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14 Countries Want to Sell You Citizenship: But When? · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: 14 countries have announced plans to sell you citizenship.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: But of those 14, only one has set an actual launch date.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: IMI has reviewed every country's government gazette to find all publicly proposed citizenship by investment programs in the last six years.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: In this video, we'll tell you which programs are coming, which have stalled, and which you should forget about entirely.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: One of these 14 could be your future home or nationality.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with the only country on this list that is committed to a real date.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: St.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Vincent and the Grenadines will launch its Citizenship by Investment program in 2026.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Prime Minister Godwin Friday announced this in December 2025, calling it a critical economic pillar for a nation carrying nearly$1 billion in public debt.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a long time coming.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: For over two decades, former Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves rejected CBI on ideological grounds.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Friday's party had promised a program since at least 2018, with Friday himself calling its absence almost criminal.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then after years of opposing the ruling party, he won the country's election in 2025.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Public support is strong.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: A 2025 survey found 62% of Vincench supported a CBI program.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: 81% said they prefer jobs through a CBI-supported economy over unemployment.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Deputy Prime Minister Sinclair Leecock has outlined an oversight framework modelled on Granadas and the wider Caribbean's recent reforms under ECC IRA, with multi-layer vetting and government-controlled processes.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, timing isn't ideal.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: The US recently suspended visa privileges for Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica over their CBI operations.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Furthermore, the EU has asked Caribbean programs to work toward discontinuation.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Friday acknowledges these tensions, but says he doesn't believe there are death knell for such programs.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: We don't yet know the investment minimums or exact terms, but this one is likely happening in short order.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina is the other near certainty on this list.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: President Javier Millet's government formalized its CBI program through Decree 524-2025 in July 2025.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The decree creates a dedicated agency within the Ministry of Economy to oversee and process citizenship applications via investment.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: From announcement to official approval took under two months.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: In December 2025, the ministry published a formal tender for a four-year consulting contract to design, implement, and operate the program.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: That winning consultancy will build everything from scratch, investment thresholds, routes, processes, and global rollout.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Early reports indicate a threshold between$350,000 and$500,000, but nothing binding has been published.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Bid submissions closed in January 2026 with six complete proposals.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the government is currently reviewing them as of the publication of this video.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Government projections suggest up to 5,000 favorable recommendation reports during the initial contract period.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: A performance clause requires at least 200 approvals by month 24.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina offers something different from most existing programs: a G20 economy, European-influenced culture, and a passport with visa-free access to the Schengen zone and fast-track residency rights across nine countries in South America.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: If the price point is competitive, this could easily become the world's new hottest citizenship by investment program.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: We'll cover Argentina's program in detail once the terms are announced.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: IMI's daily newsletter, and of course this channel covers every development as it happens if you want to stay updated.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria's House of Representatives passed a CBI bill in April 2025.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's legislative progress from Africa's largest economy.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: But the bill now sits with the Senate.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: When it might be taken up or whether it will even pass is unclear.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria is already one of the fastest-growing outbound markets for investment migration.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: More than 1,000 Nigerians inquired about foreign citizenship through Henlian Partners in 2025.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: The firm called that figure unheard of.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: An inbound Nigerian CBI program would be a very different proposition.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Nigerian passport provides limited mobility, but the program's appeal would likely hinge on factors beyond travel freedom.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're watching this one, but it's not imminent.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Tonga has a history with passport sales and not the good kind.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: In the 1980s and 1990s, the King authorized the sale of over 7,000 passports, raising about$26 million.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: The program, one of the world's first, shut down after the proceeds vanished in a series of disastrous investments, including one involving life insurance policies for the terminally ill.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now Tonga is considering a second attempt.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: In December 2025, a leaked proposal reportedly designed by Henley and Partners emerged during the Prime Ministerial election.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Under that proposal, single applicants would pay$190,000, while families of 2-4 would pay$220,000 as non-refundable contributions.