Residency by investment offers you the opportunity to legally acquire permanent residency status in another country in return for an investment in its economy. Permanent residency is a visa status that allows the bearer to legally live, work, go to school and access healthcare in the host country. Having permanent residency can eventually lead to citizenship by naturalisation, provided the resident has lived in that country for a certain number of years.

There are more residency by investment programmes than those offering citizenship. The largest concentration of such programmes are within the European Union, commonly referred to as golden visa schemes. This is because the EU is where many investors tend to carry out business or relocate to.

Citizenship by investment programmes offers the opportunity to legally acquire a new nationality in return for an investment in the economy of the host country. Such programmes confer citizenship status without causing any major disruptions to an investor’s life, provided they pass all the due diligence checks first, make a qualifying investment and provide all the correct documentation.

Only a handful of countries in the world currently offer citizenship by investment (CBI). There is a higher concentration of CBI programmes in the Caribbean, a region considered the cradle of second citizenship by investment.

There are many benefits to having dual citizenship, including greater global mobility, new economic opportunity, better quality of life, and improved personal security.

As of 1 November 2020, the Cyprus Investment Programme is no longer an option for citizenship by investment. The Programme’s suspension was approved by the Cypriot Council of Ministers following a proposal by the Cypriot Interior and Finance Ministries.