Turkey Citizenship by Investment vs. Other Second-Passport Programmes: How the Routes Compare
September 11, 2026 | Turkey Immigration
2026 is a genuinely useful year to run this comparison, because the gap between these programmes has actually widened rather than stayed static. Turkey’s citizenship by investment thresholds have held steady since 2022. Vanuatu lost visa-free access to the EU and UK. The five Eastern Caribbean citizenship programmes, including Antigua and Barbuda, now sit under a shared regional regulator for the first time. Greece overhauled its Golden Visa pricing by location. None of these programmes looks quite like it did three years ago, and a comparison written before 2024 is no longer a reliable guide.
This article lays out how Turkey’s citizenship by investment programme actually stacks up against three of the most commonly compared alternatives — Vanuatu, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Greece Golden Visa — on the criteria that matter most to a prospective investor: cost, timeline, family inclusion, travel access, and what you’re actually getting at the end of the process.
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The First Distinction That Matters: Citizenship vs. Residency
Before comparing numbers, it’s worth being precise about what each programme actually delivers, because these aren’t all the same category of product.
Turkey, Vanuatu, and Antigua and Barbuda are citizenship by investment programmes. You receive full citizenship and a passport, typically within months, with no requirement to live in the country before or after approval.
The Greece Golden Visa is a residency by investment programme, not a citizenship programme. It grants a renewable residence permit, not a passport. Citizenship remains possible eventually, but only through a separate naturalisation process after seven years of legal residency, which comes with its own conditions, including Greek language proficiency. If your goal is a passport in hand this year, the Golden Visa isn’t a direct substitute for the other three — it’s a different kind of instrument that happens to get compared in the same conversation because it’s investment-linked immigration.
Investment Thresholds at a Glance
| Programme | Entry-level investment | Structure |
| Turkey Citizenship by Investment | $400,000 | Real estate purchase, held 3 years |
| Vanuatu Citizenship by Investment | ~$130,000 | Non-refundable donation (single applicant) |
| Antigua & Barbuda Citizenship by Investment | $230,000 | Non-refundable donation (family of up to 4) |
| Greece Golden Visa | €250,000–€800,000 | Real estate, tiered by location |
Turkey’s alternative routes — bank deposit, government bonds, or capital investment — start at $500,000 rather than $400,000, so real estate remains the more commonly chosen path there. Antigua and Barbuda also offers real estate (from $300,000) and business investment routes (from $1.5 million) alongside its donation option. Greece’s lowest tier, €250,000, is restricted specifically to heritage restoration or commercial-to-residential conversion projects, not open to any property type. Figures across all four of these programmes are revised periodically, so treat this table as a snapshot to confirm rather than a permanent price list.
Processing Time
This is where the programmes separate most clearly.
Vanuatu is generally the fastest, with some applications completed in one to two months and a more typical range of two to four months once due diligence and passport production are factored in. Antigua and Barbuda commonly runs from around six months once document preparation, due diligence, investment completion, and passport issuance are all included. Turkey’s real estate route tends to move somewhat faster than its financial investment routes, with reported 2026 timelines ranging roughly from seven months to just under a year depending on the route and how complete the application file is. The Greece Golden Visa’s residency permit timeline depends heavily on the specific property transaction and appointment availability, and since it’s a different type of product entirely, it isn’t directly comparable to a citizenship timeline in the same way.
None of these numbers should be treated as guarantees. Processing time depends heavily on how complete your file is at submission, and that’s true across every one of these programmes without exception.
Family Inclusion
All four programmes allow you to include immediate family, though the details differ:
- Turkey includes a spouse and dependent children in a single application, with no separate visa process required for them.
- Vanuatu typically extends to a spouse and dependent children, with parents sometimes eligible depending on financial dependency — though exact age cutoffs vary across sources and are worth confirming directly.
- Antigua and Barbuda is comparatively generous here, commonly extending to a spouse, children (with the qualifying age often extending well past 18 for full-time students), and parents or grandparents of either spouse, with additional family members addable even after the main applicant already holds citizenship.
- Greece allows the main applicant’s spouse, children (with age-based conditions), and parents of both spouses to be included on the same residency application.
If bringing a larger extended family is the priority, Antigua and Barbuda’s inclusion rules are currently the most flexible of the four.
What Changed for 2026, Programme by Programme
Turkey
The core $400,000 real estate threshold hasn’t moved, but documentation and verification standards have tightened meaningfully — licensed appraiser valuations, traceable fund transfers, mandatory biometrics, and separate residence permits and criminal record certificates now required for spouses, not just the main applicant.
Vanuatu
The investment structure is largely unchanged, but the passport’s travel value took a real hit — the EU permanently suspended Vanuatu’s visa-free access at the end of 2024, and the UK introduced its own entry requirement in 2025.
Antigua and Barbuda
The most eventful of the four, on two separate fronts. Regionally, Antigua and Barbuda, along with four other Eastern Caribbean nations, is now governed under the newly formed Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority (ECCIRA), bringing shared due diligence standards across the region. Antigua’s own 2026 legislative amendments include mandatory independent audits and a proposed increase to the minimum physical presence requirement, from five days to thirty, though the exact implementation timeline for that change is still being finalised. Separately, and more consequentially for travel planning, a US presidential proclamation issued in December 2025 partially suspended US visa issuance to Antigua and Barbuda nationals — covering B-1/B-2 visitor visas, several categories of student and exchange visas, and most immigrant visas — with the US State Department’s stated rationale explicitly citing the country’s citizenship by investment program. A separate, newly permanent US Visa Bond Program now also requires eligible applicants from Antigua and Barbuda to post a bond of $5,000 to $20,000 as a condition of entry. Antigua’s government has publicly disputed its inclusion and is seeking a review, but as of this writing the restrictions remain in effect. This is a meaningful development for anyone whose citizenship planning assumed straightforward US travel.
