Citizeo
Report

Cheapest Golden Visas in 2026: Lower-Cost Options Compared

Key findings

  • The lowest published residency-by-investment floors are concentrated in Latin America, but amounts expressed in wages or local currency move over time.
  • Latvia is the low-floor EU outlier, but its cheapest pathway is company-capital based rather than a passive property purchase.
  • Several low-cost programs are residency-only and do not directly lead to a passport, so price should be weighed against the long-term goal.

The lowest-cost pathways to residency by investment are usually outside Western Europe: several Latin American programs start under $100,000, and Latvia has a low statutory company-investment pathway inside the EU. This report compares lower-cost golden (residency-by-investment) visas in Citizeo's dataset. It preserves each program's official currency instead of presenting a false exact ranking that would change with exchange rates.

Compare every program: see the full golden visa & investment residency guide.

The cheapest sticker price often buys the most work

The lower end of this market is not a bargain shelf of interchangeable property visas. It is dominated by routes where the applicant must make the capital productive. Brazil's lower floor is tied to a business that can support the required innovation or job-creation case. Latvia's €50,000 option is company capital plus a separate state payment. Panama's $100,000 forestry route requires a qualifying project and a maintained investment. A low entry number can therefore mean more operating risk, more local administration, and less liquidity.

As the comparison moves upward, passive-asset choices become more common: approved real estate, investment funds, bonds, or regulated portfolios. Those are easier to describe as “invest and hold,” but they create a different risk profile. Property may be geographically or legally restricted, fund shares may be illiquid, and a residence permit can remain conditional on keeping the asset for years.

The status granted matters just as much as the capital. Some routes begin a temporary-to-permanent progression; others grant permanent residence more directly; several Gulf and Asian programs provide long renewable residence without a conventional citizenship path. A €50,000 temporary residence permit and a $150,000 direct-permanent-residence route are not competing versions of the same product.

Before calling one program cheaper, separate three cash flows: money that is spent and cannot be recovered, money that remains invested but is locked or exposed to market risk, and fees or taxes paid on top. The headline minimum usually describes only one of them.

Lower-cost golden visas

Country Pathway Pathway to citizenship Minimum investment
Brazil Brazil Investor Visa — Business 4 years BRL 150k–500k
Colombia Colombia Investor Visa (M-6) 5 years 100 SMLMV for a company-owner route (COP 175,090,500 in 2026); 350 SMLMV for property (COP 612,816,750)
Ecuador Ecuador Investor Visa 3 years $48,200
Latvia Latvia Investor Residence 10+ years €50,000 + €10,000 state payment
South Korea Korea D-8 Investor/Startup Separate long-term path KRW 100M
Philippines Philippines SIRV Not a direct pathway $75,000
Vanuatu Vanuatu Investor Residence Not a direct pathway VUV 10M
Panama Panama Reforestation Visa Separate naturalization after qualifying residence $100,000 for the provisional-to-permanent forestry route
Brazil Brazil Investor Visa — Real Estate 4 years BRL 700k–1M
Costa Rica Costa Rica Investor Residency PR after 3 years; citizenship is separate $150,000
Paraguay Paraguay Investor Pass Direct PR; naturalization is separate $150,000 tourism project, or $200,000 financial-instrument/economic-use property route
Georgia Georgia Property Residence Permit Separate long-term path More than $150,000
Portugal Portugal Golden Visa PR after 5 years; ordinary citizenship is now generally a longer 7–10 year plan €250,000 for qualifying cultural support, reduced to €200,000 in a qualifying low-density territory; other routes are generally €400,000–€500,000 or job creation
Dominican Republic Dominican Republic Investor Residency Separate naturalization after qualifying PR $200,000 ordinary minimum; a certified official regime may differ
Greece Greece Golden Visa Separate naturalization after qualifying residence and physical presence €250,000 only for narrow real-estate conversion or listed-building restoration cases; ordinary real-estate floors are €400,000 or €800,000
Hungary Hungary Guest Investor Residence Not a direct pathway €250,000 in qualifying real-estate-fund shares; the alternative donation route is €1 million
Italy Italy Investor Visa Long-term residence after 5 years; citizenship is separate €250,000 innovative-startup investment; other branches start at €500,000
Cyprus Cyprus Permanent Residence by Investment Separate naturalization after qualifying physical residence €300,000 in qualifying property, company share capital, or investment-fund units, plus secure-income and ongoing-compliance rules
Georgia Georgia Investment Residence Permit Separate indefinite-stay permit after 5 years if continuing conditions are met USD $300,000 investment or qualifying non-agricultural property valued above USD $300,000
Qatar Qatar Property Owner Residence Not a direct pathway QAR 730,000 in qualifying property
Mexico Mexico Investor Residence Separate long-term path More than 45,850 daily UMA (MXN 5,378,663.50 in 2026)
Bahrain Bahrain Golden Residency Not a direct pathway BHD 130,000 in qualifying property for the property-owner branch
Indonesia Indonesia Golden Visa Not a direct pathway USD $350,000 for the five-year portfolio-investor branch
Luxembourg Luxembourg Investor Residence Separate long-term residence and citizenship rules €500,000 for the lowest qualifying business or company branch; higher investment structures are €3 million or €20 million
United Arab Emirates UAE Real-Estate Golden Visa / Public-Investment Golden Visa Not a direct pathway AED 2 million (about USD $545,000) in a qualifying property, public-investment, business-capital, or tax-contribution structure
Oman Oman Golden Residency Not a direct pathway OMR 200,000 for a published investment branch

