Every Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program promises speed. But how fast you can actually obtain a new passport depends on where you look, and some continents have no CBI programs at all.
This guide breaks down the fastest route to a new citizenship on each of the six inhabited continents in 2026, covering the programs, the costs, the processing timelines, and the trade-offs that come with each. For a broader look at which passport is the most valuable in each region regardless of speed, see our breakdown of the best citizenship in every world region in 2026.
Where CBI programs exist, they dominate. A donation or investment beats years of residency every time. Where they do not, naturalization timelines decide the race.
Africa: São Tomé and Príncipe
Processing time is six to eight weeks, minimum investment is a $90,000 donation and there are 61 visa-free destinations.
Africa’s fastest passport is also the world’s cheapest CBI program. São Tomé and Príncipe launched its citizenship program on August 1, 2025, and by January 2026, it had already issued its first passport. The Citizenship Investment Unit operates as a public-private partnership headquartered in Dubai, and the entire application can be completed remotely.
A single applicant donates $90,000 to the National Transformation Fund plus a $5,000 submission fee. Families of up to four pay $95,000, with each additional dependent adding $5,000.
The São Toméan passport grants limited global mobility compared to Caribbean or European travel documents. Visa-free and visa-on-arrival access covers 61 destinations, including South Africa, Hong Kong, and Singapore, but travel to the European Union and the United Kingdom requires visas.
The passport’s strategic value lies elsewhere: As a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), São Toméan citizens gain preferential immigration access to Portugal and Brazil.
Sierra Leone offers citizenship within 60 to 90 days through its Go-for-Gold program. The standard fast-track route costs $140,000 and processes in approximately 90 days. The heritage naturalization route, which targets applicants of African ancestry and requires a DNA test, costs $100,000 and can deliver citizenship in as little as 60 days.
Oceania: Vanuatu
Processing time is 30 to 60 days, minimum investment is a $130,000 donation and there are roughly 90 visa-free destinations.
Vanuatu remains among the fastest CBI programs in the world, though São Tomé and Príncipe now challenges it for the top spot. The Development Support Program (DSP) regularly delivers citizenship within 30 to 60 days, and agent surveys conducted by IMI put the average processing time at just 3.3 months when accounting for document preparation and banking clearances.
A single applicant donates $130,000 under the DSP. Families of four pay $180,000. Applicants must demonstrate personal or shared net assets of at least $250,000. Vanuatu also runs alternative CBI routes through the CIIP framework, including investment-linked options starting at lower price points for families.
The European Union permanently suspended Vanuatu’s Schengen visa-free access in December 2024. The passport still opens doors across Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the Americas, but Europe now requires a visa. For applicants who need Schengen access, pairing Vanuatu citizenship with a European residency program has become a common workaround.
Nauru launched its Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program in November 2024, processing applications in three to four months. The base contribution is $115,000, though a limited-time offer running through June 30, 2026, cuts the donation to $90,000, matching São Tomé’s price. Nauru lost visa-free access to the United Kingdom in December 2025 after the UK Home Office cited CBI-related concerns.
Asia: Turkey and Cambodia
Asia has two active CBI programs, and both deliver citizenship within three to six months.
Turkey
Processing time is three to six months, minimum investment is $400,000 (real estate) and there are roughly 120 visa-free destinations.
Turkey’s CBI program is the most popular direct-citizenship program in the world by volume. More than 13,000 investors and their families have obtained Turkish citizenship since Ankara reduced the minimum threshold to $250,000 in 2018 (later raised to $400,000 in 2022).
The most common route is purchasing real estate worth at least $400,000, held for a minimum of three years. Alternative options include a $500,000 bank deposit, government bond purchase, or investment fund contribution. In February 2026, Istanbul’s Provincial Directorate of Migration
Management introduced same-day biometrics for CBI applicants, allowing investors to complete both residence permit approval and citizenship application submission in a single day. Total processing from application to passport now sits under three months for well-prepared files.
Turkey is transcontinental, straddling both Europe and Asia. It appears in this section and in the European section below, because the answer to which continent Turkey belongs to depends on who you ask.
Turkish citizenship carries an advantage: Eligibility for the U.S. E-2 Treaty Investor Visa. Applicants who obtained citizenship through investment must be domiciled in Turkey for at least three years before applying for the E-2, but the pathway remains a draw for investors seeking indirect U.S. access.
Cambodia
Processing time is three to six months, minimum investment is a $245,000 donation and there are roughly 53 visa-free destinations.
Cambodia operates Asia’s only other CBI program, established under its 1996 Law on Nationality. The donation route requires a $245,000 contribution to the Royal Government, while the investment route requires $305,000 in a project approved by the Cambodian Development Council. Total all-in costs typically reach $330,000 when factoring in government fees structured across four payment stages.
Applicants must visit Cambodia three times during the process for documentation, submission, and passport collection. The program permits dual citizenship and grants full property ownership rights, including the ability to hold land in the applicant’s own name.
