Malta retains 1st place in the 2025 Global Citizenship Program Index for the 10th consecutive year, while Greece reaches the top of the 2025 Global Residence Program Index for the first time, highlighting the dominance of European residence and citizenship by investment programs on Henley & Partners’ annual rankings of the most important investment migration programs in the world.
The firm onboarded clients from 94 different nationalities in 2024 and received enquiries from over 180 countries. US nationals accounted for 23% of all applications processed by Henley & Partners last year, totaling nearly as many as the next four client nationality groups — Indians, Turkish, Filipinos, and Brits — combined. Comparing 2024 US-American client numbers to five years ago (2019), there has been a staggering increase of over 1,000%. Last year was also record-breaking for the UK, with a 57% increase in the number of applications submitted by British citizens in 2024 versus 2023.
The two indexes — featured in the 2025 edition of the annual Investment Migration Programsreport — offer a systematic analysis and comprehensive benchmarking of the world’s most attractive residence and citizenship by investment offerings, providing the gold standard in the sector. This year’s edition features a total of 40 programs, presenting the most relevant of over 100 worldwide. These have been appraised by a panel of independent experts including leading academic researchers, country risk specialists, economists, independent expert immigration and citizenship lawyers, and other specialists, who consider a broad range of relevant factors. Interactive digitalcomparisons of the programs are also available, enabling global investors and wealthy families to select what matters most to them when weighing up their options.
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, international immigration and citizenship law expert and Chairman of Henley & Partners, says Investment Migration Programs 2025 is essential for all those interested in keeping up to date with developments in the sector or considering residence or citizenship by investment as a diversification and risk mitigation strategy. “The publication is also important for governments and policy makers looking to attract and retain wealth to achieve greater fiscal autonomy and economic growth. In this era of heightened global volatility, nation states are using residence and citizenship by investment programs as an innovative financing tool to fund development initiatives that mitigate sustainability and climate-related risks, and that directly benefit their citizens. For investors, alternative residence and citizenship is a unique investment that enables them to be as globally diversified as their wealth portfolios.”
Citizenship programs: Malta remains the gold standard
The Global Citizenship Program Index ranks 14 programs, with the strategically located European nation of Malta scoring 76 out of 100 and taking top honors for the 10th consecutive year. Malta’s Granting of Citizenship for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment Regulations allow for the granting of citizenship by a certificate of naturalization to foreign individuals and their families who contribute to the country’s economic development. This is possible following a 36-month residence period (or 12 months by exception). Malta’s original citizenship program was designed by Henley & Partners in 2013 and went on to become one of the most successful programs in the world.
Retaining 2nd place with a score of 75 is Austria’s premium citizenship by investment offering, which requires applicants to make a substantial contribution to the country’s economy. The next two ranks are occupied by Caribbean island nations: Grenada 3rd with a score of 69, and Antigua and Barbuda 4th with 67.
Three other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) share the 5th spot, each scoring 66: newcomer to the index, Nauru, along with St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia. Nauru’s citizenship program offers significant advantages in global mobility, granting an alternative and safe passport to travel on, with visa-free access to some of the world’s key wealth hubs. Successful applicants will also be contributing to climate crisis solutions in the South Pacific, where SIDS face rising sea levels and biodiversity loss, with the funds channeled into development projects, including climate resilience initiatives, infrastructure improvements, renewable energy projects, and sustainable economic diversification.
Dominica, another Caribbean island nation, ranks 6th with a score of 65, and Türkiye sits in 7th place, providing investors with easy access to Asian, European, and Middle Eastern markets and offering multiple routes to citizenship, including a real estate option. Across the Mediterranean, Egypt, Africa’s only citizenship program option, ranks 8th, a position it shares with Jordan and North Macedonia, all scoring 63. The last two ranks are occupied by 9th-placed Vanuatu with a score of 60, and Cambodia 10th with 53.
Residence programs: Greece takes the crown
In the 2025 Global Residence Program Index, which ranks 26 programs, Greece’s increasingly popular golden visa program secures top spot with a score of 73 out of 100, toppling Portugal, which has held or shared first place for the past nine years. Portugal now ranks joint 3rd with Italy and the UK, all scoring 70, while Switzerland, which has an option developed by Henley & Partners that combines private residence with Swiss forfait tax provisions, ranks 2nd with a score of 72.
Australia, which recently launched its National Innovation Visa (NIV) Program to attract high-level tech skills, Canada, which introduced changes to its Start-Up Visa Program to enhance its appeal and flexibility for entrepreneurs, and Spain (due to close in early 2025) are all joint 4th, each scoring 69, and the UAE, which strategically expanded its golden visa program last year to attract top talent and drive growth and innovation, rounds up the Top 5 with a score of 68.
