5 Second Citizenships with No Donation Required

For anyone who wants a shortcut to expanding beyond the limits of their home country,  citizenship by investment is a strong choice. 

And there are plenty of options around the world.

Growing numbers of countries have realised that their passport is an asset just like any other. 

There is demand, and the government controls the supply. 

As such, some have decided to commoditise what was formerly taboo to sell – nationality. They tend to be nations with limited sources of income that get much-needed revenue by attracting the wealthy in return for a passport.  

However, in any market where a monopolistic cartel controls the supply, governments in this case, there is always the potential to artificially inflate the price. 

If you want to get quick citizenship in Europe, for example, you will have to undertake Malta’s MEIN program with contributions of €600,000 to the Maltese economy or €750,000 if you’re looking for an expedited process. 

That’s a fairly steep price, even if we are talking about people in the top 1%. 

It’s when confronted with the actual price tag that investors pause and ask whether having an offshore plan is worth it. 

This is the wrong way of looking at things. There are two prime reasons to consider obtaining passports by investment:

• Business: Gaining second citizenship or rescinding your current nationality can save you millions of dollars on an annual basis, depending on your source of income and corporate structure. Besides that, you can open the door to a wealth of opportunities.
• Insurance: We live in an era where we don’t quite know what tomorrow will bring, never mind the next five years. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re targeted via a wealth tax, income tax and increasingly even mob rule. You need an exit strategy.

Any offshore strategy must consider these two reasons to choose the best second passport. It’s not a game where you win if you collect the most passports by investment over the course of your lifetime. 

Passports by Investment Without a Donation 

When selecting a passport to invest in, always go for the passports that are worthwhile and will help your life. 

And sometimes paying for those second passports by investment via a donation is the better option and costs less. 

It might be easier just to pay once rather than tying up capital, especially if you are a day trader or crypto investor, for example, who has a big opportunity cost for investing US$500,000 compared to paying US$200,000.

Be that as it may, let’s say you would like to live abroad and have a backup plan but aren’t keen to ‘donate’ so much money to a random government. 

In that case, you want a true second passport by investment, not by donation.

Is it possible to get a second passport that doesn’t come attached to a non-refundable bill with quite so many zeroes?

Yes, it is.

Here are five countries where you can get second passports by investment – no donation required – without having to pay through the nose.

1. St Lucia

Nomad Capitalist founder Andrew Henderson is a citizen of this tiny island nation in the Caribbean.

He opted for the donation of US$100,000 as he couldn’t be bothered with being on the hook for years on end and didn’t want to buy property there. The cost has since risen to US$240,000, but it remains one of the least expensive options out there. 

However, if you don’t want to go down the donation route, there are three further routes, each with its benefits and drawbacks.

Government Bonds

You have to buy about US$300,000 worth of zero-interest government bonds for five years to obtain this second passport. A non-refundable US$50,000 administration fee applies to this investment.  

Real Estate

You need to be selective about places where you invest in real estate, and we’re not overly fond of the Caribbean. Given that only certain real estate investments are eligible for citizenship by investment, you and everyone else will pool into the same buildings, which just becomes a game of hot potato. 

Eventually, if the regulations change, you could be left holding an overvalued asset that nobody is interested in. There’s also a history of developments not being completed, even though new regulations have emerged to limit the issue. 

If this hasn’t scared you off, the minimum price tag is US$300,000, plus administrative fees of at least US$30,000.

Enterprise

There’s also the option to invest in a St Lucian business. Although, the minimum investment amount is a steep US$3.5 million as a single investor or US$1 million each (and US$6 million overall) if investing as a group.  

Overall, this is a good second passport as the country has no income tax for revenue derived from abroad, plus no inheritance or wealth taxes.

Besides this, everything can be done online without having to set foot in the country. If you want to learn more, see our ultimate guide to St Lucia’s citizenship by investment program.

2. Turkey

We have spoken at length in the past about citizenship by investment and real estate opportunities in Turkey. We even named Turkey one of the best countries where you can earn a profit by gaining citizenship.

It’s easy to be very bullish about the economic future of the country. This is due, in part, to the fact that international investment has largely been scared off since President Erdogan began gaining more power.

As such, the Turkish lira has had a steep decline in value over the last half-decade, which has made investing there potentially very lucrative if you have a mid to long-term view. 

Because of this considerable depreciation, the government has experienced an increasing need to bring back foreign capital.

Turkey’s real estate citizenship program was initially a steep US$1 million. However, following the depreciation, it was dramatically slashed down to US$250,000, which opened the floodgates for foreign investors. The price has since risen to US$400,000.

While Turkish citizenship may not be a prime choice for Westerners, especially if you are foregoing US citizenship, it is a very good compliment to a passport portfolio as it opens up visa-free access to many countries otherwise barred by the West. 

Be warned, though: There are frauds aplenty where unscrupulous real estate agents try to scam you. To combat that, we have someone on our team here at Nomad Capitalist who speaks Turkish fluently and has consistently found fantastic property deals.

