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Golden Visa Index 2026

Every active residency- and citizenship-by-investment programme worldwide, ranked across 7 dimensions: investment cost, processing speed, physical presence, citizenship timeline, Schengen access, EU citizenship pathway, and programme-closure risk. Data source-verified against official regulators and re-checked every 30–120 days.

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Golden visa investment thresholds range from €46,000 (Mauritius) to €6.9M (Singapore) across 29 active investment-residency programmes ranked by WhereNext in 2026

Copy with attribution: “Golden visa investment thresholds range from €46,000 (Mauritius) to €6.9M (Singapore) across 29 active investment-residency programmes ranked by WhereNext in 2026” — WhereNext, as of 2026-04-15

Quick answer

The Golden Visa Index 2026 ranks 29 active residency- and citizenship-by-investment programmes worldwide across 7 dimensions: minimum investment, processing speed, physical presence, citizenship timeline, Schengen access, EU citizenship pathway, and closure risk. Top of the composite score is Greece Golden Visa (Investor Permanent Residence Permit) (85/100), followed by Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP) (84) and Italy Investor Visa (84). Cheapest entry threshold among active programmes is €0. 1 programmes have closed in the past 24 months.

Key facts

29 active programmes re-checked every 30–120 days from official immigration portals.
Top composite: Greece Golden Visa (Investor Permanent Residence Permit) 85/100 across 7 dimensions; €250K minimum.
Cheapest entry €0 — lowest qualifying investment among active programmes.
1 closed in last 24 months Portugal real-estate, Ireland IIP, etc. — programme stability is a real risk factor.
7-dimension framework investment, processing, physical presence, citizenship timeline, Schengen access, EU citizenship pathway, closure risk · CC BY 4.0.

Active programmes

Closed in last 24 months

Ranking dimensions

30-120d

Source-verification cycle

Composite ranking — 2026

Equal-weighted composite of 7 dimensions. Higher score = more attractive across the full bundle of criteria. This ranking is intentionally generalist — your priority weighting will shift the order meaningfully. Use our interactive finder to apply your own weighting.

Rank	Programme	Investment	Processing	Presence	Citizenship	Schengen	EU Citz	Stability	Composite
1	🇬🇷Greece Golden Visa	€250K	2-6mo	none	7y	✓	✓	70	85
2	🇲🇹Malta MPRP	€114K	8-14mo	none	5y	✓	✓	60	84
3	🇮🇹Italy Investor Visa	€250K	3-6mo	none	10y	✓	✓	80	84
4	🇭🇺Hungary GIVP	€250K	1-2mo	none	8y	✓	✓	50	83
5	🇱🇻Latvia Golden Visa	€60K	2-3mo	none	10y	✓	✓	60	83
6	🇱🇺Luxembourg Investor	€500K	4-6mo	90d/yr	5y	✓	✓	80	80
7	🇰🇳St Kitts CBI	€230K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
8	🇬🇩Grenada CBI	€184K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
9	🇱🇨St Lucia CBI	€221K	3-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
10	🇦🇬Antigua CBI	€184K	3-5mo	1d/yr	direct	✓	—	40	74
11	🇲🇰N. Macedonia CBI	€200K	6-12mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	72
12	🇵🇹Portugal Golden Visa	€200K	36-40mo	7d/yr	10y	✓	✓	60	71
13	🇨🇾Cyprus PR	€300K	2-3mo	none	—	—	✓	40	63
14	🇦🇺Australia NIV	€0	4-8mo	none	4y	—	—	80	62
15	🇳🇷Nauru CBI	€97K	3-5mo	none	direct	—	—	50	62
16	🇪🇬Egypt CBI	€230K	6-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	62
17	🇹🇷Turkey CBI	€368K	3-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	61
18	🇸🇹São Tomé CBI	€83K	4-8mo	none	direct	—	—	50	61
19	🇲🇺Mauritius Residence	€46K	2-4mo	none	7y	—	—	80	60
20	🇻🇺Vanuatu CBI	€120K	1-2mo	none	direct	—	—	20	59
21	🇩🇲Dominica CBI	€184K	4-6mo	none	direct	—	—	30	58
22	🇵🇦Panama Qualified Investor	€276K	1-3mo	none	5y	—	—	50	56
23	🇦🇪UAE Golden Visa	€516K	1-2mo	none	—	—	—	80	53
24	🇨🇭Switzerland Lump-Sum	€450K	3-6mo	183d/yr	10y	✓	—	70	53
25	🇹🇭Thailand LTR	€460K	1-3mo	none	—	—	—	70	52
26	🇲🇨Monaco Residence	€500K	3-6mo	90d/yr	10y	—	—	80	47
27	🇳🇿NZ Active Investor Plus	€2.8M	3-6mo	7d/yr	5y	—	—	70	46
28	🇸🇬Singapore GIP	€6.9M	6-12mo	183d/yr	2y	—	—	80	36
29	🇺🇸USA EB-5	€736K	17-120mo	183d/yr	5y	—	—	70	30