Hungary and Costa Rica: Newcomers in the Top 10 residence programs
One of two new entrants to the Global Residence Program Index in 2025 is Hungary which ranks 6th with a score of 67. Investors and their spouses and children under 18 can obtain a Guest Investor Residence Permit by investing in a real estate fund or donating to a higher education institution operated by a public trust and become long-term residents, enjoying visa-free access to Europe’s Schengen Area.
Small but powerful wealth hubs — Luxembourg and Singapore — occupy the 7th and 8th spots, scoring 66 and 65, respectively, while two others share the 9th spot: Jersey and Panama, both scoring 64. Costa Rica, the second newcomer to the index, rounds up the Top 10 with a score of 63 out of 100 and offers investors and their families a business-friendly landscape, a favorable tax regime, and a safe environment.
Two island nations share the 11th place in 2025: Malta and New Zealand, which both score 62, followed by Monaco and the USA in joint 12th position with scores of 61. New Zealand recently announced adjustments to its Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa to incentivize more foreign investment.
Three diverse territories share the 13th spot this year: Hong Kong, Latvia, and South Korea, all with scores of 60, while Cyprus and Thailand are joint 14th, both scoring 59, and Thailand’s neighbor Malaysia ranks 15th with a score of 51. The final place is taken by the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, which ranks 16th on the index with a score of 49.
Top scorers in select parameters
The two indexes each analyze 10 key factors, with slight variations between them. The following aspects are evaluated in both indexes: Reputation, Quality of Life, Visa-Free or Visa-on-Arrival Access, Processing Time and Quality of Processing, Compliance, and Investment Requirements. The Global Citizenship Program Index also assesses Residence Requirements, Relocation Flexibility, Physical Visit Requirements, and Transparency, and the Global Residence Program Index additionally evaluates Tax, Total Costs, Time to Citizenship, and Citizenship Requirements.
In the 2025 Global Citizenship Program Index, the highest scorer for Investment Requirements, which considers the upfront investment amounts required, is newbie Nauru, which scores 8 out of 10, while Australia, Hong Kong, and Switzerland all enjoy top marks with 10 out of 10 on the Global Residence Program Index due to no upfront investment being required in order to secure residence rights.
Six countries score 10 out of 10 for Physical Visit Requirements in the 2025 Global Citizenship Program Index this year: Dominica, Grenada, Jordan, Nauru, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia, and five score 10 out of 10 for Processing Time and Quality of Processing in the Global Residence Program Index: Hungary, Panama, South Korea, Spain, and Thailand.
Monaco and the UAE both score perfect 10s for Tax in the Global Residence Program Index, and all the European Union countries score 10 for Visa-Free/Visa-on-Arrival Access: Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, and Spain, as all grant visa-free travel to Europe’s Schengen Area, while in the Global Citizenship Program Index, Austria and Malta score 10 for Visa-Free/Visa-on-Arrival Access as well as for Relocation Flexibility.
A diversification strategy for investors
Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, says robust comparative analyses and benchmarking tools such as the Global Residence Program Index and the Global Citizenship Program Index are essential for investors as well as governments navigating this landscape. “Acquiring alternative residence and/or citizenship by participating in reputable investment migration programs enables greater flexibility and participation in the world’s leading economies, as well as optionality, which is now an indispensable part of any family’s insurance policy for the 21st century. The more jurisdictions a family can access, the lower its exposure to country-specific, regional, and global volatility, and the more secure it will be over the long term.”
For two consecutive years, US-Americans were the top nationality applying for alternative residence and citizenship options with Henley & Partners, and this trend has continued in 2025. This year is also projected to be a landmark year for wealth migration, with a record-breaking 142,000 high-net-worth individuals forecast to move to a new country, compared to the 134,000 who did so last year, and 120,000 the year before.
Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, concludes: “Faced with unprecedented instability and uncertainty, investors and wealthy families are adopting a strategy of geopolitical arbitrage to acquire additional residence and citizenship options to hedge against jurisdictional risk and leverage differences in legal, economic, political, and social conditions across countries. They thereby optimize their personal, financial, and lifestyle outcomes. Along with our Henley Ultimate Portfolio tool, which allows individuals to build and analyze portfolios of complementary residences and citizenships to unlock global jurisdictional access and opportunity, the two digital index comparisons are indispensable resources that assist wealthy investors in making data-driven decisions to future-proof their wealth and legacy for generations to come.”
Henley & Partners is the global leader in residence and citizenship by investment. Each year, hundreds of wealthy individuals and their advisors rely on our expertise and experience in this area. The firm’s highly qualified professionals work together as one team in over 60 offices worldwide.
The concept of residence and citizenship by investment was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s. As globalization has expanded, residence and citizenship have become topics of significant interest among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors whom we proudly serve every day.
Henley & Partners also runs the world’s leading government advisory practice for investment migration, which has raised more than USD 15 billion in foreign direct investment. Trusted by governments, the firm has been involved in strategic consulting and in the design, set-up, and operation of the world’s most successful residence and citizenship programs.
