Real wealth isn’t only the number in your bank account. It’s optionality: the ability to choose where you live, work, bank, and protect your family regardless of what happens in any single country. Without that optionality, no amount of money guarantees freedom, and that’s the logic behind what advisors call a passport portfolio, holding citizenship or residency rights in more than one country as a deliberate part of a wealth plan.
Citizenship as a long-dated option
A second or third citizenship is a long-dated option: not just a travel document, but the right, not the obligation, to relocate, bank, or do business somewhere else whenever circumstances call for it. The logic mirrors why Warren Buffett holds cash, not out of caution alone but because liquidity lets him move on opportunities quickly. Unlike most assets, that right can pass to children and grandchildren, which is part of what makes it appealing to families thinking in multi-generational terms.
The value of this shows up most clearly during disruption. When borders closed during the pandemic, families with multiple citizenships had somewhere to go. When a jurisdiction’s tax policy turns punitive, they have somewhere else to shift resources.
The U.S. tax problem this solves
The United States taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live, unlike most countries, which tax based on residency. That creates a real disadvantage for Americans managing global wealth: moving abroad doesn’t detach you from the U.S. tax system the way it would for citizens of most other countries. A properly structured citizenship portfolio gives someone the option to renounce U.S. citizenship without becoming stateless, since they hold citizenship elsewhere first. Citizenship in a low-tax jurisdiction, some Caribbean nations offer 0% income tax regimes, can meaningfully change the picture for someone whose tax residency and business interests are otherwise misaligned. This is specialized planning, and it requires coordination between legal, tax, and citizenship advisors rather than a single form or transaction.
Build it before you need it
Families who build a passport portfolio well don’t wait for a crisis. Peter Thiel secured New Zealand citizenship in 2011, well before it became a popular destination during later global disruptions, through investment and philanthropic activity. By the time other people recognized the advantage, he already had legal standing there. That’s the pattern: establish the option in stable times, because a genuine plan B built during a crisis usually arrives too late to matter.
What the programs actually look like
Citizenship-by-investment programs vary widely in cost, speed, and what they grant. Antigua and Barbuda requires roughly $230,000 with about six months’ processing and visa-free access to over 150 countries. St. Kitts and Nevis requires around $250,000 with a faster three-to-four month process and visa-free travel to about 152 nations. Malta costs considerably more, around 600,000 euros, and takes one to three years, but grants full European Union citizenship. Vanuatu is the fastest, one to two months, for roughly $130,000, though with more limited travel benefits.
The volume moving through these programs has grown quickly. Grenada, for example, went from 1,251 citizenship-by-investment applications in 2022 to roughly 1,700 in 2023, with associated investment more than doubling from about $132.8 million to $308.6 million. Americans are currently the largest group of applicants pursuing alternative residency, with Portugal, Malta, Greece, and Italy among the more popular destinations. This isn’t limited to nine-figure fortunes anymore; families with $5 million to $10 million in net worth are increasingly building citizenship portfolios as part of standard planning, not just the ultra-wealthy.
How families are actually using it
Families are using second citizenships in concrete, varied ways. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur acquired Portuguese citizenship through investment and used it to establish a tech incubator in Lisbon, gaining EU mobility and education access for his children along the way. A manufacturing family with operations in Southeast Asia added Singaporean citizenship alongside a birth citizenship to stabilize operations through political transitions and expand healthcare options as the older generation aged. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt applied for Cypriot citizenship through a reported $2.5 million investment, gaining EU travel freedoms, a reminder that even people with effectively unlimited resources still value the optionality a second citizenship provides.
Where this fits in a broader plan
Family offices increasingly treat citizenship planning as a core service alongside investment management, tax planning, and estate strategy, rather than a peripheral consideration handled separately. Family offices exist to coordinate exactly this kind of cross-jurisdiction complexity, including digital asset custody and management for families whose holdings span multiple countries and asset types. The passport itself is only the entry point. The value comes from how deliberately you build the rest of your global structure around it.
Educational only, not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
Part of our guide: Crypto Taxes.
