Direct Citizenship by Investment programs are part of an immigration category under which an investor contributes a specific sum of money to the nation’s economy in exchange for permanent residence and ultimately citizenship/passport in that country. Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law of a country that grants that person the rights and the duties of citizenship. That may include the right to vote, work and live in the country, the right to return to the country, the right to own real-estate, legal protections against the country's government, and protection through the military or diplomacy.

Since many countries around the world have recognized the numerous and significant benefits that foreign investment offers a nation’s economy, these countries have enacted measures to encourage foreign nationals to invest into their respective economies. These measures include beneficial tax breaks, relaxed reporting requirements, and opportunities for the investor’s family to live, work, and study in the country as well. In order to attract the most foreign investors possible, countries are now offering citizenship by investment programs that allow interested investors to contribute a specific sum of money to the nation’s economy in exchange for permanent residence and ultimately citizenship in that country.

There are many ways a foreign national can become a citizen of a country other than the national’s country of origin.

1. A foreign national may receive an offer of permanent employment in a second country, which would qualify the national for citizenship as a foreign worker.

2. A foreign national could marry a citizen of the second country, which would qualify the national for citizenship as a foreign spouse.

3. A foreign national may flee to the second country due to terrible conditions in the national’s home country (such as civil war or a typhoon), which would qualify the national for citizenship as a refugee.

4. A foreign national may establish a new commercial enterprise or invest into the second country, which would qualify the national for citizenship as a foreign investor.

It is important to emphasize that every country has established its own regulations and requirements which must be abided by in order to qualify for citizenship by investment. For instance, some countries require the foreign national to live in the country and oversee the investment whereas other countries do not have a residency requirement. However, there are general requirements that are common to many nations’ citizenship by investment programs.

Once the foreign investor’s application is approved by the country’s immigration authorities, in most cases the foreign investor will become a permanent resident of the country. After a specific period of time as a permanent resident, the foreign investor will be eligible to apply for citizenship through a legal process called naturalization. Upon receiving citizenship, the investor will immediately enjoy the unrestricted right to live, work, study, conduct business, and vote in the country and can potentially receive the country’s passport. It is important to highlight that a number of countries do not recognize dual citizenship, meaning that they require foreign investors to renounce their previous nationality before they can be approved for citizenship in the second country

Citizenship by Investment programs offer numerous benefits that have been attracting hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals to pursue second citizenships all around the world. For example, the acquisition of a second citizenship in and of itself is a tremendous asset that carries with it numerous other benefits that are addressed in separate pamphlets.

Additionally, all Citizenship by Investment programs permit the foreign investor to bring the investor’s spouse and children to the country as dependents. Moreover, most countries provide foreign investors with significant tax breaks such as exemption from income tax, property tax, gift tax, and inheritance tax.

Notably, a smaller number of countries also allow their foreign investors to completely bypass the normal requirement to become a permanent resident as a prerequisite to citizenship, which means that the investor and family would immediately become citizens as soon as the investment application is approved. Depending on the nation’s processing times for these applications, the investor and family could acquire their second citizenships in less than a year.

There are potential disadvantages to all Citizenship by Investment programs that could lead a foreign national to choose one program over another, or even to forgo participating in any program altogether. For instance, some investment programs initially grant only temporary residence that may be revoked if the foreign investor does not meet certain requirements. For example, some programs require their investors to create and maintain new full-time job positions for the country’s citizens. If the investment fails to meet the job creation requirement, the foreign national cannot become a citizen and loses the investment funds.