Best Citizenship by Investment Rankings for 2022

Today we are publishing our Best CBI rankings on citizenship by investment programs for a third year in a row.

Our PBS (points based scoring) model, which we designed, is one of a kind in the industry, ranks Best CBI taking into account 38 important factors, investors consider before deciding their favorite citizenship by investment program.

Dominica crowned No.1 CBI for 2022

Dominica secured first spot in best citizenship by investment rankings for 2022, followed by Grenada in second spot and Saint Lucia taking third spot. Jordan and Egypt ranked at the bottom of the table.

The Caribbean programs scored big in our CBI rankings for 2022 consistently topping the rankings table over the years for being most affordable programs with balance of passport benefits. In 2021, St Lucia is winner of CBI rankings and Grenada took first spot for 2020,

European programs consistently declined in our rankings due to being most expensive programs and countries such as Cyprus, Moldova already closed their doors. Bulgaria inching closer to shut its golden passport program and Montenegro sunsetting end of 2022 with last applications.

Note: Cyprus and Moldova closed their CBI schemes.

Dominica

Dominica made significant progress improving the CBI program and passport power. Dominica scored top marks in these areas to rank first in the table:

•  Low cost and affordable Cbi program for families
•  New Visa waiver to China
•  Upgrading to Biometric passport strengthening security standards
•  Very good property market attractive to invest in hotels.
•  Very good use of CBI funds in sustainable development
•  Due diligence checks
•  Very good consulate assistance abroad for its citizens

St Kitts and Nevis

St Kitts despite being a powerful CBI program declined in rankings due to expiry of limited time government discount offer becoming more expensive for families. Scored low in CBI transparency, no voting rights and program slightly expensive by compared to AB and SL

Grenada

Grenada consistently ranked in top three spots in our rankings table despite topping for the 2019 rankings. The reason for this consistency is Visa waivers with China, Russia and most importantly benefit of E-2 visa treaty with United States. Grenada scored high scores in CBI transparency, Education (St George University) thriving real estate market and being a complete citizenship by investment program with full citizenship rights (eg. right to vote in elections, political participation and work for the government)

Saint Lucia

St Lucia scored top marks for being affordable CBI program, transparency, Due diligence, flexibility to add family dependents in the future, and recent discounted extension of Covid government bond offer with 50% discount.

St Lucia dropped to third spot from first in the previous year due to absence of visa waiver with Russia and non-biometric passport.

Malta

Malta is the most expensive european program of all with the most stringent due diligence checks enforcing residence and genuine links to become a full EU citizen via investment path.

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua remains one the best family oriented CBI programs out there in terms of affordability and cost and a thriving real estate market. Antigua is the only country in the caribbean imposing 5 day residence condition (which is temporarily suspended due to covid), passport validity set to 5 years, and economic citizens do not get right to vote, for these reasons scored low points. Antigua scored top marks for due diligence, CBI transparency. Antigua also has absence of China visa waiver and E-2 treaty with US.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu scored low for poor due diligence checks amidst EU accusation of partial visa waiver suspension with the schengen states.

Turkey

Turkey also offers a CBI in exchange for $250,000 real estate investment. Turkey is one of the wealthiest nations among CBI countries with a trillion dollar economy at crossroads which makes sense to invest in property market. Turkey is particularly attractive to middle east investors who wish to acquire a second citizenship and passport with limited global mobility

Turkey scored low due to unstable economy with turkish lira depreciation, weak passport with absence of visa waiver with UK/Schengen and high taxes. It is important to note that Turkey has E-2 visa treaty with US enables turkish nationals to setup businesses in the US.

Scoring Factors

We have considered these 38 important factors into our PBS scoring model. Each ranking factor is assigned 10 points making it a total of 380 points.

• Pricing
• Popularity
• Easy Application process
• Availability of Government bonds
• Safety score (low crime rate)
• Visa free to Big 6 nations – EU schengen, UK, USA, Canada, Russia, China (60 points)
• Wealth (GDP per capita)
• Passport time (months)
• Processing speed (days)
• Residence requirement
• Voting rights
• EU citizenship
• E-2 treaty with US
• Education Rank
• Healthcare Rank
• HDI Rank (Human development)
• Privacy – Gazetting CBI names to Public
• Tax free advantages
• Due Diligence and Vetting
• CBI Transparency
• Passport Validity
• Personal visit exemption
• Lifetime Citizenship
• Covid discount
• Post citizenship additions
• Family friendly (siblings, grandparents etc)
• Real estate prices
• CBI e-platform
• Access to Stateless people
• Consulates Assistance abroad
• Limited Quotas
• Biometric Passport

Download

Calculations Worksheet – PDF

Investment Costs

Government Bonds

We have assigned scoring for countries offering state issued bonds for the purpose of citizenship. Only these countries offer bond option

Passport Power

The passport power is determined by the total number of visa free countries

Source: Henley

Free movement to BIG-6 Nations

We have assigned ten points for visa free movement with each of the BIG-6 nations. Note that Malta is the only country with visa waiver with US/Canada (others do not).

