Methodology

The Standard of Living Pillar is a measure of the level of wealth, comfort, and material goods offered by the 12 CBI jurisdictions under assessment.

This pillar is vital to those who yearn to relocate and to secure a prosperous and fulfilling lifestyle as well as for those wanting to take advantage of local business opportunities or seeking additional geographical diversification for their assets.

For this pillar, a wide range of official indicators were considered to allow for an accurate standard of living assessment. Here, establishing an appropriate benchmark was paramount, as a country’s score must be viewed both as an absolute value and as a relative value, within the context of the other CBI countries.

Reliance was placed on the UN Human Development Index (HDI) for factors such as life expectancy, education, safety, and income. A country’s latest annual economic performance statistics from the World Bank were used to indicate present-day economic circumstances, as well as growth potential — a particularly important indicator for investors.

The Standard of Living Pillar also considers a country’s ability to promote freedom, and to protect the rights of individuals to act and to express themselves without undue constraints. Civil liberties and political rights within a jurisdiction were rated as part of this exercise, using sources such as Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index.

Pillar 2: Freedom of Movement

In the 2024 CBI Index, the Freedom of Movement Pillar measures the relative strength of each country’s citizenship on the basis of three equally weighted factors: the number of destinations to which a country’s passport allows travel without restriction, the number of business-friendly centres to which it provides access, and the degree to which a given citizenship provides settlement rights in other nations.

Emphasis was placed on the total number of countries and territories that may be visited visa-free and visa-on arrival destinations, as neither requires the acquisition of a visa in advance of travel. Government and other official sources, including data from the UN World Tourism Organization, were used to obtain up-to-date information on visa requirements for holders of each of the 12 passports under evaluation.

A passport’s ability to provide access to the world’s leading economic and financial centres was evaluated based on the Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Foundation and the World Competitive Index from the International Institute for Management Development. While the freedom to access a high number of jurisdictions is critical, many investors regard alternative citizenship as a gateway to ensuring long-term security and stability for themselves and their families. The settlement rights measure reflects this, making CBI countries that are part of broad free-movement regimes more attractive. In order to assess settlement rights, value was placed both on the number of jurisdictions accessible within a given free-movement regime and on the nature of the rights afforded to the citizen, with distinctions drawn for rights that are conditional on a citizen undertaking work.

Pillar 3: Minimum Investment Outlay

The Investment Options and Threshold Pillar measures one of the most practical and foremost considerations of CBI: how much capital is required for the investor to become an eligible applicant for the programme of their choosing and what the available options are to deploy said capital. The cost of applying for CBI increases with the number of dependants — or qualifying family members — included in an application. In some jurisdictions, this increase is proportional, while in others, the cost only increases following the inclusion of multiple dependants. To remain consistent across all jurisdictions, it was assumed that one applicant was applying for citizenship alone (i.e., the application consisted of a single applicant).

Where a CBI programme offers multiple investment options, the minimum investment threshold was selected for evaluation. For example, Grenada offers a single applicant the choice between a direct monetary contribution to a government fund or an investment in pre-approved real estate, with the latter being the more expensive alternative. The first option was therefore used to determine the minimum investment outlay for the Grenada CBI Programme.

This pillar considers pure investment requirements, exclusive of minor fees that may also apply. These may include application, processing, or due diligence fees that do not significantly alter the cost of a citizenship application. However, where countries had sizeable additional fees amounting to US$15,000 or more, such fees were considered. The country requiring the lowest minimum investment receives the highest number of points.

As the CBI industry has developed, countries with active programmes have expanded their offerings to include a wider range of investment options, such as real estate, government bonds, and business ventures, in order to cater to increasingly complex investor preferences. As of 2024, the CBI Index also assesses this diversity of investment options offered by active programmes according to the number of available options, whether an option offers a refundable investment and/or investment return, the availability of entrepreneurial and business-related options, and whether a programme offers philanthropic benefits for the wider host country.

Pillar 4: Mandatory Travel or Residence

The Mandatory Travel or Residence Pillar examines the travel or residence conditions imposed on applicants both before and after the granting of citizenship. Often busy with running a business or with international travel of their own, global citizens have little time to fulfil minimum stay requirements.

A careful examination of the laws, regulations and policies pertaining to each CBI programme was undertaken. First, it was determined whether any such prerequisites applied. Second, post- citizenship requirements were examined, as well as the consequences of failing to fulfil them. Third, the extent of the travel or residence requirements were analysed, with physical visits for the purposes of attending an interview, swearing an oath of allegiance, or giving biometric information all considered.

It is important to note that physical, rather than nominal, requirements were taken into consideration. In line with previous pillars, scrutiny focused on the main applicant rather than any dependants that may be included in the citizenship application. The scoring system under the Mandatory Travel or Residence Pillar combines the subtotals for mandatory travel requirements and residence requirements to yield the total pillar score. As having year-round freedom to travel is a highly valued liberty, programmes that waived both residence and travel requirements achieved the best score, followed by those with minimal requirements. Programmes with extensive requirements attained the lowest scores.

