What belongs in a complete investment migration quotation?

Why a second passport cost is more than the headline price

Program pages lead with a minimum: the contribution or investment that qualifies one application. It is the right figure for deciding whether to look further, and the wrong one for a budget: government fees come on top, many of them per person, and some have no published price.

São Tomé and Príncipe citizenship by investment shows the arithmetic: with the USD 5,000 due diligence and processing fee, charged once per application, and USD 750 per person for the citizenship documents, the USD 90,000 contribution becomes USD 95,750 for one person, and the USD 95,000 contribution for a family of 2 to 4 becomes USD 101,500 for a couple and USD 103,000 for a couple with two children under 18.

This article covers the second citizenship and residence programs outside the United States that Wealthy Expat lists, not a second passport book from your current country or the US Gold Card.

The lines a complete quotation separates

Ask for one column per kind of cost, each in its own currency: Turkey's citizenship and passport fees are set in Turkish lira, Hungary's permit fees in euros or forints.

• Qualifying capital: a contribution paid to a government fund, as with Vanuatu citizenship by investment, or an asset you hold for a set period. The two models are compared in citizenship by real estate investment.
• Fees per application: charged once, whatever the family size, such as the USD 5,000 due diligence and processing fee in São Tomé and Príncipe.
• Fees per person: often set by age. Antigua and Barbuda citizenship by investment charges no due diligence fee for a child aged 0 to 11 and USD 2,000 for a child aged 12 to 17.
• Purchase costs: on the property route to Turkish citizenship by investment, the buyer's title deed fee is 2% of the declared price, USD 8,000 on USD 400,000, and the seller pays a further 2%.
• Professional fees: agent, legal, translation and legalisation costs sit outside the official schedules; ask for each as its own line.

Second passport and golden visa prices by household

Each program page adds up the lines its record prices for three households. Where a line has no published amount, the total reads “+ fees”: a floor, not a quotation. Totals include the qualifying capital, spent or held. The lowest cost citizenship by investment comparison sets the citizenship programs’ totals side by side.

Turkey and Hungary give one total for every household size, USD 400,000 + fees and EUR 250,000 + fees, because their per-person fees stay out of the sum: Turkey's are in lira, and Hungary's depend on each person's nationality and where they apply. The fees still grow with each person. Wealthy Expat's Latvia program page prices no fee for a family member at all.

In the UAE, each authority publishes its own fees. On Dubai's property route, the Dubai Land Department's fees for an investor, a spouse and two children, with the family file opened once, come to AED 27,527.00, or AED 27,827.00 if its AED 100 per sponsored person is charged on top, while the AED 2,000,000 property remains an asset. The UAE golden visa cost guide covers every route.

When each payment falls due, and what comes back

Quotations with the same total can ask for the money at different moments. Ask for the trigger of each payment, and for the refund terms in writing:

• Vanuatu: at least 25% of the prescribed fee before the Citizenship Commission considers the application, not refunded if it is refused; the balance before the citizenship certificate is issued.
• Antigua and Barbuda: the due diligence fee and 10% of the processing fee on submission, both non-refundable; the rest after the approval letter, with the contribution due within 30 days.
• Hungary: the investment within the guest investor visa's 6-month validity.

Keep an investment's exit apart from the payment schedule, and do not budget an expected sale price or return as money in hand.

Holding periods, renewals and other recurring costs

A golden visa price is read the same way, with one more question: what does keeping the status cost?

• Hungary: the permit runs for up to 10 years and can be extended by up to a further 10 if a fund investor still holds the units.
• Latvia: a new equity-route permit runs for up to two years; a repeat permit needs the investment maintained and the company paying at least EUR 40,000 a year in taxes.
• UAE: after 10 years, the permit fee for a renewal is AED 1,100 per person, as for a new permit, before service charges, and the Emirates ID costs AED 100 for each year of residence. A new medical test applies, and health insurance must stay in place, at a price no official source sets.
• Antigua and Barbuda: the passport is valid for 5 years. Renewal costs USD 1,000 per person aged 18 or over and USD 500 per child aged 17 or under, and is considered only if the holder has spent 5 days in the country in that period.

European residency by investment compares the Hungarian and Latvian routes in more detail.

How to check a second passport quotation line by line

Send everyone preparing a quotation the same household details: who is applying, their relationships and their ages. Then check that:

1. Every applicant is named, with the age each fee depends on.
2. Each line shows its currency, its recipient, whether it is per application or per person, and whether it is required, optional or an estimate.
3. Contributions are separate from assets you hold, with each asset's holding period and exit terms.
4. Each payment has a trigger and written refund terms, including what happens on a refusal.
5. Lines without a published price stay visible as open items, and professional fees are itemised.
6. Recurring costs carry dates: holding periods, renewals, passport renewals and insurance.

A lower total with open items is an incomplete quotation, not a saving. Ask for a new version when an applicant or the route changes, and keep the previous one to compare. If you are still choosing a program, Wealthy Expat's strategy assessment brings your household, route and budget questions together.