Citizenship Planning for Families: Dependants, Children, and the Next Generation

Most established citizenship by investment programmes allow the main applicant to include qualifying dependants in the same application, subject to additional fees and the completion of due diligence on each dependant above a certain age (typically 16 or 18).

Spouse or civil partner. The main applicant's spouse or legally recognised civil partner can be included in almost all CBI programmes. The additional investment required is typically modest — some programmes charge an additional government contribution for the spouse; others include the spouse within the main applicant's qualifying investment. Due diligence is conducted on the spouse in the same manner as the main applicant.

Dependent children. Children who are financially dependent on the main applicant can be included in most programmes. The standard age limit is 25 or 26, provided the child is enrolled in full-time education and can demonstrate financial dependency. Children aged 18–26 in education are included in many programmes at a lower additional fee than adult dependants; children under 18 typically attract lower or no additional fees. Children with disabilities who are wholly financially dependent may be included at any age in most programmes.

Parents and parents-in-law. Several CBI programmes — including Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada — allow inclusion of the main applicant's parents or parents-in-law as dependants, subject to minimum age thresholds (typically 55 or 60), proof of financial dependency, and an additional per-person fee. This provision is particularly valuable for families where elderly parents are genuinely supported by the main applicant and where including them in the same citizenship application is both practically useful and an act of family security.

Siblings. Some programmes, including Antigua and Barbuda, permit the inclusion of siblings in certain circumstances — typically where the sibling is unmarried, financially dependent, and has no independent family of their own. This is the exception rather than the rule among CBI programmes.

Unmarried partners. The recognition of unmarried partners varies by programme. Married spouses are universally recognised. Civil partners are recognised in programmes that have compatible legal frameworks. Unmarried partners who are not legally recognised as such in either their home country or the programme jurisdiction may not be eligible as dependants — a consideration for clients in committed relationships who are not formally married.

Once you have been naturalised as a citizen of a CBI country, your citizenship can typically be transmitted to your descendants — but the specific rules of each country's nationality law govern how this works.

Children born after naturalisation. A child born to a citizen of most countries will be a citizen of that country by birthright — automatically, by operation of law. For CBI-acquired citizenship, this principle generally applies: children born after the parent has been naturalised are typically citizens of the CBI country by descent. The manner in which citizenship was acquired by the parent (by investment rather than by birth) is irrelevant to the child's status.

Registration requirements. In practice, citizenship by descent often requires formal registration — either at birth (if the child is born abroad) or within a specified period. The parent must usually register the birth with the relevant consular authority and apply for the child's citizenship certificate or passport. Failing to do this promptly does not extinguish the citizenship right, but may complicate the administrative process later.

St Kitts and Nevis has explicit provisions for citizenship by descent for children of citizens — registration within a defined period from birth is required for children born abroad.

Generational limits. Some countries limit citizenship by descent to a fixed number of generations — typically one generation beyond the naturalised citizen. Others permit indefinite descent. Malta and Portugal, as EU member states, have nationality laws that allow citizenship to be passed through multiple generations, subject to registration — meaning that a Malta-citizen grandchild of a CBI applicant may be able to transmit Maltese citizenship to their children in turn.

The generational legacy of a CBI decision made today can therefore extend to great-grandchildren and beyond — particularly for EU citizenships. This is a dimension of the cost-benefit analysis that is easy to underweight because the beneficiaries do not yet exist.

For families where citizenship planning involves multiple nationalities in the household — for example, a British applicant, a French spouse, and children with dual UK-French citizenship — the citizenship planning matrix becomes complex. Each country's nationality law interacts with the others in ways that require careful analysis.

Marrying a citizen of a third country. If a CBI-acquired citizen marries a national of a country that does not permit dual nationality, their spouse may be required to choose between their own nationality and the CBI citizenship upon marriage. This is not a common issue among the countries discussed in this guide (most Caribbean countries and EU member states permit dual nationality) but it arises for nationals of some Asian and Middle Eastern countries that restrict multiple citizenship.

Children with multiple citizenships. Children in multinational families may hold three or more citizenships simultaneously — British by birth, EU by parental CBI, and the nationality of a second parent. Most countries accept this without restriction, though some impose registration obligations and some have service obligations (military service in particular) that trigger for male citizens at specific ages. Families should review the obligations associated with each citizenship their children may hold.

Consenting adults in the application. For older children included in a CBI application, most programmes require the child's own signature on the application and their independent participation in the due diligence process. A parent cannot include an adult child in a citizenship application without that child's knowledge and consent — nor would it be appropriate to do so.

Nationality laws differ by country and change through legislation. The eligibility criteria for dependants, the citizenship-by-descent rules, and the registration requirements described in this guide reflect the general position across the main CBI programmes as of 2026, but may differ in specific details for individual programmes. Seek legal advice from qualified nationality lawyers in the relevant jurisdiction before making decisions based on citizenship planning for family members. The tax and succession implications of multiple citizenships in a family require specialist multi-jurisdictional advice. Investments can fall in value; rules can change.