I will talk a bit about cheapest Golden passports (about 10 of them) where you can buy through citizenship via investment within 3-4 months.

In my personal opinion, i would rate St Lucia passport as “cheapest” and “best” for 2024  with simple 3 month application straight forward process.  Turkey and Malta have the most expensive golden passport programs.

Note: Prices increased from Jun 30, 2024 in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada. St Lucia expected to follow later. St.Kitts already increased prices to $250,000 in mid 2023.

You can apply for Antigua, Dominica or St Lucia passport for $100,000 under donation route. You can use this passport to travel visa free to European countries and United Kingdom. All the other Caribbean passports obtained through investment are way too expensive goes more than USD 150,000 plus fees. I would say Grenada is the best passport from the Caribbean.

You can also buy your way to get european passports from Malta/Cyprus, if you are “Mr Money in the Bank” as they are way too expensive, with total price tag reaching 1 million euro.

Passport Just for Travel

A good sensible approach is get a Caribbean passport from any country, as they offer visa free travel to Europe (you can stay 3 months in 6 month period under Schengen rules in any of 26 EU Schengen countries including Switzerland for business or tourism purpose. The bottom line is you can stay maximum 6 months in Europe every year). Likewise you visit UK or Ireland for 6 month period with many CBI passports.

Visiting Europe/UK for 6 months is still a long time, and i personally know many investors who want to spend more time at home (business, family reasons), think six months is too much to travel. Many also don’t want to spend winters in EU/UK (Nov to Mar) because of less daylight and extreme cold.

Dual Citizenship

If your country does not allow dual citizenship or you are not interested in citizenship or passport, you are better off  applying for Golden visa residence by investment schemes buying a real estate, bank deposit or bonds. Golden visas and CBI schemes are quite distinct and each has its own perks. We always tell clients to consult a lawyer in your country to seek a legal opinion before acquiring a foreign citizenship.

Cheapest Investment

Over 90% of foreign investors who seek alternative passport, prefer donation route (its cheap) and less time consuming compared to paperwork involved with real estate purchase.

Real estate investments are expensive and time consuming, but has perks. You get to buy a home, you qualify for permanent resident card plus you can prove owning a home is a real estate to hold a passport. Many dont want to buy a property from a very far away country, which they cant manage and have difficulties selling after 5 years of holding period.

How to decide?

• Donation option for CBI is the fastest and cheapest route for citizenship compared to real estate.
• The Caribbean countries has the cheapest CBI/CIP schemes compared to Europe/Asia.
• Saint Lucia and Dominica is the cheapest CBI passports for single /individual applicants.
• Antigua is the cheapest CBI for families. This is because currently Antigua offers discount for a family of 4 for just $130,000
• Real estate option also becomes cheaper than donation option for large families with over 5 dependents.
• Malta Direct citizenship scheme contributions significantly vary between €900K to 1.1M depending on the family members.

Visa waiver update

• Dominica has lost visa free access to UK.
• Vanuatu has lost visa free access UK and EU schengen area
• St.Lucia, St.Kitts and Antigua has received visa waiver (eTA required) for Canada.

If you dont want citizenship, get a golden visa or residency. Remember passport programs can be much much cheaper than golden visa residency schemes. GV schemes do not offer citizenship and you have to work hard and wait for more than 5 years for citizenship plus there are language tests etc and more hassles.  In so many ways citizenship programs are straightforward and saves you a lot of time and money.

Here is a quick comparison of pricing of CBI schemes.

CBI	Processing time	Donation	Real Estate	Visa free countries	PR Card	Residence conditions	Passport time	Passport expiry
Malta	3 months	€750,000	optional	186	yes	12 months	15 months	10 years
St Kitts	3 months	$250,000	$400,000	155	no	none	2 months	10 years
Antigua	3 months	$230,000	$325,000	150	no	5 days	3 months	5 years
Grenada	3 months	$230,000	$270,000	146	yes	none	3 months	5 years
Dominica	3 months	$200,000	$200,000	146	no	none	10	10 years
St Lucia	10 months	$240,000	$300,000	146	no	none	3 months	5 years
Vanuatu	2 month	$115,000	–	109	no	none	1 month	10 years
Turkey	3-4 months	–	$400,000	112	yes	none	4 months	10 years
North Macedonia	6 months	€200,000	€200,000	93	yes	2 years	15 months	10 years

Note: Montenegro, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Moldova are CLOSED.

