There are exactly five lawful routes to another citizenship. Four of them depend on facts you cannot change; one is available on demand.
There are five lawful ways to acquire a citizenship, and no sixth. Everything sold as an alternative is either one of these five described differently, or it is not lawful.
This page sets out each route, what it actually requires, and how to work out in a few minutes which of them is realistically open to you.
| Route | What it depends on | Typical time | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| By birth | Where you were born, or your parents' nationality at that moment | Automatic | None |
| By descent | A documented ancestor — parent, grandparent, sometimes further | Months to years | Administrative fees |
| By marriage | A subsisting marriage to a citizen, usually plus residence | 1–5 years | Administrative fees |
| By naturalisation | Years of lawful residence, language and integration tests | 5–10 years | Administrative fees |
| By investment | Passing due diligence and making a statutory contribution | Weeks to months | Six figures |
Either you were born on the territory of a country that applies jus soli, or you were born to parents who were citizens of a country applying jus sanguinis. Nothing can be done to create this route later — but a surprising number of people already hold an unclaimed citizenship from it and have never checked. If a parent or grandparent emigrated, that is the first thing to establish.
The claim exists in law but must be proved with an unbroken documentary chain: birth, marriage and death certificates, often apostilled and translated, showing that each link held the citizenship when the next was born. Consular processing times of a year or more are normal, and several countries have recently tightened generational limits — Italy most sharply, where Law 74/2025 now requires an Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy and closes claims through a great-grandparent. Detail: citizenship by descent and marriage.
Marriage almost never grants citizenship directly. It shortens the naturalisation period — commonly to between one and five years — and usually still requires residence in the country, evidence that the marriage is genuine, and in many cases language tests.
The standard route everywhere: move, live there lawfully for the qualifying period, meet the language and integration requirements, apply. It is the cheapest route in money and the most expensive in time, and it requires you to actually relocate — which for most people considering a second passport is the reason it does not apply.
Note also that several countries require you to renounce your existing citizenship at this point. Whether that is acceptable depends on the rules covered in dual citizenship.
A small number of states have legislated a route under which citizenship is granted after due diligence in exchange for a defined contribution or investment. It is the only route that does not depend on ancestry, marriage or relocation, which is precisely why it exists and why it costs money. Programmes differ substantially in speed, price and the rigour of their screening — see how citizenship by investment works and the cost comparison.
The Vanuatu programme is the one we handle: the process, the costs and the travel access.
Buying a document, "instant" citizenship, honorary consul appointments sold as diplomatic status, and citizenship "registered" without an application to a government. These are covered in can you buy a passport and diplomatic passports.
Tell us where you and your parents were born and where you live now. That is usually enough to rule three of them in or out.