Citizenship for sale: where to buy a second passport and what it costs

If I were looking for a plan B today, I wouldn’t buy a second citizenship. A Slovak who voluntarily acquires another country’s citizenship loses Slovak citizenship by law, and EU citizenship goes with it. On top of that, a Slovak passport gets you into more countries than any passport money can buy.

Quick factsby Milan Bez Mapy

Losing Slovak citizenship

yes if you buy a passport, unless you’ve lived in the country for at least 5 years

Cheapest passport

Nauru, $90,000 until the end of 2026

Caribbean

from $200,000 (Dominica) to $250,000 (St Kitts and Nevis)

Slovak passport

184 destinations without a visa arranged in advance (Henley, January 2026)

Golden visa in the EU

Slovaks don’t need one

Can you buy citizenship by investment as a Slovak? Yes: several countries sell it openly, at a fixed price. Online guides like to pitch it as an insurance policy for the whole family. Few of them mention what Slovak law says about it. This article covers the current programmes and prices for 2026, but above all it explains what buying a passport means for a Slovak.

What is citizenship by investment and how is it different from a golden visa?

The two terms are often confused, but they mean completely different things.

Citizenship by investment means you pay the state a set amount and in return it grants you citizenship and a passport. You don’t have to live there at all. The whole process usually takes a few months.

A golden visa, on the other hand, is a residence permit. In return for an investment in property, a fund or a company, you can live in the country legally, but you don’t get a passport. You can only apply for citizenship after years of residence, like any other foreigner.

Do you lose Slovak citizenship if you buy a second passport?

In most cases, yes. This is the very point foreign guides leave out, even though for Slovaks it’s the one that matters most.

Under Section 9 of the Slovak State Citizenship Act (Act 40/1993 Coll.), a Slovak citizen loses Slovak citizenship on the day they acquire another citizenship at their own request. Buying a passport is exactly that. No one has to decide anything: it happens automatically, by law.

The law does allow an exception. You keep Slovak citizenship if, when you acquired the new passport, you had held a residence permit or registered residence in that country for at least five years. You must also have actually lived there. Citizenship by investment programmes work the other way round: they promise a passport without any residence requirement. Other exceptions, such as marriage or birth, don’t apply to buying a passport.

Along with Slovak citizenship, you also lose EU citizenship. That means you can no longer live and work in other EU countries without a permit. You also lose the right to consular assistance from other member states. That comes in handy if, for example, you lose your documents abroad in a country where Slovakia has no embassy.

You’ll also read online that dual citizenship is no problem in Slovakia. That only holds for the exceptions above. If one of them applies to you, you must report the new citizenship within 90 days to the district office in your regional capital (okresný úrad v sídle kraja). If you’ve lost Slovak citizenship, you must report that too, without delay.

Is a Caribbean passport stronger than a Slovak one?

No. According to the January 2026 Henley Passport Index, a Slovak passport gets you into 184 destinations without arranging a visa in advance. That puts Slovakia joint fifth in the world. The Caribbean passports that are for sale score between 145 and 155 destinations on the same index. Vanuatu and Nauru trail even further behind, below 90.

I’ve visited 75 countries on six continents with my Slovak passport. Swapping it for a Caribbean one would be a step backwards for me, not an insurance policy.

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Why a purchased passport can lose its value overnight

A passport bought through investment is worth having mainly for visa-free travel. But that isn’t up to the country that sells it. It’s up to the countries you want to visit, and in recent years they have tightened the rules.

• Vanuatu lost visa-free access to the Schengen Area. The EU scrapped it for good in February 2025, precisely because Vanuatu sells passports.
• Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda have been on the US list of countries under partial entry restrictions since 1 January 2026. The White House cited their citizenship programmes, which have no residence requirement.
• The European Union adopted new rules at the end of 2025. They allow it to suspend visa-free travel for countries that sell passports to people with no genuine link to them.

So you pay for the passport once, but its value can change at any time.

Where to buy citizenship by investment in 2026: 8 countries and prices

The table lists the best-known programmes and the minimum amount for a single applicant. Fees, background checks and a lawyer come on top. Prices are correct as of November 2026, but they change almost every year.

Caribbean citizenship by investment: five island nations, one minimum price

In 2024, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis agreed on a common minimum of $200,000. Each of them still sets its own price, though. Dominica is the cheapest. St Kitts and Nevis, which has been selling passports since 1984, is the most expensive. Applications usually take four to nine months.

Turkey: citizenship through property from $400,000

Turkey grants citizenship in return for buying property worth at least $400,000. You then can’t sell it for three years. Unlike in the Caribbean, you buy first and only then apply for a passport.

Vanuatu and Nauru: the cheapest and fastest, but with the weakest passports

Nauru launched its programme in 2025. Until the end of 2026 it’s offering a discounted price of $90,000; the standard price is $115,000. Vanuatu is usually the fastest and can issue a passport in as little as one to three months. Both passports, however, open the door to fewer than 90 destinations. And since 2025, Vanuatu passport holders have needed a visa for the Schengen Area.

Malta: you can no longer buy a passport in the EU

Malta was the last EU country to sell citizenship. But on 29 April 2025 the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that selling citizenship breaches EU law. In July 2025 Malta changed its law accordingly. It replaced the programme with citizenship for exceptional merit, and there’s no longer a fixed price for a passport there.

Golden visas in Portugal, Greece, Italy and Cyprus: do Slovaks need one?

No. Golden visa programmes in the EU are for people without a European passport. Slovaks can live and work in any EU country without any investment at all. For a longer stay, they simply register with the local authorities. The same goes for Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

For the record, here are the minimum amounts in 2026:

• Portugal: €500,000 in an investment fund. And since 19 May 2026, you wait ten years for citizenship instead of five.
• Greece: €800,000 for property in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and on islands with more than 3,100 inhabitants. Elsewhere €400,000 is enough. The €250,000 threshold applies only when converting a commercial building into flats or restoring a listed building.
• Italy: €250,000 in an innovative start-up.
• Cyprus: €300,000 plus VAT for a newly built property.

So the plan B so many people are looking for is something Slovaks already have, free of charge. If you’re wondering where you might move, my round-up of the best places to live in Europe has a few ideas.

What citizenship by investment really costs: fees, family and taxes

The figure in the table is just the entry ticket. On top of it come due diligence fees, government fees, a lawyer, translations and certifications. For Vanuatu, for example, due diligence alone costs from $5,000. Every extra family member pushes the price up, so take adverts promising ‘a passport for the whole family for one price’ with a pinch of salt.

And tax? The passport itself changes nothing. You’re tax resident in Slovakia if you have permanent residence or a home here, or if you spend at least 183 days a year here. A Caribbean passport won’t get you out of that.

How to spot a fraudulent agent when buying a passport

The passport trade also attracts firms that promise more than the states actually offer. These are the signs that would make me wary:

• A promise of guaranteed approval: no reputable adviser will give you one
• Payment outside the official government fund, or into a private account
• Pressure to decide quickly without a written contract
• For Caribbean programmes, a demand to pay the main sum before you have preliminary approval

The Caribbean states publish lists of authorised agents on their programme websites. Before you send anyone money, check that they’re listed.

When can citizenship by investment make sense for a Slovak?

I can see two situations where it does. The first is if you’ve lived in the country for at least five years, say in Turkey. Then the new passport won’t cost you your Slovak citizenship. The second is a deliberate decision to give up both your Slovak and your EU citizenship.

The rules change almost every year, though. If you’re seriously thinking about a second citizenship, check your own case with the district office in your regional capital. They’re the ones who can tell you whether you’ll keep your Slovak citizenship.

Happy travels!