Citizenship by Investment programs offers an exciting opportunity to invest in Real Estate for passports. Real estate investments recently have become very popular and automatic choice among High-net-worth (HNW) individuals and wealthy families to acquire a passport.

We have compiled the Government approved/authorized list of property developers as FREE download.

You can directly approach any these developers to buy a real estate for citizenship, without going through any agents or brokers. This way you fully avoid inflated prices given by brokers and you also deny them exhorbitant commissions.

We give you all these materials for FREE. We do not make any money or commissions selling real estate. You can go ahead and contact any of the property developers in the list.

• Why invest in Real estate for citizenship?
• How much is the minimum real estate investment?
• Pricing comparison
• Top 10 Mistakes by Real Estate Investors
• Whats new in 2020?
• Property prices per square meter
• Which countries offer instant citizenship for real estate investments?
  • Turkey
  • Grenada
  • Cyprus
  • St Kitts and Nevis
  • Dominica
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Saint Lucia
  • Montenegro
  • Egypt
• Tourism arrivals

Why invest in Real estate for citizenship?

• Permanent home for you with a local address.
• Profitable investment for the future, means you dont lose money.
• Passport in just about few months.
• Buy equities/shares in hotels, resorts and residential (or commercial)
• Next buyer would also get citizenship (you retain your passport after sale)
• Rental yields are attractive with beachfront properties.
• Property management done by developer making it easy for you.
• Investing in real estate proves a genuine link to the country to become a citizen.

How much is the minimum real estate investment?

These are the minimum real estate investments required to acquire citizenship in exchange for real estate investments.

As of 2020, only 8 countries offer direct citizenship for property investments

It is important to note the holding period of property. After this period you may resell the property and the next buyer may qualify for citizenship, your citizenship is retained for life.

Pricing comparison

You can see the comparison of prices for real estate investment to get a CBI passport.

Note: Share registration fee, Legal costs, Passport fee not included.

Please note caribbean countries make money by charging you government fee ($30,000 onwards). This will add to your price tag.

As you can see from the above table, it is much much cheaper with Antigua the government fee and St Kitts is really expensive.

Think of it this way, you pay $200,000 in a equity share for a five star hotel in total you pay $280,00 for passports inclusive of all charges for a family of 4. After 5 years, you sell the share with a small profit $210,000. This will only cost you $70,000 for citizenship of whole family. Real estate looks cheaper than the donation option, but ONLY if you make profit and markets dont crash.

Montenegro charges $100,000 per application fee.

Turkey and Cyprus do not levy additional government charges, besides property costs. This means you get FREE citizenship through real estate investment.

Be aware Cyprus in 2019 made some changes, will ask you to donate EUR 150,000 to research and housing in addition to real estate.

You can freely invest in residential or commercial properties (hotels, resorts etc) that is offered as a limited share, fully deeded title, real estate investment funds etc.

Note: The Agent fee and other property charges not included in the list.

Top 10 Mistakes made by Real estate investors

To prevent clients falling into real estate scams, we want you follow these cardinal rules before investing in real estate for passport.

Keep in mind! You are investing huge sums money and you have to precautions and make sure you only invest with trusted developers. Do your research!

These are the top 10 mistakes made by clients investing in properties.

1. Buy real estate only from the licensed and authorized developers in the list. You will not get citizenship if you invest in projects that are not in the list.
2. Do not pay full money for sale deed, before you get approval from Citizenship Unit. First execute a contract of sale with the developer and file citizenship application with the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU). Wait for 2-3 months to get approval letter before you commit to invest fully. This way of your investment is safe if the Government rejects your application for citizenship.
3. Ask the developer clearly how long is the holding period for property.
4. Be clear to consult the developer for VAT, stamp duty, property registration, commissions and other legal charges.
5. Be clear with the developer on completion time, construction activity and force majeure (hurricane, diseases, natural disasters). Hurricanes in the Caribbean can be devastating
6. Be clear to discuss rental yields, loans, profits involved with the property.
7. Dont simply trust the photos or pictures posted online.
8. Be on your guard, as properties sold to foreigners are sold at vastly inflated prices.
9. Check per square meter prices inline with survey and valuation report.
10. Dont miss out low exchange rate. Compare the prices quoted by developer in US dollars vs Eastern Caribbean Dollars (XCD). XCD is pegged to 0.37 USD.

