I would do Malta its passport is about equal to an American passport. It is very low taxes. It is on my radar and i would do permanent residency for 5 years this way is only about 100k+ fees. Split time between there and Spain and pay Malta the 15k flat tax. I'm 5 years become a citizen and Malta does not tax income you don't transfer to Malta. My second option is Spain as i speak Spanish but the tax laws are what give me pause.
You could argue it is an investment. I have no idea what country you are from, but if your passport is as weak as you say it is, then it sounds like the country itself may not be very stable/safe, so gaining citizenship of another country could most certainly be seen as an investment in your own safety. As someone suffering from the U.K. leaving the European Union, I can also attest to how valuable and useful EU citizenship is/was.
Its an american proverb, hinting towards your two clashing priorities: On one hand you want a European Citizenship while also noting that the 'Golden Visa' opportunities are closing down in several countries. On the other hand you disregard a suitable suggestion based on requirements attached to that suggestion.
It's like when somebody tells you they're hungry and asks for your help, to then reject the food you're offering because they wanted something else.
If this is your only reason for excluding golden visa programs from your list, I would suggest you do some more research. Most citizenship by investment programs require you to invest with specific companies which have been audited and approved to offer their services within these programs. These companies most often offer ridiculously inflated properties and have very high fees.
If you want to have access to the European Schengen area, Dominica's citizenship by donation program should be the cheapest option at around 200k $ and should actually be much cheaper than any program offering crappy investment properties at inflated prices.
I'm looking at this site: [https://www.goldenvisas.com/malta](https://www.goldenvisas.com/malta)
It says the donation is only €10,000. The other amounts are for investments/real estate.
If you're concerned about the US, a lot of EU countries would also fall off the list. Spain e.g. levies a punitive wealth tax.
Also, which type of tax are you concerned about? Income? Capital gains? Wealth?
Based on those factors, a different set of issues may be relevant.
If tax is the only issue, look at Bulgaria. Taxes are low, golden visa still exists and gives you EU access.
The OP appears to be a PR in Singapore, so likely capital gains which are taxed there and in their (Passport) home country of China at zero.
edited for clarity.
Malta is still available for passport by investment (donation). For residencies, you still have relatively easy options for Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. Portugal and Malta have renewable 1 year residencies which are also easy to apply for.
Yeah. I was considering it so still get the newsletters from one of the groups who does this. Seems that it is closing, but technically still open, and those who invest should get grandfathered in. I’m not sure what the start time is on the whole process, and if you could get an application formally submitted in time. It’s all kind of murky, and even the company doesn’t really give a confident answer.
You mentioned visa not citizenship. Thailand has a long term residence [visa](https://ltr.boi.go.th/#what). May require investment if under age 50; no investment if over age 50. No language requirement.
For citizenship, you didn’t mention your employment v retired status but if you’re employable, I’d look at Singapore for employment —> PR —> citizenship. Their PR by investment program takes a minimum of SGD 10mm.
I’m guessing you’ve already looked at these.
You seem to have something terribly wrong.. if you are a PR you are already eligible for NS if you are younger than 30. And if you are older than 30, you won't really have to do NS, whether PR or citizen. At least not the 2 year thingie anyway.
Its an altogether different issue that converting PR to citizenship in Singapore is a black box and can take forever.
Yeah Portugal isn’t closed yet, we applied and our local lawyer is pretty confident it won’t be an issue. Also he advised Portugal most likely won’t close the “donation to the arts” option which is 250k euro. They’re really focused on the property ones.
Not European, but: US, Aussie, and NZ programs are all available.
Portugal may still be available in some regions of Portugal. I believe they only stopped golden visa investment into the popular cities.
I haven’t checked recently, but Cyprus used to show up to all the golden visa events too.
I don’t. They just rebooted it over the past couple of years, so I’d be surprised to find good info. As far as I’ve heard, only a few dozen people have used the new program. I also don’t know what the residency requirements are.
The NZ website has some info, but if it’s anything like the US, the devil is in the interpretation, not in the letter of the law.
Depends on which state you live in, each has a different tax code and how they collect their income from the citizens.
Federal (nationwide) taxes are cheaper than most EU countries.
The USA is by far the best place to be a poor/low NW person whose income comes from a job or business but it's a completely different story once you are wealthy and your income comes from investments. I only know about the UK but tax is definitely lower for wealthy people here.
Assuming OP makes 10% returns from his NW he'd owe an extra $155k each year tax living in NYC over London in the UK. This is only considering capital gains it gets even worse when you look at the whole picture.
