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The Only 10 Ways to Get a New Citizenship in 2026 · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every citizenship passes through one of ten legal paths.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: The market will pitch you golden visas, heritage passports, and nomad tracks that mature into naturalization.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: But underneath the branding, the mechanism is always one of these ten.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: But watch out.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: The four options are closing right now, and only one asks for your money.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Before we count the ten, two mechanisms fall outside the list.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: When states split or merge, citizenship transfers by succession, as it did for millions when the Soviet Union dissolved, and a few jurisdictions issue honorary or functional citizenship, like the Vatican, which ties nationality to office.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Both arrive by history, so we've set them aside.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: The ten in this video are essentially the complete map.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Members of our private community, IMI sovereigns, verify their own eligibility against our citizenship catalogue, which documents every path to citizenship across all 195 countries.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Link and a nice discount are in the description.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, door number one is the most widespread citizenship mechanism in the world, and it is also the first of the four that are closing.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Path one, descent.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship by descent or use sanguinis, the right of blood, passes nationality from parent to child regardless of birthplace.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: In most countries, it applies automatically at birth.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: The strategic version reaches further back.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Ireland grants citizenship to anyone with an Irish-born grandparent through its Foreign Births Register, and several European countries recognize claims through great-grandparents or beyond.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: A descent claim typically costs hundreds of dollars in registry fees, and the decisive question is usually whether an ancestor naturalized elsewhere before or after the next generation was born.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: But this first option is narrowing.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Italy recognized dissent claims with no generational limit for decades, then capped transmission at two generations in 2025, and its Constitutional Court upheld the cap in March 2026.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Canada moved the other way, though only partly, and its rollout has been rough enough that the immigration department conceded its own documentation guidance was unclear.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Count Italy's cap as closing pathway number one of four.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Path 2, birth on territory.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jus Soli, the right of soil, grants citizenship to anyone born inside a country's territory, regardless of the parent status.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Only 33 countries apply it automatically today, 27 of which are the Americas.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: The United States just reaffirmed its version.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: On June 30th, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's executive order, 14160, confirming that children born on US soil are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Europe has abandoned the unconditional version entirely.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Ireland was the last to remove it by referendum two decades ago.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: What survives is conditional.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Portugal raised the parental residence requirement from one year to five in May 2026 and ended the automatic grant.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: That makes birthright the second fast closing option in this video.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: But this rule could also pay the parents.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Brazil grants the foreign parents of a Brazilian-born child immediate permanent residency, and those parents can qualify for naturalization after one year among the fastest family-based timelines anywhere.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to the pathway defined by family itself.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Part 3, adoption.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly every nationality law extends citizenship to children adopted by citizens.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: The United States confers it on foreign-born adopted children by law once they enter the country as permanent residents, with no separate application.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: The door closes at adulthood, and the rules attach to the date of the adoption rather than the date of the application, which is why decades-old adoptions can produce refusals today.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: For adults planning a second passport, this option exists mainly on paper.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Path 4.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Marriage and family.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Marrying a citizen rarely grants citizenship outright, but it collapses the naturalization clock almost everywhere.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Spouses of Brazilian citizens can qualify after one year of permanent residency.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Spouses of Turkish citizens can apply after three years of marriage.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: At the short extreme, St.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Kitts and Nevis, St.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia and St.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Vincent and the Grenadines let spouses of citizens register with no residency period at all.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Family reaches beyond marriage, too.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Parents of citizen children get their own tracks, with Brazil again the standout.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And several laws extend registration rights to widows, widowers, and adult children of citizens.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Two cautions apply, though.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: One, authorities test whether the relationship is authentic.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Two, and a handful of nationality laws treat husbands and wives differently.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So what about the path most people assume is the only one?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Path five, naturalization through residency.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is the default-earned route to alternative citizenship.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Live in a country legally for a set period, pass its language and civics requirements, and apply for naturalization.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Every golden visa, nomad visa, and work permit that ends in a passport ends here, which is why golden visas received no mention on this list.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Residents by investment simply buys a place in the naturalization queue.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: The clock varies enormously.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina and the Dominican Republic have two-year clocks among the shortest in the world, though Argentina now requires physical presence for the full period, with departures of significant duration resetting the count.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Most countries cluster around five years.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Spain, Italy, and Switzerland require ten for most applicants.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: The direction of travel is longer.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Portugal doubled its standard requirement from five years to ten in May 2026.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And Peru has legislated a move from two years to five pending regulations, closing pathway number three.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And a note on the short clocks.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Paper residency and physical presence are different tests.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some countries count permit years with minimal time on the ground, others audit your days, and that difference decides whether a short naturalization clock exists in practice and applies to your situation.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Path six, fast track naturalization.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Nationality acts carve out shortened clocks for groups the state favors.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Four patterns recur worldwide.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Preferred nationality is the biggest group.