Citizenship by Investment vs Residence by Investment

Citizenship by Investment (CBI):

CBI programmes allow a successful applicant to acquire citizenship of a country by making a substantial investment in the country. This generally does not require an applicant to spend any time in that country.

Residence by Investment (RBI):

RBI programmes, however, only allow a successful applicant to acquire residence in a country. That is the right to live and work in a country. Residency can easily be taken away if a person fails to fulfil certain conditions. Often there are physical presence requirements attached to a person’s ability to retain their residence rights.

It is worth noting that a person obtaining citizenship of a country does not necessarily mean they have obtained residence of a country because residence requires physical presence in a country. The most popular RBI programmes are those of Singapore, Portugal and Greece.