Latest / IMI Podcasts / Complete Guide to 2nd Passports in Latin America

Transcript

Complete Guide to 2nd Passports in Latin America · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Latin America is the world's most welcoming region in terms of the ease and speed with which foreigners can obtain citizenship.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the average time required for naturalization in the Americas is the lowest in the world at just 5.4 years compared to 8 or 9 years in the rest of the world.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: In this video, we'll explain why the region's citizenships are desirable in the first place and how long it takes to obtain each of them.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Why are Latin American citizenships valuable to begin with?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the region is home to some of the highest quality nationalities outside the EU, thanks to three salient advantages.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: First, most countries in the region offer their citizens very strong passports in terms of visa-free travel.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: All countries enjoy visa-free travel to more than a hundred countries, and 15 of them have visa-free access to Europe's Schengen area.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: The strongest of all is Chile's passport, which not only is a signatory to Mercosur's residency agreement, more about that later, but also part of APEC and the Pacific Alliance.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And additionally, it's the only Latin American country that enjoys visa-free travel to the United States.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: The second reason many Latin American citizenships are so attractive is the Mercosur Residency Agreement.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nine Latin American countries, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, are signatories to the Mercosur Residency Agreement, which allows the citizens of member states the right to freely travel, settle, and work throughout the bloc, similar to how the EU citizens could do the same within Europe.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: All the individual needs is to demonstrate a clean criminal record.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And after two years of temporary residency, the permit can be converted to permanent status.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: The third reason to want a Latin American citizenship is that much of the region is a geopolitical safe space.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: In our article, Why a Bulletproof Mobility Portfolio Should Contain a Western Hemisphere allocation, we explained why a mix of food and fuel self-sufficiency, the American security umbrella, distance from military conflicts, and a historical dearth of wars make the region a well-suited locale for setting up global instability.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now that you understand why Latin American citizenships are valuable, it's time to look at our overview of how long it takes to naturalize a citizen in each country.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But let me preface this by saying that throughout this video, we'll be talking about how long it takes to get citizenship.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: But what we're really talking about is how long it takes you to reach the stage where you're eligible to apply for citizenship.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: You don't automatically get citizenship.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to apply and wait for the government to process your application.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that can take anywhere from a few months to a few years, depending on how busy they are.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So there are four main ways of naturalizing in Latin American countries.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: The first is the ordinary circumstances.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that is to say you're not married to a citizen, you are not the parent of a citizen, and you don't hold a preferred original nationality.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: The second way is to marry a citizen.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of countries in Latin America let you naturalize much sooner if you're married to a local citizen.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: In some cases, the residency period is waived altogether, which means you can apply for citizenship right away as long as you were already married to one of their citizens.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Third way is if you're the parent of a citizen.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: So similarly, some Latin American countries will allow you to apply for citizenship much sooner if you have a child that is a citizen.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is one reason why birth tourism to those countries is popular.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth way to naturalize is to be from what's called a preferential country.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So about half of Latin American countries offer faster naturalization periods to people who are from countries they consider more compatible.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Usually this means you're from another country in Latin America or at least from another Spanish or Portuguese-speaking country.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And this makes sense because it's easier to fit in and to integrate into a Latin American country if you already speak the same language and you have a similar cultural background and maybe Catholic values.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: There are also another three ways to get Latin American citizenship, which we're not going to discuss in this video because they won't apply to most people.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the first one is birthright citizenship.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to discuss that in this video because every country in Latin America except for Colombia has it.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no point in me mentioning it.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that just means that just soli in Latin, it means law of the soil.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: It means that you get citizenship automatically just by being born in the country.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: The other way that we're not going to talk about is citizenship by exception or special merit.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: All Latin American countries reserve the right to grant instant citizenship to anyone they deem to have rendered exceptional services to the country.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: For example, to prominent athletes or scientists or artists or even businessmen.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: This path to citizenship, though, is non-standardized and it's not really realistic for most people.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why we're not going to talk about it in this video.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted you to know about it.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's possible.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The third way to get citizenship in Latin America that we're not going to discuss is citizenship by investment.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: At the moment, this is only available in El Salvador for a donation of$1 million.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina has also announced plans for a citizenship by investment program, but we're still in the early stages of that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now that you understand the four common paths to citizenship in Latin America, let's go through each of the 19 countries and see how long it takes to become eligible for citizenship under each path.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start up north with Mexico.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: How long must you have been a resident of Mexico before you become eligible for citizenship?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, under ordinary circumstances, it's five years.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a Mexican, it's two years.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you're the parent of a Mexican, it's also two years.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a citizen of another Latin American country or Iberian country, it's also just two years.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Next, Guatemala.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Guatemala requires five years of residency in the country and offers no fast tracks for those married to or parents of citizens.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Nor does it have any preferential nationalities.