An application for Italy’s investor visa took 3.3 months on average in the second quarter of 2026. A Portuguese golden visa application took 50.4 months, a record for that program.
Both averages come from the IMI Processing Times Tool. It tracks how long applications took to complete the process, instead of the timelines that programs advertise.
Ten of the 12 programs that the tool tracked in the first quarter took longer on average in the second. Grenada’s average did not change, and Greece got faster.
On these figures, the fastest citizenship by investment programs finish years before the slowest golden visas. Programs that grant the same status, and ask for similar sums, land far apart in the ranking.
Where the Figures Come From
The tool combines reports from agents, crowdsourced data, reports from individual investors, and government data. IMI cross-checks the agent reports against other sources.
Greece’s figures come from official processing data, and Portugal’s come from the Nomad Gate database. For the other programs, the figures are estimates based on processing times that international investment migration firms observed.
Each average describes past processing times. It measures how long ago the most recently completed applications were filed.
When a program’s times fall sharply, an application filed today will likely finish much sooner than its average suggests.
“People always ask which program is the fastest,” notes Joseph Boll, Founder and CEO at Frederick Capital. In his view, “the biggest factor in processing time is often not the government. It is the file.”
The Fastest Programs
Italy’s investor visa led the tool in the second quarter of 2026, at an average of 3.3 months. The ministry that administers it says its assessment committee issues a result within 30 days.
Italy’s average rose from 2.3 months in the first quarter, so a file submitted today may take longer than 3.3 months.
Vanuatu followed at 4.5 months. Among the programs in the ranking, it was the fastest route to citizenship.
Nauru, new to the tool this quarter, averaged 5.6 months. Saint Kitts and Nevis averaged 5.7 months, and Grenada averaged 6.6 months.
Italy grants a residence permit, and the other four programs grant citizenship.
The Middle of the Ranking
São Tomé and Príncipe averaged 6.8 months, and Dominica averaged seven months. Turkey’s citizenship program averaged 9.7 months.
Latvia’s golden visa averaged 9.8 months. A new Immigration Law took effect later, on September 15, and the golden visa’s property and bank deposit routes ended that day.
The Slowest Programs
Greece’s golden visa averaged 12 months, down from 18.5 months in the second quarter of 2024. Its backlog of pending applications stood at 25,970 at the end of September 2026, counting family members and renewals.
Because the Greek average is falling, an application filed there today will likely take less than 12 months.
Antigua and Barbuda averaged 16.8 months. Saint Lucia averaged 17.5 months, the longest wait among the Caribbean programs in the ranking.
Portugal’s golden visa averaged 50.4 months, up from 43.9 months in the first quarter. Portuguese law requires that the immigration agency decide a residence permit application within 90 days.
The Portuguese queue now moves at two speeds. Since January 2025, new applicants “follow a fully digital procedure and have their applications processed a bit faster,” notes Madalena Monteiro, Founder at Liberty.
Applicants who gave biometrics before 2025 followed a paper procedure. Monteiro describes their files as “the delayed cases from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.”
Price and Status Do Not Predict the Wait
Three Caribbean programs ask for similar contributions and deliver on different timelines. Dominica’s fund route starts at US$200,000 and averaged seven months.
Antigua and Barbuda asks US$230,000 for its National Development Fund route and averaged 16.8 months. Saint Lucia asks US$240,000 from an applicant with up to three dependents and averaged 17.5 months.
A residence permit from Italy arrived faster than citizenship from any program in the ranking. At the other end, Portugal’s golden visa took longer than every citizenship program listed here.
What Slows an Application Down
Files inside one program also vary widely. In Portugal, the fastest reported file took 36.3 months, and the slowest took 78.9 months.
Boll warns that “a missing apostille, a name spelled two different ways, an out of date bank letter, or an uncertified translation may sound small. Each one can add weeks.”
“Something as simple as an old driving conviction, one a client may have long forgotten about, can lead to questions and requests for court documents,” he adds. “Dealt with early, it is usually straightforward. Discovered after submission, it can stall the whole application.”
“Applications that go in clean tend to move. Applications that go in rushed tend to come back with questions, and every question adds time,” Boll argues. “The fastest route is almost always the one that was prepared properly at the start.”
He would “never choose a program on its advertised timeline alone.” In his view, “the program matters, of course, but so does the quality of the preparation, the honesty of the file, and the client’s ability to provide the right documents quickly.”