Not ranked: no single comparable minimum

The routes in this section are grouped by why they cannot be compared fairly with the ranked investment floors above.

Older official floor, not a current ranked figure: An official Invest Barbados report describes a five-year Special Entry and Reside Permit for a non-citizen investing at least USD $2 million in specified Barbados investments. Those investments include rental real estate, property development, manufacturing, tourism, bank deposits, mutual funds, bonds, and other financial instruments. Because that description dates from 2014 and the current Immigration checklist does not repeat the threshold, assigning Barbados a current place in the ranking would imply more certainty than the live public guidance supports.

Fiji's Investor Permit remains a real business-investment residence route, but the current Immigration Department application page does not publish a single fixed investment threshold. It requires a registered Fiji company, proof of accessible funds, a Fiji tax number, and Reserve Bank confirmation of the company's share issuance. It is therefore misleading to preserve the older FJD 250,000 figure as a current ranked minimum.

The U.S. E-2 Treaty Investor visa is also unranked because U.S. law does not set a dollar minimum; the investment must be substantial in relation to the real operating business.

Packages that cannot be reduced to one amount: Malaysia My Second Home uses category-specific packages combining a fixed deposit with compulsory residential property. The lowest SEZ/SFZ deposits currently start at $32,000 or $65,000 and the national tiers at $150,000, but deposit alone is not the total qualifying investment.

Malta's Permanent Residence Programme is unranked because it combines several separate tests rather than one investment. The principal applicant must buy qualifying property for at least €375,000 or rent for at least €14,000 a year, satisfy one of two asset tests, and separately pay a €60,000 administration fee, €37,000 contribution, and €2,000 donation. Comparing only the property price or only the government payments would understate the package.

Programs above the lower-cost range: These programs are real investment-residence options, but placing them beside a $50,000 or $100,000 route obscures more than it reveals. They are ordered by approximate entry floor.

Program Published floor What the capital is doing
Mauritius Golden Visa USD $1 million Qualifying investment under the current long-residence framework
Saudi Property-Owner Premium Residency SAR 4 million Ownership of qualifying Saudi residential property
Saudi Business-Investor Premium Residency SAR 7 million Investment in a Saudi business plus the program's ownership and employment commitments
Hong Kong New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme HKD 30 million A prescribed portfolio of permissible investment assets

Saudi Arabia's annual and one-time-fee Premium Residency products are not included in the investment ranking because their published payments are government fees, not investments in assets or a business.

Source notes

Methodology

Figures come from Citizeo's structured dataset of citizenship and residency programs, reflecting publicly available rules as of August 2026. Amounts are shown in the official currency or formula where possible; any approximate conversion is only a planning aid. "Pathway to citizenship" means the residence may be part of a later, separate naturalization plan—not that investment buys citizenship. The table is ordered broadly from lower to higher entry floors, but close positions can change with exchange rates and are not presented as exact ranks. Programs without a published fixed minimum are listed separately.