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São Tomé Citizenship by Investment: A Discussion with the Program Architect

Apr 3, 2026 | Residency & Citizenship by Investment

Some people just need any second passport.

The citizenship by investment market used to cater primarily to individuals from emerging market countries seeking expanded travel freedom. The Caribbean programs offered an easy way to get visa-free access to top jurisdictions in exchange for a donation or investment. 

But the CBI market has evolved in recent years as Westerners and people who already possess top-tier passports begin to comprehend the value proposition of multiple citizenships. 

One person who understood this market shift was Jeffrey, the architect behind the São Tomé and Príncipe Citizenship by Investment program. I joined him for a discussion about how he got this program off the ground as well as the role the Sao Tome program plays in the CBI market. 

Why apply for the São Tomé and Príncipe CBI?

  • It is the most affordable CBI in the world, starting at $90,000 or $95,000 for a family of four.
  • The Sao Tome CBI application process is fully remote, and requires no trips to embassies or São Tomé itself.
  • You can include grandparents as well as adult dependent children, making it easy to apply as a family unit. Dependent fees are also very affordable. 

Who is applying to become a citizen of São Tomé and Príncipe?

Let’s be clear, this is a niche product; 99% of the people reading this do not need an African passport. But that doesn’t change the fact that a second passport offers tremendous utility for certain individuals and circumstances:

  • Individuals who urgently need a valid travel document. We have helped stateless clients, and people who cannot return home due to involvement in political activism, or whose governments refuse to renew their primary passports for other reasons.
  • People who want a backup plan in case of military conscription. 
  • People seeking more exposure to Africa, both sovereign and financial, for themselves and future generations.

We are licensed agents for the São Tomé and Principe CBI Program

Here is more information on how to apply for the Sao Tome and Principle CBI.

And here is more information on another African citizenship program, the Sierra Leone CBI, which can enable easy residency in the 12 ECOWAS countries of West Africa.

To a World of Opportunities,

The Wandering Investor.

Ways to get Golden Visas and Citizenships by Investment:

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Transcript of “São Tomé Citizenship by Investment: A Discussion with the Program Architect”

LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello everyone, Ladislas Maurice with The Wandering Investor. Today we’ll be discussing with Jeffrey the program architect of the citizenship by investment of São Tomé. Jeffrey, how are you?

JEFFREY: Very great. Thanks for asking. Ladislas, good to see you via Zoom here.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, so we’re licensed agents for your program. We’ve been processing a number of applications. So tell us, how did you come about this program? Because it’s quite obscure fundamentally to launch a CBI in such a tiny African country.

How did the São Tomé CBI begin?

JEFFREY: Yeah, funny story actually. I had a neighbor who has been to São Tomé and Príncipe quite a few times. And that one evening we had a little catch up and he told me that he has been, you know, to this small island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe for quite a number of years and if this would not be interesting to implement a citizenship by investment program there. First thing I did was of course to check where exactly the country was because I heard about São Tomé and Príncipe of course before, but I never really knew any story behind it. And well, long story short, next thing you know about a month later, we were on a plane to São Tomé and Príncipe and you know, checked if something like this can be implemented there.

Who is buying São Tomé and Príncipe Citizenship by Investment?

LADISLAS MAURICE: That’s fantastic. So who’s the target market in your mind when you initially thought of this program?

JEFFREY: Well, we realized that a lot of the people, they just simply want a second passport without visa-free access, which is not really a must for a lot of the people. We’ve realized there there is a very high demand in Central Europe and in the Americas, people with a very strong passport when you talk about visa-free traveling to start with. But then we’ve realized that people do not want, you know, to pay a quarter million dollars. What they want is to have a second citizenship without a lot of advantages, just in case. And this has also been, I would say, realized as pretty truth the thought we had behind that of obtaining or getting a citizenship by investment program rolling that really only focuses on the need of having a dual citizenship.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Your top five citizenships that have applied for now are German. Okay, German, it’s pretty clear why they would want a second citizenship, they now can and there are a lot of issues in Germany people are hedging. Russians, it’s also quite clear.

São Tomé Citizenship by Investment for Nigerians

LADISLAS MAURICE: What about Chinese, Indians, and Nigerians that form the rest of your top five? Especially Nigerians. Well, why wouldn’t Nigerians get a São Tomé passport?