You also should know, these countries DO NOT have real estate citizenship by investment programs.

1. Vanuatu
2. Malta

Dont fall for scams or fake offers.

Whats new in 2020?

Turkey remains the No.1 real estate citizenship by investment program for 2020.

To make real estate investments more attractive, recently caribbean countries (Antigua, St Lucia), have cut Government processing for for real estate to $30,000 (from $50,000).

St Kitts also reduced prices to $200,000 from $400,000 to attract passport investors.

Egypt launched a new citizenship by investment scheme offers passport to real estate buyers who invest a minimum of $500,000 in property market.

Property Prices per Square meter

These are the current average property prices per square meter by country converted to US dollars.

These countries offer citizenship/passport for real estate investments.

This will give you a fair idea which countries are cheaper for buying citizenship investing in properties.

Which countries offer instant citizenship for real estate investment?

We take in-depth look at 9 countries that offer fast track citizenship in exchange for property investments. We will provide you costs depending on whether you want citizenship or not, when buying real estate.

1. Turkey

Minimum: US$ 250,000
Passport: 3 months

The Turkey Citizenship Program within two years of its launch went one ot become the most popular real estate investment program for Turkish passport. This scheme is extremely attractive to arab investors. Foreign investors can get passport in Turkey within 3 months, buying $250,000 worth of real estate (residential or commercial)

What are the additional costs?

• Land registry fee and stamp duty: 4-6%
• Legal costs: $2000
• Health insurance: $700
• Due diligence fee: none
• Passport fee: $500

VAT is exempted foreigners are exempt from VAT for their first commercial or residential property in Turkey for citizenship purpose, provided that they pay in foreign currency and do not sell their property within one year after receiving title deed.

Turkey does not maintain official list of licensed real estate developers or properties for the citizenship by investment program

Which are the most popular places for foreigners buying properties in Turkey?

• İstanbul
• Antalya
• Ankara
• Yalova
• Bursa

As of 2020, Turkish real estate is most popular among foreigners from Iran, Iraq, Russia, Afghanistan, Jordan, Yemen, according Turkstat office.

Buying Tips:

If you are buying real estate for citizenship purpose, follow these important tips.

1. The Property owner selling the property must be Turkish national. You wont qualify for citizenship buying from a foreign national.
2. The property you buy must be in your personal name (not in the name of company or legal entity) if you want citizenship.
3. The Property sold must have survey report of it estimated value.
4. Sale deed must be registered on the same date of payment to avoid foreign exchange losses

2. Grenada

Minimum: US$ 200,000
Passport time: 3 months

Foreigners can freely invest in Grenadian real estate, depending on whether they want citizenship with real estate or not. The minimum real estate investment does not apply if you dont want citizenship.

If you dont want citizenship

Non-Grenadian Residents are obligated to secure an “Alien Land Holders License” and pay 10% on the purchase price. The application process for the license can take 3-6 months.

• Alien Land Holding License (non-residents): 10%
• Legal Fees: Approximately 2% of purchase price + 15% VAT on fees
• Stamp Duty: 1% of purchase priceSurveyor’s Fee: 0.5% of property value (if applicable)
• Other Expenses: Approximately US$ 600

According to Century21 report, for 2019 , foreigners accounted for 24% of all real estate sales and 90% of all real estate sales volumes occurred in the parishes of St. George (71%), St. David (10%), and St Andrew (10%).

To build a quality residential building, the average price costs between EC$400-$500 (US$150-185) per square foot.

If you want citizenship investing in a hotel/resort

For a Family of 4 (limited share)

Government fees for family of 4: $50,000
Due Diligence fees: $10,000
Application fees: US $6,000
Processing fees: US $4,000
Share registration fees: US $9,000
Passport fees: US $1,000
Oath of Allegiance: US $100

Total: $200,000 + $80,100

3. Cyprus

Minimum: EUR 2,000,000
Passport: 6 months

Cyprus offers a very attractive real estate EU citizenship by investment program to foreign investors. It is also one of the most expensive schemes aimed at rich high net worth persons.

• Must buy permanent residence for EUR 500,000 plus VAT
• Must donate EUR 150,000 for housing and research development to Government for Citizenship

VAT

VAT for Property – 5% VAT for the first 500,000 EUR real estate, then 19% VAT for EUR 1.5m. No VAT applies on old/used properties. 

