Top Speed Citizenship by investment programs have become enormously popular among international investors applying with families. The introduction of streamlined electronic processing, cut the processing times by 50%. In 2024, the average time to receive a passport from the time of submitting application, averaged 3-4 months. The CBI authorities increased processing time doing background checks as recommended by EU/US authorities. Interviews online also required to complete the process.
- Vanuatu has the fastest citizenship by investment program in the World processing times for approvals issued around 40 days.
- St.Kitts and Nevis has recently increased the processing time to 120 days to allow more time for background checks. Accelerated processing removed by authorities.
- Turkey requires 5-6 months to receive citizenship buying a property (first residence permit must be approved).
The Caribbean citizenship by investment schemes are still the fastest with application processing averaging 90 days, because of streamlined application process, most of time spent on vetting clients. The European citizenship schemes are the slowest of all takes no less than a year to receive a passport. All applications go through several layers of security checks before any decision is issued. Failing these checks, can delay processing times later citizenship is denied.
We list CBI schemes below fastest to slowest, that is time taken to application stage to receiving passport. At the moment Vanuatu has the fastest processing times for citizenship by investment applications. There is also a possibility for stateless to become a citizen and acquire passports through the investment schemes. These are the fastest countries to become a world citizen through citizenship by investment schemes. With the exception of Malta, Turkey require personal visit to complete the citizenship process which can add to the length of processing, all other countries do not require a physical visit.
| CBI Program | CBI Processing times (Average) |
| Vanuatu | 30-40 days |
| St Kitts and Nevis | 4-6 months (normal) |
| Saint Lucia | 10-12 months |
| Dominica | 4-6 months |
| Grenada | 4-6 months |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 4-6 months |
| Turkey | 6 months |
| Macedonia (North) | 5 months |
| Malta | 12-14 months |
Please note processing times for citizenship and passport times are different.
- Citizenship Processing time is the time required for approval of CBI application (4-6 months average)
- Passport processing the time take to issue passport after CBI approval issued (1 month average)
The total time is calculated adding processing times and passport time.
1. Vanuatu
- Price: $115,000 Donation – CIIP/DSP/VCP schemes
- Real Estate: $200,000 (approved projects)
- Residence requirement: NO
- Visit to the country: YES (visit required to collect passport)
- Due diligence check: 3 weeks
- Citizenship approval: 40 days
- Passport time: 2 months
- Personal visit: Required to collect passport.
- Oath: YES
- Passport validity: 10 years
- Visa free: No UK/No schengen
2. St Kitts & Nevis
- Price: $250,000 SISC Donation
- Real Estate: $400,000 (buyback shares (hotel/resorts)) or $400,000 (private villas/resorts)
- Residence requirement: NO
- Visit to the country: NO
- Due diligence check: 1 month
- Citizenship approval: 60 days (accelerated) and 90 days (normal processing)
- Passport time: 4-6 months
- Passport validity: 10 years
- Oath: NOT required
- Visa free: Schengen/UK/Russia
3. St.Lucia
- Price: $240,000 Donation to NEF Govt fund
- Government Bonds – $300,000 (refunded after 5 years)
- Real Estate: $300,000 (hotel/resorts)
- Residence requirement: NO
- Visit to the country: NO
- Due diligence check: 2 months
- Citizenship approval: 10 months
- Passport time: 12 months
- Oath: YES
- Passport Validity: 5 years
- Visa free: Schengen/UK
4. Dominica
- Price: $200,000 EDF Govt Donation
- Real Estate: $200,000 (hotel/resorts)
- Residence requirement: NO
- Visit to the country: NO
- Due diligence check: 1 month
- Oath: YES
- Citizenship approval: 4-6 months
- Passport time: 4-6 months
- Passport validity: 10 years
- Visa free: Schengen/Russia/China (No UK)
5. Antigua & Barbuda
- Price: $230,000 Donation (NDF)
- Real Estate: $300,000
- Residence requirement: 5 days (only renewing passport)
- Visit to the country: 5 days (anytime before passport expiry)
- Citizenship approval: 4-6 months
- Oath: YES
- Passport time: 4-6 months
- Passport validity: 5 years
- Visa free: Schengen/UK/Russia
6. Grenada
- Price: $235,000 Donation
- Real Estate: $270,000
- Residence requirement: NO
- Visit to the country: NO
- Citizenship approval: 4-6 months
- Oath: YES
- Passport time: 4-6 months
- Passport validity: 10 years
- Visa free: Schengen/UK/Russia/China
7. Turkey
- Price: $400,000 Real Estate / $500,000 (bank deposit)
- Residence requirement: YES (3 months)
- Visit to the country: YES
- Real Estate buying time: 1 month
- Residence permit time: 1 month
- Citizenship approval: 6 months
- Oath: YES
- Passport time: 6 months
- Passport validity: 10 years
- Visa free: NO Schengen/ NO UK/ NO Russia
8. North Macedonia
Macedonia is the newly launched economic citizenship scheme, the processing times are very fast due to low volume of applications. This program is not active due to banking issues faced by clients applying for this program.