The Cambodian passport provides visa-free access to all ASEAN member states, which matters for investors focused on Southeast Asian markets. Beyond the region, global mobility remains limited. Cambodia is not a member of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which adds a layer of financial privacy that some applicants value.
North America: Saint Kitts and Nevis and El Salvador
El Salvador technically has the fastest naturalization route in North America (two months through its CBI). However, since the program is highly priced, still somewhat vague in its framework, and hasn’t garnered much interest, we have included Saint Kitts and Nevis in this section. And we will start with the Caribbean nation.
Processing time is four to six months according to IMI’s Processing Times Tool, minimum investment is a $250,000 donation and there are roughly 157 visa-free destinations.
The Caribbean dominates North America’s CBI market, and Saint Kitts and Nevis runs the oldest program in the world. Established in 1984, it has set the standard that every subsequent CBI program has tried to replicate.
The Sustainable Island State Contribution (SISC) route requires a $250,000 non-refundable donation for a single applicant or a family of up to four. The real estate route starts at $325,000 for an approved development with a seven-year holding period, or $600,000 for a private single-family home. Processing takes four to six months, and the entire application can be completed remotely.
The government has announced that a 30-day minimum physical presence requirement will be introduced in 2026, though it has not yet taken effect.
All five Caribbean CBI nations (Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia) fall within North America geographically. Dominica offers the lowest entry point at $200,000. Grenada stands out for its unique access to the U.S. E-2 visa treaty. Processing times across the Caribbean range from four to eight months.
El Salvador processes its CBI applications in approximately two months, making it technically the fastest CBI program in the Western Hemisphere.
There is a $1 million price tag, payable in Bitcoin or USDT. The program launched in late 2023, and industry observers have characterized it as overpriced relative to its passport value. El Salvador’s travel document grants access to roughly 137 visa-free destinations, including the Schengen Area and the United Kingdom, but details about the program’s structure, due diligence procedures, and application volume remain scarce.
Europe: Turkey
Europe presents two paths to citizenship through investment, but they differ enormously in cost, timeline, and what you get at the end.
Turkey (Transcontinental)
Turkey’s CBI program, detailed in the Asia section above, delivers citizenship within three to six months at a $400,000 minimum. For investors who classify Turkey as European (it is a NATO member, a candidate for EU accession, and partly located on the European continent), it represents the fastest citizenship available on European soil.
Turkish citizenship does not, however, come with EU membership benefits. You cannot live or work freely across the 27 EU member states.
There is no other active CBI program in Europe. Malta has recently introduced a citizenship by merit (CBM) option, and other nations like Austria run similar frameworks, but timelines are not constant.
Some countries, like Poland, Ireland, and (for now) Portugal, offer naturalization after five years of residency, making them some of the fastest in Europe. However, none can compete with Turkey’s timeline.
South America: Argentina
Processing time is two years of residency, minimum investments are the residency costs only and there are roughly 172 visa-free destinations.
South America has no active CBI program. Argentina fills the gap with the fastest naturalization timeline in the region, and one of the fastest in the world outside of CBI jurisdictions.
Foreign nationals who establish legal residency in Argentina become eligible for citizenship after just two years. Eligibility is not the same as approval: once you qualify, the naturalization application itself can take additional months to process. The Rentista visa requires proof of monthly income from foreign sources of approximately $2,000, and the process from residency application through naturalization has historically moved faster and more predictably than in neighboring countries. With Peru’s recent extension of its naturalization timeline from two to five years, only Argentina and the Dominican Republic still offer two-year citizenship for most applicants.
Decree 366/2025 changed the calculus. Applicants must now remain physically present in Argentina for the entire two-year period, and any departure from the country resets the clock. Before the decree, Argentina’s presence requirements were more relaxed.
Argentina allows dual citizenship without restriction. The passport grants visa-free access to 172 destinations, including the Schengen Area, and carries Mercosur Residence Agreement settlement rights across nine South American nations.
The bigger news is what comes next. Argentina formalized the legal framework for Latin America’s first CBI program through Decree 524/2025 in July 2025, creating the Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programs. The decree delegates the investment threshold definition to the Ministry of Economy, which has not yet published a final number, though reporting at the time indicated the minimum would be approximately $500,000, directed toward productive projects. Program details remain unfinished, with the government currently running a tender for firms to design and manage the program. Market observers expect applications to begin in late 2026 or early 2027.
If it launches as planned, Argentina will be the only country within the Mercosur bloc to offer both a two-year naturalization timeline through traditional residency and direct citizenship through investment.
Comparing the Continents
Your choice depends on what you need the passport for. If you need any second citizenship fast, São Tomé delivers in six weeks for $90,000.
If you need a second citizenship that doubles as a Mercosur settlement key and covers 172 visa-free destinations, Argentina requires patience but delivers one of the most strategically valuable citizenships in the Western Hemisphere. And if CBI is not an option, there are other ways to qualify for a new citizenship within two years.
