Given that the world can shut down travel and countries can allow only residents (and sometimes only PR's) to enter, it seems that there is little downside to applying to the countries that offer lifetime PR with minimal physical presence requirements and reasonable time/cash expenditure - and doing it sooner rather than later since you never know if travel might be restricted in the future.
And travel isn't the only issue. Getting a document authenticated (Canadian equivalent to the apostille) took as long as 4-5 months last year in Canada which made certain residency applications (like where you have to show up-to-date bank statements) impossible.
Programs also close down or change their requirements so that they are no longer no-brainers, e.g. Paraguay. You only needed to park $5000 USD and it was refunded a few months later. Officially you only need to visit every 3(?) years to maintain it and you do not have to become a tax resident (I mention this bc there may be some areas where you can skirt the phys presence requirements in practice, e.g. Schengen countries, but if you officially have to live in the country for 6 months then you will likely become a tax resident which might be an issue e.g. it increases your tax rate or triggers departure tax in your home country).
If there isn't already a thread with a list of countries that meet the above description, let's start one:
A)Country, name of program
B)investment amount
C)approx procedural time/costs
D)phys presence req's (*official* and what people can get away with)
E)restrictions
F)notes about how it works in practice
I'll start:
A)Cyprus, category F/"slow track PR option"
B)min $100-150K Euro range for property purchase and 10K Euros yearly income
C)at least 12 mos - I'm guessing 12-24 mos realistically
D)visit once every 2 yrs
E)can't work in Cyprus
F)some pages say that while there is no stated minimum investment, the more you invest the faster they will process your application. I've heard that 100-150K is the minimum in practice. (If anyone knows differently, please reply). Apparently a rental can be accepted in theory but is not recommended and risks ur application being rejected. There is no precise estimate of how long it will all take but more than likely it will not be approved in any less than 12 months.
And travel isn't the only issue. Getting a document authenticated (Canadian equivalent to the apostille) took as long as 4-5 months last year in Canada which made certain residency applications (like where you have to show up-to-date bank statements) impossible.
Programs also close down or change their requirements so that they are no longer no-brainers, e.g. Paraguay. You only needed to park $5000 USD and it was refunded a few months later. Officially you only need to visit every 3(?) years to maintain it and you do not have to become a tax resident (I mention this bc there may be some areas where you can skirt the phys presence requirements in practice, e.g. Schengen countries, but if you officially have to live in the country for 6 months then you will likely become a tax resident which might be an issue e.g. it increases your tax rate or triggers departure tax in your home country).
If there isn't already a thread with a list of countries that meet the above description, let's start one:
A)Country, name of program
B)investment amount
C)approx procedural time/costs
D)phys presence req's (*official* and what people can get away with)
E)restrictions
F)notes about how it works in practice
I'll start:
A)Cyprus, category F/"slow track PR option"
B)min $100-150K Euro range for property purchase and 10K Euros yearly income
C)at least 12 mos - I'm guessing 12-24 mos realistically
D)visit once every 2 yrs
E)can't work in Cyprus
F)some pages say that while there is no stated minimum investment, the more you invest the faster they will process your application. I've heard that 100-150K is the minimum in practice. (If anyone knows differently, please reply). Apparently a rental can be accepted in theory but is not recommended and risks ur application being rejected. There is no precise estimate of how long it will all take but more than likely it will not be approved in any less than 12 months.