Dimension leaders

Which programme is best for each individual dimension?

💰Cheapest entry

🇦🇺 Australia NIV

Score 100/100

⚡Fastest processing

🇭🇺 Hungary GIVP

Score 96/100

✈️Lowest presence requirement

🇬🇷 Greece Golden Visa

Score 100/100

🛂Shortest citizenship path

🇰🇳 St Kitts CBI

Score 100/100

🛡️Lowest closure risk

🇮🇹 Italy Investor Visa

Score 80/100

Methodology

Each of the 7 dimensions is scored 0–100 and the composite is the simple average. Scoring formulas:

Investment: 100 − (minInvestmentEUR / 20,000), floored at 0. Rewards lower capital requirements.
Processing: 100 − (maxProcessingMonths × 2), floored at 0. Rewards faster turnaround.
Presence: 100 − (daysPerYear × 0.5), floored at 0. Rewards light-touch physical-presence requirements.
Citizenship: 100 for direct-citizenship (CBI); 20 for no pathway; else 100 − (years × 7). Rewards faster paths to passport.
Schengen: 100 if programme confers Schengen access, else 0.
EU citizenship: 100 if programme leads to EU citizenship, else 0.
Stability: (10 − closureRiskScore) × 10. Our closure-risk score is 0–10 based on recent programme tightening, EU scrutiny, political environment.

Data sources.Every programme entry is sourced from the official regulator (AIMA for Portugal, USCIS for the US, Residency Malta Agency for Malta, etc.) and re-verified every 30–120 days depending on volatility. See our methodology page for the full review cadence.

Licence. This index is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Anyone may copy, redistribute, adapt, or build upon the data, including for commercial purposes, as long as appropriate credit is given to WhereNext (getwherenext.com) and a link to the licence is provided.

Citation. WhereNext (2026). Golden Visa Index 2026. Retrieved from https://getwherenext.com/data/golden-visa-index-2026.

Open API endpoint

First open-data REST endpoint in the residency-by-investment category. Returns the full registry with all 30 programmes and every structured field.

GET /api/intelligence/golden-visa

# Filters (all optional)
?status=open|open-reforming|closed|all
?budget_max_eur=500000
?citizenship_max_years=10
?presence_max_days=30
?schengen=true
?eu_citizenship=true
?country=PT,GR,HU
?format=json|csv

# Examples
curl https://getwherenext.com/api/intelligence/golden-visa
curl https://getwherenext.com/api/intelligence/golden-visa?format=csv
curl https://getwherenext.com/api/intelligence/golden-visa?schengen=true&budget_max_eur=250000

