Home / Citizenship by Investment
Citizenship by investment (CBI) is a legal route by which a state grants citizenship, and a passport, in return for a qualifying contribution or investment defined in its law. This page tracks 17 citizenship programmes, of which 10 are active and ranked in this edition, ranked by the published Mirabello Investment Migration Index methodology, with the official source and verification date on every figure.
All programme figures are time-sensitive: governments amend thresholds, fees and rules with notice periods that vary from months to days. Verify any figure against the linked official source before acting. Information, not advice.
MCP
Decision shortcuts
There is no universal best and no universal winner: each of the four cards below simply reports which ranked programme currently leads on one published metric, with its source date and confidence band. A metric lead is not a recommendation.
Fastest documented route: Turkey
Published processing from 3 months (Approximately 3-6 months from complete application to citizenship)
Its published timeline lists the lowest documented lower bound among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
See its row in the rankingIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
Lowest verified entry: Vanuatu
Minimum qualifying contribution $130,000, Development Support Program contribution
Its published minimum is the lowest verified entry point among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
View the Vanuatu programmeIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
Strongest mobility: St. Kitts and Nevis
157 visa-free destinations
Its passport currently reports the highest visa-free destination count among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
View the St. Kitts and Nevis programmeIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
Broadest family inclusion: St. Kitts and Nevis
Family sub-score 100 / 100 on the published Index
It carries the lowest published cost premium to include a family of four among the ranked active citizenship programmes.
View the St. Kitts and Nevis programmeIndividual suitability depends on nationality, source of funds and family profile. Information, not advice.
The ranked table
The 10 citizenship-by-investment programmes that are both operational and ranked in the 2026 Q3 Edition of the Mirabello Investment Migration Index, in Index order. Each figure carries its source and verification date; emerging, reference and non-active programmes are tracked separately in the status register below.
| # | Programme | Minimum qualifying route | Typical processing | Visa-free | Index score | Confidence | Last verified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇰🇳 St. Kitts and Nevis | $250,000 Sustainable Island State Contribution ciu.gov.kn · 2026-06-28 |
4-6 months ciu.gov.kn · 2026-03-21 |
157 destinations | 85.7 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
| 2 | 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda | $230,000 National Development Fund donation cip.gov.ag · 2026-06-28 |
4-7 months cip.gov.ag · 2026-03-21 |
154 destinations | 83.2 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
| 3 | 🇩🇲 Dominica | $200,000 Economic Diversification Fund contribution cbiu.gov.dm · 2026-06-28 |
4-6 months cbiu.gov.dm · 2026-03-21 |
145 destinations | 81.8 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
| 4 | 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia | $240,000 National Economic Fund contribution cipsaintlucia.com · 2026-06-28 |
4-5 months cipsaintlucia.com · 2026-03-21 |
144 destinations | 81.5 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
| 5 | 🇬🇩 Grenada | $235,000 National Transformation Fund donation imagrenada.gd · 2026-06-28 |
6 months imagrenada.gd · 2026-03-21 |
147 destinations | 79.1 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
| 7 | 🇹🇷 Turkey Index | $400,000 Real estate (USD 400k, 3-yr hold) or USD 500k financial invest.gov.tr · 2026-06-04 |
Approximately 3-6 months from complete application to citizenship invest.gov.tr · 2026-06-04 |
110 destinations | 72.6 / 100 | High | 2026-06-04 | # |
| 9 | 🇸🇻 El Salvador (Freedom Visa) Index | $1,000,000 Non-refundable US$1m contribution (Bitcoin or Tether) adoptingelsalvador.gob.sv · 2026-06-04 |
Not published | 130 destinations | 69.2 / 100 | High | 2026-06-04 | # |
| 13 | 🇻🇺 Vanuatu | $130,000 Development Support Program contribution immigration.gov.vu · 2026-06-28 |
Not published | 88 destinations | 66.4 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
| 15 | 🇯🇴 Jordan Index | $493,000 Business investment outside Amman (job-creation) moin.gov.jo · 2026-06-04 |
Approximately 3-6 months for the citizenship route moin.gov.jo · 2026-06-04 |
50 destinations | 62.6 / 100 | High | 2026-06-04 | # |
| 16 | 🇪🇬 Egypt Index | $250,000 Non-refundable contribution investinegypt.gov.eg · 2026-06-28 |
Not published | 50 destinations | 59.2 / 100 | High | 2026-06-28 | # |
Confidence: High = ranked with field-level provenance records in the ledger; Medium = ranked, provenance records pending. Last verified is the most recent field-level verification date. Only programmes with rank_status "ranked" and operational status appear here.
Three taps to an indicative route
Three answers produce an indicative starting point from the ranked data. It is a reading of the published figures, never an eligibility determination; a specialist confirms fit in a free consultation.
Indicative starting point: St. Kitts and Nevis
$250,000, Sustainable Island State Contribution · Index composite 85.7 / 100 · verified 2026-06-28
Without the interactive controls, the presets above and the ranked table cover the same ground as plain links. Indicative routing only, from published figures; never an eligibility determination and not advice.