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: The proposal's chief advocate, Lord Fatafati Fakafanua, who went on to become Tonga's new Prime Minister, acknowledged the political sensitivity of passport sales given the country's history, but insisted this proposal differs with multilayer vetting and government-controlled funds.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Will he and his administration follow through?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: The framework and the political will exist, but there's no launch date yet.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Albania might be the most frustrating case on this list.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Prime Minister Eddie Rama declared in 2019 that a CBI program was the right way and something we have to do.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: By 2020, the government had established a dedicated drafting agency.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: By 2022, it approved a public-private partnership to engage an international firm for promotion.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, having said all that, the infrastructure exists.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Director Bledar Skenderi has characterized this as the beginning of the establishment of Albanian CBI.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: The problem, however, is that the European Commission has repeatedly warned Albania to refrain from opening such a program.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: The EU calls CBI incompatible with accession, and as a result, Albania has pushed back.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Skenderi responded directly.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: The EU says that European values are not for sale.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, 100,000 people enter France annually without being verified.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: As of early 2025, the Commission reiterated its opposition.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Albania's EU aspirations are the program's most formidable obstacle and its potentially most important benefit.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: If Albania ever abandons its EU bid, this program could launch quickly.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, it's frozen.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Two countries on this list got close to CBI but pivoted to residency programs instead.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Armenia came very close.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: In October 2022, the government drafted a decision for citizenship through investment starting at$150,000.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Parliament had already amended the citizenship law proposing that the Prime Minister's office would process applications.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then political opposition killed it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Critics alleged Prime Minister Pashinyan intended to sell passports to nationals of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thus a program was never launched.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Armenia instead expanded its residency framework, announcing in November 2025 a five-year fast-track investor residency track effective in late 2026.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uzbekistan followed a similar path.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: In November 2022, the ministry prepared a bill for citizenship to foreigners, investing at least$1 million.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, market observers considered that price absurdly high for what Uzbekistan offers.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And on top of that, the fact that the country doesn't permit dual citizenship either.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, Uzbekistan introduced a donation-based golden visa in June 2025, starting at$250,000.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you're interested in these countries, residency is the path.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: CBI for now is off the table.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: The remaining countries fall into a category we might call announced and abandoned.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Solomon Islands is the most interesting.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: In September 2024, Prime Minister Jeremiah Manel revealed his government had completed a first draft of a CBI bill.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: The program was a priority in his 100-day agenda.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then came a reversal.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: In May 2025, the Chief of Staff declared that CBI was a long way off and that citizenship is a sacred bond the government would never commercialise.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is a shame for prospective applicants.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Solomon Islands passport grants visa-free access to 132 destinations, including the Schengen Zone, Canada, and the UK.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: This fact of mobility would make it one of the most attractive CBI products on the market and immediately competitive with the Caribbean citizenship by investment programs.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Mauritius proposed two programs in 2018 and 2019, one at$1 million, one at$500,000.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mauritius is one of only two African countries with Schengen visa-free access, Seychelles being the other.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: The program never launched and there have been no updates since.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Kenya floated a citizenship by investment program in 2019 at around$200,000.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: KenInvest said in 2021 the plans were moving quickly.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yet nothing has happened since.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Rwanda's cabinet approved a draft bill in October 2020, but a standalone program never materialized.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Surinam's president mentioned CBI in September 2022.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: No development since.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Laos published a decree in October 2022 offering honorary citizenship for$1.5 million total.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: The honorary nature and high price drew immediate skepticism.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: No updates since.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Papua New Guinea has explored investor pathways, according to IMI sources, but nothing official has emerged.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: For all of these, the pattern is the same.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Announcement?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Silence, no program.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not willing to wait, plenty of programs are operational today.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: But this industry is still nascent in some cases.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: That means investors can get scammed or tricked in a lot of ways.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Watch the video on your screen now to learn about the eight most common mistakes citizenship investors make and save your time and money.