JEFFREY: Uh-huh. Well, the problem is how the world looks at Nigerians at the moment, okay? We take the UAE for one. If you are a Nigerian passport passport holder, you are unable to obtain a residence visa in the United Arab Emirates. You can buy real estate. You can travel in between, as long as you have a visa, of course, but the planes from Emirates taking off and departing mainly for the Lebanese and for everybody else that has either already a golden visa, an employment visa or or gets for some reasons that visit visa. But currently, the UAE says it very clearly, no issuance on Nigerian passport holders for a visa. Talking about visit visa or newly issued employment and golden visas.

Something very similar can also be seen in Bangladesh at the moment. A Bangladeshi cannot travel to the UAE. Now, the problem is a lot of Nigerians, Bangladeshis, they have family here. They may even have some sort of shares or something else here, and based on that, there is a need for them to travel alone to do business. And if they say, hey, I have visas to Schengen, UK, I don’t need to pay a quarter million now for a passport that will grant me visa-free access because the ones I need, I actually already have. Or I don’t have anything to do in the Schengen area or the UK, let me just get the most affordable citizenship by investment program that will fulfill my requirements of entering the United Arab Emirates. Because the UAE says if you have another passport, you’re most welcome. If you only have a Nigerian passport, you’re not. So hence, I would say that was a market that was quite emerging over the past weeks and months. Apart from that, you mentioned the Indians. Indians, I mean, at the end of the day, it’s a population of 1.something billion people. The chances are quite high that we see them somewhere within the top five. And as you already mentioned, you know, the Chinese similar, they’re quite happy with a second passport, so are the Russians. But yeah, good question for the Nigerians. It will not increase their travel in any way apart from the UAE, for example, yeah?

LADISLAS MAURICE: That’s fascinating. People are willing to pay that much just to be able to travel to the UAE.

JEFFREY: Well, for some people it’s if they miss out on one trip to the UAE, it could cost them more than, you know, obtaining a second passport for $100,000 or so. So definitely for some people it does make sense, yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, the world is changing and this is one, you know, indicator amongst many. So your program wins on price. Are there any other key advantages that you see?

JEFFREY: Well, we can speak about visa-free access to South Africa, of course, you know, that there are a few countries that are accessible with the passport, but I do not believe that it will be a selling point or a big advantage for people to do this passport for visa-free access. Unless, of course, if I mean, take now a wild guess, you’re from Afghanistan. Yes, okay, fine. You do technically rank higher, but I do not believe that a lot of people will do this solely for the visa-free access.

São Tomé and Príncipe as a Plan B destination

JEFFREY: I do also believe that a lot of the people see São Tomé and Príncipe as a plan B, especially once again in Europe, we have all the time requests and people that comment, they say, what if tomorrow war comes to Europe, okay? Where will I go? Well, if it’s in Europe, maybe they say the same could happen in the Americas, the same could happen in the Middle East, Asia maybe potentially even, you know, São Tomé and Príncipe, well, what is there to take, right? That’s what the people consider or think to themselves. I would say a lot of the requests are coming in, they say, hey, can we also buy real estate? Hey, can we also, you know, diversify a little bit investments in São Tomé and Príncipe? This will gives us some sort of an indicator that it is an island nation, one and a half hours flight time from mainland, well, next to Africa. So, we believe that this would be also somewhat a selling point or a person considering to themselves or for themselves when thinking to what country do I want to go to? Then on top of that, São Tomé has a reputation of being a tropical island nation, 250,000 inhabitants in total, and with all of all of these facts, they give some sort of a peace to certain applicants’ minds to be part of a small island nation that is not in the eye of anybody.

Legislative basis for the São Tomé and Príncipe CBI

LADISLAS MAURICE: Can you tell us a little bit about the legislative basis for this program? Because there are a lot of people when you say Africa and CBI, they get all worked up and they say, oh, this can’t be real, this can’t be serious. What’s the legislative basis and how do you ensure that this program endures a change of administration, for example?

