· NextMigrate Team
Golden and Investor Visa Countries: A 2026 Guide
Most people migrate by proving what they can do: a job offer, a degree, a scored points test. A smaller group migrates by proving what they have. Residency-by-investment and citizenship-by-investment programmes, commonly branded "golden visas", let you buy your way to a residence permit or, in a handful of places, a second passport by putting capital into a country's property, funds, government bonds, or a national development account.
This is a genuinely different route from the skilled-work visas covered elsewhere on NextMigrate. It is not better or worse, it is for a different person: someone with liquid capital who values speed, optionality, and a plan B more than they need a salary in the destination. This guide sets out which countries still run these programmes in 2026, what you actually get for your money, and, just as importantly, the downsides that the glossy brochures leave out.
A word of caution before we start. The golden visa world moves fast, and it has moved against investors over the past few years. The European Union has spent years pressuring member states to shut schemes that offered residence or citizenship with little real connection to the country. Programmes have been closed, repriced, or restructured with only a few months' notice. Treat every figure below as a well-established range and a starting point for research, not a locked-in quote. Always confirm current rules with the official government source and an independent, regulated adviser before you move a single unit of currency.
Residency by investment vs citizenship by investment
The single most important distinction in this space is between buying residency and buying citizenship. People blur the two constantly, and the difference is enormous.
Residency by investment (RBI) gives you a residence permit. You gain the right to live in the country, usually the right to travel within an associated bloc (the Schengen Area for EU programmes), and often a path to permanent residence and eventually naturalisation after several years of genuine residence. You do not get a passport on day one. Most golden visas are RBI.
Citizenship by investment (CBI) gives you a passport, typically within several months to a couple of years, often without any requirement to live in the country. This is far rarer, far more scrutinised, and increasingly restricted. The Caribbean nations are the best-known examples.
A useful way to frame it: RBI buys you a place to live and a foot in the door; CBI buys you a travel document and a legal identity. Your goal decides which column you should even be reading.
| Feature | Residency by investment | Citizenship by investment |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Residence permit | Passport and nationality |
| Typical timeline | Weeks to months for the permit | Several months to ~2 years |
| Physical presence | Often minimal, but required for later naturalisation | Often little or none |
| Path to passport | Yes, via naturalisation after years of residence | Immediate |
| Typical entry cost | From roughly EUR/USD 250,000 | From roughly USD 200,000 |
| Main buyers | Lifestyle movers, plan-B seekers, retirees | Frequent travellers, second-passport seekers |
What golden visas are actually for
Be honest with yourself about the job you are hiring a golden visa to do. In practice, people pursue them for four reasons:
- A plan B. A hedge against political or economic instability at home. If your home country's situation deteriorates, you already hold a legal right to live somewhere else. Our piece on political instability and your career covers why this matters to people in volatile economies.
- Mobility. A second residence or passport that widens where you can travel and live without applying for a visa each time.
- Lifestyle and eventual relocation. A slow-burn plan to spend part of the year, or eventually retire, somewhere with better weather, healthcare, or cost of living.
- A passport for the next generation. Several programmes let you include children, and citizenship can pass down. If that is your angle, our post on passport power for your children is worth a read alongside this one.
If your actual goal is to work abroad and earn a local salary, a golden visa is usually the wrong and most expensive tool. A skilled-work route will serve you better and cost a fraction as much. Use our assessment to sanity-check which category you genuinely fall into before committing capital.
European residency-by-investment programmes
Europe is where golden visas became famous, and where they have been dismantled most aggressively. The direction of travel is clear: away from real estate, towards funds, jobs, and productive investment, and in some cases towards closure altogether.
Portugal
Portugal's golden visa is the programme everyone cites, and it has changed profoundly. The headline change: residential property purchases no longer qualify. The government removed the real-estate route to cool an overheated housing market. What remains are capital routes, principally investment into qualifying funds (commonly around EUR 500,000), plus options tied to research, cultural heritage donations, and business creation.
The genuine draw of Portugal was never the money, it was the light physical-presence requirement (historically an average of around seven days per year) combined with a path to citizenship. That path is under active review in 2026, with proposals to lengthen the required residence period before naturalisation. If a passport at the end is your reason for choosing Portugal, confirm the current naturalisation timeline before you commit, because it may be materially longer than the figure you saw quoted a year ago. If Portugal is on your shortlist, start with our migrate to Portugal overview.
Spain
Spain closed its property-based golden visa in 2025. The scheme that let non-EU buyers gain residence by purchasing EUR 500,000 of real estate is gone. This is the clearest example of the wider trend and a reminder that these programmes can disappear. Spain remains highly attractive for non-lucrative visas and skilled routes, so if it is your target, read our migrate to Spain page for the routes that still exist rather than chasing a closed door.
