The Quickest Ways to Get a Second Passport
Hidden Hacks for Dual Citizenship
Note: this is part 5 of a series on how to go further by integrating asymmetrical defenses against overeager states.
Here are the 4 articles in the series:
There are several ways to obtain a second passport, falling into three broad categories: acquisition by birth or descent, acquisition by investment or purchase, and acquisition by naturalization.
Acquisition by birth or parentage
Some people may be eligible for a second passport because of their birth or parentage. For example, if one of your parents or grandparents was born in a foreign country, you may be eligible for citizenship of that country. This is the case for many countries, particularly in Europe, where citizenship is often transmitted by blood (jus sanguinis).
Many countries automatically pass on their parents' citizenship to their children, even if they were born outside the country.
Some countries allow you to go back several generations, sometimes many. One of the most generous countries on this subject, Italy, allows you to obtain its nationality if you have a single direct male ancestor holding Italian nationality and born after March 17, 18611(!)
In countries like Brazil, where it is estimated that up to 15% of the population is of Italian origin2 , this has prompted over 500,000 people to apply for citizenship in just a few years, after Brazil allowed multiple nationalities3.
Generous countries in this respect include Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain (two generations), and many Eastern European countries that allow up to three generations, such as Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc., as well as Greece, Croatia and Malta.
Acquisition through investment or purchase
Some countries offer citizenship-by-investment programs, enabling individuals to acquire a passport in exchange for an investment in the country. These programs are often referred to as "golden citizenship" or "golden passport".
We're talking about official, legal programs that enable you to truly acquire citizenship and the passport that goes with it: I'm not talking here about corruption, which I obviously don't recommend.
At the time of writing, the main programs enabling this are :
Vanuatu
This small country off the coast of New Caledonia has the world's cheapest passport ($130,000) and the fastest to obtain (3 to 4 months).
However, it has a bad reputation, as the verification processes prior to passport issuance are not sufficient. As a result, the European Union revoked visa-free access to its territory for Vanuatu citizens in 20224 , a blow to the attractiveness of this passport.
Five Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis
At a cost of around $200,000 + fees, with variations depending on the country and the number of applicants from the same family.
The passport can be acquired in about six months, and is of good quality, allowing visa-free travel to over 130 countries, including the European Union. Again, each country has its own particularities, but all passports are roughly equivalent.
Note that the European Union has used the visa-free access it offers to these countries as leverage to put pressure on them to raise their price, which was $100,000 + fees before 2024 (that's the price I paid for my Antiguan passport: some of my friends collect sports cars, which I'm completely indifferent to. I preferred to make this pleasure purchase, which is completely in line with my primary value, freedom, as I explained in my last article :) ).
This just goes to show that in this business, prices never stay fixed for too long, and you have to take advantage of bargains when you see them.
Each of these countries is also part of two alliances, similar to mini European Unions:
The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
Which includes Montserrat and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in addition to the five countries mentioned above.
There is total freedom of movement between these seven countries, much as in the European Union: every citizen of one of these countries can freely travel, live and work in any of the seven countries.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
This includes, in addition to the seven OECS countries, the Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and even three countries on the American continent: Belize, Guiana (not the French one) and Suriname.
Freedom of movement is not as great in this community: you can work indefinitely in another CARICOM state without having to apply for a visa or work permit, but only after demonstrating that you belong to one of the approved categories.
Eligible candidates include graduates of any world-renowned university, artists, musicians, media professionals, athletes, teachers, nurses and a few other professions.
However, CARICOM has been aspiring to greater freedom of movement for several years now.
Belonging to these two blocs is an appreciable bonus for these passports: if you're interested in being able to live as you please in low-tax tropical paradise islands, this is an option worth considering.
Turkey
All you need to do is buy any property worth at least $400,000 or put $500,000 on deposit in a Turkish bank to obtain citizenship and a passport.
You need to keep the property for three years, or keep your deposit in a bank for the same length of time, but the passport can be obtained in 6 months or less after purchase or deposit.
Note that as I write these lines, persistent rumors indicate that the minimum property value will soon rise to $600,000. A few years ago, the minimum price was just $250,000.
However, it's the only passport on this list that can be free, or even make you money, if you play your cards right and make a good real estate investment.
What's more, Turkey is a large country and a middle power that's harder to bend than a small island. So it's a country that represents a good diversification for someone who wants to obtain a second passport, or complete their portfolio.
Malta
As a member of the European Union, it allows all Maltese citizens to travel, live and work freely in the 27 countries of the Union.
Consequently, it comes at a price:
600,000 euros if you have lived in Malta for at least 36 months
Or 750,000 euros if you want to reduce the period imposed on site to one year
PLUS, in both cases :
50,000 in expenses
The purchase of a residence worth at least 700,000 euros OR proof of a long-term rental costing at least 16,000 euros per year, which must be kept for five years.
