Residency by investment provides an applicant the right to live in a country and to conduct business, while citizenship enables you to have the same rights as any other citizen of that country, including the right to apply for a passport. Whether residency or citizenship is more suited to you and your family depends entirely on your individual needs.

Europe boasts a number of residency by investment programmes, typically through real estate purchase with varying residency requirements that lead to citizenship.

Some of the European residency programmes are especially attractive because they provide the flexibility to either emigrate with the family or to simply visit now and again. Residency by investment is not only more affordable but also faster to process than citizenship applications. European residency offers applicants immediate travel freedom across the EU Schengen zone together with access to the country’s education system. Once a resident, through these residency programmes, investors and their families could also be entitled to become citizens of the country.