such as philanthropic donation, against citizenship or residency.

Government Bonds

Investment in Government bonds usually with 5 year lockout period and no interest payable.

Bank Deposits

Cash deposit in a bank account, qualifies for citizenship or residency.

Safety Index

Safety index of the countries based on low crime rate and other problems.

Passport Rankings

Indicators such as passport ranking and visa free countries, demonstrate reputation of the country. Passport ranking and visa free countries based on Henley restrictions index 2016.

Visa Free Travel

Fastest Citizenship

Citizenship acquired in fastest time against an investment. The data chart shows number of years. In countries such as Cyprus, Malta (in Europe) and Caribbean nations, buying a citizenship and passport possible less than a year or typically in just few months.

OECD Better Life Index

This index lists countries based on safety, life satisfaction and income as main factors.  Please visit  http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

Gold Reserves

Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore  tops Gold reserves as of 2014, according to world bank report.

Global Peace Index

http://hdr.undp.org/en/2015-report

 

Europe

We have compiled the following data based on the sources listed below for EU countries.

Country	Investment Required	GDP Growth 2016	Inflation 2016	Public Debt (% of GDP) 2016	Global Peace Rank	Economic Freedom Index	Safety Index	Human Development Index (HDI)	World’s Rich Country Ranking	Passport Ranking*	Visa Free Countries*	Naturalisation for Citizenship
Malta	€900,000 CIP	4.1%	1.4%	60.9%	26	66.7	73.27	37	34	9	168	1 year
Monaco	€1,000,000 RIP	7.2%	0%	0	na	na	80.77	–	5	16	160	10 years
Cyprus	€2,500,000 CIP	1.7%	-0.7%	108.9%	68	68.7	70.84	32	40	17	159	none
Switzerland	CHF 1 million  RIP	1.6%	-0.83%	45.5%	5	81.0	74.27	3	10	6	172	12 years
Belgium	€350,000  RIP	1.2%	1.7%	106.4%	14	68.4	54.81	21	24	4	174	5 years
Portugal	€350,000  RIP	1.5%	0.7%	126%	11	65.1	64.87	43	43	6	172	6 years
Hungary	€300,000 RIP	2.5%	0.3%	74.3%	22	66.0	58.07	44	49	10	167	8 years
Netherlands	€1,250,000  RIP	1.7%	0.4%	64.9%	20	74.6	68.53	5	13	4	174	5 years
United Kingdom	£2,000,000  RIP	1.8%	0.8%	89.7%	39	76.4	56.87	14	27	3	175	5 years
Australia	A$1,500,000  RIP	2.5%	1.5%	36.8%	9	80.3	58.10	2	15	8	169	5 years
New Zealand	N$ 500,000 RIP	3.2%	1.2%	38.4%	4	81.6	61.75	9	30	7	171	5 years
Ireland	€500,000 RIP	4.9%	0.3%	89.1%	12	77.3	51.61	6	14	6	172	5 years
Greece	€250,000  RIP	-0.3%	-0.3%	182.8%	61	53.2	61.54	29	44	7	171	7 years
Spain	€500,000  RIP	2.6%	-0.1%	100.3%	21	68.5	68.23	27	32	3	175	10 years
Bulgaria	€512,000 RIP	2.0%	-0.7%	28.1%	32	65.9	58.58	59	69	21	153	5 years
Latvia	€250,000 RIP	2.8%	0.2%	39.8%	40	70.4	62.21	46	52	13	163	10 years
United States	$500,000 RIP	2.2%	1.1%	97.2%	94	75.4	51.13	8	9	4	174	5 years
Canada	$800,000 RIP	2.4%	1.1%	84.1%	7	78.0	60.48	9	20	6	172	3 years

Caribbean

We will evaluate economic indicators of caribbean nations separately

We have compiled the following data for the CARICOM nations offering Citizenship programs (latest updates).

	Investment	GDP until 2011-2014 Millions	GDP growth	Inflation	Public debt 2014	Safety Index	Human Development Index Rank	Worlds Rich Country Ranking	Passport Ranking	Visa free travel countries
St Kitts & Nevis	$150,000 donation or real estate CIP	862	6.9%	0.74%	86.2%	no data	77	59	32	132
Antigua and Barbuda	$100,000 donation or real estate CIP	1,269	3.2%	2%	92.9%	32.29	58	54	30	134
Dominica	$100,000 donation or real estate CIP	523.2	3.4%	1.1%	75.7%	60.38	94	102	41	119
Grenada	$200,000 donation or real estate CIP	884	3.8%	1.7%	110.2%	75.91	79	92	39	121
Saint Lucia	$100,000 donation or real estate CIP	1,365	(1.6%)	2.1%	84.6%	42.19	89	97	37	125

• *RIP = Residency by Investment Program
• *CIP = Citizenship by Investment Program

 

Rankings

Top Citizenship Programs in Europe

1. Malta
2. Cyprus

Top Residency Programs in Europe

1. Switzerland
2. Monaco
3. Belgium
4. United Kingdom
5. Portugal
6. Hungary
7. Latvia

Top Citizenship Programs in Caribbean

1. Antigua & Barbuda
2. St Kitts & Nevis
3. Dominica
4. St Lucia
5. Grenada

Top Residency Programs in North America & Oceania

1. Canada
2. United States
3. Australia
4. New Zealand

About Best Citizenships (BC)

Best Citizenships (BC) is the worlds leading company, assisting very wealthy, talented and high net worth individuals with global residency and citizenship solutions in over 30 countries. The company has assisted elite and famous personalities, large corporations and investment banks with immigration, relocation, company setups, real estate , tax advisory and has helped bringing in over millions of dollar investment through immigrant investor schemes currently running EU member states and Caribbean.

The company currently aims a target of 10 billion euros in the next 5 years through investor schemes.

For more information on programs and private consultations, please visit our website http://best-citizenships.com

Sources

• World bank data – http://data.worldbank.org/
• Human Development Index – http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2015_human_development_report.pdf
• CARICOM statistics – http://www.caricomstats.org/Econprofile.html
• Global Economic data – https://www.gfmag.com/global-data
• Worlds rich and poor countries ranking – https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries
• Public External Debt – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt
• Global Peace Index Report – http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Global-Peace-Index-Report-2015_0.pdf
• OECD Better life index – http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
• GDP, Inflation, Public Debt: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/countries/
• Economic Freedom Index: http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
• Safety Index: http://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2016&region=150
• Henley Visa Restrictions Index 2016 – https://www.henleyglobal.com/files/download/HP/hvri/HP%20Visa%20Restrictions%20Index%20160223.pdf
• OECD better life index – http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
• Investment based citizenship and residency in the EU – http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/34484/RSCAS_2015_08.pdf