Open Data · CC BY 4.0

Golden Visa Index 2026

Which countries offer a golden visa in 2026, and at what minimum investment?

28 open programmes are recorded in the registry. The lowest genuine residency-by-investment threshold is €60K; route conditions and citizenship paths vary by country.

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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Open programmes

Minimum investment and route thresholds

Registry checked 2026-10-11

Country	Segment	Route	Minimum	Residency to citizenship	Status	Source	Checked
🇵🇹 Portugal	RBI	cultural donation	€250K	10 years	Open	AIMA — Autorização de Residência para Investimento	2026-10-07
🇬🇷 Greece	RBI	real estate	€250K	7 years	Open (reforming)	Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum — Circular 9 of 24 Sept 2024 implementing Law 5100/2024 art. 64 (Migration Code art. 100 as amended)	2026-09-09
🇭🇺 Hungary	RBI	real estate fund	€250K	8 years	Open (reforming)	Hungarian National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (OIF) — ‘Time period for procedural administration: 21 days.’	2026-10-01
🇲🇹 Malta	RBI	real estate	€99K	5 years	Open (reforming)	Residency Malta Agency (RMA)	2026-09-09
🇮🇹 Italy	RBI	startup	€250K	10 years	Open	Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE)	2026-09-09
🇨🇾 Cyprus	RBI	real estate	€300K	No direct citizenship path	Open (reforming)	Cyprus Civil Registry and Migration Department	2026-08-19
🇱🇻 Latvia	RBI	company shares	€60K	10 years	Open (reforming)	Immigration Law of Latvia (Imigrācijas likums), Section 23(1) — likumi.lv consolidated Latvian text; president.lv 2026-06-19 and Saeima/LSM 2026-08-20 on the new law	2026-09-09
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	RBI	real estate	€469K	No direct citizenship path	Open	UAE Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP)	2026-10-11
🇺🇸 United States	RBI	capital transfer	€688K	5 years	Open	US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)	2026-09-09
🇸🇬 Singapore	RBI	company shares	€6.8M	2 years	Open	Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)	2026-10-11
🇦🇺 Australia	Talent	talent based	€0	4 years	Open	Australian Department of Home Affairs	2026-10-11
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Tax	talent based	€450K	10 years	Open	Swiss Federal Tax Administration	2026-09-06
🇵🇦 Panama	RBI	real estate	€258K	5 years	Open	Gaceta Oficial de Panamá — Decreto Ejecutivo 193 de 15 de octubre de 2024	2026-09-09
🇲🇨 Monaco	HNW	bank deposit	€500K	10 years	Open	Government of the Principality of Monaco	2026-09-06
🇳🇿 New Zealand	RBI	company shares	€2.5M	5 years	Open (reforming)	Immigration New Zealand	2026-10-07
🇹🇭 Thailand	HNW	capital transfer	€430K	No direct citizenship path	Open	Thailand Board of Investment (BOI)	2026-09-09
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RBI	company shares	€500K	5 years	Open	Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	2026-09-09
🇹🇷 Turkey	CBI	real estate	€344K	Citizenship on approval	Open	Republic of Turkey Ministry of Interior — Directorate General of Migration Management	2026-09-06
🇰🇳 St. Kitts and Nevis	CBI	philanthropic donation	€215K	Citizenship on approval	Open (reforming)	St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU)	2026-09-09
🇩🇲 Dominica	CBI	philanthropic donation	€172K	Citizenship on approval	Open (reforming)	Commonwealth of Dominica Citizenship by Investment Unit	2026-09-06
🇬🇩 Grenada	CBI	philanthropic donation	€202K	Citizenship on approval	Open (reforming)	Investment Migration Agency (IMA)	2026-09-06
🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	CBI	philanthropic donation	€207K	Citizenship on approval	Open (reforming)	Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment Unit	2026-09-06
🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda	CBI	philanthropic donation	€198K	Citizenship on approval	Open (reforming)	Antigua & Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Unit	2026-09-06
🇳🇷 Nauru	CBI	philanthropic donation	€77K	Citizenship on approval	Open	Republic of Nauru Citizenship Unit	2026-09-09
🇻🇺 Vanuatu	CBI	philanthropic donation	€112K	Citizenship on approval	Open (reforming)	Vanuatu Citizenship Office	2026-10-11
🇪🇬 Egypt	CBI	philanthropic donation	€215K	Citizenship on approval	Open	Arab Republic of Egypt — Cabinet General Secretariat	2026-09-06
🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe	CBI	philanthropic donation	€77K	Citizenship on approval	Open	São Tomé and Príncipe Government (secondary industry sources)	2026-09-06
🇲🇺 Mauritius	Permit	company shares	€43K	7 years	Open	Economic Development Board Mauritius	2026-09-09

Press headline · permalink

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 residency- and citizenship-by-investment programmes separately so a comparison stays like-for-like: 13 residency-by-investment (RBI) programmes and 10 citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programmes, each scored across 7 dimensions. The cheapest genuine RBI entry is €60K (Latvia Golden Visa). Highest RBI composite is Greece Golden Visa (85/100); highest CBI composite is St Kitts CBI (74/100). A further 5 routes (talent, tax-residence, HNW-deposit and business permits) are listed separately because their qualifying threshold is not a comparable capital investment — so a €0 or low figure cannot pose as the "cheapest golden visa." 4 programmes have closed since 2022, most recently Spain in April 2025.

