Montenegro

Citizenship of Montenegro could be obtained within a year through an investment of €250,000 into approved development projects and a €200,000 government fee,^[13] until closed in 2022.

Belize

Belize offers a investor residency program with a real estate investment of $250,000 and after 5 years an individual is eligible for Belizean citizenship which offers a CARICOM passport for travel.

Greece

Introduced in 2013, the Greek Golden Visa program offers residency to non-EEA nationals in exchange for specific direct investments in real estate or financial instruments, as an incentive to attract international capital flows. The program originally requires a minimum investment of €250,000 in real estate or €400,000 in securities or a bank deposit in Greece.^[17] The investors' close family members also receive a residence permit without further investment requirements, including their spouse, children up to 21 years old, parents and parents-in-law.

By February 2023, the country had issued 10,105 residence permits to investors and 18,154 to their family members.^[18] On 23 December 2022, the golden visa program was changed, setting the 5 year visa at a minimum of €500,000 for real estate investments in specific areas of the country, coming into effect on 1 August 2023.^[19]

Hungary

Investing €155,000 in any completed residential property in Hungary or creating a local company to provide services, or to trade in goods, will give the investor a temporary residence permit for themselves and their family. Residential investment can give a permit lasting 5 years and the company route, 3 years. these visas are renewable. 3 years of continuous residence allows a permanent residence permit to be applied for. Seven years residency and passing a language exam will open the opportunity to acquire citizenship and a Hungarian passport.^[20]

Italy

A two year residence permit achieved with buying a house, investing or donating €1,000,000. Investments being €250,000 in a start up, €500,000 in an Italian company or €2,000,000 in government bonds. Extendable for three years periods and after 10 years may be eligible for citizenship.^[21]

Latvia

An investment of €50,000 into a Latvian company, provided the company pays at least €40,000 per annum in tax will gain the investor a five-year residency after paying a one-off €10,000 fee to the government. The residency is renewable or it can be converted to permanent residency after four years of residency. Citizenship is obtainable after 10 years.^[22]

Portugal

Portugal introduced a golden visa during the 2007 Great Recession to help attract investment into the country's housing market.

By 2023, the country had issued more than 10,000 golden visas (not including the investors' family members), of which close to 50% had been issued to Chinese nationals. All visa holders bought properties, lived in them for 2 weeks before leaving them empty or renting them out to holidaymakers, resulting in rising property prices and long-term rentals became unaffordable for locals. €‎7 billion has come into the country, 90% being used to buy property. Only 2 visas a year were issued for job creation reasons.^[23]

On 16 February 2023 the Government announced that it would close the programme as soon as possible.^[24] However, on 7 October 2023, the Government announced that the Golden Visa will continue albeit without the real estate option.^[25]

Russia

Russia opened its Investor Visa program on December 31, 2022.^{[citation needed]} It provides the opportunity to gain permanent residency in Russia for the applicant and their direct family.^{[citation needed]} To apply, one has to either sponsor a social project, purchase real estate, invest in a business, or start their own company.^{[citation needed]} The residency can be converted to citizenship after 5 years.^{[citation needed]}

United Arab Emirates (Golden Visa)

The UAE introduced the 10 year Golden Visa system in 2019.^[26][27] It allows qualifying individuals to live, study and work in UAE without the need of a national sponsor. The residence visa program, offers various possibility to become a resident in the UAE for certain category of professionals, such as PhD holders, scientists, outstanding professional in a specific field or industry and/or to doctors and their families.^[28] Other skilled professionals included are senior scholars, elite specialists in industry and fourth industrial revolution, specialists in health industry and education.^[29]

Golden visa holders are allowed to sponsor their family members which includes spouse, children and support staff. The visa can be renewed if the required criteria is met. Unlike some other golden visa programs which requires the visa holder to maintain a duration of stay in the country, the UAE golden visa has no restriction on the maximum duration of stay outside the UAE to maintain validity of the visa.^[30]

The UAE Golden Visa costs $136,000 for investors.^[31][32]

United States

The United States has two main investor visa programs: the E-2 and EB-5 visas.

• EB-5 Visa (green card)

The EB-5 visa program is administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Successful applicants and their family can apply for a green card.

The EB-5 visa program, which is also called as the Golden Visa program, requires applicants to invest between US$900,000 and US$1.8 million, depending on the location of the project, and requires at least 10 jobs to be either created or preserved.^[33][34]

There is an annual cap of 10,000 applications under the EB-5 program.^[35] The program is designed to encourage foreign investment in infrastructure projects, particularly in Targeted Employment Areas (TEA) with high unemployment. Funds are channeled through businesses known as regional centers, now designated only by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. An example of a project is a US$200 million development by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

In March 2022, the EB-5 program was overhauled with the passage of new legislation called the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA). Positive changes were introduced by RIA to enhance the appeal of the program. RIA allows concurrent filing which permits investors to live and work in the USA while waiting for the adjudication of their EB-5 applications.^[36]

• E-2 (non-immigrant)

The E-2 visa investor program allows foreign nationals of specific treaty countries to invest in a start up, buy a business or a franchise to reside legally in the U.S.^[37][38]

The initial visa term varies from three months to five years depending on the U.S. reciprocity schedule with the applicant's country of citizenship. The E-2 visa can be renewed indefinitely and it is possible for the investor to change their legal status to a green card (e.g. EB-1A, EB-2, EB-3 or EB-5). The E-2 visa investor must commit to investing a substantial amount (generally US$100,000) and create American jobs (usually 2+). Most investments under US$200,000 will require the investor to work 40+ hours a week in the business at least for the first 12 to 18 months.

As per recent changes made to the US regulation, individuals holding a passport from a treaty country are required to be domiciled there for a period of three years before being eligible to apply for the E-2 investor visa. This amendment was introduced as investors who were not from the treaty countries would obtain citizenship in one of the treaty countries to become eligible for the E-2 visa program.^[38]