What is Citizenship-By-Investment for US Citizens & Expatriation

When a US Person (Citizen or Long-Term Permanent Resident) wants to expatriate from the United States, it is important that they have already obtained citizenship in another country before completing the expatriating act. In fact, the United States will not approve an expatriation application without proof of other citizenship, because expatriation cannot be completed if it will leave a person stateless — (aka without a country of citizenship).

For some expatriates, it is relatively easy to expatriate, because they already have dual-citizenship — or otherwise have lineage in a foreign country which allows them to claim citizenship at anytime. For those who do not qualify in either of these two categories, there are about nine (9) countries that offer Citizenship-by-Investment — otherwise referred to as a Golden Visa Program (Citizenship or Residence).

There are several more countries that offer Residence-by-Investment (including the United states and the EB-5 Visa) — and some of the Residence-by-Investment countries offer citizenship after a certain amount of time — but for some soon to be expatriates, they may need the citizenship ASAP.

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