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Spain lets nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial, New Guinea, and Portugal naturalize after two years instead of ten.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Brazil cuts four years to one for nationals of Portuguese language countries, and Mexico reduces five to two for Latin Americans and Iberian nationals.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Military service is the second.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: France's Foreign Legion recruits foreigners directly, and a legionnaire wounded in action can be naturalized immediately under a provision the French call citizenship by spilled blood.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody plans a passport strategy around a wound in the Legion, but the clause is on the books.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Language affinity is the third pattern, and Spain's version extends its two-year track to applicants of Sephardic origin regardless of nationality.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Refugee and stateless status is fourth, anchored in two treaties that direct states to facilitate naturalization for the stateless.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Those four patterns cover everyone the state invites in earlier citizens.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: The next option is for everyone the state charges at the entrance.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Path 7, investment and donation.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Use pecuni, or the right of money, is the youngest doctrine on this list.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some kits and Nevis opened the world's first citizenship by investment program in 1984, one year after independence.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Fourteen countries now sell citizenship directly from the Caribbean Five to Vanuatu, Nauru, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Cambodia, Satume and Principe, El Salvador, and Sierra Leone.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Entry costs span from Saitamae and Principe's$90,000 donation floor to El Salvador's$1 million non-refundable contribution to a freedom passport.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Also, Cambodia raised its thresholds to$1 million for investment and$3 million for donation in December 2025.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Most programs process applications in months with no residence requirements.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Of all 10 pathways to alternative citizenship, this is the only one that requires a financial contribution, and it is also the only one widening.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: The European Court of Justice ended Malta's program in April 2025, ruling that EU citizenship may not be transactional, yet the pipeline refills elsewhere.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina created a citizenship by investment agency by decree.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: St.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Vincent and the Grenadines has announced a 2026 launch, and Botswana is taking expression of interest at a proposed$75,000 floor.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Money is the one doctrine expanding, while soil and blood contract.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: There is a door above money, though, and it takes something rarer.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Path eight.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Merit and exceptional contribution.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Most nationality laws let the head of state or parliament grant citizenship outside every ordinary requirement to individuals judged exceptionally valuable to the country's interests or economy.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Athletes, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, etc.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is among the most widely legislated routes in the world and among the least used.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Austria recorded 419 such grants between 2007 and 2022, fewer than 30-year-old against total naturalizations now above 20,000 annually.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Malta replaced its investment framework with an expanded merit route after the EU ruling against its citizenship by investment program.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Gulf states have used the same clause to field Olympic athletes and notable entrepreneurs.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: The trade-off inverts CBI's terms, no fixed price, timeline, or entitlement.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Path 9.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ethnicity and repatriation.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Repatriation laws invite members of a defined people home.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Descent requires a specific citizen in your family tree, whereas repatriation attaches to belonging, and the strongest versions ask for no citizen ancestor at all.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Israel's law of return extends immigration and citizenship rights to Jews, their children and grandchildren, and their spouses.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Armenia recognizes ethnic Armenians regardless of how many generations separate them from the homeland, and Kazakhstan has a formal repatriation status for ethnic Kazakhs returning from the diaspora.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Ethnicity can also gate rather than invite.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Liberia restricts citizenship to people of black African origin, which turns its two-year clock into a route most viewers cannot use.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: One pathway is left, and it's the one closing fastest.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Path 10.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Restoration returns citizenship to people who lost it, and often to their descendants.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Germany has two open-ended routes for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's no generational limit, residency requirement, or language test, and Austria extended its parallel provision to direct descendants in 2020.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Windows are closing here too, though.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Spain's grandchildren law stopped accepting applications definitively in October 2025 after an extraordinary volume of files, most from Latin America.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Portugal's route for descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled in the 15th century closed in May 2026, after more than 75,000 approvals since 2015.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: That is the fourth and final closing option.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a latent restoration claim anywhere, treat the window as perishable.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Auditing your 10 options.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, how should you audit these options for yourself and your family?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: These ten doors sort into three groups.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: One, citizenship by descent, birth, adoption, family, ethnicity, and restoration.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Turn on facts fixed before you made a single decision.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: 2.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship by residency.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Fast track naturalization and merit are earned.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: 3.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship by investment is bought.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Check the fixed fact group first.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: A descent or restoration claim typically costs just a few hundred dollars in certificates and filing fees against six figures for a donation.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the same passport waits at the end of both.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Great grandmother's paperwork could outvalue a donation.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then move fast on anything latent.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just in the last 15 months, Italy capped descent, Spain and Portugal closed their restoration windows, Portugal doubled its naturalization clock and tightened its birthright rule, and the United States needed a Supreme Court ruling to preserve its birthright guarantee.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: The options people are born with are narrowing, but the one that takes money widens every year.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Check the pathways you never chose before paying for the one you did.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whichever path you choose, the day your second passport arrives is the day a new set of questions begins.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: From taxes to travel rules to which document you hand over at which border.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: We cover those in a video called 11 Things No One Tells You About Having Two Plus Passports on your screen now.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want more videos like this in your notifications, subscribe and turn on that bell.