Key facts

13 RBI + 10 CBI programmes ranked separately; 5 non-investment routes fenced out. Re-checked every 30–120 days from official portals.
Cheapest RBI entry: €60K Latvia Golden Visa — the lowest genuine residency-by-investment threshold (not a talent, tax or permit route).
Top RBI composite: Greece Golden Visa 85/100 across 7 dimensions; €250K minimum.
Top CBI composite: St Kitts CBI 74/100 — fastest route to a second passport in the index.
4 closed programmes tracked Closures run from the UK in February 2022 to Spain in April 2025 — programme stability is a real risk factor.

Residency-by-investment

Citizenship-by-investment

Other routes (not investment-ranked)

Closed programmes tracked

Residency-by-investment — composite ranking

The core “golden visa” set: programmes where a qualifying capital investment buys residence. Equal-weighted composite of 7 dimensions — your own priority weighting will shift the order, so use our interactive finder to apply it.

Rank	Programme	Investment	Processing	Presence	Citizenship	Schengen	EU Citz	Stability	Composite
1	🇬🇷Greece Golden Visa migration.gov.gr · verified 2026-09-09	€250K	2–6 months	none	7y	✓	✓	70	85
2	🇮🇹Italy Investor Visa investorvisa.mise.gov.it · verified 2026-09-09	€250K	3–6 months	none	10y	✓	✓	80	84
3	🇱🇻Latvia Golden Visa likumi.lv · verified 2026-09-09	€60K	2–3 months	none	10y	✓	✓	60	83
4	🇱🇺Luxembourg Investor guichet.public.lu · verified 2026-09-09	€500K	4–6 months	90d/yr	5y	✓	✓	80	80
5	🇵🇹Portugal Golden Visa aima.gov.pt · verified 2026-10-07	€250K	36–40 months	7d/yr	10y	✓	✓	60	71
6	🇲🇹Malta MPRP residencymalta.gov.mt · verified 2026-09-09	€99K	8–14 months	none	5y	✓	—	60	70
7	🇭🇺Hungary GIVP oif.gov.hu · verified 2026-10-01	€250K	not published^*	none	8y	✓	✓	50	69
8	🇨🇾Cyprus PR moi.gov.cy · verified 2026-08-19	€300K	2–3 months	none	—	—	✓	40	63
9	🇵🇦Panama Qualified Investor gacetaoficial.gob.pa · verified 2026-09-09	€258K	1–3 months	none	5y	—	—	70	59
10	🇦🇪UAE Golden Visa u.ae · verified 2026-10-11	€469K	not published^*	none	—	—	—	80	40
11	🇳🇿NZ Active Investor Plus immigration.govt.nz · verified 2026-10-07	€2.5M	not published^*	7d/yr	5y	—	—	70	33
12	🇺🇸USA EB-5 uscis.gov · verified 2026-09-09	€688K	17–120 months	183d/yr	5y	—	—	70	30
13	🇸🇬Singapore GIP edb.gov.sg · verified 2026-10-11	€6.8M	not published^*	183d/yr	2y	—	—	80	25

^* Hungary: The OIF states a 21-day period for procedural administration. It does not publish an end-to-end processing range, so no end-to-end estimate is shown.

^* United Arab Emirates: End-to-end processing time not published on the authority page on 2026-10-01.

^* New Zealand: Two-stage at Immigration New Zealand: INZ averages ~35 working days to approval-in-principle, then ~36 working days to final approval once investment documentation is provided (~7 weeks each). A 6-month window to transfer funds sits between the stages, so end-to-end calendar time is applicant-paced. These stage averages are not an end-to-end percentile service standard. Current INZ page quote: ‘Approval in principle 80% within 4 months’; this is an AIP-stage metric, and INZ does not publish an end-to-end time.

^* Singapore: End-to-end processing time not published on the authority page on 2026-10-01.

Citizenship-by-investment — composite ranking

Direct second-passport programmes — citizenship is granted on approval, with no residence period, so the “Citizenship” column reads direct. These are a different product from a golden visa and are ranked on the same 7 dimensions separately, not mixed into the RBI table.