- Private investment fund: €200,000 (held 2 years)
- Residence requirement: NO
- Visit to the country: YES
- Due diligence check: 1 month
- Citizenship approval: 4 months
- Quota Limit: 1000 applications only
- Passport time: 4 months
- Oath: YES
- Passport Validity: 10 years
- Visa free: Schengen only
9. Malta
- Price: EUR 600,000 (Donation citizenship in one year ) or EUR 750,000 (Donation for citizenship fast track in 1 year)
- Real Estate: (optional)
- Residence requirement: 12 months / 1 year
- Visit to the country: YES
- Oath: YES
- Quota limit: 1800 applications
- Processing time: 3 months (residence permit)
- Citizenship approval: 14-15 months
- Passport time: 12 to 15 months
- Passport validity: 10 years
- Visa free: Schengen/UK/USA/Canada/Australia
How to start?
The application process is well setup and streamlined by government. The Government appoints authorized agents giving them license to submit applications on client’s behalf. It is important to remember you ONLY make the full investment (donation or real estate) after receiving citizenship approval from the Citizenship Investment Unit (CIU).
Basic Eligibility Check
The basic eligibility and KYC checks before boarding the client.
- Must be 18 years of age for main applicant
- No criminal record (clean record) or wanted person by law enforcement.
- Not from banned countries (eg. Iran, Russia, Belarus, North Korea etc)
- No visa refusal from UK, Schengen, Canada or any other country.
- Siblings, children over particular age cannot apply under family. refer to the family rules
Payment steps
- Pay agent fee and government fee to start – 1 week
- Agent conducts initial background checks – 1 week
- Agent collects all documents verifies and submits for citizenship approval to Government citizenship unit – 1 week
- Receive citizenship approval letter. It is only issued after passing all background checks done by authority. – 3 months
- Pay the full investment to Government bank account.- 1 week
- Take the Oath – 1 day
- Collect your passport from your agent or at embassy – 2 weeks
Invoices will be issued with every step of the payment stage.
Paperwork
The important documents must be ready with you
- Completed application forms.(disclose everything no concealing)
- Original passport, id cards, driving license.
- No Criminal record or police certificate, refer to the PCC rules
- Birth certificate (must be apostilled or notarized)
- Marriage certificate (must be apostilled or notarized)
- Proof of address (utility bills) etc.
Having all necessary documents in proper order, is the key to receive fastest citizenship approvals. It is advisable to plan all well 2 months in advance. The most important documents are original passport (must not expire), police certificate, medical report, birth certificate and marriage certificate.
Delays
Below are the main reasons for delays in citizenship decision.
- Missing documents are the No.1 reason for long delays.
- Incorrect data or omission of information.
- Documents must not expire (eg. passport, id cards, police certificate 6 months, medical reports 3 months).
- Donation option are much faster than the real estate investment atleast by a month.
- Banks may cause further delays for compliance checks in receiving your payments. They require KYC and further evidence of source of funds.
- Document legalisation or apostille process in birth certificates, marriage and police certificates also a culprit taking lot of time.
- Translations are also required if documents are not in english language.
Please reach us out for a free consultation.
