Why 21% of Global CBI Applicants Are American

American CBI applicants now account for 21% of global citizenship by investment applications, according to the World Citizenship Report 2026. The report says U.S. nationals represent the largest share of applications from any single country in the investment migration market. That is striking for one simple reason: Americans already hold citizenship in the world’s largest economy and one of its most influential countries.

So why are they looking for another citizenship?

The answer is more complicated than wealthy Americans simply wanting to leave the United States. For many, a second citizenship is increasingly connected to family planning, business access, jurisdictional diversification and concern over how future government policies could affect their lives and capital.

According to the World Citizenship Report, American nationals account for 21% of global CBI applications. The same report said inquiries from Americans increased by 183% in early 2025. The report linked that increase to factors including policy changes, tariffs and wider economic uncertainty.

There is an important distinction here. These figures come from industry research rather than a single official database covering every citizenship by investment programme worldwide. They should therefore be read as reported market data, not as a government-produced global census.

Even with that qualification, the scale of American interest deserves attention.

Citizenship by investment was once commonly associated with applicants whose existing passports offered limited international access or whose home countries faced greater political and economic instability.

The American profile challenges that assumption.

Many U.S. applicants already possess a powerful passport, developed financial infrastructure and access to a large domestic economy. Their interest suggests that demand for another citizenship is increasingly being driven by more than travel convenience.

The easiest interpretation would be that wealthy Americans are trying to escape the United States.

That conclusion goes too far.

The U.S. Department of State confirms that Americans can legally hold dual or multiple nationalities. Acquiring another citizenship does not normally require an American to surrender U.S. nationality. Dual citizens still retain legal obligations in the United States and must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the country.

This matters because second citizenship and permanent relocation are two very different decisions.

An entrepreneur can continue operating businesses in the United States while obtaining another citizenship. Parents may be thinking about where their children could live, study or work in the future. A family with assets across several countries may want a stronger legal connection to another jurisdiction.

The decision can therefore be additive rather than an exit.

A strong passport remains valuable, but sophisticated investors rarely assess citizenship using passport rankings alone.

They also consider where family members can establish themselves, how predictable a country’s laws are, whether citizenship can pass to future generations, how applications are scrutinised and what the citizenship actually allows them to do.

The World Citizenship Report found that family security and generational protection have become major considerations in second-citizenship decisions. It also identified business and professional opportunities, investment diversification, and tax and wealth structuring among important motivations considered by affluent respondents.

For American investors, these questions can become more important as wealth becomes more international.

A founder may have businesses in three jurisdictions. Their children may study in a fourth. Their investments may be held across several markets. Yet the family’s citizenship may still depend entirely on one country.

For some investors, that imbalance is now being reconsidered.

American politics is highly polarised, and policy can change significantly between administrations. Tax debates, tariffs, immigration policy and regulation can all influence how business owners and wealthy families plan.

However, it would be misleading to claim that the 21% figure belongs exclusively to one political party, election or administration.

Demand for second citizenship is broader than that.

Successful families tend to plan across decades, while governments operate on much shorter political cycles. An investor making decisions about succession, children’s education or the future location of a business may be planning 10, 20 or 30 years ahead.

That creates a basic tension: governments can change policies quickly, while families often need structures designed to survive several political cycles.

Another citizenship cannot remove political risk altogether. It can, however, give a family another jurisdiction with which it has permanent legal rights.

Tax is often part of the discussion around American interest in second citizenship, but it is also where misinformation can become expensive.

Obtaining another passport does not automatically remove U.S. tax obligations.

The Internal Revenue Service states that U.S. citizens living abroad are generally subject to U.S. income tax on worldwide income. Certain exclusions or foreign tax credits may be available depending on individual circumstances, but simply becoming a citizen of another country does not end the U.S. tax relationship.

Renouncing U.S. citizenship is an entirely separate decision.

The IRS also has expatriation rules that can apply to certain people who relinquish U.S. citizenship. Among the tests used to determine “covered expatriate” status is having a net worth of $2 million or more at the date of expatriation, alongside separate tax-liability and compliance tests.

For wealthy Americans, citizenship planning should therefore never be confused with a simple tax strategy. Cross-border tax advice must be considered separately and professionally.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the American trend is what it says about the relationship between wealth and citizenship.

Governments routinely compete for internationally mobile entrepreneurs, investors and capital. They create residence routes, tax incentives and investment programmes because successful people can contribute economically.

Yet there is often greater political discomfort when those same successful people begin comparing jurisdictions for themselves.

That distinction is becoming harder to defend.

Investors already compare banking systems, tax regimes, investment markets, schools, business regulations and legal systems before deciding where to deploy capital. It is not surprising that some are beginning to apply similar scrutiny to residence and citizenship.

The 21% figure does not mean American citizenship has become unattractive.

It means one citizenship may no longer be viewed by every wealthy family as sufficient for every possible future.

American applicants should resist choosing a programme based on price or passport access alone. Citizenship is a permanent legal relationship, and the quality of that relationship matters.

Investors should examine due diligence standards, programme legislation, family eligibility, investment requirements, processing procedures, citizenship rights and the jurisdiction’s long-term political relationship with major international partners.

They should also consider whether citizenship is actually the correct solution. Depending on the objective, residency may offer a more suitable route without requiring immediate citizenship.

The strongest planning starts with the problem, not the product.

A family concerned about where it can physically live may need a different solution from an entrepreneur concerned about business access. An investor focused on succession may have different priorities again.

The rise of American CBI applicants is therefore significant not because Americans are suddenly abandoning the United States, but because wealthy families are becoming more willing to question whether nationality should be the one part of their international lives that remains concentrated in a single jurisdiction.

For American CBI applicants, the right structure depends on what the family is actually trying to achieve. Imperial Citizenship advises investors, entrepreneurs and families on citizenship by investment and residency by investment across multiple jurisdictions, considering programme suitability, compliance, family eligibility and long-term objectives.

Speak with Imperial Citizenship to assess which routes may fit your circumstances.