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this means you'll need to be a resident in the country for five years, no matter what, before they allow you to apply for citizenship.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: El Salvador.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Under ordinary circumstances, it's five years.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a citizen, it's two years.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there are no special privileges for parents of citizens, so even if you have a Salvadorian child, it's still five years.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're a national of Spain or a Hispano American country, you can get citizenship in just one year.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Honduras.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Under ordinary circumstances, it's enough to live just three years in Honduras to naturalize.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a citizen, you can get citizenship immediately.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you're the parent of a Honduran, it's still three years.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're from Spain or another Ibero American country, it's two years.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: While if you're from another Central American country, it's just one year.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Nicaragua.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Under ordinary circumstances, you can get citizenship in Nicaragua within four years of living there.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a citizen, it's two years.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you're the parent of a citizen, it's also two years.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're from a preferential country like Spain, it's also just two years.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Costa Rica.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Under ordinary circumstances, citizenship eligibility in Costa Rica takes seven years.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a citizen, though, it's just two years.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: There are no special fast tracks available for those who are parents of Costa Rican citizens, but citizens of preferential countries like Spain or Latin American countries have a five-year path to citizenship.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Panama, for normal circumstances, the naturalization timeline is five years.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to or the parent of a citizen, it's three years.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're from a preferential country like Spain or other Latin American states, it's reduced to just one year.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Cuba, ordinary naturalization, five years.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: By marriage or parenthood, two years.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: There are no special fast tracks for people from specific countries.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Dominican Republic, ordinary naturalization in the Dominican Republic is just two years.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's the world's fastest such timeline alongside Argentina.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a citizen, you become eligible right away.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: There are no fast tracks for those who are the parents of citizens or who come from preferential countries.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: But ordinary naturalization is already fast enough in the Dominican Republic.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Colombia, ordinary naturalization takes five years.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: But being married to or the parent of a citizen reduces this timeline to just two years, while nationals of preferential countries can qualify in no more than one year.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Venezuela, ordinary naturalization takes a full ten years of residency, the longest citizenship timeline in Latin America.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: You can reduce this by getting married to a Venezuelan, but you'll still need to live in the country for five years.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: There are no special privileges for parents of Venezuelans, but citizens of preferential countries, notably Spain and Latin American countries, can qualify in half the normal time.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's to say five years.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Ecuador, ordinary naturalization is five years.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is reduced to four years if you're married to or the parent of a citizen.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's no fast track for specific nationalities.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Peru, ordinary naturalization in Peru now takes five years.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Used to take two.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're married to a citizen, this is reduced to two years.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: There are no special provisions for parents of citizens or nationals of preferred countries.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Bolivia, ordinary naturalization is just three years, while marriage to or parenthood of a citizen reduces the timeline to two years.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: There are no special provisions for citizens of preferred countries.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Paraguay.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Paraguay offers naturalization eligibility after three years of residency across the board.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you're just an ordinary person or you're married, there are no other special provisions.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's just three years across the board.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Chile.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like in Paraguay, Chile has a single naturalization timeline that applies equally to everybody with no special treatment.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Five years of residency, no matter what.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Alongside the Dominican Republic, Argentina is the only other country in the world to offer naturalization after just two years of residency.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Marriage to or parenthood of a citizen enables you to apply for naturalization immediately.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: There are no shortcuts for people from specific countries.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uruguay.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uruguay is a bit of a special case because ordinary naturalization takes five years.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But those who are married, so if two foreigners, for example, want to become Uruguayan and they are married, then they can qualify for citizenship eligibility after just three years.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are no other special provisions or fast tracks for other categories of people.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Brazil.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Brazil lets you apply for naturalization after four years of residency in normal circumstances.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: But if you get married to a Brazilian or you have a Brazilian child, it's just two years.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: People from the Ibero American countries, that is to say, most Latin American countries plus Spain and Portugal can naturalize after just three years.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there you have it, the path to citizenship in all 19 Latin American countries.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: To begin working toward a citizenship in Latin America, you'll first need to get some form of residence permit.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then you'll have to remain a resident in the country.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily physically present all the time in many cases, but you'll have to be a resident for at least several years.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: At IMI, we have the world's greatest collection of Latin American program pages where you can find ways to qualify for residency in the region, not only based on investment, but also based on starting a business or simply demonstrating that you have a certain income or a certain level of savings.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: So explore our Latin American program pages using the map below or narrow down your search by filtering programs according to your preferences using our program finder.