Second Citizenship

The following countries allow nationals to obtain second citizenship or residency permits. In order to obtain second citizenship, it is necessary either to invest a certain amount or contribute towards charity in those countries.

Malta (European Union)

The legal basis of the Maltese Citizenship by investment is in the Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188 of the law of Malta which was amended in November 2013.
Anyone who is over 18 years old, in good character, has got clean criminal record is eligible to apply to the Maltese citizenship by Investment. The main applicant’s parents and grandparents over 55 year old can also be included in the citizenship application.

Main requirements:

• Ready to contribute €650K ( optional: €25K for spouse and children and €50K for each parent and grand parents) to the Maltese National Development & Social Fund which is non refundable;
• Ready to purchase/invest in approved Maltese bonds and securities for €150, 000 and maintain this investment for at least 5 years;
• Must purchase a residential property in Malta for a value of €350,000 or rent a residential property for €16,000 per annum for 5 years;
• Good character and clean criminal record;
• Evidence of genuine residence in Malta for at least 12 months.

According to the Maltese authorities, the processing time for obtaining the Maltese citizenship is between 4 to 12 months.

Maltese indefinite leave to remain/permanent residence (Residence and Visa Programme)

Third country nationals are able to apply for indefinite leave to remain/permanent residency (EEA indefinite leave to remain) in Malta subject to the below requirements:

• Either purchases a property in Malta for 270,000+ Euros OR
• Rents property for 10,000 Euros per annum. It is not permitted to sell this property within 5 years of the qualifying period;
• Must be 18 years old or above and must have a clean criminal record;
• Purchases Government bonds for 250,000 Euros and must hold for a minimum of 5 years from the date of approval;
• Contributes 30,000 Euros to the Maltese Government for administrative work.

It is also required to show that the applicant has either an annual income of not less than hundred thousand euro (€100,000) arising outside Malta or has capital of not less than five hundred thousand euro (€500,000).

Cyprus (European Union)

This programme has been temporarily suspended.
It is possible to become a citizen of Cyprus which is another European Union country.

Main requirements:

• To own a private residence for at least a value of EUR500,000 (excluding VAT) indefinitely in Cyprus;

and

• Either have a deposit in the Cyprus bank for a minimum amount of EUR5 million fixed for a 3 year or;
• Purchase a Government bonds with fixed 3 year maturity; or
• Investment in Cyprus companies bonds with fixed 3 year maturity, or
• Investment in real estate development projects; or
• Purchase and participate in Cyprus companies that are based in Cyprus with the staff of minimum 5 Cypriot citizens; or
• Major Collective Investments consisting of Euro 2.5 million investment by each applicant where total investment value should be Euro 12.5 million;

The main applicant must be aged 30 or over and must visit Cyprus at least once. The procedure of obtaining the Cyprus citizenship by investment is around 3 months.

St. Kitts and Nevis

Citizenship of this country can be obtained in approximately 4 to 6 months without visiting the country. There is no residence requirement for obtaining the St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship or St.Kitts Passport.

There are two options for obtaining citizenship by investment.

• Purchase of real estate with a value of USD400,000 or more in St. Kitts & Nevis
• contributing USD 250,000 or more towards a charity (the sugar diversification foundation of St. Kitts & Nevis) which is non refundable.

Please note that there are also additional fees for Government due diligence and residence.

Dominica

Citizenship for the investment programme of the Commonwealth of Dominican Republic is similar to the Saint Kitts & Nevis programme, but in order to obtain Dominican Citizenship it is necessary to contribute USD75,000 with an additional USD25,000 for any children between 18 to 25 years. This contribution is non refundable. There are also additional government fees for due diligence, registration etc. The processing time for obtaining Dominican citizenship is between 5−7 months. Dominican passport holders can travel to around 50 countries visa free, but this does not include EEA countries, and they do not pay taxes on worldwide income.

Austria

Austrian immigration law allows citizenship to be obtained via the ‘citizenship by investment’ rule. The main requirement is that the applicant contributes to the Austrian economy and invests at least EUR 2 million in any active business and creates new jobs or generates new export sales. The average timeframe for this is between 8 to 20 months.

Please note that due to constant changes in immigration law, the above information is presented to provide a general introduction only.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and citizens can live and work in some European Union countries without any restrictions. Citizenship under the investment programme requires the main applicant to invest approximately 511,292 Euros in guaranteed government bonds for 5 years, be able to prove the source of this money and not have any criminal background. There are two types of investment.

• Full investment, where the main applicant purchases the government bonds for EUR 511,292 and keeps the bonds for 5 years.
• Partial investment, where the main applicant needs to invest EUR 170,000 for refinancing EUR 511,292 in order to purchase the government bonds.

After completion of the 5 year period, the main applicant and his/her dependants obtain permanent residence and can then apply for Bulgarian citizenship.

Please note that due to constant changes in immigration law, the above information is presented to provide a general introduction only.

Reasons to Obtain Second Citizenship/ Dual Citizenship

There are many reasons why our clients sometimes prefer to obtain second citizenship or residence for themselves and for their families, which may include:

• An unstable political situation in their country of origin;
• Visa free travel to some countries including the European Economic Area (EEA) countries;
• Residency in the EEA (for example, the Latvian residency permit allows holders to live and work in any EEA country);
• Taxation reasons (some countries do not levy tax on individuals on the basis of their worldwide income or assets);
• avoiding negative attitudes towards second citizenship/passport holders when they travel;
• makes it easy to carry out investment and entrepreneurial activities in countries where there are fewer restrictions.

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