These investment opportunities are interesting without any additional benefits, and when bundled with Turkish citizenship, they become even better. 

Besides real estate, there are two other options that will qualify you for Turkish citizenship in a matter of months. You can either start a business and hire 50 people or invest US$500,000 in various bank accounts and hold it for three years.

You used to be able to keep that money in USD. However, the Central Bank of the Turkish Republic has announced plans to end its Foreign Exchange Protection Scheme in 2025. That means new Turkey citizenship-by-investment applicants will need to expose themselves to the volatility of the Turkish lira if they take the bank despot route. 

The slight caveat is that Turkey doesn’t offer much in deposit insurance. However, the Turkish citizenship-by-investment program doesn’t stop you from putting those amounts in various accounts held by separate banks, so you can at least diversify.

Sadly, though, the interest rates for holding US dollars aren’t particularly exciting as they hover around roughly 0.1%.

With all that said, though, it’s a good option if you’re liquid.

Turkey offers what we refer to as a ‘Tier C passport’. It doesn’t have easy access to the US or the EU but provides visa-free access to many areas in Asia and South America. 

You can learn more about Turkey’s citizenship by investment program in our ultimate guide.

3. Egypt

When it comes to obtaining passports by investment, Egypt is one of the newer offerings on the market. 

There are three options available for those who want to go down this route, aside from the US$250,000 donation to the state’s public treasury.

Real Estate Investment

You can obtain an Egyptian passport if you invest at least US$300,000 in a government-approved real estate project. 

You can purchase from developers or private owners anywhere in Egypt except the Sinai region. You’ll need to own the property for at least five years to keep hold of your citizenship.

Company Investment

You can make yourself eligible for Egyptian citizenship by launching a business there or investing in an established business. Either way, you’ll need to invest at least US$350,000 to qualify. 

The money must be deposited in the company bank account and remain there for five years.

Bank Deposit

The simplest route to an Egyptian passport is by depositing US$500,000 in an Egyptian bank account. It must remain there for three years. After that, you’re free to have your deposit refunded in Egyptian pounds.     

4. Jordan

Jordan citizenship by investment is not often mentioned, even in nomad circles. 

However, beyond the fact that Jordan does not offer a particularly strong passport, it’s immediately evident why it’s not often talked about – it’s far too expensive.

There are several ways you can qualify for Jordanian citizenship:

• You can invest in a portfolio of small and medium enterprises for US$1.5 million and keep this investment for five years
• If you want to store the money in a bank, you can deposit US$1 million with the central bank but with no interest
• You can invest US$1 million in a business in Amman, the capital. If you go outside the capital, the investment reduces to US$750,000.

Part of the reason this program is so expensive is that Jordan is among the recent wave of countries attempting to capitalise on the sale of citizenship. Given that this is an experiment, they’re essentially trying to see what they can get away with.

5. Latvia

European second passports by investment tend to be incredibly expensive and cumbersome to get. 

But in Latvia, it’s fairly straightforward: you have to put €280,000 in subordinated debt with a bank to get a residence permit, which you can easily renew.

However, this means that if the bank were to go bust, you wouldn’t be first in line to be repaid among the creditors. 

After ten years, you can become a Latvian citizen.

The issue, though, is that, unlike the other options discussed on this list, there is a requirement to live in Latvia to get the second citizenship.

As such, there are bound to be tax consequences, and given that Latvia has a 20% corporate tax rate and a top personal income tax rate of 33%, it’s not exactly the best option out there. 

Residence but No Citizenship

If what you want is simply a change of scenery or to be able to live somewhere without high taxes, then perhaps it’s better to look into second residences that won’t lead to citizenship.

For example, Nomad Capitalist founder Andrew Henderson has residence in Malaysia, where the only requirement for a renewable 5-year residence permit is to deposit RM500,000 (around US$112,000) in a Malaysian bank.

Better yet, you can withdraw as much as half of your money after one year.    

Thailand is another territorial tax country, like Malaysia, where you can pay close to no taxes. Additionally, Panama provides another easy residency, as the only real requirement is having US$5,000 in a bank account.

Passports by Investment with No Donation: FAQs

Passports by Investment vs Donation

Going through this list, you might have noticed that you tend to get what you pay for. 

In a lot of programs without a ‘donation’ requirement, you tend to pay for it via some other means.

Primarily, there tends to be an opportunity cost, as governments often use their passport-by-investment schemes to push industries that they’re interested in – Europe was pushing real estate and is now pushing startups and tech, for example.

Often, it will be blatantly clear that the authorities have a veiled interest in the matter, as is the case in some Caribbean real estate programs where only a small slice of the available real estate is allowed to qualify.

It might not initially seem so, but it might be easier and cheaper to simply cut a cheque and make the donation to get a second passport.

Still, as with Turkey’s program, there are some diamonds in the rough. You can explore all the citizenship-by-investment programs here. 

The best way to know you’re getting a good deal is to work with an expert in this field. You need boots-on-the-ground experience to make the best decisions. 

That’s what Nomad Capitalist is here for. To get started with your holistic offshore plan, feel free to reach out.