Passport validity is also one of the important factor to look into. You must apply for CBI passports that have 10 year validity rather than 5 years. This will save you lot of time when renewing  passports. Vanuatu recently upgraded its passport validity to 10 years, which makes it all the way more interesting.

Our Verdict

So which is the cheapest CBI program for families through donation? The winners are

1. Donation Route

Donation route is the cheapest, fastest and easiest option. Over 80% of clients prefer donation route.

Single Person	Main Applicant + Spouse	Main Applicant + Spouse + 2 Children below 18
St Lucia Dominica Vanuatu St Kitts Grenada Turkey	Antigua Vanuatu St Lucia Dominica St Kitts Moldova Grenada Turkey	Antigua Vanuatu St Lucia St Kitts Dominica Grenada Turkey

How to understand pricing?

The true costs of CBI programs can be broken down into the following fees:

• Donation (non-refundable)
• Due diligence fee (DD)
• Govt processing fees
• Lawyer and Agent fees
• Additional (passport, bank, courier fees)

The trick to get best bargains is to apply through a lawyer with a government license. If you directly apply through the lawyer (i can help you), it gets more cheaper, compared to agents who charge hefty broker fee for filing applications.  Lawyers/Agents charge somewhere between $5000 to $7000 depending on how many people apply in a single application. . The more the brokers are involved prices go up.  Understand the fee structure properly dont pay more!

Single Applicant

Which CBI is the cheapest for single persons?. Here is our quick price comparison with other citizenship by investment schemes, in terms of Government donation, application and due diligence fees.

Passport	Price (Single persons under Donation option)
Saint Lucia	$249,500
Dominica	$209,950
Vanuatu	$115,000
Antigua	$237,500
St Kitts and Nevis	$262,000
Grenada	$243,500
North Macedonia	€270,000
Malta	€790,000
Turkey	$415,000

Agent or Lawyer fee is not included above prices.

Note: The above price includes all due diligence and all Govt processing fee you pay to the Government. Lawyers charge  between $5,000 to $7,000 per file in addition to above depending on one applicant or family application. Passport issue fee and other small costs (bank charges, courier) extra.

Which CBI is the cheapest for family applications? Here is our comparison model for a simple family. Remember below table represents just donation contribution to Government.

You will see a huge difference in the Government contribution prices for CBI passports when applying as a family.  Prices swing a lot and has a dramatic effect on family dependents you add including parents, siblings and grandparents besides wife and children. Please note sometimes for big families, real estate investment is cheaper than the donation option.

The recently launched Antigua University of West Indies Fund (UWI) is cheaper if you have big family (6 dependants or more). It will only cost you USD 150,000 inclusive of processing fee. Take that into consideration.

Please contact us for an accurate quote.

2. Real estate

Please note that real estate option comes with permanent residence card + citizenship + passport. Buying a home gets you new address in these countries which can be added in the passport. Investing in real estate shows genuine link to the country and a valid reason for becoming a citizen.  You can also invest in buyback shares in five star hotels/resorts where the developer will refund you after 5 years. Real estate route is the best compared to donation option, if you have the money. Please note some countries such as Montenegro do not permit investing in residential properties.

Real Estate	Single Applicant
Antigua	$325,00
Dominica	$200,000
Grenada	$235,000
St Kitts and Nevis	$400,000
Vanuatu	$200,000
St Lucia	$300,000
Turkey	$400,000

Note: There is additional Government fee, share registration fee, property taxes and agent fee (wherever applicable). Fees apply for including family members.

3.  Government bonds

Have you heard a neat trick investing in bonds issued by government? At the moment Turkey and St.Lucia are the only two countries that has linked citizenship to investing in government securities. No other country offers this unique perks, as you buy will be buying government debt, and the capital return is guaranteed by the state.

