Jordan granted citizenship to 65 investors in the first half of 2026, more than double the 29 approved in the same period last year, against JOD 72.3 million (approximately US$102 million) in linked investments. Another 250 family members naturalized alongside them, bringing the semester’s total to 315 new citizens.
The figures appear in the Ministry of Investment’s H1 2026 performance report, published this week. They work out to an average of roughly JOD 1.1 million (US$1.57 million) per principal applicant, comfortably above the program’s minimums at the time, and nearly four family members for every investor approved.
The ministry also granted six five-year residency permits through real estate purchases worth a combined JOD 1.38 million (US$1.95 million), an average of JOD 230,000 each.
No breakdown appears of which routes the 65 investors used, whether stock purchases, productive projects, or the employment pathway, and applicant nationalities are also unmentioned.
A Record Semester Under the Old Rules
The report covers January through June, which places all 65 approvals under the framework Jordan replaced in July. Two weeks after the reporting period closed, the Cabinet raised the minimum Amman Stock Exchange investment by 50% to JOD 1.5 million (approximately US$2.1 million), stretched the holding period from three years to five, and capped any single stock at 10% of the portfolio.
Operating businesses got the opposite treatment: paid-up capital requirements dropped to JOD 500,000 in the governorates against JOD 700,000 in Amman, and an employment-only pathway prices citizenship entirely in payroll.
The report claims the amendment’s drafting as an H1 achievement, with the ministry contributing consultation work before the Cabinet’s approval landed in the second half.
Since its 2018 launch, Jordan’s citizenship by investment (CBI) program has naturalized 681 investors, an average of 85 a year against an annual cap of 500.
Annualized, the H1 2026 pace comes to roughly 130. Demand had been building well before the reform: 150 approvals landed between December 2024 and mid-2026.
Influx or Efficiency?
Maria Wehbe, advisor at Arton Capital, says the figures show investor interest in Jordan “clearly gaining momentum,” and the jump in naturalizations is “not a small number considering where this program started.”
She flags a question the report leaves open, though: whether the doubling owes to “a larger influx of investors applying” or “better efficiency in the system.”
Her answer is that it hardly matters, “as long as the process is running smoothly and on time.” A program seen to deliver, she reasons, “will attract further investments and confidence.”
The naturalization numbers are only part of what she finds encouraging. The ministry processed 3,801 investment facilitation transactions in the half, extended incentives to 327 projects carrying JOD 711.2 million (approximately US$1 billion) in expected investment, and recorded an 18.79% rise in development zone investment to JOD 6.9 billion (approximately US$9.7 billion), with roughly 6,000 jobs added.
Growth of that breadth “goes beyond citizenship,” Wehbe observes, and creating 6,000 jobs “is no small feat.”
Governments, she cautions, often “get preoccupied with the planning and bureaucracy while on the ground implementation results end up falling short,” whereas Jordan’s ministry is “doing real work on the ground, which ultimately matters most.”
As for the July changes, she anticipates “some short-term adjustment as investors become familiar with the new requirements” but no loss of momentum.
A more targeted program with an efficient, transparent process, she argues, “can help ensure that the investment coming into Jordan continues to have a meaningful economic impact.”
The H1 results, in her view, signal a story “becoming even bigger than merely citizenship,” even if citizenship “remains the priority here.”
Beyond Visa-Free Travel
Tony Ebraheem, founder of Dubai-based 111 Group, reads the US$102 million as “tangible success and a profound strategic vision” in attracting foreign capital, set against what he calls unprecedented growth in CBI awareness among governments and investors alike.
The demand behind it, he argues, looks different from the demand of a few years ago.
“While the focus in previous years was primarily on visa-free travel, today’s investors are driven by the commercial benefits and operational incentives offered to citizens,” Ebraheem notes.
Jordan’s trade and investment facilities, in his view, are shifting the paradigm “from merely acquiring a second passport to securing long-term business expansion and capital growth.”
The second half of 2026 will show whether that demand survives repricing. It will be the first full period under the JOD 1.5 million stock route and the discounted governorate thresholds, and authorities review the framework every six months.
[imi_pros_for program=”Jordan Citizenship by Investment”]