Easy Application Process

Vanuatu is the only country with the easy and simple application process. It is also the fastest CBI program. The Caribbean countries has medium difficulty application process and hardest with European countries like Malta and Bulgaria.  Higher points are assigned from easy to difficult

Popularity

We have already considered popularity of the CBI schemes in different countries in terms of applications received.

Wealthiest Nations

It makes sense to invest and apply for citizenship in wealthiest nations (we used GDP per capita) . As you can see Turkey,  Malta and St Kitts are the richest nations to run a CBI scheme.

Source: World bank data

Processing Times

We have assigned 10 points for each of the benefits

• Vanuatu processes applications must faster than all other countries.
• Residence conditions apply for Antigua, Malta and Bulgaria.

Full Citizenship Rights

We feel voting, political participation and working for the government (public office) are the three most important citizenship perks to make your skills beneficial to the people and country. Note that St Kitts, Vanuatu and Antigua limit these rights thus scoring low in our model.

Note: 1=yes/0=no

EU Citizenship Rights

Only Malta and Bulgaria confer Full EU citizenship rights in exchange for direct investments under citizenship by investment. It is important not to ignore Montenegro, a good future candidate for EU membership acquis (likely in five years)

Note: 1=yes/0=no

US E-2 Treaty

E-2 visa benefit is one of the most important criteria driving the popularity of citizenship investment programs. E-2 visas are much cheaper than EB-5 visas with a small investment. Nationals from India, Russia, China do not have direct access to E-2 visa eligible to apply indirectly after becoming a citizen through investment (Grenada, Turkey, Montenegro)

Note: 1=yes/0=no

CBI Transparency

Malta, Antigua and Grenada operate the most transparent CBI programs providing annual reports, proper use of funds and application statistics.

Passport Validity

The validity of passport is also an important decisive factors for many investors. A long ten year validity CBI passports saves lot of hassle with the expired passports. Once has to visit nearest consulate or embassy or hire local agent to do the renewals for a fee. Note that St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua issue 5 year initial validity passports upon application approval.

Personal Visit Exemptions

Due to Covid, it is impossible to make a physical visit to complete the citizenship process for families. Therefore programs that fully exempt visits are more desirable for many clients. Note Malta, Bulgaria require compulsory visit to the country for application process. Caribbean nations are more friendly programs fully exempting any visits. Turkey requires process to be completed at consulates abroad.

Note: 1=yes/0=no

Due Diligence

All citizenship by investment programs do a compulsory background checks on applicants before granting citizenship. Malta has the stringent process, with high refusal rates making it gold standard in the industry.  All other countries are not far behind with the vetting process.

Biometric Passports

An increasingly number of countries only accept biometric passports, to secure entry under visa waiver agreements. Besides biometric e-passports strengthen the security of passports from identity theft, fraud cutting delays at international borders.

It is important to not that Vanuatu and St Lucia and middle eastern nations do not issue biometric passports

Real Estate Prices

Property prices are a good indicator of real estate market driven by tourism, remittances and foreign investment. It is cheaper to buy properties in some countries compared to most expensive islands.

Malta, Turkey have the most expensive property prices and lowest can be found in Vanuatu and Egypt.  Caribbean nations and Montenegro have the most affordable property prices. Points are assigned from low to high prices (cheaper the better)

Covid Discounts

To raise more investment during Covid, Governments offered limited time discounts to families of citizenship investors. Dominica, St Lucia cut prices making CBI more affordable and attractive. St Kitts removed the limited time offer for families effective from Feb 2022.

Note Agents offering discounted prices are not against CBI rules, not advised by CBI units.

Stateless People

Stateless people can also benefit from citizenship by investment. A limited number of CBI programs only accept stateless people granting citizenship in exchange for investments..

• Dominica
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Turkey
• Vanuatu
• Bulgaria

Embassy Assistance

Consulate missions assist citizens abroad with passport renewals, translations, certificates, authentications and corporate services, spread across different countries worldwide. Caribbean countries have limited diplomatic footprint but do provide consulate assistance in USA, Europe, UK, Canada, UAE etc. See full list

These CBI countries has the most missions abroad

• Turkey
• Malta
• Bulgaria
• Montenegro

Quotas

Few CBI schemes have also capped to certain limits. It can be a one single quota or annual limit. All other countries do not have any limits.

• Malta – 1500 (total)
• Montenegro -2000 (total)
• Jordan – 500 (annual)

Electronic Applications

Electronic applications facilitate contactless faster processing of applications during covid times. These countries have dedicated portals for forms to be uploaded online saving time and money.

• Dominica
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Saint Lucia
• Grenada
• St Kitts and Nevis
• Vanuatu
• Turkey

Sources / References

World Top20 Education Database
Prosperity Rankings
WHO healthcare rankings
Henley Passport Index 2022
Numbeo crime and safety rankings
Wikipedia
Worldbank data / IMF / Countryeconomy.com

CBI – Citizenship By Investment
CBIP – Citizenship By Investment Program
CIP – Citizenship Investment Programs
CIU – Citizenship Investment Unit