10 countries where you can "easily" get citizenship

Passport rank: 20

You can apply for citizenship after two years in the country. Some say you need to be in the country for at least 6 months each year (which is a common requirement) and one lawyer says it's 7 months but also that there might be exceptions if you can prove strong ties to the country.

This one is interesting because while some sources say you need 2 years of temporary residency + 2 years of permanent residency, it seems permanent residency is not required: You can even apply as soon as you enter the country regardless of your status. You can start as a tourist, and some say they can grant you citizenship after two years even if you've been staying in the country illegally (the only consequence to overstaying your visa in Argentina is a small fine). Still, I assume it's better to do it by getting residency (temporary residency for two years being enough, apparently). While getting temporary residency is fairly easy, now there is also a digital nomad visa, which apparently comes with tax benefits.

Bonus: Being a citizen of Mercosur (an alliance of South American countries) makes it super easy to live and work in other Mercosur countries, and it also makes it easier to obtain other Mercosur citizenships: One year for Colombia (normally much longer), and two years for Mexico (but Mexico might not let you keep your Mexican citizenship if you get yet another citizenship after that).

Potential drawbacks: It is said that you cannot renounce your Argentine citizenship. If true, it might be problematic if they go a bit crazy in the future. It is an unstable country, after all. Some fear they might establish a citizenship-based taxation. I'm not sure the fear is legitimate (only the US does that, as well as Eritrea to a small extent, and Hungary except if you're a dual citizen who doesn't have a residence in the country), but if it were to happen, you'll be in a bit of a pickle unless you're okay with high taxes.

If anybody ever still wants to go there (and I do because my girlfriend's family lives there), you get visa-free travel to Russia.

Passport rank: 19

Once you get temporary residency (which you can get if you prove a certain level of income or if you invest in the country), you can get permanent residency as long as you spent 183 days in the country during that year. To keep your permanent residency, you only have to spend one day per year in the country. You can apply for citizenship after five years of residency (including the first year of temporary residency). That being said, while you can keep permanent residency with a presence of only one day per year, they might not grant you citizenship unless you can show strong ties to the country (which supposedly would require spending some time there).

Passport rank: 36

Seems pretty easy to get residency there, especially through the Friendly Nations program. I think you need to put some money in the bank and maybe open a company. Apparently, you don't need to spend any time there to get citizenship after five years. But if you do want to spend at least half your time there, you can be a tax resident and it seems they don't tax foreign income.

Passport rank: 77

Open a company. No minimum investment. Maybe get an office address, maybe not. Obtain your permanent residency. Apply for citizenship after three years with no minimum stay requirement. I think you might have to register as a tax resident though. I don't know if that means you'll have to pay taxes there; it's not always as simple as spending 183 days in the country. If you have tax residency elsewhere and there's a double tax treaty maybe you don't? But maybe you do if you want the citizenship after three years? In any case, Armenia doesn't have very high taxes.

Interesting (and controversial) visa-free destinations for Armenian citizens: China, Iran, Russia.

Passport rank: 37

Similar to Argentina although I think they're not as chill with the requirements. 2 years of residency. According to these guys, the 183 day requirement might be dismissed if you get a special permission.

Passport rank: 5

They just got rid of their beloved Golden Visa program. However, it did require a pretty big investment (or creating a company hiring 10 workers). But there are still other ways to get residency in you're not from the EU or Schengen. I believe they have the D7 visa, which if I'm not mistaken requires proof of income of something like $2500.

I'm not sure why the golden visa was so popular if the D7 was (and still is) available. I've read somewhere that only the Golden Visa allowed you to keep your residency (and tax residency) by only spending 7 days per year in the country. Not sure if that's true. Either way, as long as you stay within the EU or Schengen, you're probably fine.

Anyway, one of the cool things about Portuguese residency is that you can apply for a special tax break that can either significantly lower your taxes on foreign income or even get it down to zero.

If you're from the EU or Schengen, of course, you don't need to worry about all that visa crap, and you still get to apply for that tax break thing (NHR status).

After five years of residency, you can apply for citizenship.

If you're the descendant of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal in the fifteenth century, you're in luck: you get to apply for citizenship immediately.

Passport rank: 7

Yes, yes. I'm a Belgian citizen writing a list about the possibilities of multiple citizenships even though I have one of the best passports in the world. How dare he be so ungrateful.

Apparently, if you have a solid enough business plan and open a company in Belgium, you can obtain residency, and you can then apply for citizenship after five years without any official minimum stay requirement (but you will have to show strong ties to the country, which presumably implies at least some time spent within the kingdom's borders). It does entail paying Belgian corporate tax, and maybe also income tax (not sure). The corporate tax rate is not particularly high but it's also not low. Income tax is insane. But hey: waffles and little peeing boy.

Preview

Passport rank: 33

Seems like the "citizenship by investment" includes getting at least $1500 per month from a government institution, private company or financial institution, which presumably implies it works for company owners or maybe even freelancers, but I'm not sure and the info might be outdated. Otherwise, you have to invest a fairly large sum or make a donation. After two years, you can apply for citizenship, and I think there's no minimum stay requirement. But when it comes to the accuracy of the information, this is the country I'm the least sure of.

Not to be confused with Dominica, which also grants citizenship by investment.

Passport rank: 53

This one requires a fairly large investment, but it may be an easy one in the sense that you can easily recoup your investment and even make a profit after a few years, at least according to these guys (I can't remember if they mention it in that article, they may have talked about it in a video). And you get your citizenship after a few months.

Passport rank: 68

3 years of residency.

Same with Poland if you get permanent residency (as opposed to other types of residency), but since you need to pass a Polish test, it definitely doesn't qualify as "easy".

Canada is also 3 years, but with 1095 days (so three years) of physical presence required within the 5 years preceding your application.

In some countries, the easiest way to get citizenship is through ancestry (or, in the case of Israel, simply if you're Jewish). Sometimes you need a parent or grandparent who was a citizen of the country, but in some cases they let you go quite far back (in the case of Italy, you need to have an ancestor who was a citizen sometime in the 1800s). With some countries, you won't get immediate citizenship through ancestry but it will make it easier.

Only a handful of countries grant you immediate citizenship through marriage, one of which is Cape Verde. Some say it's the case with Argentina as well, but I've read conflicting reports on this. Other countries won't grant it immediately but will make it a lot easier and quicker (Brazil just requires one year of residency).

Again, I'm not particularly encouraging you to do anything on this list, but I'm definitely not encouraging you to get married just for citizenship. However, if you're already in a committed relationship, it might make sense to go to the next level if it makes it easier to be together.

This one was suggested by the AI (thanks!), but I'm rewriting it since I'm not sure it's very accurate (it also suggested San Marino, even though getting citizenship there is very hard).

I had heard of quite a few micronations but I don't remember hearing about this one!

According to the website of The Principality of Seborga:

The nationality of the Principality can be requested by anyone who meets at least one of the following requirements:
– have been generated or adopted by a father or mother having the citizenship of the Principality of Seborga (right of birth – ius sanguinis);
– be born in Seborga (birthright – ius soli);
– be resident in Seborga for at least 3 years (right of residence);
– have a property in Seborga for at least 3 years (real estate property right);
– have been the owner of a commercial activity based in Seborga for at least 3 years (employment right);
– have been naturalized citizen of the Principality of Seborga by sovereign decision (naturalization);
– hold or have held the office of Prince of Seborga or Crown Councilor.

Interestingly, this micronation is gradually getting some recognition. So who knows, maybe it will be a legit country one day? Apparently you can get (unrecognized) citizenship for 10K.