Insights
When considering a citizenship by investment, most people are focused firmly on the passport and citizenship that they’ll acquire by the end of the process. After all, isn’t that the primary reason for acquiring citizenship by investment?
But equally important to many people is the return on the investment that’s made in the first place. Many will opt to simply make a donation to whatever sustainable/economic growth fund is used in their country of choice, as it’s simpler and faster. But an increasing minority of CBI applicants are not merely interested in the second passport that they’ll obtain – they want to know what kind of return they’ll see on their investment.
This is only possible – ostensibly – if you opt for the investment route (rather than the donation one). For the majority of CBI programs, this means investing in real estate – although in certain cases, it can mean investing in a business.
Over the course of this article, we plan to take a look at the return on investment that you can expect from CBI programs. What routes do you have to seeing a return on your investment, and what is the best route?
Let’s take a look at the options on offer.
If you’d prefer to make an investment in order to obtain citizenship (as opposed to making a donation), you have a few options to consider.
By far the most commonly-offered investment option is real estate. In CBI real-estate investment programs, it’s generally the case that you will not be able to sell the property for a predetermined period of time (typically 5+ years).
Please see below for a more detailed exploration of CBI countries that offer real estate investment:
| Country | Required Investment Amount | Minimum Investment Period |
| Antigua & Barbuda | $200,000 | 7 years |
| Dominica | $200,000 | 3 years/5 years (depending on if sold to another CBI applicant) |
| Grenada | $220,000 | 5 years |
| Saint Kitts & Nevis | $200,000 (any property), $400,000 | 7 years (any), 5 years (residential) |
| Saint Lucia | $200,000 | 5 years |
| Türkiye | $400,000 | 5 years |
You may have noticed that Vanuatu is not on the above list; this is because the only route to CBI in Vanuatu is a donation.
Another route to citizenship by investment in some countries is investment in a business. This is not as common as real estate investment, and offered by far fewer countries.
The following countries offer business investments:
| Country | Required Investment Amount | Minimum Investment Period |
| Antigua & Barbuda | $1.5 million | Unspecified (you should speak to your CBI agent about this) |
| Saint Lucia | $3.5 million | Unspecified |
| Türkiye | $500,000 (or a business that creates a minimum of 50 jobs) | 3 years |
As we can see, there is often no concrete information on how long you need to wait before you can recoup your investment. This makes a real estate investment both cheaper and more concrete.
The unfortunate truth is that your return on investment when it comes to CBI programs is not going to be that high. The properties you can buy are usually government-approved, and may not be likely to appreciate much in the period during which you are going to hold the property. You’ll also still be giving the government of your new host nation a ‘donation’ in the form of the sundry fees that you’ll need to pay before your CBI process is complete.
The one exception to this is Türkiye. When buying real estate, there, you are not restricted in the same way that you might be in other countries. This means that you are free to do your own research and buy a property that’s going to offer a good return on investment. Of course, the minimum investment in Türkiye is double that of most other countries with CBI programs, but you do pay a premium for freedom of choice.
That said – although you might not see a direct return if investing in property, you will see a return on your investment in other ways. How, you might ask? Let’s take a look.
As mentioned, getting a direct return on investment via CBI programs is, at best, unreliable. However, if you look at things from a different angle, then it’s possible to assess the money that you’re saving by investing in a CBI program – particularly when it comes to tax.
Most countries that offer CBI programs also offer extremely generous tax regimens. Things like inheritance, capital gains, corporate and even personal income taxes are typically massively reduced compared to your home country – particularly if you come from developed Western countries like the US, UK, Australia or Western Europe.
Let’s say you’re a high-net-worth individual earning a million dollars a year in the US. You’ll be paying roughly 36% -- or $360,000 – on tax on those earnings (including social security, Medicare etc.). That’s a huge portion of your income lost to the ether that you’ll essentially never see again.
If you were to relocate your assets to a CBI country, however, then the amount of money lost to tax would drop significantly – sometimes completely.
This is due to the fact that countries with CBI programs often charge little to no tax at all. This means that although you might be making a significant investment upfront (whether actually investing, or donating to an economic development fund), over time you’ll actually be saving yourself money – sometimes into the millions of dollars.
Absolutely not. Although certain companies and individuals do offshore their businesses/earnings in order to avoid paying tax on them, it is often illegal – and should be 100% avoided.
