Every year we publish Rankings on Best CBI Programs which are popular and most preferred by clients, This year, we are publishing our fifth edition of Best Citizenship by Investment rankings for 2024. Our PBS (points based scoring) model, which we designed, is one of a kind in the industry, ranks Best CBI taking into account 40+ factors, investors and families consider before deciding their favourite citizenship by investment program.
Best CBI Rankings
Caribbean countries have scored top marks in our Best CBI rankings for price affordability, friendly friendly and visa free perk associated with the strength of their passports. There are 12 nations official run CBI active in 2024. Latest developments and policy changes has a huge impact on CBI rankings every year.
- Grenada retains No.1 spot for 2024.
- St.Lucia secures second place.
- Antigua & Barbuda moves up to third place.
Note: Moldova, Montenegro, Cyprus, Bulgaria has terminated their CBI granting citizenship for investing. These programs no longer run.
Explanation
- Grenada remains the top CBI program for 2024. Grenada move up from second place last year capturing the top first spot on the table. Grenada is particularly attractive for families who want to include siblings, wanting visa free access to 140+ countries including China. A considerable number of CBI investors who look for a Plan B passport which comes with E-2 US investor visa benefit. Besides Grenada is the “most complete” CBI program with highest standards, comes with full citizenship rights in the Caribbean including right to vote, work for government and also political rights.
- St.Kitts and Nevis (SKN) , St.Lucia and Antigua/Barbuda moved up in rankings after securing a ETA visa waiver with Canada.
- Vanuatu dropped to bottom of table after losing visa waivers with EU schengen states and United Kingdom.
- Dominica dropped in table after losing visa waiver with United Kingdom and for vetting checks.
- Antigua has reinstated 5 day residence conditions to investors applying for CBI, becoming the only country to have residence condition requiring investors to visit the island. Our model assigns low scores for residence conditions. Antigua also scored low for depriving voting rights to investors (along with SKN). The Reduced passport validity for 5 years also hinders Antigua CBI climbing to top spot.
- St.Kitts and Nevis dropped to fourth place in the rankings table. Last year, St.Kitts doubled the prices introducing new regulations to protect the CBI program. High prices discourage future investors. Our model scored low rankings for high prices, causing SKN to drop in rankings making it unaffordable for future investors.
- Turkey is in seventh place. High investment threshold ($400k) to buy property and recent regulations tightening the rules and land restriction measures have prevented Turkey to score high in rankings.
- Malta scored top marks for due diligence standards. Remains the last and only EU citizenship by investment program officially running in 2024. Malta scored low due to high costs, no investment option (only donation based CBI) and for no privacy to investors (disclosing names of citizens to public by publishing names of citizens in Gazette.)
- St Lucia, Malta, Grenada and Antigua scored top marks for CBI transparency with their programs by publishing full disclosure of applications receive, investments and spendings in their annual report.
Download
Calculations sheet – Download pdf
Ranking Factors
Our model compiled data on 40 factors associated with each CBI program and assigned points. Each factor has been assigned with 10 points. The visa free benefits has been assigned a chunk of points including 70 points for BIG-5 nations.
- Pricing Affordability
- Real Estate Investment
- Popularity of CBI
- Government securities/ bond option
- Safety score (country)
- Visa free to BIG-5 nations (EU, UK, USA, Canada, Russia, China)
- Wealth (GDP per capita)
- CBI Passport time (months)
- Processing speed (days)
- Minimum Residence conditions
- Right to Vote / Politics / Public office
- EU citizenship Rights
- E-2 treaty with United States
- Commonwealth Citizenship
- Education Rank
- Healthcare Rank
- HDI Rank
- Confidentiality / Privacy
- Tax free status
- Due Diligence (CBI)
- Application Difficulty
- CBI Transparency
- Passport Validity
- Personal visit exemption
- Lifetime Citizenship
- Family friendly
- Real estate prices
- CBI e-platform
- Acceptance of Stateless people
- Consulate assistance abroad
- Quotas / limits
- Biometric passport
- Refusal Rate
- Oaths
Client Expectations
Investing in a CBI passport is not all about visa free travel., there are so many factors involved when taking a decision. HNW families when applying for a CBI passport, ask about these six fundamental questions and without doubt first comes safety.
- Safety – How safe is the country? Is my money safe in the country?
- Location / Climate – How far is the country geographically? How is the climate, perhaps not too hot or cold.
- Investing – Is the investment safe and ROI possible?
- Real Estate – What real estate investments available to acquire citizenship fast? Any rental income?
- Global mobility – How many visa free countries i can travel with the new passport?
- Dual citizenship – is dual citizenship legally permitted? Do i require renouncing previous citizenship?
- Confidentiality – Do you guarantee privacy with the new citizenship? Is it reported elsewhere?
- Education – How does it help my children study abroad in best colleges and universities?
- Personal visit – Do i need to visit the country to get citizenship? How often i should visit the country as a new citizen?
- Residence condition – Do i need to live in the country?
- Living standards – What is the standard of living in these countries?
- Family dependents – What are the conditions to include family members upto 3rd generation (eg. siblings, children, spouse, grandparents)?
- Language – Is english used as the main language?
- Low Tax – How is taxation handled preferring low tax jurisdictions and are there incentives?
Please contact us for more information.