• Turkey – USD 500,000 (pays interest, capital returned after 3 years)
• St Lucia -USD 300,000 (no interest, capital returned after 5 years)

Saint Lucia has the cheapest route through Government bonds. It is the only country in the caribbean that offers citizenship against covid bonds.  The National Government bond is issued for

Bond – USD 300,000 (zero coupon)
Govt Processing fee – USD 50,000
Due diligence fee – USD 7500
Total: $357,500 (agent fee additional)

Family members can be included without increasing the bond sum and processing fee.

All in all if you look at it after 5 years, you will be paying less than $60,000 for your citizenship costs.

Lets have look at the about twelve of investor citizenship/passport programs  currently up and running in Caribbean and europe. I will rank cheapest first and later i will tell you how to use your second passport at airports and immigration.

1. Saint Lucia

• USD 240,000 one time payment to NDF donation fund of St Lucia
• USD 300,000 invested in interest free Government bonds fully refunded with no interest after 5 years
• USD 300,000 in Real estate
• Life time citizenship with one time payment
• Very popular with Americans interested in Caribbean.
• Family dependants can be added anytime later.
• Visa free travel to visit over 120 countries including UK, EU Schengen states
• Current processing within 9-12 months
• Lifetime citizenship for family and children
• No physical residence requirements
• Very fast processing approval time within 60 days
• Confidential application process through authorized agents appointed by Government.
• No income, wealth or inheritance taxes.

2. Antigua and Barbuda

• USD 230,000 one time payment to Antigua NDF
• USD 325,000 Real estate (buyback shares in five star hotels or resorts)
• USD 300,000 UWI fund inclusive processing fee only for family of six or more
• Lifetime citizenship with one time investment.
• Fast processing time 2-3 months.
• No personal visit to Antigua required.
• Passport issued with 5 year validity.
• Family and children under 26 years can apply for citizenship.
• Visa free travel to UK, Ireland, Switzerland, EU schengen over 130 countries.
• No interviews, business experience or language tests.
• Passport pickup through agent or at consulate.
• Maintain dual citizenships with other nations.
• No wealth, inheritance, foreign income, personal income taxes.

2. Dominica

• USD 200,000 one time contribution to Dominica
• USD 200,000 Real estate (buyback shares in five star resorts)
• Cheapest citizenship by investment program in the world.
• No residency requirement to live in Dominica before or after citizenship.
• Irrevocable citizenship for life against one time investment.
• Passport within 3-4 months.
• Dominica commonwealth passport is considered best second passport
• Travel visa free to over 140 countries including EU schengen (no UK).
• No interviews or language tests
• No visit to Dominica required to get citizenship.
• Passport issued with 10 year validity.
• Citizenship program open to all country nationals.
• Immediate citizenship for family and children.
• No interviews. No language tests. No business experience.
• Permanent residence card live and work in Dominica.
• No wealth, gift, inheritance, foreign income or capital gains tax and no personal income tax for residents.
• No restriction on the repatriation of profits and imported capital for business.
• Confidential application process through authorized agents.

Please note “Commonwealth of Dominica” should not be confused with “Dominican Republic”. Both are different countries.

4. Grenada

• USD 235,000 one time donation to Grenada
• Property ownership USD 270,000 in Grenada real estate (buyback shares in five star hotels)
• Unspoiled exotic scenery ideal for holidays in resorts and beaches in the spice island.
• Visa free travel to over 120 countries including UK, EU Schengen states, China
• Lifetime immediate citizenship for family and children
• E2 visa treaty with the US (cheapest alternative to EB-5 route gets business visa to US no minimums must live for 3 years)
• Confidential application process with no exchange of information with other Governments
• Direct flights to London, Germany, New York, Miami from St George (capital)
• Very fast processing approval time within 60 days
• No interviews, No language tests, No military service, No business experience
• Travel to China without visa using Grenada passport
• Grenada passport valid for 5 years before expiry.
• Confidential application process through authorized agents appointed by Government.
• no income, wealth or inheritance taxes.
• own freehold prime real estate in Grenada
• Very fast application processing time within 60 days.
• Life time permanent citizenship passed on to children with one investment