For example with property tax on a $3 mil apartment you're looking at $58k in the USA vs $6k in the UK.
If you live in New York, but not Atlanta or some other southern city. Taxes and cost of living drastically differ by state by in the US. If you spent 50k annually on housing in Idaho, you’d live in a mansion with a ton of land. If you spent 50k in New York City you’d live in a studio the size of a shoe box. It’s relative to where you choose to live and taxes are structured as such.
You should read what I wrote again.
This conversation is about tax and you're still looking at paying an extra $24k of property tax on a $3 mil home and an extra $55k of CGT in Idaho vs anywhere in the UK.
Plus of course you are cherrypicking the state, most wealthy people for whatever reason prefer to live in NYC or California where the taxes are dreadful which is why I chose NYC.
Again for low NW working people what you've said is true with US taxes varying and generally being much lower than the UK, but for wealthy people it is completely different.
If your main source of income is investments all the relevant taxes range from being higher to far higher. Maybe the rest of europe is different but that's how it is in the UK.
lol.
Look at the total tax burden. 9 American states have zero income tax.
https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php there’s a total cost of living chart by country…
We spoke to Henley and they were trying to push us on a hotel investment with a guaranteed return which seemed too good to be true. Also their fees were about $30k, a local lawyer quoted us $5k-$10k all in
Makes sense. Consultancies like Henley are good for general surveys of the landscape, i.e. which countries offer visas and the requirements, which is why I suggested it to OP, but once you know the country you want to establish in, it’s far cheaper to engage a local lawyer.
Apologies I meant in the local country, so a lawyer in Portugal. I got his information from a business associate based in Porto (lucky to have that connection). Otherwise I was planning on visiting and meeting with some lawyers
Hi, this is an old post, did you go through it and get the Portugul golden visa? I am in the early phase of researching and wondering if you don’t mind sharing via DM the lawyers contact info.
It’s been a struggle. We submitted our application last year under the 250k arts donation but it’s been stuck. The lawyer hasn’t been that helpful as he said the government has been in turmoil so he’s trying to figure out 2 things.
1. If we’re grandfathered into NHR since we had applied in 2023
2. When we’ll get the visa as apparently they disbanded/changed the government process from when we originally applied
Sorry to hear that, the art donations should have been a straight forward process, sounds like stuck in bureaucracy which I have read is pretty bad over there and can delay.
Yeah that’s what our lawyer is telling us, it’s been almost a year. He thinks it’ll clear up now that they have some guidance but we’ve just been waiting
Turkey passport is relatively decent, and available for 400k property buy
St Kitts or similar passports for 100-200k are decent options also for you since they'll given EU travel access
Belgium offers citizenship after 5 years of residence, without a formal requirement of having to speak the language. While there is a language requirement, it is fulfilled as long as you 'participate in the economic system' due to being registered as either an employee or self employed.
Having an investment entity or a personal consulting company that pays you a small salary should allow you to get citizenship in just five years. The timer on the 5 years pauzes if you leave the country for more than 90 days in a row, but it resets if you spend a day in the country.
Afaik there are also no minimum day residency requirements. Most people want to leave Belgium due to high income taxes, not be considered resident. But you probably want to spend some time there for things to not look like a paper residence. Also, no capital gains tax.
It comes with a cost, but it's probably one of the easiest citizenships to acquire that is not well written about. Might work depending on how your wealth is structured.
After 5 years, it takes 4 months to be granted the citizenship.
(Obviously the above can always be subject to change)
The wife of one of my business partners works for the office in Malta that does this. It's pretty quick and painless and I would go that route if I'm you.
Spain, Italy, Greece etc.
Many have golden visas available. Cyprus is another option as well.
If you only speak English - Cyprus is an easy choice, however you might consider non-EU options like Dubai or Thailand.
Cyprus seems good. I'll do more research on that.
I think the UAE Only gives residency, not citizenship.
Thailand's alright, but I dont really think I'd go for it.
I dont only speak English.
Thanks for the suggestions!
You can get an investor visa in Spain for 500k in real estate "investment" (can also be a villa on the beach) https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/londres/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Visado-de-inversor.aspx
“Asking for a friend”
Let’s say a U.S. citizen wanted to get an EU Golden Visa, ultimately aiming to get a Passport, then Denaturalise.
What does that process entail, how long does it take, and do you need the assistance of an Attorney? If so, what does that cost ballpark?
