Sierra Leone will add two citizenship routes for applicants without dependents on October 1, cutting the cheapest option for a single applicant to USD 95,000. Until now, a lone applicant without a DNA test paid USD 140,000. Heritage Citizenship, the DNA-based route for applicants of African descent, rises by USD 20,000 on the same date.
Stephen Barnes, the program’s architect, confirmed the changes to IMI. His firm, Hong Kong Visa Centre, serves as the program’s Master Agent together with TG 2050 LTD.
New routes
Under the new Solo Entrepreneur route, one main applicant pays USD 95,000 and may not add dependents. Adding the USD 5,000 due diligence fee brings the total to USD 100,000.
Enterprise Citizenship lets two unrelated main applicants file jointly for USD 80,000 apiece. Neither may add dependents, and the pair shares one USD 5,000 due diligence fee, for a total of USD 165,000.
An Enterprise applicant who needs a separate notary session pays an extra USD 1,000. The route replaces a two-partner option from the late 2025 expansion, which priced each partner at USD 85,000.
Family routes
Fast-Track Citizenship keeps its USD 140,000 price and remains the only direct citizenship route that accepts dependents without a DNA test. Spouses, minor children, parents, and grandparents still cost USD 10,000 each. Adult children and siblings under 30 fall into the USD 20,000 special dependent class.
Heritage Citizenship rises from USD 100,000 to USD 120,000 for the main applicant, who must prove African ancestry through a DNA test. Its dependent fees do not change.
The +1 Business Partner add-on becomes Plus One and keeps its USD 30,000 price. It lets a Fast-Track or Heritage main applicant include one unrelated adult. Company incorporation, which until now came bundled with every approved application, becomes optional under the new structure.
Heritage discount
An applicant of African descent applying alone would now pay USD 125,000 through Heritage Citizenship, including due diligence. Solo Entrepreneur costs USD 25,000 less and requires no DNA test.
Families still gain from the ancestry discount, because Solo and Enterprise applicants cannot bring dependents. A Heritage family of four, with a spouse and two minor children, now pays USD 155,000 including due diligence, up from USD 135,000. Through Fast-Track, the same family would pay USD 175,000.
For two unrelated applicants where one can prove African ancestry, a Heritage main applicant with a Plus One now costs USD 155,000 including due diligence. Enterprise Citizenship costs USD 10,000 more. Fast-Track with a Plus One tops the range at USD 175,000.
4,000 families
GO-FOR-GOLD “was never intended to be simply about acquiring citizenship,” Barnes tells IMI. He describes the bigger idea as creating “a community of new citizens who genuinely want to engage with Sierra Leone and participate in its growth.”
The program’s targets are entrepreneurs, investors, and high-net-worth families “who see the opportunity in Africa but also want a safe, structured, and credible way to become involved.” Sierra Leone, he says, values what they bring over time “through investment, businesses, international networks, skills, and job creation.” That contribution can be worth “considerably more than the cost of joining the program,” in his view.
Barnes puts the target at “only around 4,000 families over five years,” calling it “very much about building the right community rather than pursuing volume.” He singles out the twice-yearly investor delegations as “especially encouraging,” since they let new citizens “meet decision-makers, understand opportunities firsthand and, increasingly, participate directly in the economy.”
“Like every ambitious country, Sierra Leone is competing for talent and investment,” Barnes argues. What encourages him, he says, is President Julius Maada Bio’s commitment to “building lasting relationships with these new citizens.” “We are already seeing strong evidence that the model is working as intended,” he adds.
Program history
Sierra Leone launched GO-FOR-GOLD as a gold-backed residency program in December 2024 and added citizenship routes in January 2025. Its late 2025 expansion opened the program to extended relatives.
Citizenship still rests on Section 27A of the Citizenship Act 1973, which gives the President discretionary authority to confer it. According to the Master Agent’s program materials, statutory amendments to codify the route, including a Citizenship (Special Naturalization) Regulation, 2026, remain pending.
