Most residence by investment (RBI) programs ask you to buy property, fund a business, or commit capital to government bonds. A small group still works on a simpler model: Park money in a local bank, get a residence permit, and hold the deposit for the duration of the visa.
This article covers four programs where the qualifying bank deposit is $100,000 or less. For a broader view of passive residency by investment under the same ceiling, including equity, real estate, and securities options, IMI’s recent overview is the natural companion piece. The narrower focus here is bank deposits specifically: Programs where moving funds into a local financial institution is itself the qualifying act, with the deposit held for the duration of the residency.
The article does not cover independent means visas, which require proof of solvency rather than a transferred deposit, and it does not cover combined deposit-and-property programs like Malaysia’s MM2H or Sabah’s variant, both of which run total commitments well over the cap once property purchase requirements are added.
The four that qualify span Latin America, Africa, the Caucasus, and Asia. The cheapest deposit does not always buy the most valuable residency, and the programs differ sharply on what the money actually delivers.
Ecuador Investor Visa: $48,200
Ecuador’s Investor Visa lets you qualify by depositing 100 times the country’s monthly minimum wage in a recognized Ecuadorian financial institution. Ecuador’s 2026 minimum wage is $482, putting the threshold at $48,200, the lowest of any program covered here.
The visa runs as a temporary residence permit for the first two years, after which holders can apply for permanent residency. Naturalization eligibility opens after a further three years of permanent residency domicile, putting the legal minimum from initial application to citizenship at five years. In practice, the process runs longer, since application backlogs and the discretionary nature of naturalization decisions extend timelines beyond the statutory floor. Applicants pursuing citizenship must pass a Spanish language and Ecuadorian civics test.
Investor visa holders face no cap on time spent abroad while the visa is active, but applicants who want to convert to PR or naturalize must remain in Ecuador for at least 185 days per year during the qualifying period. The deposit must be maintained throughout the residency period.
Ecuador uses the US dollar as its official currency, removing exchange-rate risk on the deposit itself. Ecuador also permits dual citizenship, which makes the naturalization endpoint a true second-passport outcome rather than a swap. For investors who want a low-cost dollarized residency in Latin America without the friction of a foreign currency conversion, Ecuador offers the cheapest entry point on this list.
Egypt Residence by Investment: $50,000
Egypt offers the cheapest one-year renewable permit on the list. The country’s Residence by Investment program lets foreigners qualify by depositing funds in a state-owned Egyptian bank, with the permit duration tied to the deposit size.
A $50,000 deposit grants a one-year renewable residence permit. A $100,000 deposit grants a three-year renewable permit. Both are renewable indefinitely as long as the deposit is maintained. Deposits can be made in any recognized foreign currency, and the program imposes no physical presence requirement.
Egypt’s RBI route does not lead to permanent residency, and it does not lead to citizenship. Permits remain conditional on the deposit for the entire holding period.
Investors seeking an Egyptian passport must use Egypt’s separate citizenship by investment program, which carries a $500,000 refundable bank deposit option (returned in Egyptian pounds after three years, exposing the investor to local-currency risk) plus a $10,000 government fee. That program sits well above the cap of this article.
For applicants who want a renewable foothold in a large Mediterranean economy with no presence requirement, Egypt’s $50,000 entry point is hard to beat on cost alone. For anyone who wants a path to a permanent legal status, it offers nothing.
Azerbaijan Investor Residence: $58,800
Azerbaijan’s Investor Residence Program qualifies foreigners through a term deposit of at least AZN 100,000 (approximately $58,800 at current exchange rates) in an Azerbaijani bank. The qualifying deposit must be made under a term deposit agreement, so the funds are locked for the agreed term and cannot be withdrawn during that period without affecting the residency status.
The program issues temporary residence. Permanent residency is available at a higher threshold of AZN 200,000 in real estate, deposits, or securities, and requires at least two years of continuous residency in Azerbaijan. Citizenship eligibility opens after five years of continuous residency, subject to Azerbaijani language proficiency and a civics requirement.
The structural caveat for IMI’s audience is significant: Azerbaijan does not permit dual citizenship. Naturalizing applicants must renounce all other nationalities. For Plan B investors building a portfolio of second residencies and citizenships, Azerbaijan’s citizenship pathway is functionally closed; the program works as a renewable residence option but not as a route to a usable second passport.
The legal basis is the Migration Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2013), Chapter 3, supplemented by the Law on Immigration No. 1075-IQ, Article 15. Applications go through the State Migration Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani manat is pegged to the US dollar at a stable rate of approximately 1.7 AZN per USD, removing exchange-rate volatility on the deposit during the holding period.
For investors prioritizing geographic diversification into the Caucasus, Azerbaijan delivers a renewable foothold for under $60,000. For investors expecting a second passport at the end of the line, it does not.
Philippines Investor Residency Programs: $75,000
The Philippines runs two $75,000 investor residency programs, both leading to permanent residency, with sharply different processing realities.
The FAB Investor Visa (FIV), launched in 2024 under the authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, is the newer program. The investment requires a $75,000 fixed deposit through FAB-approved partners. While the program markets itself on processing speed, current practice runs to a year or longer, with average wait times reaching around three years from initial application to granted residency.
The Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV) is the Philippines’ longer-established investor residency program. It also requires a $75,000 deposit and operates on a substantially faster cycle. Processing can complete in weeks, with one applicant reportedly receiving residency in just four business days. Investors comparing the two are choosing between the same investment threshold and the same legal endpoint, distinguished primarily by which program will actually deliver in a usable timeframe.
Both programs grant permanent residency. Both allow the spouse and dependent children to be included in the application at no additional investment requirement. Both let approved residents live, work, or study anywhere in the Philippines and impose no minimum stay requirement to maintain the residency.
Naturalization is available after fulfilling the 10-year residency requirement under Commonwealth Act No. 473. The naturalization oath under Section 12 of the Act requires applicants to renounce all other allegiances, which means foreign-born investors pursuing Philippine citizenship must, in principle, give up their original nationality.
Some practitioners argue the requirement is loosely enforced for naturalized investors, but the statutory language is unambiguous, and IMI readers should treat the Philippine citizenship pathway as a renunciation route rather than a true dual-citizenship outcome.
The Philippines does not exchange information under the Common Reporting Standard, which keeps deposit accounts outside the OECD’s automatic information exchange framework. Resident foreign individuals are not taxed on foreign-sourced income.
For investors deciding between the two routes, the SIRV’s processing speed makes it the practical choice for anyone who needs the residency in hand within a year. The FIV’s marketing claims notwithstanding, the longer wait times mean the program currently functions more as a forward-looking commitment than as a fast-track Plan B.
Bank-deposit residency is a shrinking category. Paraguay’s $5,000 deposit pathway, repealed in November 2025, is gone. Latvia’s bank-deposit option (€280,000) and Greece’s €500,000 time deposit sit far above any “accessible” framing. Sri Lanka’s Golden Paradise Visa requires $200,000 for the headline 10-year permit, also exceeding the cap of this article. The four programs above are what remain at the bottom of the deposit-based RBI market in 2026.