Pillar 5: Citizenship Timeline

The Citizenship Timeline Pillar looks at the average time taken for citizenship to be secured by the applicant.

The time at which application forms and supporting documentation are processed, and the steps involved in approving an application, vary between programmes. Therefore, a thorough inspection of applicable laws, regulations, and policies was made to determine the official processing times mandated by each jurisdiction.

Extensive reliance was also placed on qualitative data gleaned from the first-hand experience of applicants, agents and other stakeholders, whose contributions proved to be an invaluable tool in ascertaining citizenship timelines.

Pillar 6: Ease of Processing

This pillar measures the end-to-end complexity of the CBI application process. In some jurisdictions, the application process can be a labour-intensive that is time-consuming for the applicant; in others, it is streamlined, and the applicant receives clear directives on how to proceed.

The overall effortlessness of the application process is a particularly important component, and the promise of a smooth, hassle-free process can generate readiness to engage with a programme.

Multiple indicators were considered, commencing with entry qualifications such as previous business experience, a proven track record of achievement or fluency in a language, and knowledge of local history or culture. As passport renewals have considerable processing requirements, this year’s CBI Index also considers the duration of a passport’s validity, with a longer validity period attracting a higher score.

By its very nature as a naturalisation process, CBI involves a significant amount of paperwork, including both forms and supporting documents. Here, having the support of an official government website and a dedicated CBI unit to seek and obtain clarification was a factor in awarding points to a programme.

Extensive administrative and legal consultation is required where a jurisdiction mandates the purchase of real estate or other assets, and hefty paperwork must also be submitted as evidence of that purchase. Therefore, countries with compulsory purchasing requirements were deemed to burden the application process. Programmes with fewer demands placed on the applicant, and with relatively straightforward procedures, achieved higher scores for this pillar.

Pillar 7: Due Diligence

The Due Diligence Pillar focuses on each nation’s commitment to ensuring that their programme remains transparent and effective at evaluating potential candidates for citizenship. It is, therefore, a measure of each programme’s integrity.

The CBI Index focuses on the ability of governments to obtain information on and from applicants, which includes internal and external due diligence checks. Indicators comprise police certificate requirements — including the number of nations from which a certificate must be provided — as well as requests for fingerprints and/or biometric data.

Emphasis was placed on a country’s ability to gather evidence on the applicant’s source of funds, as this is a key step in denying citizenship to those profiting from, or involved in, the financing of illicit activity.

With the issue of illegal discounting of real estate projects befalling several programmes, a new “Investment Protection” measure aims to recognise programmes that provide a legal basis to ensure the price of a CBI real estate option is pegged to the actual value of the project.

Pillar 8: Family

The Family Pillar measures the extent to which investors can acquire citizenship for their immediate and extended family.

The CBI Index recognises that the rise of complex family relationships is driving investors to seek programmes that allow for a more diverse range of family members to be included under a primary application. While most CBI programmes provide for the inclusion of spouses and minor children, only a handful of countries do so for adult children and extended family.

The CBI Index distinguishes family members who are allowed to apply with and acquire citizenship at the same time as the main applicant, and those who can apply at a later stage and as a consequence of the main applicant having already received citizenship. Multiple family member categories were considered, with points being awarded for adult children, parents, grandparents and even siblings. Additional merit was also given to programmes with provisions for family members of the main applicant’s spouse.

The degree of flexibility within each of these categories can differ radically among programmes. In the adult children category, for example, programmes that include children aged 18 years or over with few restrictions achieved the most points. Those that require proof of a high degree of dependency achieved fewer points. As inclusivity has become increasingly relevant to the CBI industry, a point was awarded to programmes that make provision for dependants living with a disability.

Pillar 9: Certainty of Product

The Certainty of Product Pillar encompasses a range of factors that measure a programme’s certainty across five different dimensions: longevity, popularity and renown, stability, reputation and adaptability. With the CBI industry currently in a state of flux amid a tightening regulatory landscape, it is more important than ever to provide investors with a means of differentiating a programme’s relative robustness.

‘Longevity’ measures the age of a given programme. ‘Popularity and renown’ evaluates the number of applications and naturalisations under each programme per year, as well as a programme’s eminence in the industry. The ‘Stability’ measure assesses whether any calls to end a particular programme have been made by authorities within or external to the CBI jurisdiction, and whether a programme places any form of cap on the number of applications that can be processed.

A programme’s reputation is determined by the amount of negative press, or the number of scandals it has been linked to, affecting investors’ broader perceptions of the countries in which they invest. Lastly, ‘adaptability’ reflects a programme’s ability to rapidly respond to, and sometimes even predict, the needs of applicants in the industry. More points were awarded to jurisdictions that have shown capacity to communicate with applicants, prospective applicants and stakeholders — and to tweak their requirements accordingly.