Second Passport 2026: Investment vs Ancestry (Step-by-Step Breakdown)

Speaker 1: And the other. So, can you tell us a little bit about Citizenship by Investment in simple terms?

Speaker 2: What Citizenship by Investment is? So, Citizenship by Investment is making a qualifying investment to a government-approved program and through that transaction you get the country's passport.

Speaker 1: And what about, how does that differ from citizenship by descent in simple terms, if you could explain citizenship by descent to viewers?

Speaker 2: Citizenship by descent is your birthright. It's based on where your ancestors were from and reclaiming their original citizenship.

Speaker 1: So if you had to summarize the difference between Citizenship by Investment versus Citizenship by Descent, what are some of the main differences?

Speaker 2: One is transactional, I would say, which would be Citizenship by Investment, whereas Citizenship by Descent is document-based.

Speaker 1: And so why do governments offer Citizenship by Investment programs, in your view?

Speaker 2: I think to sustain their economies. It's a very big form of income for a lot of governments, especially the donation-based routes. If they have a donation-based route, it helps with the building and upkeep of schools, roads, hospitals.

Speaker 1: So I think that's why a lot of governments offer that. And so why do countries allow people to claim citizenship through their ancestry? I think it's a way of keeping in touch with their wider diaspora. And so who would typically qualify for citizenship by descent and could you maybe explain a little bit more of the process?

Speaker 2: So anybody with ancestry would typically qualify but that's just on the surface and we're gonna have to dig deeper to make sure that you actually qualify based on the country and that country's framework and the path that your ancestor took. Yeah, so the process basically includes first we're gonna do, we'll coordinate the eligibility assessment, then we're gonna do document gathering once we found out you're eligible, then those documents are gonna have to be apostilled, then they're gonna have to be translated, and then we're gonna prepare you for the document submission at either your local consulate, or if we're gonna submit it in the country of origin.

Speaker 1: So can you maybe describe more what documents are involved? Because I know it's very document intensive and we help with all the documents.

Speaker 2: Yes. So documents typically are birth records and these always have to be long form birth records because they have to state your parents name and your parents birth record have to state their parents name and that's how we're going to start building the chain of descent. Marriage records, divorce records. For some countries, if you have a deceased spouse, you have to have the deceased spouse, birth record, death record, naturalization record if they naturalize, no naturalization record if they don't naturalize, census migration record, ship manifests, a lot of documents, and it varies per country.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and I just want to emphasize that don't worry because a lot of the times people think that they need to come with all the documents. This is something that a service that we offer that we help get all these documents because they can be quite complex. Yes. So how far back can Ancestry usually be traced for citizenship eligibility? It varies per country and it also varies per case. Yeah, but you can go back hundreds of years. You've been able to find documents. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have. Yes, definitely.

Speaker 1: What's probably the oldest document that you've found?

Speaker 2: Maybe the 1400s. This was somebody that just was interested in their family. Yeah.

Speaker 1: And can you talk about how someone can qualify? Is it through your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, and a little bit how that varies from country to country?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so it varies from country to country. So it could be parents, grandparents for Ireland, but also in certain cases it could be great-grandparents. And this is just, this is a discretionary pathway. It's not citizenship by descent pathway, but it's a special pathway that you could qualify through your and great-grandparents. All in all to say that it varies per country. Every country has different caveats. Even if you meet their cut-off, their generational cut-off, sometimes they have a pathway for if you're still part of the diaspora and your ancestors a little further back.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's very, we do like very, very, I'll say case by case and we look into, like sometimes you have ultra high net worth clients that want to do citizenship by exception or different pathways to citizenship. So we do explore those options. And so what happens if someone doesn't have a birth record or a marriage record or it's missing and we can't find it or it's not available?

Speaker 2: So we're going to look for alternative documents and use those to cushion the missing documents. However, we're also going to have to do an affidavit explaining that we tried to get these documents and we couldn't find them for whatever reason. Like let's say a registry was burnt down or let's say a client was born a hundred years ago on a farm and they didn't go and register the birth. So there is no proof of that birth, but the person was alive. We'll have to use alternative documents.

Speaker 1: And so people that have been in countries that have been subject to war, how has that impacted the document gathering or the records that are available?

Speaker 2: I haven't had a case where it has negatively really impacted it. And when I say negatively in terms of like you can't find a document. Has it been more challenging in getting the documents? Yes, but sometimes they're held in completely different archives, stuff removed, but I haven't had a case where it's negatively impacted.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's say that someone can't qualify for citizenship by ancestry, they don't have an ancestor, they're not eligible. Can you maybe talk about Citizenship by Investment and the requirements for that?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so Citizenship by Investment, if you don't qualify for Citizenship by Descent, but you still would really like to diversify your sovereignty, I would say that's a good option for you once you're able to meet the qualifying investment from the country.

Speaker 1: So if you're not eligible for citizenship by descent and you still want to diversify your citizenship and obtain another citizenship, there is Citizenship by Investment. It is more costly. There are a variety of options around the world from the South Pacific to the Caribbean to Africa to El Salvador, for example. Basically the main applicant needs to be over the age of 18, make a qualified investment, and meet the due diligence document requirements. It's often a quicker option and more straightforward route as compared to citizenship by descent. I don't know if you'd agree with my summary. And maybe you could just share some last thoughts about citizenship by descent and what to expect and maybe just share some concluding remarks.

Speaker 2: Yes, I would agree. I would like to stress that genealogy is really the key part of starting your citizenship by descent journey. Once you have a reconstruction of your family line, you have a very clean path to move forward. From there, it's gathering the documents, authenticating the documents and then submitting your case. But when you don't have the full picture, you're going to be going back and forth trying to figure things out. So I'd like to reiterate that genealogy is very important. I also want to stress that if you've been through the Citizenship by Investment process already, it's completely different to Citizenship by Descent. It's longer, the document process gathering is, I mean you're gathering documents across generations so it's a much lengthier process. Yes, I want to leave you with those two things. It's not a quick process and genealogy is the key to Citizenship by Descent.

Speaker 1: And just one last thought because I know there are a lot of changes in laws ongoing. A lot of citizenship by descent programs are restricting pathways to acquiring citizenship. So maybe you want to just talk a little bit about changes?

Speaker 2: Yeah, there have been changes. In April, Romania is going to introduce a language requirement. If you're over 65, you're exempt from it. Italy just had a major change. It doesn't affect certain pathways, but it's still something that a lot of people were hoping that they were going to be, you know, not in agreeance with that new law. Canada had major changes to the C3 bill which is positive news in citizenship by descent. It opened up pathways for millions of people so we're getting a lot of inquiries on Canada and we're getting to all of them.

Speaker 1: Alright, well, thank you so much for your time and I really appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me here. If you'd like to have further information you can visit our website at jhmarlinglobal.com or send us an email and our email will be in the link in the description below. Okay, bye-bye. Bye.