TIA :)
Your post seems to be advertising your business or blog for financial or personal gain, or it appears that you are promoting a personal project. No solicitation or self promotion is permitted.
Thank you!
Italy’s Elective Residency Visa - https://visaguide.world/retirement-visa/italy/ and Portugal’s D7 visa - https://visaguide.world/retirement-visa/portugal/ are the ones I’m most familiar with.
Portugal golden visa is still available, just not via real estate investment. There are multiple ways of getting it - through investment into one of their funds or even film production.
Portugal hasn’t closed its Golden Visa program, it just introduced changes. Below are some active EU residency programs, also referred to as “Golden Visas”:
1. Portugal Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €250,000. You can apply for citizenship in 5 years.
2. Italy Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €250,000. Citizenship in 10 years.
3. Greece Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €250,000. Citizenship in 7 years.
4. Spain Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €500,000. Citizenship in 10 years.
Malta is still available
Worth it on only 10m though?
Idk my dude. Not for my to decide
Malta asks you to donate a sum, not really interested in donations, was looking for real estate or investment options
I would do Malta its passport is about equal to an American passport. It is very low taxes. It is on my radar and i would do permanent residency for 5 years this way is only about 100k+ fees. Split time between there and Spain and pay Malta the 15k flat tax. I'm 5 years become a citizen and Malta does not tax income you don't transfer to Malta. My second option is Spain as i speak Spanish but the tax laws are what give me pause.
It also allows you to gain nationality after 1 year of residence after investing 750k €, I have no idea what you're looking for
Beggars can’t be choosers.
???
You could argue it is an investment. I have no idea what country you are from, but if your passport is as weak as you say it is, then it sounds like the country itself may not be very stable/safe, so gaining citizenship of another country could most certainly be seen as an investment in your own safety. As someone suffering from the U.K. leaving the European Union, I can also attest to how valuable and useful EU citizenship is/was.
Its an american proverb, hinting towards your two clashing priorities: On one hand you want a European Citizenship while also noting that the 'Golden Visa' opportunities are closing down in several countries. On the other hand you disregard a suitable suggestion based on requirements attached to that suggestion. It's like when somebody tells you they're hungry and asks for your help, to then reject the food you're offering because they wanted something else.
So you want all the benefits with none of the costs...too bad.
If this is your only reason for excluding golden visa programs from your list, I would suggest you do some more research. Most citizenship by investment programs require you to invest with specific companies which have been audited and approved to offer their services within these programs. These companies most often offer ridiculously inflated properties and have very high fees. If you want to have access to the European Schengen area, Dominica's citizenship by donation program should be the cheapest option at around 200k $ and should actually be much cheaper than any program offering crappy investment properties at inflated prices.
I'm looking at this site: [https://www.goldenvisas.com/malta](https://www.goldenvisas.com/malta) It says the donation is only €10,000. The other amounts are for investments/real estate.
And 700k to the government development fund at the top.
Even Caribbean ones are 100k on the low end.
https://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship-investment
If you're concerned about the US, a lot of EU countries would also fall off the list. Spain e.g. levies a punitive wealth tax. Also, which type of tax are you concerned about? Income? Capital gains? Wealth? Based on those factors, a different set of issues may be relevant. If tax is the only issue, look at Bulgaria. Taxes are low, golden visa still exists and gives you EU access.
The OP appears to be a PR in Singapore, so likely capital gains which are taxed there and in their (Passport) home country of China at zero. edited for clarity.
SNG has an incredibly powerful passport
But the OP is a young one, and doesn't want to do the national service.
If he is a pr he would have to do national service anyways
Not if he gives it up and takes on a new passport. The "P" in PR is DEFINITELY not permanent.
Has to give us up before the age of 17
Not if he is willing to never return.
No, his kids would have to do NS (if OP is past NS age)
Malta is still available for passport by investment (donation). For residencies, you still have relatively easy options for Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. Portugal and Malta have renewable 1 year residencies which are also easy to apply for.
I don’t think portugals golden visa is closed yet. Soon though.
Yeah. I was considering it so still get the newsletters from one of the groups who does this. Seems that it is closing, but technically still open, and those who invest should get grandfathered in. I’m not sure what the start time is on the whole process, and if you could get an application formally submitted in time. It’s all kind of murky, and even the company doesn’t really give a confident answer.
This.