6. St Kitts and Nevis

• One time contribution USD 250,000 to newly launched Sustainable Growth Fund (SGF) or USD 400,000 buyback shares in hotels/resorts (refundable after 5 years) or USD 800,000 private homes
• Visa free travel to European Schengen area including UK, Europe, Switzerland with other 120 countries
• No residence requirements before or after passport.
• No interviews, no business experience, no english tests.
• No income or wealth tax.
• Citizenship for family members (spouse and children)
• Lifetime citizenship with one time investment
• No restrictions on Dual citizenship.
• Discrete and confidential application process.
• Pass citizenship to descendants and family.
• No personal visit required.
• Visa free travel to EU schengen, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore etc.
• Passport issued with 3-6 months.
• Business incentives for investment.
• Maintain dual citizenship with other nations.

7. Vanuatu

• USD 130,000 one time contribution (DSP program) or USD 115,000 donation in Vanuatu Capital Investment Immigration Citizenship
• Real Estate Investment (REIT) USD 200,000 (property)
• Vanuatu Development Support Program (VDSP) or Vanuatu Contribution Program (VCP)
• Simple application process compared to other countries
• Very fastest processing times (3-4 weeks)
• Life citizenship against one time investment.
• Second passport from a commonwealth country (backyard of Australia and New Zealand).
• Right to live, work and do business in Vanuatu as a citizen.
• Visa free travel to 113 countries including Russia, United Kingdom and EU Schengen states.
• Citizenship for spouse, children and parents.
• Vanuatu citizenship with passport in 1.5 months.
• No language tests or business experience required.
• No residence requirements for citizenship.
• Option for Permanent residence card
• Invest or trade in Vanuatu business or enterprise projects
• Real estate investment option.
• No income tax for individuals/ companies.
• No death duty levied. No capital gains tax. No estate taxes.
• Dual citizenship not restricted freely allowed
• Vanuatu has no foreign currency controls.

8. Turkey

• Newly launched citizenship by investment in 2018
• USD 400,000 real estate investment (2024) or USD 500,000 (government bonds / bank term deposit)
• VAT is exempted for citizenship purchase, makes it cheaper
• Turkish passport for investors and their family
• E-2 visa treaty with US
• Popular with middle east investors
• Cheapest property prices due to decline in Turkish currency lira
• Visa free travel to over 100 countries
• Open to all country nationals (except Armenia, Syria, North Korea, Yemen, Nigeria)

10. Malta

•  EUR 600,000 under Malta Direct Investment program launched in 2020 (citizenship in2 years) (OR)
• EUR 750,000 Fast tracked within one year citizenship
• Citizenship after 12 months of residency.
•  No military service.  language tests. No citizenship tests.
• Very strict application requirements and criteria (only highly qualified persons are admitted)
• Application approval within 3-4 months.
• Maltese passport after 12-15 months after proving genuine link (residency requirement)
• Permanent lifetime citizenship in the European Union.
• Family and children can apply under one single application.
• No taxes in Malta unless you decide to live there for more than 6 months.
• EU/EEA citizens are eligible to apply.
• Visa free travel to over 160 countries including Europe, United Kingdom, United States (ESTA).
• Live, work, study, settle in any EU member states (Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark etc..)
• Only wealthy, talented, individuals with excellent references are admitted (high rejection rates)
• No requirement to live or move to Malta after the citizenship.

11. North Macedonia

A brand new investor citizenship program in Europe. North macedonia has good passport with visa free travel to 120 countries including EU schengen area (not to UK)

• EUR 200,000 investment to a government fund (locked for 2 years) fully refundable
• Processing time 3 months
• No residence conditions
• Candidate country for EU.
• Passport valid for 10 years
• E-2 investor visa to US

Family members

All the above citizenship programs have rules for family members, for example based on age limit and whether siblings, parents and grandparents apply. If you are applying as a big family, You have to carefully pick the program. Rule is main applicant must be above 18 years of age and should be able to financially support all the family members.

Contact us

If you are interested in a citizenship, or have any questions that require prompt addition, please do not hesitate to contact Best Citizenships on Whatsapp +36 70 550 4957.

We move on further.

Lets assume, you have purchased your CIP passport after months of waiting, whats next? How will you use the new passport to get out of your country and visit other countries?