JEFFREY: There is a proper citizenship by investment Act in place that is officially available, that everybody can go and read through. Now, fact is that within this citizenship by investment act, it specifies extremely clearly what needs to be done in order to gain citizenship, out of which comes of course the financial part, which cannot the citizenship cannot be obtained if anyone pays less than that, for example, and that’s an extremely important factor to know and for applicants companies, etc., that under-selling is not permitted in São Tomé and Príncipe. On top of that, it specifies children that can be included, for example, or generally dependents. It specifies also what can happen or what an applicant needs to do in order to have a citizenship revoked, for example, okay? In order to protect the nation and in order to protect, well, the well-being of of its citizens and also the people of course that obtained it through citizenship by investment. It specifies that there is citizenship by descent, meaning future generations can obtain the passport also based on at least one of the parents being a citizen of São Tomé and Príncipe. And I would say that of course, it can always be legislation can always be changed, but not for people that already obtained the citizenship or are in the process of obtaining that. If they’re if the government decides tomorrow to abandon the program, we do not expect this to happen in at least 10 years, because that’s how long the government wants to keep this or the country better said, wants to keep this project running at least in order to obtain enough funds in order to develop the island and create better life for its citizens. But having said that, people that have obtained the passport or are in the process are at the end of the day protected by the citizenship by investment act, which specified very clearly under only 13 conditions a citizenship can be revoked. And that is terrorism funding, terrorism itself, etc. And if somebody does not involve themselves in such activities, they should be a piece of mind rather than a worry about this, let’s say.

Africa as a lifestyle destination

LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, there are a few African citizenship by investment programs. We’ve got Egypt, we have Sierra Leone, now we have São Tomé. There are rumors of Botswana, which may or may not happen. So but people are very skeptical of all these African citizenship by investment programs. Apart from, you know, the legislative aspect which you say is strong, what’s the the real purpose and and long-term vision you feel for Africa in these CBIs?

JEFFREY: Well, talking about unrelated Africa from CBI, let’s say, okay? First of all, in my opinion, Africa is rising in Africa now for exactly one decade, started in West Africa, in Nigeria, to be exact. Was in about, I would say, hey, close to 20 countries in Africa on the continent itself. And if you look at the economy, especially have a look at Nigeria, I mean, that is unbelievable what they’re putting at the moment, you know, towers, digitalization, it’s moving a lot into renewable energy, and all of these things at the end of the day give indicators of a booming economy. One out of five online orders is expected to come from Africa by 2030. That’s a very big thing in my opinion, okay? So, fact is that in Africa, the continent is raising up in terms of reputation.

Back in the days when we were children, all we saw from Africa was most probably some advertisement of donate here and now, you know. Now, if you go to Ethiopia, I don’t know if you’ve been to Ethiopia before, I think you’ve been many times to Ethiopia in fact. If you look at the economy there, and if you look at it how it was 20 years ago, this is a completely different ball game. Now, what that means is that Africa becomes slowly but surely a very livable place. And we have a lot of clients, they move for good for retirement now to Kenya, for example, okay? I don’t know if this would have been possible. I haven’t been to Kenya 20 years ago, but I don’t know if this would have been possible back then. So people do not only invest into these citizenship by investment programs just alone to have a second passport in the pocket, and only that aspect of the plan B. I believe they also invest in that because what if I can tomorrow diversify my investments into Africa, real estate.

You can, I think nearly write a book about it with the investments to do there, you know. On top of that, it does become a more and more livable place. And I’ve experienced that myself alone in the last 10 years. Then, on top of that, it becomes also more and more of a safer place in my opinion at least. The crime rate is dropping in a lot of countries while it increases massively, of course, in Europe. And with all these indicators, I believe that, hey, Sierra Leone, I’ve also been, I made a post about it. I have been there a few times. It is a very livable place at the end of the day, okay? But of course, far behind a place like Nigeria, okay? For example, where an economy boom happened just quite a bit earlier. And yeah, I would say that would be an answer from my side when it comes to why or or how CBI in Africa if this would be a big topic in the future. Yes, I do believe so. If the investor does not, for now, care too much about visa-free access, at least in the in the countries which I just mentioned.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, I I really agree. I think these Africa CBIs are a fantastic opportunity from a generational point of view, you know, already now the the world is practically in demographic decline in almost all over the world, in in Asia, in Latin America, in Europe, in South Asia increasingly. But Africa is the last bulwark of high demographic growth. And I think that in the coming decades, capital will increasingly go to Africa. It will have nowhere else to go to Africa. And right now is an opportunity to position yourself, getting one of those African citizenships and then having this option for yourself and then also for your descendants to be able to travel easier on the continent, to open bank accounts, to do business, etc., and to be recognized as someone that has more expertise on the ground as well. So, I think it’s really a no-brainer for people that have relatively large sums of money and that want that generational aspect.