Rather than investing the entire EUR 2m in real estate, you may want to consider investing 1.5M in investment funds mix with 500K real estate to reduce VAT and other taxes. This is because

• VAT is exempt on bonds or investment funds.
• Returns are exempt from income tax.
• Sale of the Shares in the future, zero Income Tax

Another way reduce tax liability is incorporate a company and invest in real estate.

Capital gains tax

is imposed at the rate of 20% on:
• Gains from the disposal of immovable property situated in Cypruslin,
• Gains from the disposal of shares of companies not listed on a recognised stock exchange which own immovable property situated in the Republic, and
• Gains from the disposal of shares of companies which indirectly own immovable property situated in the Republic and derive at least 50% of their market value from such immovable property

Cyprus has no wealth, estate or inheritance tax.

Stamp duty – Maximum of EUR 20,000 per document.

Transfer tax – 3% to 8% on the market value of the property for used/old properties (VAT does not apply).

If you buy a used property you must pay transfer fees to the land registry to register the property on your name and the cost of the transfer fees is calculated on a percentage that increases according  to the value of property and is calculated as follows:

• 0 to €85,000 – 1.5%,
• 85,000€ to 170,000€ – 2.5%,
• Over €170,000 – 4%. 

To build any house in Cyprus from a land plot, it costs on average approximately €1,200 per square meter depending from the quality of finishes. Renovations cost atleast 600€ per sq.m.

Where are large number of foreigners buying property in Cyprus?

Source: Sale contracts registered by foreigners – Land registry office

4. St Kitts and Nevis

Minimum: $200,000 (hold for 7 years)
Passport: 3 months

St Kitts has become one of the richest countries in the caribbean due to the big surge in tourism arrivals (1 million cruise arrivals), and popularity of the CBI program.

A number of five star hotels and resorts built in the island funded by CBI program.

Some of the biggest 5*star developments already built are Park Hyatt (St Kitts), Four Seasons (Nevis)

New hotels – Ramada Hotel, Koi Resort (Hilton collection), T-Loft at Wyndham will be opening soon and the Sea View Hotel in West Basseterre expected to open by the first half of 2020.

You can buy real estate in ST Kitts and Nevis with or without citizenship.

If you dont want citizenship

Foreigners can freely buy real estate but must pay an Alien Land Holding stamp duty of 10% of the government-assessed value of a property

Luxury properties outside resorts start at $1 million and go up to about $3 million, with prices per square foot ranging from $400 to $800 for high end villas.

Construction costs averages US $130-$150 per square foot for plot construction. Property insurance costs 1% to cover against fire, hurricane, earthquake. In Nevis, housing prices remain stable averaging US$3,500

These are the typical costs for the buyer:

• Alien landholding license: 10%
• Lawyer fee: 1-2%
• Land assurance fund: 0.20%
• Surveyor report: $400

Agent commissions are paid by the seller.

Rental income is tax free, unless remitted to individuals or companies outside of St. Kitts, subject to 10% withholding tax.

Property taxes

RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY: (Property Value – 80,000) x .002
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY: Property Value x .003
ACCOMMODATION PROPERTY: Property Value x .003

There is no capital gains tax on the sale of real estate. When transferring a real estate property, a stamp duty is paid (2% to 18.5%)

Government Land

Foreign persons wishing to own government land in St Kitts can do so by:

Freehold: The average price of Government land is US$1.50/sq. ft. (Commercial), and US$1.11/sq. ft. (Residential).
Lease: Land at the Industrial Site can be leased from the Development Bank of St. Kitts & Nevis at US$444.00/acre annually.
Long-term-Lease: The tenure period is 35years and rent is reviewed every five years.

Buying Real Estate with Citizenship

St Kitts requires a real estate investment to apply for passport under citizenship by investment program. You will receive Freehold and Shared ownership in a property.

• US$200,000 (resalable after 7 years) or 
• US$400,000 (resalable after 5 years)

Government Fee (Real estate)

• Main applicant: US$35,050
• Spouse of the main applicant: US$20,050
• Any other qualified dependent regardless of age: US$10,050

For example: Real Estate + Citizenship + Passport for a family of 4 with 2 children

• Cost of property share: $200,000
• Government fees: $75,000 (family of 4)
• Due Diligence fees: $19,500
• Share registration fee: $10,000
• Total: $304,500

5. Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia is one of the most attractive caribbean destination for tourism, honeymoon and holiday destination, more than one million tourists visit this country.