Dual Passports for Travel

Please first check if your home country allows dual citizenship or passports. If you come from a country where dual citizenship is prohibited it may cause an issue and some times you automatically lose your previous citizenship.

If you have dual or multiple passports, which passport to use? The golden rule is “If you are a citizen of a country, you must use that country’s passport to enter and exit that country”. For example, if you are US citizen you must use US passport to enter and exit US. After leaving your country you can use your citizenship by investment passport to travel across other countries (as second passport)

Some countries dont recognize dual citizenships/passports. You must be careful not to reveal your second passport where dual citizenship not permitted. You can freely use your second passport to travel to other countries, once you are outside your home country which forbids dual citizenship.

First, check if your home country accepts dual citizenship. Some countries like China, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates etc.. prohibit holding dual/multiple passports.

Dual citizenship not allowed in these countries, for example

Andorra Bahrain China, India, Indonesia Iran Ethiopia Estonia

Kazakhstan Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Nepal Netherlands Oman Qatar,

Taiwan Singapore Monaco Mongolia Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Ukraine

How to use your Second Passport?

Today millions of travellers use more than one passport to travel to multiple destinations. This is a very common trend.  You have to follow one rule, you must enter and exit using the same passport where you are citizen of. You can swap passports quite commonly in connecting destinations or traveling through a neutral third country such as Hong Kong, Dubai, Istanbul etc.

Note: If you dont know what to do we ask you to seek legal advice from a lawyer.

You can use your CIP passport from to enter over 120 countries including EU schengen states or United Kingdom.

Case 1: Dual citizenship OK (allowed)

If you have the same name in both passports (that is, same first name and last name, minor variations are OK), and both countries accept dual citizenship , the basic formula is:

• Show the airline the passport of the country you’re going to
• Show immigration the passport for the country you’re in

In step-by-step detail, when flying from A to B and back:

1. At check-in, show your B passport. This way the airline knows you will be allowed to enter your destination.
2. At exit immigration, show your A passport. (In countries without exit immigration, like the US, you may need to show A as well at check-in.)
3. At the gate, show either passport, doesn’t matter.
4. Fly.
5. On arrival immigration, show your B passport.

And on the way back from B to A, just reverse the process:

1. At check-in, show your A passport. This way the airline knows you will be allowed to enter your destination.
2. At exit immigration, show your B passport.
3. At the gate, show either passport, doesn’t matter.
4. Fly.
5. On arrival immigration, show your A passport.

Pictorial representation for a UK/US dual citizen visiting the US, courtesy @GayotFow:

Case 2:  dual citizenship not OK (not allowed)

Things get harder if one or both your countries does not accept dual citizenship, especially if they care enough to look for visas or arrival stamps. The key thing to understand here is that the airline is not a part of immigration. They do not care if you have multiple passports and they are not going to tell immigration if you do, all they want to know if whether you will be allowed in at your destination.

So here’s one way to avoid letting A know you are also a citizen of B:

1. Book a flight from A to B via a neutral third country C, where you do not need a visa or you already have a visa or permanent residence permit card. (For example, Malaysia does not accept dual citizenship, so dual-citizen Malaysians often travel via Singapore.).
2. On check-in, show your A passport.
3. At exit immigration, show your A passport.
4. Fly to country C.
5. Connect to your flight to B.
6. At arrival immigration, show your B passport.

On the way back, though, you will need a short detour:

1. At check in, show your B passport.
2. At exit immigration, show your B passport.
3. Fly to C.
4. On arrival at C, do not go to transfer, but instead go to immigration, show your A passport and get it stamped. (Leave enough time for this!)
5. If you need to check-in again, show your A passport.
6. At C’s exit immigration, show your A passport again and get it stamped again.
7. Fly to A.
8. At arrival immigration, show your A passport. This will have a departure stamp from C, neatly hiding that you were actually in B.

Beware that this is not totally foolproof, as a very careful inspection of your stamps will reveal that you were not in C for the whole time, but unless you’re North Korean, it’s unlikely you will be subjected to this level of scrutiny. Some people choose to go through immigration in C on the way out as well, so they get more decoy stamps.

Source: Stack Exchange

Please contact us for a free quote with private consultation regarding citizenship programs.