By becoming a citizen by investment, however, you’re not breaking any laws at all. You’re becoming a citizen of another country and, thus, making yourself subject to their tax regimen rather than that of your home country. Not only will this save you a lot of money in the long run, but it’s also completely legal.
This makes it the best and most sustainable strategy for you and your family. You can move your earnings and assets overseas quickly, effectively, and with a minimum of fuss.
If you qualify for citizenship by descent in a country with a generous tax regimen, that’s great news! However, the fact of the matter is that applying for CBD takes a long time – sometimes years. And the application period can often be affected by the vicissitudes of geopolitics and the whims of the government to which you’re applying.
Take the Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, which saw CBD applications slow dramatically as governments lost the people and the infrastructure to deal with new applications. In some cases, this even resulted in citizenship applications being outright denied – meaning that applicants have to start the whole process again.
With CBI programs, however, there is much less red tape. Waiting times are also much shorter, with many CBI applications being completed in 6 months or less (with some countries, like Vanuatu, it can be as fast as two months).
All of this means that you’ll be relocated far faster with a CBI application than with a CBD one – and so will your assets. This translates to less paid in taxes, and a better return on your ‘investment’.
Early in this article, we talked about the various ways that you can invest in a country with a CBI program in order to see a return on that investment. But the truth is that the best investment is not to invest at all – it’s to make use of whatever economic development program that country has in place.
This seems counterintuitive. After all, that donation is, inevitably, non-refundable. It’s $100,000 or more that you’ll never see again. So how on earth could it be considered to be an ‘investment’?
The answer to that is simple: it’s an investment in tax reduction, and smart tax planning. CBI applications that make use of donations are the fastest, and they’re also the least complicated. With real estate or business investments, you could be waiting years before you see any kind of return on your investment – and that return is often meagre.
With a donation, however, you can get your assets relocated abroad much more quickly, and everything can be good to go within six months. That means that you’ll start saving money on taxes a lot more quickly than you would with either real estate or business investments – and those saved taxes will far outstrip the money you’d have made on your investments.
Getting a return on a CBI investment, then, is as simple as going the donation route. The money saved in taxes will pay for that initial donation many times over.
Early in this article, we talked about the various ways that you can invest in a country with a CBI program in order to see a return on that investment. But the truth is that the best investment is not to invest at all – it’s to make use of whatever economic development program that country has in place.
This seems counterintuitive. After all, that donation is, inevitably, non-refundable. It’s $100,000 or more that you’ll never see again. So how on earth could it be considered to be an ‘investment’?
The answer to that is simple: it’s an investment in tax reduction, and smart tax planning. CBI applications that make use of donations are the fastest, and they’re also the least complicated. With real estate or business investments, you could be waiting years before you see any kind of return on your investment – and that return is often meagre.
With a donation, however, you can get your assets relocated abroad much more quickly, and everything can be good to go within six months. That means that you’ll start saving money on taxes a lot more quickly than you would with either real estate or business investments – and those saved taxes will far outstrip the money you’d have made on your investments.
Getting a return on a CBI investment, then, is as simple as going the donation route. The money saved in taxes will pay for that initial donation many times over.
Early in this article, we talked about the various ways that you can invest in a country with a CBI program in order to see a return on that investment. But the truth is that the best investment is not to invest at all – it’s to make use of whatever economic development program that country has in place.
This seems counterintuitive. After all, that donation is, inevitably, non-refundable. It’s $100,000 or more that you’ll never see again. So how on earth could it be considered to be an ‘investment’?
The answer to that is simple: it’s an investment in tax reduction, and smart tax planning. CBI applications that make use of donations are the fastest, and they’re also the least complicated. With real estate or business investments, you could be waiting years before you see any kind of return on your investment – and that return is often meagre.
With a donation, however, you can get your assets relocated abroad much more quickly, and everything can be good to go within six months. That means that you’ll start saving money on taxes a lot more quickly than you would with either real estate or business investments – and those saved taxes will far outstrip the money you’d have made on your investments.
Getting a return on a CBI investment, then, is as simple as going the donation route. The money saved in taxes will pay for that initial donation many times over.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help you with your citizenship or residency by investment goals. One of our investment migration experts will contact you to discuss your case. With over 16 years of combined experience our team has helped hundreds of families achieve freedom.
