The end of the Golden Passport era: The EU definitively bans citizenship by investment

The European Union has put an end to the history of the so—called "golden passports" - programs that provided citizenship in exchange for investments. The last bastion of this practice, Malta, officially lost the legal battle: on April 29, 2025, the European Court of Justice declared its naturalization scheme for capital illegal.

Malta is losing ground

According to the decision of the European Court of Justice, the Maltese citizenship by investment program violates the fundamentals of EU law. Now the republic is obliged to completely curtail this practice, which was previously abolished by Cyprus (in 2020) and Bulgaria (in 2022). This means that all EU member states have abandoned schemes for the direct sale of citizenship - the EU has won an unconditional victory in this matter.

❗ Why is the EU opposed?

European officials believe that turning citizenship into a commodity violates the moral and legal principles on which the European Union is built. Citizenship should be the result of integration, residence, and commitment to values, not just a financial transaction.

What did Malta offer?

Until recently, Malta granted citizenship to foreigners who invested in its economy. Basic conditions:

• Donation of 600,000 euros to the National Fund;
• The alternative: real estate investments from 700,000 euros;
• Additional expenses exceeded 50,000 euros.

Since the spring of 2022, the Maltese program has been closed to citizens of Russia and Belarus. The main stream of applicants in recent years has been from US citizens.

🔄What now?

It is now possible to obtain EU citizenship only through:

• long-term residence in the country (residency),
• naturalization (usually after 5-10 years).

Nevertheless, golden visa programs — residence permit for investment remain available. This is a softer path that may eventually lead to citizenship. There are such programs:

• in Greece,
• Portugal,
• Latvia,
• Cyprus,
• Hungary,
• and, despite the ban on passports, still in Malta (in residence format).