Nauru
Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Programme (ECRCP)
Nauru's Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Programme is a donation-based citizenship-by-investment route relaunched in late 2024 and re-priced in 2026, under which a non-refundable contribution to the national Treasury funds climate-adaptation and coastal-resilience projects, notably the Higher Ground relocation initiative. Following the 3 February 2026 amendment the programme moved from family-bundled pricing to a per-person model. The headline principal contribution is USD 90,000 to 31 December 2026, a promotional figure under the Iruwa Initiative against a standard of USD 105,000, designated a Special Project by Cabinet Resolution of 29 January 2026 under section 9(7) of the Act (Government Gazette No. 118/2026). The standard principal contribution is USD 105,000, confirmed by the concession holder on 4 August 2026; the Program Office's published notice describes the offer as a USD 25,000 discount from 3 February 2026, whose arithmetic would imply USD 115,000, and we confirm any post-offer figure in writing against the gazetted schedule before it enters a client plan. The designation originally ran to 30 June 2026 and has been extended to 31 December 2026; because it sits in a Cabinet designation rather than in the fee schedule it can be extended or withdrawn without amending the Regulations, and the concession holder gives no assurance of a further extension. The rate is understood to fix at the submission stage. Because every fee line is charged per head, the all-in cost for a family is well above the headline: a family of four (principal, spouse, a child aged 16 or over and a child under 16) reaches roughly USD 120,700 at the promotional contribution, rising to roughly USD 135,700 once the standard USD 105,000 contribution applies, before any adviser fee or disbursements. Processing is quick by market standards — three to four months — with no residence or visit requirement at any stage, biometrics captured digitally, the oath satisfied remotely, dual citizenship permitted and a ten-year passport. The decisive consideration for private clients is mobility, and it is a constraint rather than a benefit: the United Kingdom moved Nauru to its visa-national list on 9 December 2025, citing the programme itself, and Ireland has required a visa since 10 March 2025, so there is no visa-free access to the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Schengen Area, the United States or Canada. The concession holder's own assessment is that a return to UK electronic travel authorisation is the best conceivable outcome, with no timeline. No official destination count is maintained, so none is published here. The programme's value is plan-B optionality, speed, an unusually wide family scope and Asia-Pacific access — notably Hong Kong, Singapore and the UAE — and not European or North-American mobility, which is served by EU residence instead.
How you qualify.
Donation
Non-refundable contribution to the Nauru Treasury Fund, financing climate-resilience projects. The Principal-Applicant contribution is USD 90,000 to 31 December 2026 under the Iruwa Initiative (standard USD 105,000), a Special Project designated by Cabinet Resolution of 29 January 2026 under s.9(7) of the Act (Government Gazette No. 118/2026), originally to 30 June 2026 and extended to 31 December 2026. The standard Principal-Applicant contribution is USD 105,000, confirmed by the concession holder on 4 August 2026; the Program Office's contribution notice frames the offer as a USD 25,000 discount from 3 February 2026, whose arithmetic would imply USD 115,000. We quote the USD 90,000 in force to 31 December 2026 and confirm any post-offer figure in writing against the gazetted schedule before it enters a client plan. (The USD 115,000 figure in market commentary also matches the superseded February 2025 bundled rate, Gazette 51/2025, for a principal with four or more dependants.)
Global mobility.
There is no visa-free access to the Schengen Area; a Schengen visa must be obtained in advance. There is no EU-Nauru visa-waiver agreement.
By Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 1491, laid on 9 December 2025 and effective at 15:00 GMT that day, the United Kingdom inserted Nauru into the Appendix Visitor visa national list and deleted it from the Appendix ETA National List. ETA eligibility ended immediately on 9 December 2025 — no Nauruan has been able to apply for a UK ETA since. The 20 January 2026 date is only the end of a six-week transitional grace, under which someone who already held an ETA and had booked on or before 15:00 GMT on 9 December 2025 could still travel provided they arrived by 15:00 GMT on 20 January 2026; that window is long closed. A Standard Visitor visa is now required, and a Direct Airside Transit Visa merely to connect through a UK airport. The explanatory memorandum gives the citizenship programme itself as the reason, assessing it as particularly vulnerable to misuse. The change also departed from the usual 21-day convention and took effect the same day it was announced, which signals the UK will act without notice. Asked on 4 August 2026 whether anything was underway to have the requirement lifted, the concession holder said there are discussions but nothing to be expected, and that the best case would be a return to ETA eligibility — which is only the position that obtained before 9 December 2025. There is no timeline and no expectation of visa-free entry. A Nauru passport is therefore not a route to UK access: a family that needs the United Kingdom or the Schengen Area is served by European residence instead. This is a programme-risk disclosure as much as a mobility fact.