Greece
Greece has become the most prominent property-based golden visa left in the EU, precisely because others closed theirs. It is also the one that has repriced most sharply. Thresholds are now tiered by location: the highest-demand areas (parts of Athens, Thessaloniki, and popular islands) sit at the top band (commonly cited around EUR 800,000), with lower thresholds in less-pressured regions and specific carve-outs for restoration and conversion projects. Greece grants a five-year renewable residence permit with essentially no minimum-stay requirement, which is its main appeal. Citizenship, by contrast, requires many years of genuine residence and a language test, so treat the Greek golden visa as a residence-and-mobility play, not a fast passport.
Malta
Malta runs two distinct things and it is vital not to confuse them. There is a residency programme (the Malta Permanent Residence Programme), based on a mix of property lease or purchase, a government contribution, and a donation. Separately, Malta operated a route to citizenship for exceptional investment. The citizenship route drew a long-running legal challenge from the European Union, and in 2025 the EU's top court ruled against Malta's scheme, throwing the citizenship-by-investment model within the EU into serious doubt. If anyone offers you an "EU passport by investment" in 2026, be extremely sceptical and get independent legal advice, because the legal ground has shifted. Malta's residency options are more stable; see our migrate to Malta page for context.
Other European options
- Greece, Portugal and Malta aside, several EU states run investor-migration routes under different names, often via job creation or business establishment rather than passive property.
- Non-EU Europe has its own schemes. Some run active-business or real-estate routes with a path to citizenship over time, but scrutiny, banking, and reputational checks vary widely.
| Country | Route still open (2026) | Typical minimum | What you get | Notable catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | Funds / donation / business | ~EUR 500,000 | Residence, path to citizenship | Property route closed; naturalisation timeline under review |
| Spain | Golden visa closed | n/a | n/a | Scheme ended 2025 |
| Greece | Real estate (tiered) | ~EUR 250,000–800,000 | 5-year renewable residence | Highest thresholds in prime areas |
| Malta | Residency programme | ~EUR 150,000+ contribution/property | Permanent residence | Citizenship-by-investment route legally challenged |
Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programmes
The Caribbean is the heartland of citizenship by investment. Five small nations, often grouped together, have offered a passport in exchange for a donation to a national fund or a qualifying real-estate purchase: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia.
The pitch is straightforward: a second passport, usually within several months to a year, no requirement to live there, visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a long list of countries, and often no tax on foreign income. For frequent travellers holding a weaker passport, that mobility can be transformative.
There are two important 2026 realities. First, the five countries agreed a minimum floor for donation-based applications (commonly cited at around USD 200,000) to end a price war that had been eroding the programmes' credibility. Second, and more consequentially, the European Union and other governments have tightened or reviewed visa-free access for some Caribbean passports, citing due-diligence concerns. The whole value of a CBI passport rests on where it lets you travel, so the visa-free list is not a fixed asset. It can shrink. Any adviser who quotes you today's travel access as a permanent benefit is overselling.
| Country | Typical entry (donation) | Real-estate option | Rough timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dominica | ~USD 200,000 | Yes | ~6–9 months |
| St Kitts and Nevis | ~USD 250,000 | Yes | ~4–9 months |
| Grenada | ~USD 235,000 | Yes | ~6–12 months |
| Antigua and Barbuda | ~USD 230,000 | Yes | ~6–12 months |
| St Lucia | ~USD 240,000 | Yes | ~6–12 months |
Grenada deserves a specific mention: its citizenship gives access to the United States E-2 treaty investor visa, which some use as an indirect route to living in the US via a business investment. That is a niche but real advantage that the others do not offer.
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The Gulf has become a serious player, competing on lifestyle, tax, and infrastructure rather than on a path to a passport, which these countries generally do not offer to investors.
United Arab Emirates
The UAE's Golden Visa is a long-term (typically ten-year, renewable) residence permit. The best-known route is real estate: buying property at or above a set threshold (commonly cited at AED 2 million, roughly USD 545,000). There are also routes for entrepreneurs, investors in public funds, and highly skilled professionals. The appeal is a zero personal-income-tax environment, world-class infrastructure, and a genuinely fast, digitised process. What you will not get is citizenship, which the UAE grants only in very rare, discretionary cases. For the wider picture of moving there, see our migrate to UAE page and the UAE work visa process for the non-investor alternative.
Other Gulf states
Several neighbouring states run their own long-term residence or investor schemes with similar logic: capital or property in exchange for stability and tax advantages, but not nationality. If the Gulf appeals, weigh it against the fact that residence is tied to maintaining your investment and status, not a permanent, unconditional right.
How the money actually works
The sticker price is never the real price. Before you compare programmes, understand the full cost stack:
- The qualifying investment itself. Fund, property, bond, or donation. A donation is gone forever. A fund or property investment may be recoverable later, but with market risk and often a lock-in period of five years or more.
- Government and processing fees. Application, due-diligence, and issuance fees, often charged per family member.
- Professional fees. Legal representation, agent commissions, and translation. These can run to tens of thousands and are rarely refundable.
- Ongoing costs. Property maintenance, taxes, permit renewals, and the opportunity cost of capital parked in a low-yielding asset.
