Open Data · CC BY 4.0

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 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." 1 programme has closed in the past 24 months.

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.
1 closed in last 24 months Spain's programme was terminated in April 2025 — programme stability is a real risk factor.

Residency-by-investment

Citizenship-by-investment

Other routes (not investment-ranked)

Closed in last 24 months

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	€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	🇵🇹Portugal Golden Visa	€200K	36-40mo	7d/yr	10y	✓	✓	60	71
8	🇨🇾Cyprus PR	€300K	2-3mo	none	—	—	✓	40	63
9	🇵🇦Panama Qualified Investor	€276K	1-3mo	none	5y	—	—	50	56
10	🇦🇪UAE Golden Visa	€516K	1-2mo	none	—	—	—	80	53
11	🇳🇿NZ Active Investor Plus	€2.8M	2-4mo	7d/yr	5y	—	—	70	46
12	🇸🇬Singapore GIP	€6.9M	6-12mo	183d/yr	2y	—	—	80	36
13	🇺🇸USA EB-5	€736K	17-120mo	183d/yr	5y	—	—	70	30

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	€230K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
2	🇬🇩Grenada CBI	€216K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
3	🇱🇨St Lucia CBI	€221K	3-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
4	🇦🇬Antigua CBI	€212K	3-5mo	1d/yr	direct	✓	—	40	74
5	🇳🇷Nauru CBI	€97K	3-5mo	none	direct	—	—	50	62
6	🇪🇬Egypt CBI	€230K	6-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	62
7	🇹🇷Turkey CBI	€368K	3-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	61
8	🇸🇹São Tomé CBI	€83K	4-8mo	none	direct	—	—	50	61
9	🇻🇺Vanuatu CBI	€120K	1-2mo	none	direct	—	—	20	59
10	🇩🇲Dominica CBI	€184K	4-6mo	none	direct	—	—	30	58

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.

🇦🇺Australia NIVTalent

Talent / merit visa — no financial investment

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

🇲🇺Mauritius ResidencePermit

Business / occupation permit

~€46K ($50K) Occupation Permit (business route) OR ~€345K ($375K) Integrated Resort Scheme real estate.

🇨🇭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 (~€460K) — both are required (BOI). Other categories are income/talent-based without a fixed investment.

🇲🇨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).

Dimension leaders

Which programme is best for each individual dimension?

💰Cheapest RBI entry

🇱🇻 Latvia Golden Visa

Score 97/100

⚡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

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 nota 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 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

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Open Data · CC BY 4.0

Golden Visa Index 2026

Get JSON Get CSV Interactive finder toolSee what changed →

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

Quick answer

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.
1 closed in last 24 months Spain's programme was terminated in April 2025 — programme stability is a real risk factor.

Residency-by-investment

Citizenship-by-investment

Other routes (not investment-ranked)

Closed in last 24 months

Residency-by-investment — composite ranking

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	🇵🇹Portugal Golden Visa	€200K	36-40mo	7d/yr	10y	✓	✓	60	71
8	🇨🇾Cyprus PR	€300K	2-3mo	none	—	—	✓	40	63
9	🇵🇦Panama Qualified Investor	€276K	1-3mo	none	5y	—	—	50	56
10	🇦🇪UAE Golden Visa	€516K	1-2mo	none	—	—	—	80	53
11	🇳🇿NZ Active Investor Plus	€2.8M	2-4mo	7d/yr	5y	—	—	70	46
12	🇸🇬Singapore GIP	€6.9M	6-12mo	183d/yr	2y	—	—	80	36
13	🇺🇸USA EB-5	€736K	17-120mo	183d/yr	5y	—	—	70	30

Citizenship-by-investment — composite ranking

Rank	Programme	Investment	Processing	Presence	Citizenship	Schengen	EU Citz	Stability	Composite
1	🇰🇳St Kitts CBI	€230K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
2	🇬🇩Grenada CBI	€216K	4-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
3	🇱🇨St Lucia CBI	€221K	3-6mo	none	direct	✓	—	40	74
4	🇦🇬Antigua CBI	€212K	3-5mo	1d/yr	direct	✓	—	40	74
5	🇳🇷Nauru CBI	€97K	3-5mo	none	direct	—	—	50	62
6	🇪🇬Egypt CBI	€230K	6-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	62
7	🇹🇷Turkey CBI	€368K	3-9mo	none	direct	—	—	60	61
8	🇸🇹São Tomé CBI	€83K	4-8mo	none	direct	—	—	50	61
9	🇻🇺Vanuatu CBI	€120K	1-2mo	none	direct	—	—	20	59
10	🇩🇲Dominica CBI	€184K	4-6mo	none	direct	—	—	30	58

Other residence routes — not investment-ranked

🇦🇺Australia NIVTalent

Talent / merit visa — no financial investment

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

🇲🇺Mauritius ResidencePermit

Business / occupation permit

~€46K ($50K) Occupation Permit (business route) OR ~€345K ($375K) Integrated Resort Scheme real estate.

🇨🇭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 (~€460K) — both are required (BOI). Other categories are income/talent-based without a fixed investment.

🇲🇨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).

Dimension leaders

Which programme is best for each individual dimension?

💰Cheapest RBI entry

🇱🇻 Latvia Golden Visa

Score 97/100

⚡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

Related tools & guides

Finder tool Cost calculator ROI calculator Hub Case studies

Related open datasets

Every WhereNext dataset is free to download, embed, and cite (CC BY 4.0).