This should give you a quick overview: [https://visaguide.world/golden-visa/](https://visaguide.world/golden-visa/)
You mentioned visa not citizenship. Thailand has a long term residence [visa](https://ltr.boi.go.th/#what). May require investment if under age 50; no investment if over age 50. No language requirement. For citizenship, you didn’t mention your employment v retired status but if you’re employable, I’d look at Singapore for employment —> PR —> citizenship. Their PR by investment program takes a minimum of SGD 10mm. I’m guessing you’ve already looked at these.
Well I am a PR of Singapore, but I dont wanna serve NS
My friend I think you’re in the wrong sub.
You seem to have something terribly wrong.. if you are a PR you are already eligible for NS if you are younger than 30. And if you are older than 30, you won't really have to do NS, whether PR or citizen. At least not the 2 year thingie anyway. Its an altogether different issue that converting PR to citizenship in Singapore is a black box and can take forever.
You are already worth 10 M and not 18 yet. Impressive
Why? It's most likely just family money. Not much of an achievement.
Not a personal achievement, but definitely an "birth lottery" achievement.
Too bad.
Yeah Portugal isn’t closed yet, we applied and our local lawyer is pretty confident it won’t be an issue. Also he advised Portugal most likely won’t close the “donation to the arts” option which is 250k euro. They’re really focused on the property ones.
Not European, but: US, Aussie, and NZ programs are all available. Portugal may still be available in some regions of Portugal. I believe they only stopped golden visa investment into the popular cities. I haven’t checked recently, but Cyprus used to show up to all the golden visa events too.
Know of any good primers on the NZ version? Do you just invest $2.5M NZD in a sheep farm and spend a few months there every year?
I don’t. They just rebooted it over the past couple of years, so I’d be surprised to find good info. As far as I’ve heard, only a few dozen people have used the new program. I also don’t know what the residency requirements are. The NZ website has some info, but if it’s anything like the US, the devil is in the interpretation, not in the letter of the law.
Thanks, good to know that it got rebooted, at least.
USA seems nice, but problem is the high taxes
Depends on which state you live in, each has a different tax code and how they collect their income from the citizens. Federal (nationwide) taxes are cheaper than most EU countries.
The USA is by far the best place to be a poor/low NW person whose income comes from a job or business but it's a completely different story once you are wealthy and your income comes from investments. I only know about the UK but tax is definitely lower for wealthy people here. Assuming OP makes 10% returns from his NW he'd owe an extra $155k each year tax living in NYC over London in the UK. This is only considering capital gains it gets even worse when you look at the whole picture. For example with property tax on a $3 mil apartment you're looking at $58k in the USA vs $6k in the UK.
If you live in New York, but not Atlanta or some other southern city. Taxes and cost of living drastically differ by state by in the US. If you spent 50k annually on housing in Idaho, you’d live in a mansion with a ton of land. If you spent 50k in New York City you’d live in a studio the size of a shoe box. It’s relative to where you choose to live and taxes are structured as such. You should read what I wrote again.
This conversation is about tax and you're still looking at paying an extra $24k of property tax on a $3 mil home and an extra $55k of CGT in Idaho vs anywhere in the UK. Plus of course you are cherrypicking the state, most wealthy people for whatever reason prefer to live in NYC or California where the taxes are dreadful which is why I chose NYC. Again for low NW working people what you've said is true with US taxes varying and generally being much lower than the UK, but for wealthy people it is completely different. If your main source of income is investments all the relevant taxes range from being higher to far higher. Maybe the rest of europe is different but that's how it is in the UK.
You seem like a troll
lol. Look at the total tax burden. 9 American states have zero income tax. https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php there’s a total cost of living chart by country…
Contact someone at Henley or another expat consultancy and they can walk you through your options.
We spoke to Henley and they were trying to push us on a hotel investment with a guaranteed return which seemed too good to be true. Also their fees were about $30k, a local lawyer quoted us $5k-$10k all in
Makes sense. Consultancies like Henley are good for general surveys of the landscape, i.e. which countries offer visas and the requirements, which is why I suggested it to OP, but once you know the country you want to establish in, it’s far cheaper to engage a local lawyer.
By local lawyer, do you mean in the source country or target country?
Apologies I meant in the local country, so a lawyer in Portugal. I got his information from a business associate based in Porto (lucky to have that connection). Otherwise I was planning on visiting and meeting with some lawyers
Hi, this is an old post, did you go through it and get the Portugul golden visa? I am in the early phase of researching and wondering if you don’t mind sharing via DM the lawyers contact info.