Saint Lucia provides an exciting opportunity to invest in real estate market in tourism hotels and resorts. Currently $300,000 is needed if you want to invest in a five star resort in this country, the investment comes with passport.

Saint Lucia only has two approved real estate developments for citizenship, two big resorts under constructions in St Lucia.

If you dont want citizenship, just buying property

Foreigners are free to invest in real estate. All foreigners must obtain an Alien Landholding License from the government to be able to buy landed property.

These are some realistic prices prevailing in St Lucia.

• Rodney bay (3 bedroom villa) – $350,000 or $450,000 (4 bedroom with mooring)
• Luxury villas $650,000 to $1.5 million

Source: Global property guide

These are the best locations to buy a property in Saint Lucia

• Castries
• Marigot Bay
• Rodney Bay
• Soufriere
• Vieux Fort
• Cap Estate

6. Antigua and Barbuda

Minimum Investment: $200,000
Passport: 3 months

Antigua and Barbuda offers a very good real estate investment program for citizenship.

When this scheme started in 2014, the CBI program required $400,000 investment, but now this ceiling has been reduced and from now on, property buyers can jointly invest $200,000 each to become citizens. Effective, April 2020, the Government fee has been reduced to $30,000 (reduced from $50,000) to attract more investment into the citizenship property market.

Antigua’s economy has focused on tourism as its primary income, with almost 80% of the workforce directly or indirectly involved with the travel and hospitality industry.

Approved Areas

The Citizenship by Investment Regulations 2013 have approved only certain designated areas for the purpose of real estate investment.

Antigua

• Fort James to Blue Waters
• Pillar Rock to Five Islands
• Pearns Point to Johnson’s Point
• Falmouth Harbour to Galleon Bay
• Willoughby Bay to Half Moon Bay
• Nonsuch bay area
• Guiana Island and its environs to Crabbs Peninsula to Indian Point
• Blackman’s Estate (Blackman’s Point)
• Marble Hill

Barbuda

• Low Bay to Palmetto Point and Coco Point
• Coco Point

Like approved areas, you can download the list of approved projects below.

If you dont want citizenship

Foreigners can freely invest in real estate of Antigua and Barbuda. There are no minimums, if you dont want citizenship. You might also get permanent residency buying a real estate.

These are the additional costs you have to bear with property registration, as a buyer

1. Alien land holding license – 5%
2. Stamp duty – 2.5%
3. Legal fee – 2%
4. Insurance coverage – 2%

Withholding tax

If you are renting the property, there is a withholding tax – 25% of rental income for non-residents.

The typical prices for 2-bedroom houses still average around US$350,000. 3 bedroom and up US$600,000. It would cost atleast $10 million to $25 million to buy a lot and build a luxury beachfront home in nearby Pearns Point.

These are the best prime locations to buy a property in Antigua

• St Johns (capital)
• English Harbour
• Jolly Harbour
• Half Moon Bay

Foreign expats live around these areas:

• Falmouth and English Harbor
• Jolly Harbor and Fryes Beach
• Half Moon Bay and Browns Bay
• Cedar Valley, Hodges Bay and Galley Bay, and surrounding areas

7. Montenegro

Minimum Investment: EUR 250,000
Passport: 2 months

Montenegro’s special citizenship by investment program launched in 2018 is a 100% real estate program. It is a limited citizenship program only 2000 foreign investors will be given citizenship. Considering Montenegro is candidate country for EU membership and future schengen area member, very cheap property prices, makes the country all the way interesting to invest. Montenegro is by far a beautiful country and 2 million tourists visted last year.

Remember investing in residential properties will NOT make you eligible for citizenship through investment program. The most important requirement is your investment must create jobs. This is why you have to invest in hotels or resorts, most importantly ONLY approved ones.

To apply for citizenship All that is required is

1. EUR 250,000 (remote areas)
2. EUR 350,000 (capital podgorica, oceanfront or beachside properties)
3. EUR 5-10 million (five star hotel projects)
4. EUR 2 million (agriculture)
5. EUR 3 million (manufacturing or wood processing)

If you can invest EUR 5 million or more to develop a hotel creating 50 or more jobs, you can fund the hotel project using citizenship program, selling equity shares or individual hotel rooms (with titles) for citizenship.