There is no visa-free or ESTA access.
There is no visa-free or eTA access.
No citable count exists. There is therefore no official source for any single number, and none is published here. The destinations that matter are Hong Kong (SAR China), Singapore and the UAE. The exclusions are explicit: there is no visa-free access to the United Kingdom, the Schengen Area, the United States, Canada or Ireland. Ireland has required a visa from Nauruan nationals since 10 March 2025 (S.I. No. 68/2025), with a transit visa needed merely to pass through an Irish airport, so the Common Travel Area is closed to a Nauru passport. Nauru has never held an EU or Schengen visa waiver, so the 2024 suspensions affecting other CBI states do not apply. The programme’s value is plan-B optionality and Asia-Pacific access, not European or North-American mobility.
Still want a European base? Pair it.
A Nauru passport answers what most families come for first: stronger mobility and a considered fallback, secured for life and hereditary. Many families want a European base alongside it — somewhere to hold assets, spend time and give their children options. Those are two different jobs, and we build them as one plan rather than asking you to choose.
We pair the citizenship with an EU residence in a single structure — citizenship, passport and residence, built as one: the passport for mobility and standing, the residence for a euro-denominated base and, held over time, a lawful route to a European future.
Choose your structure
Structure selected: Nauru citizenship only. Add a European base at any time — pick one above to see it quoted as a single structure.
Engage us on Nauru
Leave your details and we come back to you personally — the confirmed current terms, the full costing for your family, and an introduction to vetted, admitted counsel for this programme.
Kestrel Private is a discreet private-client advisory led personally by Andrew J. Taylor, formerly Vice Chairman of Henley & Partners. He has served private clients from more than 30 countries, and at Kestrel you have one senior relationship from initial strategy through implementation.
What's involved in Nauru citizenship.
- Family inclusion
- The principal applicant is an adult; due diligence is conducted on all applicants aged 16 and over. Includable dependants are the spouse or de facto partner; children; parents; parents-in-law; grandparents; and siblings of the Principal Applicant or Spouse. The Amendment Regulations 2026 (No. 2 of 2026, certified 29 January 2026, Government Gazette No. 114/2026) widened this scope, reportedly to all biological and adopted children regardless of age or marital status, a spouse of either a monogamous marriage or a de facto relationship, parents and grandparents with no age and no financial-dependency requirement, and siblings regardless of marital status; that reading rests on secondary reporting of Gazette 114/2026, which we do not hold. Against it, the concession holder stated on 4 August 2026 that parents and parents-in-law are includable only where they are financially dependent on the principal, which is the more restrictive position and may be their own screening practice rather than a Program Office requirement. Until that is resolved, present ascendant inclusion as subject to evidence of dependency. Parents-in-law being includable at all is the concession holder’s answer to a point the published materials do not address. Pricing is per person: each dependant aged 16+ adds USD 2,000 contribution, USD 2,000 application fee and USD 3,000 due-diligence fee. Whether a dependant under 16 pays the USD 2,000 application fee is unanswered — the contribution exemption for under-16s is confirmed, the application fee is not. All dependants aged 16+ undergo due diligence, and the Principal Applicant attends an interview.
- Due diligence
- Multi-tier vetting administered by the Nauru Program Office, with screening by approved independent due-diligence firms; the citizenship criteria align with FATF standards. All applicants aged 16 and over undergo background checks, typically completed within 1-2 months. Requirements include: police clearance certificate(s) from each country of citizenship and any country of 6+ months' residence in the past 10 years for anyone aged 16+; source-of-funds evidence and a sworn financial-information form (Form 3); a medical form (Form 4); and a fit-and-proper-person assessment. Exclusions apply for criminal convictions, terrorism involvement and UN or targeted-sanctions designations. Due-diligence fees are USD 6,000 for the principal applicant, USD 3,000 per dependant aged 16+, and USD 3,000 per benefactor, plus bank due-diligence and transaction charges of USD 1,200 (single) to USD 2,200 (four or more dependants) and USD 1,000 per benefactor. Applications are lodged only through a licensed Agent.
- Timeline
- Three to four months from the date of a complete submission to citizenship approval, per the official ECRCP FAQ and How to Apply pages. The concession holder describes the sequence as document collection, then submission, at which point the Principal Applicant interview is conducted, then approval or denial, and on approval the oath forms and payment of the final balance. The interview therefore falls before the decision, not after it. Passports are produced in Nauru and couriered to the concession holder, who forwards them to the adviser or client, so a two-leg courier period sits after issuance and should not be modelled as zero.