Greece
The biggest pricing shakeup of the group. The Golden Visa now runs a three-tier system based on property location — €800,000 in high-demand areas like Athens and the most popular islands, €400,000 elsewhere in the country, and €250,000 only for heritage restoration or building-conversion projects — a significant change from the flat €250,000 minimum that made the programme famous years ago.
Travel Access: What You Actually Get
Passport strength is often the deciding factor for applicants, and it’s worth being specific rather than relying on vague “visa-free to X countries” marketing claims.
Turkey’s passport offers a solid but middling range of visa-free and visa-on-arrival access, generally weaker than the Caribbean options for Western destinations, but Turkey’s citizenship carries its own distinct value — E-2 investor treaty eligibility for the US market, for instance, which none of the other three programmes on this list offer.
Antigua and Barbuda’s passport has historically ranked among the stronger Caribbean citizenship by investment options, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to roughly 150 countries according to the Henley Passport Index, including the Schengen Area (UK entry now requires an Electronic Travel Authorization, effective since January 2025). That said, US access specifically has become materially harder rather than easier — see below — so “strongest passport” needs qualifying by destination rather than treated as a blanket claim.
Vanuatu’s passport still provides reasonably broad access across Asia, the Pacific, and parts of Africa and South America, but no longer includes the EU or UK, which for many applicants was the primary draw.
Greece, as an EU member state, offers the clearest long-term value if EU access is the actual goal — but remember, the Golden Visa itself is a residence permit, not free movement rights across the EU in the way citizenship would provide, and getting to an EU passport requires the separate seven-year naturalisation path.
On US access specifically: none of the three citizenship by investment passports (Turkey, Vanuatu, Antigua and Barbuda) offer visa-free US entry, since none of these countries participate in the US Visa Waiver Program — a B-1/B-2 visa is required regardless. Antigua and Barbuda’s position on this front has become notably more complicated following the December 2025 proclamation described above, which makes US travel harder, not easier, for citizens who acquired that passport specifically through investment. If US access is a meaningful part of your planning, this is worth discussing in detail before choosing a program, rather than assuming any of these four routes solves for it.
Tax and Residency Obligations
None of the three citizenship by investment programmes — Turkey, Vanuatu, or Antigua and Barbuda — requires you to live in the country to maintain citizenship, though Antigua’s minimum physical presence requirement (currently under review as part of the 2026 changes) is a partial exception worth watching. Vanuatu is commonly cited as having no personal income tax, capital gains tax, or inheritance tax, which appeals to applicants focused on financial structuring. Turkey and Antigua and Barbuda both have their own tax regimes that apply based on residency status, so citizenship alone doesn’t automatically create or remove a tax obligation — that depends on where you actually live and how much time you spend where.
The Greece Golden Visa carries no minimum stay requirement to maintain the residence permit itself, but Greek tax residency rules are a separate question entirely, triggered by time spent in the country rather than by holding the permit.
Which Programme Fits Which Investor
There’s no single “best” programme here — the right choice depends on what problem you’re actually solving.
If your priority is a tangible asset alongside citizenship, and you’re comfortable with a mid-range investment and a genuine on-the-ground process, Turkey is a reasonable fit, particularly for investors with an eye on eventual US business interests through the E-2 treaty relationship.
If speed and cost are the dominant concerns and EU or UK access isn’t essential, Vanuatu remains hard to beat on both fronts.
If you want to include a larger extended family and strong access to the Schengen Area and UK specifically, and are comfortable with current Caribbean due diligence standards tightening under ECCIRA, Antigua and Barbuda is worth serious consideration — though if unrestricted US travel is part of your goal, the recent US visa restrictions are a real factor to weigh first.
If your actual goal is a foothold in the EU rather than a passport in the near term, and you’re prepared to hold a real estate investment for years while pursuing eventual naturalisation, the Greece Golden Visa solves a different problem than the other three and shouldn’t be dismissed just because it doesn’t hand you a passport on day one.
What This Means If You're Comparing Programs
Comparing citizenship by investment programmes on price alone misses most of what actually matters — processing reliability, travel access that holds up over time, family inclusion rules, and how exposed a programme is to the kind of regulatory shifts we’ve seen across all four of these routes in the past two years.
Simard & Associates advises investors on how Turkey’s citizenship by investment programme compares against the alternatives for their specific situation, and guides applicants through the current Turkey citizenship application process from initial eligibility review to final approval. If you’re weighing Turkey against other second-passport options for 2026, reach out for a personalized consultation before you commit funds.
Why you should choose Simard & Associates as your Immigration Lawyer?
Global mobility decisions deserve thoughtful analysis. If you’d like to explore your options further, our team can provide structured, expert guidance based on current policy and your long‑term objectives.
At Simard & Associates, we bring expertise, dedication, and a personalized approach to every immigration case. With a proven track record of success, we guide you through the complexities of immigration law with confidence and care. Our team is committed to providing tailored solutions, ensuring your application process is smooth, efficient, and stress-free. Whether you’re pursuing residency, citizenship, or visas, Simard & Associates is your trusted partner for achieving your immigration goals.
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Simard & Associates helps clients apply for citizenship and residence under the applicable programs. To schedule an initial free consultation, get in touch with us.
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Simard & Associates helps clients apply for citizenship and residence under the applicable programs. To schedule an initial free consultation, get in touch with us.