So far, Montenegro Ministry of Development has approved 4 hotel projects for investments in citizenship.

• Hotel Breza, Kolasin – EUR 250,000
• Durimitor Hotel, Zabljak – EUR 350,000
• Kraljičina plaža, Budva – EUR 350,000
• Kolašin Resort and Spa Hotel – EUR 250,000

Montenegro has no restrictions on foreigners investing in real estate market. They can freely invest in any residential and commercial properties. Only companies can buy land. Some restrictions apply on protected properties by government on adriatic sea coast and state owned.

• VAT: 21% (new properties only)
• Property transfer tax – 3% (old/resale properties, vat exempt)
• Lawyer + Notary fee – EUR 1,000

Kotor bay, Budva and coastline areas between Herceg Novi and Petrovac are the most popular locations to buy properties, because it is easier to rent, comes with high yields.

Source: Montenegro Statistics Office – Prices of residential properties in Q4 2019

Do you know?
Kolašin 1450 is one of the biggest ski-resort in Montenegro with excellent transport connections.

8. Dominica

Minimum Investment: USD 200,000
Passport: 3 months

Dominica launched its citizenship by investment program way back in 1993, after signing visa waiver with EU schengen in 2014, the citizenship program went to to become on of the most popular passport schemes in the caribbean.

Currently an investment of $200,000 in real estate market (residential, commercial including hotels) will qualify for passport.

You can buy $220,000 as shares or fully deeded property available from $320,000

Passport Cost for Family of 4:

• Cost of share: $220,000
• Government fees: $35,000
• Due Diligence fees: $11,500
• Share registration fees: $9000
• Government processing fees: $1,000
• Certificate of Naturalisation, including stamp fees: $1,000
• Passport fee: $1000

If you dont want citizenship

Foreigners can freely invest in real estate market of Dominica, often loved for its natural beauty. There are no minimums and the following are the taxes for property.

The limits imposed for foreigners are they cannot buy more than one acre of residential property and no more than three acres on commercial property.

In general 3-bedroom houses can be bought for an average price of US$500,000

These are the best areas and locations to invest in real estate

• Capital Roseau (Castle Comfort and Wall House areas)
• Portsmouth, Salisbury and around the capital Roseau.
• Calibishie and Marigot towns
• Residential areas – Canefield, Morne Daniel, Castle Comfort, and Belfast in the north of Roseau

Withholding tax

If you purchase a property and you reside in Dominica for less than 6 months of the year you will be liable to pay withholding tax of 15% if you rent out the property and the money is paid to you outside of Dominica.

Transfer fees payable by the purchaser are made up as follows:

• 4% stamp duty
• 2.5% judicial fees
• 1% assurance fund
• 3% legal fees
• The vendor has to pay 2.5% stamp duty

Note: Dominica should not be confused with The Dominican Republic

9. Egypt

Minimum: $500,000
Passport time: 3 months

Egypt launched a brand new citizenship by investment program in 2019 and subsequent changes to citizenship legislation, reduced the required property investment to $250,000 (donation to state coffers) or $500,000 in property market

Foreigners can freely invest in real estate market of Egypt, only in residential properties and not more than 4000 square metre limitation.

How much it costs?

• Real Estate investment: $500,000
• Citizenship application fee: $10,000

Property taxes

Registering a property is quite cheap and inexpensive in Egypt.

• Registration fee – $350 (buyer)
• Legal fee – 4% (buyer)
• Property transfer tax – 2.5% (seller)
• Capital gains tax – 2.5%

The per square meter property price is $842 in Cairo.

El Gouna is a private coastal town often compared to Venice attracts very wealthy and affluent people and prices here for luxury villas easily in millions. Other resort towns such as Somabay and Sharm El Sheikh are quite popular.

El Katameya and Sheikh Zayed City are also best locations to invest in Egypt.

Source: Global Property Guide / 2019

Tourist Arrivals

Tourism has a direct impact in the real estate market and pricing in Caribbean and other countries that offer passport programs.

Before you invest in real estate, you must consider the tourism data.

Source: World Bank Data 2018

Source: Data from tourismanalytics.com, government and other news sources