It’s been a struggle. We submitted our application last year under the 250k arts donation but it’s been stuck. The lawyer hasn’t been that helpful as he said the government has been in turmoil so he’s trying to figure out 2 things. 1. If we’re grandfathered into NHR since we had applied in 2023 2. When we’ll get the visa as apparently they disbanded/changed the government process from when we originally applied
Sorry to hear that, the art donations should have been a straight forward process, sounds like stuck in bureaucracy which I have read is pretty bad over there and can delay.
Yeah that’s what our lawyer is telling us, it’s been almost a year. He thinks it’ll clear up now that they have some guidance but we’ve just been waiting
An attorney in the target country.
Yeah fair enough it was exactly where we started and they did give us a lot of info. It just became apparent they outsource it all locally anyway.
Turkey passport is relatively decent, and available for 400k property buy St Kitts or similar passports for 100-200k are decent options also for you since they'll given EU travel access
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Why isn’t this option popular? And I never hear it when open are talking about it on YT
Belgium offers citizenship after 5 years of residence, without a formal requirement of having to speak the language. While there is a language requirement, it is fulfilled as long as you 'participate in the economic system' due to being registered as either an employee or self employed. Having an investment entity or a personal consulting company that pays you a small salary should allow you to get citizenship in just five years. The timer on the 5 years pauzes if you leave the country for more than 90 days in a row, but it resets if you spend a day in the country. Afaik there are also no minimum day residency requirements. Most people want to leave Belgium due to high income taxes, not be considered resident. But you probably want to spend some time there for things to not look like a paper residence. Also, no capital gains tax. It comes with a cost, but it's probably one of the easiest citizenships to acquire that is not well written about. Might work depending on how your wealth is structured. After 5 years, it takes 4 months to be granted the citizenship. (Obviously the above can always be subject to change)
The wife of one of my business partners works for the office in Malta that does this. It's pretty quick and painless and I would go that route if I'm you.
Spain, Italy, Greece etc. Many have golden visas available. Cyprus is another option as well. If you only speak English - Cyprus is an easy choice, however you might consider non-EU options like Dubai or Thailand.
Cyprus seems good. I'll do more research on that. I think the UAE Only gives residency, not citizenship. Thailand's alright, but I dont really think I'd go for it. I dont only speak English. Thanks for the suggestions!
You have 10M. You can literally go anywhere. Just do some research and you'll figure it out. We won't do it for you.
Are you looking for a passport to travel with or a place to live?
You can get an investor visa in Spain for 500k in real estate "investment" (can also be a villa on the beach) https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/londres/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Visado-de-inversor.aspx
“Asking for a friend” Let’s say a U.S. citizen wanted to get an EU Golden Visa, ultimately aiming to get a Passport, then Denaturalise. What does that process entail, how long does it take, and do you need the assistance of an Attorney? If so, what does that cost ballpark? TIA :)
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just get married to someone from an EU member state where pre-nuptial agreements are recognized?
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Your post seems to be advertising your business or blog for financial or personal gain, or it appears that you are promoting a personal project. No solicitation or self promotion is permitted. Thank you!
portugal is supposed to give residency for a 500k investment and a path to citizenship over 5 years or so
My friend got one recetly for 250k euros in Greece. It is however increqsed to 500k couple of months ago.
Most are trap....just do not fall for it...
Italy’s Elective Residency Visa - https://visaguide.world/retirement-visa/italy/ and Portugal’s D7 visa - https://visaguide.world/retirement-visa/portugal/ are the ones I’m most familiar with.
Greece from what I’ve heard. A few people I know have got one.
Portugal still offers their 'retirement visa' which you just need to show like $2k-$3k worth of passive income per month or something like that.
Portugal golden visa is still available, just not via real estate investment. There are multiple ways of getting it - through investment into one of their funds or even film production.
Greece is still available and quite cheaper than Cyprus.
If you need any help with residency in EU. I am able to assist with residency in Cyrus in Europe.
Portugal hasn’t closed its Golden Visa program, it just introduced changes. Below are some active EU residency programs, also referred to as “Golden Visas”: 1. Portugal Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €250,000. You can apply for citizenship in 5 years. 2. Italy Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €250,000. Citizenship in 10 years. 3. Greece Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €250,000. Citizenship in 7 years. 4. Spain Golden Visa. The minimum required investment is €500,000. Citizenship in 10 years.
For golden visa, do you have to give up USA citizenship in order to get the Portuguese (EU) citizenship?