1,800+ applications closed · operating since 2016
पहले पूछें, तैयार होने पर आवेदन करें
ज़्यादातर लोग दो में से किसी एक तरीके से शुरू करते हैं। एक 30 मिनट की बातचीत, जिसमें हम आपकी असल स्थिति के हिसाब से फ़ायदे और नुक़सान तौलते हैं। या पाँच मिनट का एक टेस्ट, जो सूची को सिर्फ़ काम के कार्यक्रमों तक सीमित कर देता है। दोनों मुफ़्त हैं। कोई भी आपको किसी बात के लिए बाध्य नहीं करता।
2016 से अब तक 1,800+ आवेदन · 19 देशों के ग्राहक · एक साथ ज़्यादा से ज़्यादा 30 फ़ाइलें
Descent is the cheapest passport in the world when it works. The list of countries where it actually works has shrunk in the last three years, and the practical rules inside each are less generous than the headline. Here's an operating map for a 2026 file.
For an HNWI with the right ancestor, citizenship by descent is the shortest route into a strong passport that exists. There is no investment threshold, no residency requirement, no interview panel that can turn a file down on taste. Where it works, it is essentially administrative. The problem is that the number of jurisdictions where it actually works, as opposed to appears to work on a marketing page, has narrowed sharply since 2022. This piece is the working map we use on the desk.
Descent citizenship comes in three legal shapes. The first is jus sanguinis proper: you were born a citizen because a parent (or, in some places, a more distant ancestor) held the citizenship at your birth. The second is confirmation of citizenship: you have been a citizen your whole life without knowing it, and the state simply issues the paperwork. The third is restoration: your ancestor lost citizenship, and the law lets you claim it back under specific conditions. Different countries use different combinations, and the paperwork burden depends heavily on which shape applies.
The Foreign Births Register is the gateway. If a grandparent was born on the island of Ireland, you are entitled to register and become a citizen for all purposes on entry into the register. If a great-grandparent qualifies you, it only works when the intervening parent was on the register before you were born, which most were not. Processing is currently running at eighteen to twenty-four months due to backlog. Fee is around EUR 278. No language test, no residency test, and dual citizenship with the US, UK, Canada, and Australia is unrestricted. This is the single strongest descent route for most HNWI files with the right ancestor.
Post-decree, the route is a two-generation window. Only a parent or grandparent qualifies now. The Constitutional Court's 2026 ruling settled the substantive question. Files logged before 27 March 2025 retain the old regime. Great-grandparent files that were not physically filed by that date are closed on the substance. The dedicated piece on the ruling covers what to do if your file was in on time and what alternatives remain if it wasn't.
The StAG reform of June 2024 removed the biggest historical friction: dual citizenship is now allowed without a retention permit. Descent under §4 StAG works with unbroken chain and no explicit generation limit, though in practice the documentation load rises sharply after two generations. Article 116(2) of the Basic Law lets descendants of citizens who were denaturalised under Nazi-era racial and political laws restore citizenship on application, and the Federal Administrative Court has kept this door generously open. For clients with German ancestry that includes a break between 1933 and 1945, the Article 116(2) route is usually stronger than the standard descent route.
Polish descent is confirmation, not restoration. The legal claim is that your ancestor never actually lost Polish citizenship, and you inherited it uninterrupted from them, and the state simply issues confirmation (poświadczenie posiadania obywatelstwa polskiego). Continuity has to be traced back to the 1920 Nationality Act. Common chain breaks: an ancestor served in a foreign military between 1920 and 1962 without permission; an ancestor took foreign citizenship in specific windows; women who married foreign nationals in the pre-1951 rules. Processing runs twelve to twenty-four months depending on voivodeship. No generation limit if the chain holds. EU passport at the end.
The Democratic Memory Law of 2022 opened a wide door for descendants of Republicans exiled between 1936 and 1975. The application window ran through 22 October 2025 after an extension, and is now closed for new files. If your file was in by that date it is being processed. Outside that window, the standard rules apply: child of a Spanish citizen at birth is Spanish at birth (no generation limit under jus sanguinis), and Ibero-American, Filipino, Andorran, Portuguese, and Sephardic-descent applicants can naturalise after two years of legal residence rather than the standard ten. The two-year route is under-used by HNWI files with the right passport already in hand.
The Sephardic Jewish descent route closed to new applications on 9 March 2022 after a series of tightenings. Standard jus sanguinis works for children of Portuguese citizens. Grandchildren of Portuguese citizens can naturalise under an easier residence-based rule after three years, but this requires actual residence. The Golden Visa route to citizenship after five years is the more common practical path for HNWI clients with distant Portuguese connection, and it remains open in reformed shape after the 2023-2024 amendments.
The Simplified Naturalisation programme is a hybrid: you have to demonstrate Hungarian ancestry and basic Hungarian language, but there is no residency requirement. Processing is fast (six to twelve months) once the documentation is complete. Dual citizenship is allowed. For clients with Hungarian ancestry, this is the shortest EU passport in the world by wall-clock time.
The Law of Return is not descent citizenship in the same sense but functions like it for practical purposes. Jewish descent (through mother, or through paternal Jewish grandparent) creates an immediate right to citizenship on aliyah. Processing is weeks. Dual citizenship is allowed with most passports. The mobility profile is different from EU passports but the certainty of the right is unusual.
Mexican jus sanguinis works one generation. Child of a Mexican citizen (born abroad) is Mexican at birth if registered by the parent. Grandchild is not automatic. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay work on similar one-generation rules for the direct descent path, with slightly different registration mechanics. For HNWI clients using Latin American descent, the practical benefit is usually access to the Mercosur residence regime rather than the passport itself.
Portugal Sephardic (2022). Spain Democratic Memory (October 2025). Italy great-grandparent chain (March 2025). Malta jus sanguinis for a narrower window of descendants of pre-1964 emigrants (technical reform 2023). These closures matter because a lot of prospect files still get sold as "your ancestor makes you eligible" when the underlying route was shut two or three years ago.
For an HNWI file in 2026, check three things before spending on documentation. First: which of the three legal shapes (jus sanguinis, confirmation, restoration) applies to the country in question, because the paperwork profile is completely different. Second: does the country still have the window open for the specific historical circumstance in your family, or has it closed since 2022. Third: is dual citizenship a bar for you personally, because a handful of source-country combinations (China, India, Saudi Arabia) still refuse dual formally, and a descent claim can force a hard choice.
We publish country-by-country deep-dives on the routes that carry the most weight for the HNWI files we work with. If you have a file that fits one of them and want a written read on realistic timeline and paperwork burden, send the basics through our contact form. We'll come back the same week with a working plan.