- Physical presence
- None. There is no residency requirement and travel to Nauru is not required at any stage, including for passport renewal at the end of the ten-year term. Biometric capture is handled within the process by digital images. The oath or affirmation of allegiance may be taken remotely by audio-visual link, or before a notary public or other person prescribed to administer an oath in another jurisdiction; the concession holder administers it by form on approval. An interview is required of the Principal Applicant, conducted by an approved third-party due-diligence firm, typically around twenty minutes, covering the contents of the applicant’s forms and supporting documents.
- Tax
- Nauru levies no personal income tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance or estate tax and no wealth tax, and ECRCP citizenship carries no residence or physical-presence obligation, so it does not by itself create Nauru tax residency. Holding the citizenship has no automatic effect on the client's existing tax residence; CRS reporting and home-country tax positions are unaffected by acquiring the passport. Any tax-planning use must be assessed under the client's home jurisdiction and relevant counsel, as citizenship alone is not a tax-residency or tax-relocation solution.
- Donation-only citizenship-by-investment: a single non-refundable contribution to the Nauru Treasury Fund, earmarked for climate-resilience and coastal-relocation (Higher Ground) projects, with no real-estate, bond or business route.
- Per-person fee model since the 3 February 2026 amendment: principal contribution USD 90,000 under the Iruwa Initiative to 31 December 2026 (standard USD 105,000, confirmed by the concession holder on 4 August 2026; the official notice frames the offer as USD 25,000 off, whose arithmetic would imply USD 115,000 — any post-offer figure is confirmed in writing first); each dependant aged 16+ adds USD 2,000 to the contribution, dependants under 16 add nothing. The published schedule adds USD 15,000 per sibling; the concession holder states siblings are charged as ordinary dependants during the Iruwa window — a conflict we resolve in writing at engagement.
- Government fees on top of the contribution: application fee USD 5,000 (principal) plus USD 2,000 per dependant; due-diligence fee USD 6,000 (principal) plus USD 3,000 per dependant 16+ (plus USD 3,000 per benefactor); bank due-diligence and transaction charged in three tiers - USD 1,200 for a principal alone, USD 1,700 for a principal with up to three dependants, USD 2,200 for a principal with four or more; passport fee USD 500 per passport.
- Wide family scope: spouse or de facto partner, children, parents, parents-in-law, grandparents and siblings. The official materials state no financial-dependency test for ascendants; the concession holder requires dependency for parents and parents-in-law. Treat ascendant inclusion as subject to evidence of dependency until resolved.
- Fast and remote: 3-4 month processing, no residence or visit requirement, oath may be taken virtually; dual citizenship permitted; 10-year passport.
- Applications are filed through a Program-Office-licensed Agent; Agents pay an annual licence fee and are bound by a statutory Code of Conduct (Form 2 of the Regulations) and Nauru AML and Targeted Financial Sanctions Act 2023 obligations.
- Mobility caveat: no visa-free access to the United Kingdom, Schengen, the United States, Canada or Ireland, and no citable destination count — the concession holder confirms no official list is maintained. Access is weighted to Asia-Pacific, notably Hong Kong, Singapore and the UAE.
- Form 1 - Application Form (application information), signed
- Form 2 - Personal Information form, completed for each applicant and benefactor with signatures witnessed by a notary public, and an affixed 35mm x 45mm photograph
- Form 3 - Financial Information / Source of Funds form (annual income, net worth, description and evidence of source of funds, bank account details), signed
- Form 4 - Medical Information form
- Police clearance certificate for every applicant aged 16 or over, issued by each country of citizenship and any country of 6+ months' residence in the past 10 years, issued within the preceding 6 months
- Certified colour copy of the biodata page of all valid passports, showing personal data, signature and photograph
- Certified proof of residence dated within the last 3 months (e.g. utility bill, with telecoms bills not accepted, bank statement, mortgage statement, or government correspondence)
- Birth certificates and, where applicable, marriage certificate or custody or guardianship documentation for dependent children under 18, including non-applying parent's consent where required
- Source-of-funds supporting documentation
- Undertaking by the Principal Applicant to remit the contribution and passport fees per Schedule 1 on request
- All documents in English (or translated to English) and certified as true copies by an independent lawyer, notary public, commissioner for oaths, or Nauru consular or diplomatic officer
The governing law — in our library.
The programme is established under the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Act 2024 (gazetted on or about 20 August 2024) and implemented by Regulations made by Cabinet under Section 30 of the Act. The contribution and fee schedule was amended with effect from 3 February 2026, moving the programme to a per-person contribution model. · Administered by Nauru Program Office, the administrative body responsible for managing the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Programme, working in collaboration with the Cabinet and Ministries of the Republic of Nauru..