Rank	Programme	Investment	Processing	Presence	Citizenship	Schengen	EU Citz	Stability	Composite
1	🇰🇳St Kitts CBI ciu.gov.kn · verified 2026-09-09	€215K	4–6 months	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
2	🇬🇩Grenada CBI imagrenada.gd · verified 2026-09-06	€202K	4–6 months	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
3	🇱🇨St Lucia CBI cipsaintlucia.com · verified 2026-09-06	€207K	3–6 months	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
4	🇦🇬Antigua CBI cip.gov.ag · verified 2026-09-06	€198K	3–5 months	1d/yr	direct	✓	—	40	74
5	🇳🇷Nauru CBI ecrcp.gov.nr · verified 2026-09-09	€77K	3–5 months	none	direct	—	—	50	62
6	🇪🇬Egypt CBI egypt.gov.eg · verified 2026-09-06	€215K	6–9 months	none	direct	—	—	60	62
7	🇹🇷Turkey CBI invest.gov.tr · verified 2026-09-06	€344K	3–9 months	none	direct	—	—	60	61
8	🇸🇹São Tomé CBI gov.st · verified 2026-09-06	€77K	4–8 months	none	direct	—	—	50	61
9	🇩🇲Dominica CBI cbiu.gov.dm · verified 2026-09-06	€172K	4–6 months	none	direct	—	—	30	58
10	🇻🇺Vanuatu CBI vancitizenship.gov.vu · verified 2026-10-11	€112K	not published^*	none	direct	—	—	20	45

^* Vanuatu: End-to-end processing time not published by the authority on 2026-10-01.

Other residence routes — not investment-ranked

These are often listed as “golden visas,” but the qualifying threshold is not a comparable capital investment — it is a talent/merit test, a negotiated annual tax, a bank-set deposit, or a turnover-conditioned business permit. We keep them out of the “cheapest” ranking so a €0 or low figure can’t masquerade as the cheapest golden visa. Each is labelled with why.

🇲🇺Mauritius ResidencePermit

Business / occupation permit

~€43K ($50K) Occupation Permit (business route) OR ~€323K ($375K) Integrated Resort Scheme real estate.

🇦🇺Australia NIVTalent

Talent / merit visa — no financial investment

No financial investment required. Invitation-only, based on exceptional achievement in a specific field.

🇲🇨Monaco ResidenceHNW

HNW residence — deposit / asset threshold

~€500,000 estimated bank deposit (not a fee — remains yours, must be maintained; amount varies by bank). Plus obligatory Monaco property (purchase or 12-month+ lease).

🇨🇭Switzerland Lump-SumTax

Tax residence — negotiated annual tax, not capital

~CHF 450K minimum annual lump-sum tax (canton-level estimate; no federal minimum; verify locally).

🇹🇭Thailand LTRHNW

HNW residence — deposit / asset threshold

Wealthy Global Citizens needs USD 1M+ total assets AND USD 500K+ invested in Thailand (~€430K) — both are required (BOI). Other categories are income/talent-based without a fixed investment.

Dimension leaders

Which programme is best for each individual dimension?

Cheapest RBI entry

🇱🇻 Latvia Golden Visa

Score 97/100

Fastest processing

🇱🇻 Latvia Golden Visa

Score 94/100

Lowest presence requirement

🇬🇷 Greece Golden Visa

Score 100/100

Shortest citizenship path

🇰🇳 St Kitts CBI

0 years (direct citizenship)

Lowest closure risk

🇮🇹 Italy Investor Visa

Score 80/100

Registry FAQ

Golden Visa Index questions

How many golden visa programmes are active in the 2026 index?

28 programmes are active in the WhereNext registry. 33 programmes in total are tracked, including 4 closed programmes and 1 paused programme.

Which active programme has the cheapest fund class?

Hungary (Hungary GIVP) records the lowest fund-class route among active programmes at €250K, across real-estate-fund and investment-fund route types. The amount is the registry route minimum.

Is the Spain Golden Visa still open?

The Spain Golden Visa is recorded as closed. Programme formally terminated 3 April 2025. No new applications accepted.

When was the golden visa registry last verified?

The most recent programme-level verification date in the WhereNext registry is 2026-10-11; per-programme dates range from 2026-08-19 and are shown per row in the index table.

Methodology

Scope & category fencing. Only programmes whose qualifying threshold is a comparable capital investment are ranked by “cheapest entry”: residency-by-investment (RBI) and citizenship-by-investment (CBI), ranked in separate tables because they are different products. Routes whose threshold is not a comparable investment — a talent/merit visa (no financial investment), a negotiated annual tax (Switzerland lump-sum), a bank-set deposit or asset gate (Monaco, Thailand LTR), or a turnover-conditioned business/occupation permit (Mauritius) — are listed separately and never counted as the “cheapest golden visa.”

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 33 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

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