They are not Canadian programs. Amounts change. A figure from a brochure is not the law of that country.
Some clients are also asking about a second country. Citizenship of another country does not give Canadian permanent residence. It can change which Canadian visa rules apply, because that follows the passport you travel on. It can also create tax, military, and disclosure duties. A second citizenship obtained to hide identity, or on documents that are not true, is a serious problem in any later Canadian file.
Your options, in two groups
- Caribbean citizenship by investment — Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Kitts and Nevis. Due diligence, then a qualifying contribution or approved real estate. Minimums change. This page does not quote a 2026 dollar figure.
- Not citizenship for sale — Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and the United States. What they offer, if anything, is residence, work, study, family, or a regulated investor immigrant visa. A residence card is not a passport.
How we can help
- Say which group the country is in, and what a client can actually apply for this year.
- Keep a second passport separate from any Canadian permanent or temporary file. We do not treat one as the other.
- If due diligence, source of funds, or an old citizenship is already a problem, say so before money moves.
Antigua and Barbuda
- A contribution to a national fund, or government-approved real estate held for a minimum period. A business-investment option has existed at times.
- The applicant and family members on the file go through due diligence. A refusal ends the file.
- Minimums, fees, and approved projects are set in Antiguan law, not by a salesperson.
- If granted, it is citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda. It is not residence in Canada and it does not authorize work in Canada.
How we can help
- Explain the two usual routes and the due-diligence step. We do not quote a minimum that is not on the current official page.
Bulgaria
- A member of the European Union. No current citizenship-by-investment product. Earlier fast paths tied to investment were shut down.
- What remains is ordinary residence: work, study, family, and business residence under Bulgarian and European law.
- Residence is not citizenship. Years of legal residence, language, and integration are the ordinary road to a passport, and that road is slow on purpose.
- A “Bulgarian golden passport” in 2026 is a program that is not open.
- A real Bulgarian citizenship, obtained in the normal way, carries European rights of movement. That is not the same thing as a Canadian visa exemption.
How we can help
- Point a Bulgaria question at work, study, family, or business residence, and away from a passport product that is closed.
Cyprus
- The citizenship-by-investment program ended in November 2020. Cyprus has revoked citizenships granted under it where the person did not meet the rules or due diligence failed later.
- There is no lawful way to buy Cypriot citizenship today.
- Residence routes, including residence connected to investment, are permission to live in Cyprus. They are not passports.
- Anyone describing a Cypriot passport as a current investment product is describing a program that has been closed for years.
How we can help
- Separate a residence card from citizenship, and we do not prepare a citizenship-by-investment file.
Dominica
- Due diligence, then a contribution to a government fund or approved real estate held for a set period.
- Family members can be included, at an added cost, when the rules allow.
- The government publishes the minimums and changes them. An agent’s price is not the price until it matches the current regulations.
- Dominica has tightened due diligence and has refused or revoked files.
- A later Canadian application asks about all citizenships. A citizenship that cannot be documented cleanly is a problem, not an advantage.
How we can help
- Explain the fund route and the real-estate route, and the documents a later Canadian file will ask to see.
Grenada
- Same Caribbean pattern: due diligence, then a contribution to a national transformation fund or an approved real-estate purchase, held for the required period. Family members can be added under the rules.
- Grenada has a treaty with the United States that can make a Grenadian citizen eligible to be considered for an E-2 investor visa.
- E-2 is not a green card. It is a temporary United States visa for a person who invests in and directs a real American business. Citizenship of a treaty country is only one condition.
- Grenadian citizenship does not create the E-2 by itself, and it does not create any Canadian right.
How we can help
- Explain the citizenship routes, and say clearly that E-2 is a separate United States business visa, not a passport and not Canadian residence.
Hungary
- In the European Union and in Schengen. It does not sell Hungarian citizenship.
- It has offered residence for a qualifying investment, including fund investments and, at times, real estate, under a guest-investor or similar residence program. The name, the minimum, and the property rules have changed more than once. The official Hungarian conditions are the ones that count.
- A residence permit lets a person live in Hungary on the permit’s terms. It is not citizenship and it is not a Schengen passport.
- Citizenship remains a separate, longer process with its own residence, language, and legal requirements.
- A card that allows limited Schengen travel is still a residence card. Losing the investment or breaking the conditions can end the residence.
How we can help
- Treat this as residence, and read the current official investment conditions before any money moves. We do not describe it as citizenship.
St. Kitts and Nevis
- The oldest of the Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programs.
- Routes have been a contribution to a government fund, now framed as a sustainable-island contribution, and an approved real-estate purchase held for a minimum period.
- Due diligence is mandatory. The government has refused applicants and has revoked citizenships.
- Minimums have been raised and should be read from the current regulations, not from an old comparison chart.
- Citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis does not admit the person to Canada, the United States, or the United Kingdom. Those countries apply their own visa rules to the new passport, and they ask how the citizenship was obtained.
How we can help
- Explain the contribution route and the real-estate route, and what a Canadian, American, or British visa application will still ask.
United Kingdom
- There is no investor visa. The Tier 1 Investor route closed in 2022.
- Skilled Worker — a licensed sponsor, a job at the required skill and salary, and English.
- Student routes, family routes, and a founder-style route for people endorsed to start an innovative business. Each has its own points, fees, and length.
- None of them is a passport for sale. Indefinite leave to remain comes only after the years of lawful residence the route requires. Citizenship is a further step after that.
- Money in a British bank, or a company that exists only on paper, is not a route.
How we can help
- Match the person to Skilled Worker, study, family, or the founder route, and we do not revive the closed investor category.
United States
- No citizenship-by-investment program. Citizenship follows birth, or lawful permanent residence held for the required years, plus the tests and the oath.
- A green card is what people usually mean by immigrating. The main families are family, employment, and the diversity lottery, plus asylum and refugee pathways, which are protection routes.
- Employment categories run from extraordinary ability and outstanding researchers through skilled workers and professionals. Most need an employer petition and, for many, a labour certification.
- H-1B and L-1 are temporary visas. They are not green cards. Some people later move from them into an employment-based green card.
- EB-5 is the investor immigrant category. The minimum is set by USCIS and is higher outside a targeted employment area than inside one. The money goes into a new commercial enterprise that creates jobs, either directly or through a regional centre. The investment is at risk. It is not a donation that comes back, and it is not a guaranteed passport. The person still has to be admissible. Read the minimum on the current USCIS page.
- A Grenadian or other treaty citizenship can matter only for a separate, temporary E-2 visa. It does not replace EB-5, and it does not replace a family or employment petition.
How we can help
- Separate a green card (family, employment, or EB-5) from a temporary visa (H-1B, L-1, E-2).
- For EB-5, point to the current USCIS minimum and the at-risk rule before any investment is discussed as if it were a fee.