Documents marked “held by Kestrel” are mirrored on our own servers from the official source, so the reference is always available.
Nauru, answered.
- How much does Nauru citizenship by investment cost?
- The lowest qualifying investment is USD 90,000 via the Donation route. Government, due-diligence and professional fees are additional. Every figure is confirmed in writing before you commit to anything.
- How long does the Nauru citizenship process take?
- Three to four months from the date of a complete submission to citizenship approval, per the official ECRCP FAQ and How to Apply pages. The concession holder describes the sequence as document collection, then submission, at which point the Principal Applicant interview is conducted, then approval or denial, and on approval the oath forms and payment of the final balance. The interview therefore falls before the decision, not after it. Passports are produced in Nauru and couriered to the concession holder, who forwards them to the adviser or client, so a two-leg courier period sits after issuance and should not be modelled as zero.
- Does the Nauru passport allow visa-free travel to the Schengen Area?
- Visa required. There is no visa-free access to the Schengen Area; a Schengen visa must be obtained in advance. There is no EU-Nauru visa-waiver agreement.
- Can I include my family in the Nauru application?
- The principal applicant is an adult; due diligence is conducted on all applicants aged 16 and over. Includable dependants are the spouse or de facto partner; children; parents; parents-in-law; grandparents; and siblings of the Principal Applicant or Spouse. The Amendment Regulations 2026 (No. 2 of 2026, certified 29 January 2026, Government Gazette No. 114/2026) widened this scope, reportedly to all biological and adopted children regardless of age or marital status, a spouse of either a monogamous marriage or a de facto relationship, parents and grandparents with no age and no financial-dependency requirement, and siblings regardless of marital status; that reading rests on secondary reporting of Gazette 114/2026, which we do not hold. Against it, the concession holder stated on 4 August 2026 that parents and parents-in-law are includable only where they are financially dependent on the principal, which is the more restrictive position and may be their own screening practice rather than a Program Office requirement. Until that is resolved, present ascendant inclusion as subject to evidence of dependency. Parents-in-law being includable at all is the concession holder’s answer to a point the published materials do not address. Pricing is per person: each dependant aged 16+ adds USD 2,000 contribution, USD 2,000 application fee and USD 3,000 due-diligence fee. Whether a dependant under 16 pays the USD 2,000 application fee is unanswered — the contribution exemption for under-16s is confirmed, the application fee is not. All dependants aged 16+ undergo due diligence, and the Principal Applicant attends an interview.
- What due diligence does Nauru require?
- Multi-tier vetting administered by the Nauru Program Office, with screening by approved independent due-diligence firms; the citizenship criteria align with FATF standards. All applicants aged 16 and over undergo background checks, typically completed within 1-2 months. Requirements include: police clearance certificate(s) from each country of citizenship and any country of 6+ months' residence in the past 10 years for anyone aged 16+; source-of-funds evidence and a sworn financial-information form (Form 3); a medical form (Form 4); and a fit-and-proper-person assessment. Exclusions apply for criminal convictions, terrorism involvement and UN or targeted-sanctions designations. Due-diligence fees are USD 6,000 for the principal applicant, USD 3,000 per dependant aged 16+, and USD 3,000 per benefactor, plus bank due-diligence and transaction charges of USD 1,200 (single) to USD 2,200 (four or more dependants) and USD 1,000 per benefactor. Applications are lodged only through a licensed Agent.
- Does Nauru citizenship grant the right to live in the European Union?
- No. Nauru citizenship can confer a second passport and visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel, but it grants no right to live, work or settle in the EU and no path to an EU passport. For a European foothold, residence by investment is the direct route.
General guidance, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Figures are verified to 2026 against official primary sources, and eligibility, thresholds and timelines are confirmed in writing before you commit to anything.
The programme you apply under is the one that exists on the day you file.
For residence applications, we generally plan on approximately two to three months to approval and three to six months from instruction to residence card.
Citizenship applications vary more widely. A straightforward application may receive approval within approximately three months, but six to nine months to passport issuance is a more prudent planning assumption.
Programme rules, government fees and processing times can change. We therefore reconfirm the applicable terms immediately before an application is filed.
Neither approval nor timing can be guaranteed.
If Nauru is the route you want, we can start your file.
A first conversation, not a commitment. Tell us who would be included and what you already hold, and we come back with the route, the confirmed terms and the timeline for Nauru — or tell you honestly if another programme fits you better.