Related tools & guides

Finder tool Cost calculator ROI calculator Hub Case studies

Golden Visa Index 2026

Composite ranking — 2026

Rank	Programme	Investment	Processing	Presence	Citizenship	Schengen	EU Citz	Stability	Composite
1	🇬🇷Greece Golden Visa	€250K	2-6mo	none	7y	✓	✓	70	85
2	🇲🇹Malta MPRP	€114K	8-14mo	none	5y	✓	✓	60	84
3	🇮🇹Italy Investor Visa	€250K	3-6mo	none	10y	✓	✓	80	84
4	🇭🇺Hungary GIVP	€250K	1-2mo	none	8y	✓	✓	50	83
5	🇱🇻Latvia Golden Visa	€60K	2-3mo	none	10y	✓	✓	60	83
6	🇱🇺Luxembourg Investor	€500K	4-6mo	90d/yr	5y	✓	✓	80	80
7	🇰🇳St Kitts CBI	€230K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
8	🇬🇩Grenada CBI	€184K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
9	🇱🇨St Lucia CBI	€221K	3-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
10	🇦🇬Antigua CBI	€184K	3-5mo	1d/yr	direct	✓	—	40	74
11	🇲🇰N. Macedonia CBI	€200K	6-12mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	72
12	🇵🇹Portugal Golden Visa	€200K	36-40mo	7d/yr	10y	✓	✓	60	71
13	🇨🇾Cyprus PR	€300K	2-3mo	none	—	—	✓	40	63
14	🇦🇺Australia NIV	€0	4-8mo	none	4y	—	—	80	62
15	🇳🇷Nauru CBI	€97K	3-5mo	none	direct	—	—	50	62
16	🇪🇬Egypt CBI	€230K	6-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	62
17	🇹🇷Turkey CBI	€368K	3-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	61
18	🇸🇹São Tomé CBI	€83K	4-8mo	none	direct	—	—	50	61
19	🇲🇺Mauritius Residence	€46K	2-4mo	none	7y	—	—	80	60
20	🇻🇺Vanuatu CBI	€120K	1-2mo	none	direct	—	—	20	59
21	🇩🇲Dominica CBI	€184K	4-6mo	none	direct	—	—	30	58
22	🇵🇦Panama Qualified Investor	€276K	1-3mo	none	5y	—	—	50	56
23	🇦🇪UAE Golden Visa	€516K	1-2mo	none	—	—	—	80	53
24	🇨🇭Switzerland Lump-Sum	€450K	3-6mo	183d/yr	10y	✓	—	70	53
25	🇹🇭Thailand LTR	€460K	1-3mo	none	—	—	—	70	52
26	🇲🇨Monaco Residence	€500K	3-6mo	90d/yr	10y	—	—	80	47
27	🇳🇿NZ Active Investor Plus	€2.8M	3-6mo	7d/yr	5y	—	—	70	46
28	🇸🇬Singapore GIP	€6.9M	6-12mo	183d/yr	2y	—	—	80	36
29	🇺🇸USA EB-5	€736K	17-120mo	183d/yr	5y	—	—	70	30

Dimension leaders

Which programme is best for each individual dimension?

💰Cheapest entry

🇦🇺 Australia NIV

Score 100/100

⚡Fastest processing

🇭🇺 Hungary GIVP

Score 96/100

✈️Lowest presence requirement

🇬🇷 Greece Golden Visa

Score 100/100

🛂Shortest citizenship path

🇰🇳 St Kitts CBI

Score 100/100

🛡️Lowest closure risk

🇮🇹 Italy Investor Visa

Score 80/100

Methodology

Each of the 7 dimensions is scored 0–100 and the composite is the simple average. Scoring formulas:

Investment: 100 − (minInvestmentEUR / 20,000), floored at 0. Rewards lower capital requirements.
Processing: 100 − (maxProcessingMonths × 2), floored at 0. Rewards faster turnaround.
Presence: 100 − (daysPerYear × 0.5), floored at 0. Rewards light-touch physical-presence requirements.
Citizenship: 100 for direct-citizenship (CBI); 20 for no pathway; else 100 − (years × 7). Rewards faster paths to passport.
Schengen: 100 if programme confers Schengen access, else 0.
EU citizenship: 100 if programme leads to EU citizenship, else 0.
Stability: (10 − closureRiskScore) × 10. Our closure-risk score is 0–10 based on recent programme tightening, EU scrutiny, political environment.

Citation. WhereNext (2026). Golden Visa Index 2026. Retrieved from https://getwherenext.com/data/golden-visa-index-2026.

Open API endpoint

First open-data REST endpoint in the residency-by-investment category. Returns the full registry with all 30 programmes and every structured field.

GET /api/intelligence/golden-visa # Filters (all optional) ?status=open|open-reforming|closed|all ?budget_max_eur=500000 ?citizenship_max_years=10 ?presence_max_days=30 ?schengen=true ?eu_citizenship=true ?country=PT,GR,HU ?format=json|csv # Examples curl https://getwherenext.com/api/intelligence/golden-visa curl https://getwherenext.com/api/intelligence/golden-visa?format=csv curl https://getwherenext.com/api/intelligence/golden-visa?schengen=true&budget_max_eur=250000