Tourism in São Tomé and Príncipe

LADISLAS MAURICE:  So, Jeffrey, very few people have traveled to São Tomé. Can you tell us a little bit more about the about the country?

JEFFREY: Yeah, absolutely. I would like to state there, you know, that the country is of course, it’s a big adventure to go there and to visit it. There is still a lot of work to be done, especially when it comes to for example, good hotels. There is a Pestana, there is an Omalie. Pestana is one of the Portuguese hotel chains where Cristiano Ronaldo is actually an investor, but you also have an Omalie, both extremely livable four or five stars, you know, they advertise as I would say they’re both like around the four star hotel, okay. The city itself, first of all, is extremely safe. I’ve walked there already at 2:00 a.m., you know, home, not for long, maybe a kilometer, you know, and there is not one person.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Were you walking or stumbling?

JEFFREY: Oh, yeah, good question. I did. It was in fact after a bar, you know, but so and I got home safe, okay? On top of that, you know, day or night, you can drive by yourself in a car. We were also already, of course, you know, normal police checkpoint and, you know, there is no surprisingly for me because whenever I’m in another African country, I get stopped in a car, what do you want? You want money, okay, fine, you know, here you put, okay, fine, thank you very much. They’re not. They don’t, you know, ask you for money, for example, which is for me very new in Africa, okay? Then the people are extremely helpful. They’re also in the beginning, I would say a little bit shy actually, which I have realized is also this Portuguese ex-colony kind of a bit because I have a north in Mozambique, and I’ve realized they’re quite a lot, you know, people are first very much on distance, and then when you get to know them a bit, they open up and, you know, they talk to you about about literally everything, okay? Portuguese speaking, so it is of advantage, of course, if you do speak Portuguese, but now, especially the younger generation, most of the people anyway speak English, of course, all the people in the hotels, they speak English, but sometimes on the street, if you want to buy something, it’s still very, very Portuguese.

Now, if you do go a little bit outside of the city, you I always compare it to a season in Jurassic Park practically. You see trees that you don’t see anywhere else. The whole country has an UNESCO certificate as the only country in the whole world. You have 30 or 40 species of birds only to be found in São Tomé and Príncipe, nowhere else on the in the world, okay? And waterfalls, you have the sea, of course, you see whales, you see dolphins. I mean, it is extremely untouched. You also go dive, you see corals that you have, I mean, I’m a very passionate diver, that you will not find it anymore more in the Maldives, for example, or in Mexico, because most of the things are dead there. There you still see very untouched land on and under the water. And I believe for this, it is an extremely beautiful place. Again, peaceful, as I mentioned. They could definitely increase a little bit, you know, the entertainment, let’s say, a little bit more restaurants, bars maybe, and the nightlife aspect. But having said that, the more people that will come and the more investors that this program will attract, it’s automatic. First, you need the client to tell before you can open up something, mainly to diversify the risk or lower it at least, yeah? But for anybody that has never been, I highly recommend it. There are direct flights from Portugal, from Dubai, there is an easy flight to Accra and from there there you have Ghana, Accra, and from there a direct flight to São Tomé. So it is a little bit of a trip, but I do highly recommend it because this is something not many people got to witness and to experience, a country so untouched that’s São Tomé and Príncipe.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Interesting. And long term, I’m pretty sure they’ll find oil at some point. I mean, the areas around São Tomé and Príncipe are gushing in oil, whether that be in Gabon, in Cameroon, in Nigeria. So I’m sure at some point they’ll they’ll find a lot of oil. It’s just a matter of time.

How to apply for the São Tomé CBI

LADISLAS MAURICE: Fantastic. We are licensed agents for the São Tomé and Príncipe citizenship by investment program. We can help you with the whole process from A to Z. There is a link below with more information on the program, a whole FAQ, everything. You won’t find any more information than on this page. So feel free to to reach out, link below.

And Jeffrey, thank you very much for your time today. Really appreciate it.

JEFFREY: Thank you so much, Ladislas. Great talking to you. Thanks a lot.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Make sure to download my free ebook, 12 Mistakes to Avoid When Investing in International Real Estate, which you can find on my website, link below, and feel free to follow me on Instagram at The Wandering Investor. I look forward to hearing from you.

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