8 New Ways to Get a 2nd Passport

Of the ways to get a second passport, the fastest is by plunking down cold hard cash… and the market of sellers is expanding.

You may have heard that the Caribbean countries—which originated citizenship by investment (CBI) in the 1980s—have been scrambling to avoid sanctions from the European Union. The European Union lowered the boom on Malta, forcing it to cancel its own program earlier this year.

In both cases, the EU objects to the notion of allowing visa-free access to people whose passports are the result of a purely commercial transaction, with no meaningful ties to the country in question.

But that hasn’t stopped other countries from trying to cash in on the citizenship-for-sale market… especially countries that already lack visa-free EU access. In recent months, eight countries around the world have either launched or recast CBI programs or announced intentions to do so.

• Six weeks ago, Argentina approved a framework for citizenship by investment. The South American country already has one of the world’s fastest pathways to citizenship through naturalization, at two years. Whether buying citizenship outright will be faster, and how much it will cost, remains to be seen.
• Armenia enacted a law allowing CBI in late 2022, but rulemaking is still in process. At as little as $150,000 for a passport, this could be a highly desirable option if the country achieves visa-free access to the EU which hinges on geopolitics.
• In my neighborhood, the southern African nation of Botswana announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Arton Capital to design a CBI program. A passport from the country will reportedly cost you a paltry $75,000. The government was frank about the reason: the rise of artificial diamonds threatens its main foreign exchange source.
• At the other end of Africa, Egypt lowered the cost of its existing CBI options. You can now become a citizen of this ancient nation for a $250,000 donation, $300,000 investment in real estate, a $500,000 refundable bank deposit for three years, or a $350,000 business investment plus $100,000 donation.
• The Southwest Pacific nation of Nauru implemented its own CBI program earlier this year. For only $105,000, you can get citizenship and a freshly printed passport in as little as three months.
• On August 1, the West African nation of São Tomé & Príncipe — I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of it — started selling passports for $90,000.
• Further north in West Africa, Sierra Leone recently added citizenship to its investment-based residency options. In addition to getting permanent residency by buying a kilogramme of the country’s gold, you can now get citizenship in as little as two months for $140,000, or $100,000 if you are of African descent.
• Finally, the Southwest pacific country Solomon Islands is in the process of finalising a CBI program which is to be launched before the end of this year. Details are yet unknown, but it’s unlikely to be much different from that of Nauru, a close neighbor.

Of these countries, only Argentina and São Tomé & Príncipehave visa-free access to the EU. Armenia is scheduled to receive this benefit, but the country’s current political flirtation with Russia may prevent that from happening soon.

In terms of existing visa-free access, Argentina is the strongest passport in this group, with visa-free access to 162 countries. Surprisingly, the poverty-stricken Solomon Islands is the second strongest:

Country	Visa-free	+ Visa on Arrival	+ ETA*
Argentina	105	154	162
Solomon Islands	84	129	141
Nauru	41	85	93
Botswana	46	80	92
Armenia	34	79	86
São Tomé & Príncipe	27	69	82
Sierra Leone	39	66	81
Egypt	18	61	78

*Electronic Travel Authorisation

All these countries are selling passports because they need foreign exchange. If you dig into their economic and financial situations, you’ll find a crisis of some sort.

The key question is who will want to carry these countries’ passports—and how many of them are out there. Of the countries on the list, Argentina, Botswana, and (arguably) Egypt represent viable residency options. But the rest of them are desirable only for their travel documents. That suggests their target market is the shadier parts of the global migration industry.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with buying a second passport. But remember, if your goal is to have a Plan B in an emergency, it should be a country where you’d be happy to live. I’ve been helping people decide about these issues for years, so if it’s something you’d like to pursue, book a personal consultation.