- Tax exposure. Gaining residence somewhere can change your tax position in ways you did not intend, especially if you spend real time there.
That last point is the one that catches people out. Tax residency is usually about where you actually live and how many days you spend there, not which permits you hold. Acquiring a golden visa does not automatically make you tax-resident somewhere, but if you start spending significant time in the country, you may trigger tax residency and reporting obligations, both there and back home. This is genuinely complex, and it interacts with remote-work income in particular. Our guide to the tax trap of remote work for a foreign company explains the mechanics that trip people up, and you should take specialist cross-border tax advice before committing.
The honest risks and downsides
This is the section the sales agents skip, so read it twice.
Programmes change or close with little warning. Spain's closure and the EU court ruling against Malta's citizenship route are not outliers, they are the trend. You may invest under one set of rules and find the path to permanent residence or citizenship lengthened, repriced, or removed before you reach the finish line. Never invest on the assumption that today's benefits are guaranteed to survive to the end of your plan.
The asset may underperform or lock up. A EUR 500,000 fund investment or an overseas flat is a real financial position with real risk. Golden-visa-linked property is often sold at a premium to investors and can be hard to resell at the price you paid. Judge the investment on its merits as if the visa did not exist. If it is a bad investment without the visa, the visa does not fix it.
Mobility benefits can shrink. For CBI passports especially, visa-free travel is the whole point, and it is not under your control. Countries can and do revoke visa-free access to passports they view as due-diligence risks.
Reputational and banking friction. Some banks and jurisdictions apply extra scrutiny to golden-visa holders, particularly CBI passports. You may face more questions when opening accounts or making large transfers.
It does not buy belonging. A permit is not a life. You still have to build community, navigate bureaucracy, and, if you actually relocate, handle the emotional cost of leaving home. None of that is on the invoice. Our writing on the guilt of leaving your home country and on building a social life in a new country covers the part money cannot solve.
Scams cluster around big-ticket migration. Wherever large sums and life-changing promises meet, fraud follows. Be especially wary of anyone guaranteeing an outcome, pushing you to move money quickly, or working outside a regulated framework. Our guide on how to avoid immigration scams applies with full force here.
Who these programmes suit, and who they don't
Golden and investor visas make sense for a fairly narrow profile: you have genuine liquid capital you can afford to tie up or lose, your primary aim is optionality, mobility, or a plan B rather than a local salary, and you have taken independent tax and legal advice. For that person, the right programme can be a rational, well-priced insurance policy.
They make far less sense if the investment sum represents most of your net worth, if your real goal is to work and earn locally, or if you are relying on a specific future benefit (a passport, a tax break, a travel list) that the government could change. In those cases you are taking on a lot of downside for benefits you do not control.
If you are weighing an investment route against a skilled-work route, or comparing destinations head to head, our compare tool lets you put countries side by side on the factors that matter, and the assessment will point you towards the pathway that fits your actual situation rather than the one with the shiniest brochure.
Frequently asked questions
Is a golden visa the same as buying citizenship? No. Most golden visas grant residency, a permit to live in the country, not a passport. Only citizenship-by-investment programmes grant nationality directly, and those are rarer and under increasing legal and political pressure, especially within the EU.
Which is the cheapest way to get a second passport by investment? The Caribbean citizenship programmes are generally the lowest entry point for an actual passport, with a donation floor now commonly around USD 200,000 plus fees. But "cheapest" ignores due-diligence risk and the possibility that visa-free travel access is reduced later. Cost per passport is the wrong metric on its own.
Do I have to live in the country? It depends. Many residency programmes have minimal or no annual stay requirement to keep the permit, but you will usually need genuine physical residence for years before you can naturalise into citizenship. Caribbean citizenship generally requires little or no residence at all.
Will a golden visa change my taxes? Potentially, but usually only if you spend real time in the country. Tax residency is driven by where you actually live and how many days you are present, not by which permits you hold. Take specialist cross-border tax advice, and read our tax trap guide first.
Are EU golden visas being shut down? Several have been. Spain closed its scheme in 2025, Portugal removed the property route, and the EU's top court ruled against Malta's citizenship-by-investment programme. Others have been repriced. The clear direction is tighter, more expensive, and more scrutinised, so verify the current rules before relying on any single programme.
Can my family be included? Most programmes allow you to include a spouse and dependent children, and often dependent parents, usually for additional fees per person. Check exactly who qualifies as a dependant, as definitions vary and change.
Is this the right route for me at all? If your goal is to earn a living abroad, a skilled-work visa is almost always cheaper and more appropriate. Golden visas suit people buying optionality, not a salary. Run our assessment to see which pathway fits your circumstances before you spend anything.
The figures in this guide are well-established ranges as of 2026 and are provided for orientation only. Programme rules, thresholds, and benefits change frequently and sometimes at short notice. Always confirm current terms with the official government source and take independent, regulated legal and tax advice before making any investment or migration decision.
