Browse live programmes
Residency and citizenship by investment programmes that are currently open, with the qualifying routes for each country.
Head-to-head Comparison
Malta vs Portugal
Malta citizenship in 14 months at €600K vs Portugal's residency-to-citizenship track at €250K. Cost, timeline, family, tax, and visa-free reach compared.
Malta CBI vs Portugal Golden Visa
Malta
Min. Investment
Closed (2025)
Processing
12–14 months
Visa-Free
186 countries
Family
Included
Portugal
Min. Investment
€500,000
Processing
6–8 months
Visa-Free
186 countries
Family
Included
| Dimension | Malta | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
| Min. investment | Closed (2025) | €500,000 |
| Processing time | 12–14 months | 6–8 months |
| Visa-free countries | 186 | 186 |
| Family included | Yes | Yes |
| Tax benefit | Yes | Yes |
| Citizenship pathway | Direct | After residency |
Citizen Sure verdict
If you need an EU passport now and can stomach €600K plus 12–14 months of diligence, Malta is the only direct CBI route to citizenship in the European Union. Portugal Golden Visa gets you residency at a third of the cost in under 8 months and converts to citizenship after 5 years if you meet the basic-Portuguese language test. The decision is timeline-driven: pick Malta when the passport is the deliverable; pick Portugal when permission to live, bank, and educate in the EU is enough.
Pick Malta when…
- Need a second EU passport without a 5-year residency wait
- Can deploy €600K+ as a contribution rather than recoverable investment
- Already plan to relocate or maintain substantive ties to Malta
- Want the strongest EU passport (visa-free reach matches Portuguese)
Pick Portugal when…
- Prefer recoverable investment (qualifying funds at €500K) over contribution
- Comfortable with a 5-year wait for citizenship
- Want minimal stay (7 days/year) during residency phase
- Plan to use NHR-2.0 tax regime alongside the visa
Trade-offs to know
- Malta's diligence is the strictest in the world — clean source-of-funds files only.
- Portugal exited real estate as a route in 2023; the funds + cultural-donation paths are what's open.
- Both passports give visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 186 countries.
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Plan your next step
Compare live programmes on eligibility, timelines and family rules, check where you qualify, then read the country guides before you book a paid 60-minute consultation.
Compare programmes
See two or more programmes side by side: investment routes, processing stages, family inclusion and residence rules.
Check your eligibility
Answer a few questions about your nationality, family and goals to see which programmes may fit.
Read the country guides
Plain guides to each programme: requirements, documents, due diligence and the steps from application to approval.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper: Malta or Portugal?
Malta starts at Closed (2025); Portugal starts at €500,000. The cheaper headline doesn't always reflect total cost, recoverable investments (Turkey, some real-estate routes) net out differently from non-recoverable donations.
Which processes faster: Malta or Portugal?
Malta processes in 12–14 months; Portugal processes in 6–8 months. Verify current timing with a senior advisor, published windows assume clean diligence files.
Can family members be included?
Malta includes spouse and dependent children. Portugal includes spouse and dependent children. Inclusion of parents and siblings varies, see each programme's detail page.
Which has better visa-free reach?
Malta grants visa-free access to 186 countries; Portugal grants visa-free access to 186. Reach is a moving target, check current bilateral status before relying on it for travel planning.
Do these programmes lead to citizenship?
Citizenship is direct citizenship. Golden Visa is residency, the citizenship pathway depends on naturalisation rules.
Can I compare other programmes as well?
Yes. Open the compare tool to add up to five programmes side by side, or browse the other pair pages linked below.
Are the figures on this page up to date?
Each row is drawn from our programme records, which are reviewed when governments publish changes. Check the programme page and the changes log for the latest updates before you decide.
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