Status register
A citizenship programme exists at a government's discretion, so the register below records, with official sources and dates, the tracked programmes that are not in the active ranking: frameworks that have ended, discretionary frameworks with no fixed threshold, and emerging programmes still being monitored. No citizenship-by-investment programme is currently recorded as suspended in the dataset.
| Status | Programme | Verified position | Official source | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | 🇲🇹 Malta, citizenship for exceptional services by direct investment | The Court of Justice of the European Union delivered judgment in Commission v Malta, Case C-181/23, on 29 April 2025; the former investor-citizenship framework was repealed following the judgment. Malta's successor discretionary route, citizenship by merit, is administered by the Community Malta Agency and is tracked separately below as a reference entry, not a continuation of the investment framework. | curia.europa.eu, Press Release No 52/25 · Community Malta Agency | 2026-07-03 |
| Closed | 🇲🇪 Montenegro, citizenship by investment | The programme ended on 31 December 2022, at the close of its final extension, by decision of the Government of Montenegro. | Government of Montenegro | 2026-07-03 |
| Reference | 🇲🇹 Malta Citizenship by Merit | No fixed investment threshold: Discretionary merit-based naturalisation (no investment). Unrankable under the cost-weighted Index methodology by design; tracked as a reference entry on the full Index. | Index entry | 2026-07-03 |
| Emerging | 🇦🇷 Argentina Citizenship by Investment Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 77 / 100) with a published minimum of $500,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | Index entry | 2026-06-28 |
| Emerging | 🇻🇨 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 71.2 / 100) with a published minimum of $500,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | Index entry | 2026-03-20 |
| Emerging | 🇳🇷 Nauru Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 67.5 / 100) with a published minimum of $115,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | ecrcp.gov.nr | 2026-06-28 |
| Emerging | 🇧🇼 Botswana Impact Investment Program Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 67.4 / 100) with a published minimum of $75,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | botswanacitizenship.com | 2026-06-28 |
| Emerging | 🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 66.7 / 100) with a published minimum of $90,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | cbi.st | 2026-06-28 |
| Emerging | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone Index | Tracked and scored on the Index (composite 64.2 / 100) with a published minimum of $140,000; recently launched or pre-launch, so it is monitored here rather than counted in the active ranking above. | slcbi.com | 2026-06-28 |
Register entries are recorded facts with official sources, stated without commentary. Closure or amendment of one programme says nothing about any other programme; verified changes are logged in the public observatory change log.
Risk and regulatory watch
Extended to 31 December 2026 (Program Office circular of 15 June 2026); standard contribution USD 115,000 thereafter
source: Nauru Economic Citizenship Programme (official programme site)Methodology and integrity
Each programme is scored 0-100 on seven dimensions, combined into a weighted composite. Where a dimension has no verified data it is excluded and the remaining weights are re-normalized (see data_completeness). Current published weights: cost 22% · mobility 22% · speed 16% · path 15% · stability 13% · family 7% · tax 5%. The full dimension definitions, official-source hierarchy and FX policy are on the Index methodology page. The ranking is rules-based analysis of published criteria; it is not a recommendation, because there is no universal winner.
Generated from the Mirabello verified programme dataset, 2026 Q3 Edition.
How it works
Programme pages with a verified fee schedule compute the government-side family total line by line:
Questions
Citizenship by investment (CBI) is a legal route by which a state grants citizenship, and with it a passport, in return for a qualifying contribution or investment defined in its law. The Mirabello dataset currently tracks 17 citizenship programmes, of which 10 are operational and ranked in the 2026 Q3 Edition of the Mirabello Investment Migration Index; the rest are emerging, reference or non-active entries recorded in the status register.
There is no universal best and no universal winner. On the current 2026 Q3 Edition, St. Kitts and Nevis holds the highest composite in the active ranking (85.7 / 100), scored on the published weighted criteria; that is a rules-based reading of the data, not a recommendation. The right programme depends on your nationality, budget, family profile and goals, which is what a specialist consultation establishes.
Published minimum qualifying routes among the ranked active programmes currently run from $130,000 (Vanuatu) to $1,000,000 (El Salvador (Freedom Visa)), before government, due-diligence and passport fees, which scale with family size. Every figure in the table carries its official source and verification date.
Published processing timelines among the ranked programmes with a documented timeline currently start from around 3 months (Turkey); the Caribbean programmes publish roughly four to seven months. Timelines are indicative lower bounds; individual files vary with due diligence and documentation.
Yes. Programmes are created, amended and ended by governments: Malta's investor-citizenship framework was repealed following the Court of Justice of the EU judgment in Case C-181/23 (29 April 2025), and Montenegro's programme ended on 31 December 2022. The status register above records non-active programmes with official sources, and verified changes are logged in the public observatory change log.
A confidential, no-obligation conversation with a Mirabello specialist, in your language, on the verified figures.
Book a free consultation WhatsApp usMirabello Consultancy provides information and advisory services on investment-migration programmes. Figures on this page are indicative, verified against official sources and provenance-tracked; they are informational only, not an eligibility determination and not legal, tax, immigration or investment advice. Programme terms change; confirm the detail with a specialist and seek independent advice where appropriate.