A donation to a Maltese charity of at least 10,000 euros
And additional miscellaneous costs of around 20,000 euros
This means a total cost ranging from €760,000 to over €1,500,000 (!). This program is clearly aimed at very wealthy people with poor-quality passports.
Once again, the European Union is trying to put pressure on Malta to stop this program, but as a member state, this is not so easy. Proceedings are currently underway between the EU and Malta at the European Court of Justice, with the outcome currently highly uncertain5 .
If this program is ever discontinued, passports already obtained before the discontinuation date will not be affected (the same applies to all other programs).
Other countries
I'll mention them briefly, because they're not very interesting: Cambodia ($250,000), Egypt (same price, or a property purchase worth at least $300,000), El Salvador (which would be an interesting passport if it weren't so expensive: $1 million).
Acquisition through naturalization : Hacks to do it fast
Naturalization is the process by which an individual acquires citizenship of a country after living there for a specified period of time. The conditions for naturalization vary from country to country, but generally involve living in the country for a certain period of time, speaking the language, knowing its culture and history, and meeting certain administrative requirements.
For example, to become a French citizen, you need to have lived in France for at least five years, speak French and meet certain administrative conditions. Similar processes exist in many other countries.
Sometimes being married speeds up the process.
There are also hacks available just about everywhere.
For example, all American countries except Colombia immediately offer citizenship to any child born on their territory.
Some of these countries make it easier for parents to become naturalized, as in Brazil, where you just need to live there for a year to apply for a passport as the parent of a Brazilian citizen.
A simple hack for a digital nomad couple expecting a child is to simply go and give birth in the American country of their choice, to give their child the gift of an additional nationality. Depending on the country, they can then quickly obtain residency (often) and even a passport (sometimes).
This is what a couple of friends who lived in Dubai and were expecting a child did. I mentioned to them that, rather than giving birth in Dubai, which was of no interest in terms of additional nationality, they could give their child the beautiful gift of another passport, simply by giving birth in one of America's many countries.
Interested in the idea, they studied it, and finally set their sights on Brazil: they went to one of Rio de Janeiro's top clinics, where they enjoyed a water birth.
Their child Ugo was immediately granted Brazilian nationality, as well as French via his parents' nationality.
They were then able to obtain permanent residency very quickly, and acquired their Brazilian passport about 18 months after the birth of their son6.
Likewise, Sébastien and Audrey Coste are two entrepreneurs and influencers, who have made a name for themselves by sharing their digital nomad lifestyle with their family on their Youtube channel "Family Coste", first with their two children Eleanor and Timothy, then with Louison. They have criss-crossed North and Central America with their American caravan.
Sébastien is Belgian and Audrey French, so the children all have dual nationality. What's more, the last three were born on the American continent: Timothy in Canada, and Louison and Céleste in Mexico, which enabled them to acquire the citizenship of their respective countries of birth.
As the parents of a Mexican citizen, Sébastien and Audrey were able to easily obtain permanent residency in Mexico, where they now live on a beautiful ranch in the Yucatan.
In conclusion
My experience in the field shows that good deals don't last: Carribean passports were half as expensive before the EU imposed a doubling of prices, and the Turkish passport required only $250,000 in property purchases, before this threshold was raised to $400,000 in 2023.
Similarly, there's no guarantee that the hack to get a Brazilian passport in 12 to 18 months will continue in the future, just like the fact that Italy will give you a passport if you have a single direct male ancestor holding Italian nationality and born after March 17, 1861.
So whatever your reason for wanting a 2nd passport, a word of advice: don't delay! :)
Coming soon
In the next article, we’ll see how we can transcend the flags with a purely digital entity.
Stay tuned ! In the meantime, feel free to follow Disruptive Horizons on X/Twitter & Linkedin, and join the tribe of Intelligent Rebels by subscribing to the newsletter :
And here are the 4 articles of this series :
There are many paragraphs and asterisks to this law, but it has enabled millions of people to obtain Italian citizenship. "Citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis)", Italian Consulate London, 2024
"Encontro analisa imigração italiana em MG", Marcelo Miranda, 2006
"Pollastri confirma que o Parlamento italiano estuda restrições à cidadania por direito de sangue na terceira geração", Desiderio Peron, Insieme, 2007
"Vanuatu: Council fully suspends visa free travel agreement", Council of Europe, 2022
"European Commission vs. Malta: What the Future Holds for Citizenship by Investment", Oliver Said, 2024
The procedure took longer than expected, especially as they moved to many places in Brazil, renting Airbnbs, which complicated the administrative procedure, as they had to gather a lot of paperwork. They also lengthened certain deadlines with little mistakes left and right.