Marshall Islands Citizenship by Investment

The figure is on the record, and it sits in the Citizenship Act 1984 rather than in the passport statute now in force. The programme route was section 404(4) — the section headed naturalization for public benefits — inserted by Public Law 1989-37, section 2.

The amendment note printed beneath section 404 in the consolidated text gives both the sum and the direction it moved: Public Law 1989-68, section 2, lowered the fee for a passport from 200,000 US dollars to 100,000 US dollars.

The opening level was therefore 200,000 dollars from 1989, and the level applying for most of the life of the programme was 100,000 dollars. The route was repealed on 18 October 2001 by Public Law 2001-30, section 2(C), and the note names what was repealed in plain terms: subsection (4), dealing with the sale of passports.

One limit must be read alongside this, or the cell will suggest more knowledge than exists:

The consolidated text does not reproduce the wording of the repealed subsection and preserves only the amendment note, so what is known for certain is the sum and the two dates, while the conditions attached to that subsection cannot be read from this document.

A different figure is often misattributed here: the cap under section 404 is five persons per calendar year, whereas the cap of ten including dependants belongs to section 403, the ordinary naturalisation route, and section 404(1) defines itself as the route for a person who may not be eligible under section 403

The programme did not merely stop taking applications; it is barred from returning by the statute currently in force.

The Passport Act 2020, Chapter 17 of Title 43 of the Marshall Islands Revised Code on Foreign Affairs, Citizenship and Immigration, devotes section 1726 to persons who were issued passports under the Passport Investment Program.

Subsection (4) of that section reads: the Cabinet shall cause that all persons on the Master List are streamlined into the naturalization process, "ensuring that the Passport Investment Program and any references to it are forever barred from national legislation and Regulations".

Section 1742 adds a second lock: the sale of passports to any person is prohibited under the Act and under Nitijela Public Law No. 2001-30; a person who knowingly procures, sells, solicits or receives payment for a passport commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to USD 10,000 or imprisonment for up to ten years, or both.

Section 1743 further prohibits soliciting the issuance of a passport to a person who is not a lawful citizen, including solicitation through a traditional leader or any person of influence, under the same penalty.

On the scope of this finding: the Nitijela legislation register was searched at letters C, E, I, N and P and in the repealed-legislation list; there is no act on economic citizenship.

The instruments in force under Title 43 are the Citizenship Act 1984, the Citizenship Regulations 2002, the Passport Act 2020, the Immigration Act 2006 in its third version, the Immigration Regulations 2009 and the Ports of Entry Act in its second version, commenced 10 April 2023

A person already issued a passport under the programme may still renew it, but each renewal is a fresh proof of the old status.

Section 1726(1) of the Passport Act 2020 requires such a renewal application to be accompanied by: documentation to the satisfaction of the Director and the Panel that the applicant was lawfully issued a passport under the Passport Investment Program.

Where necessary, copies of receipts of purchase of a passport under the programme. A certified copy of the Certificate of Citizenship issued under that programme. Evidence of past issuance, including producing the actual passport last issued to the Director and the Panel for review.

Two passport-size photographs taken no more than six months before the application. A receipt from the Ministry of Finance as proof of payment of the required fees; and any further information the Director or the Passport Review Panel may request.

Subsection (2) places one gate ahead of all of these: every application under the section must first be proven to have its name listed in the Master List.

Subsection (3) defines the Master List as containing all the names of those persons who legally bought their passport during the Passport Investment Program, and it may also include the names of those naturalised and registered citizens who obtained citizenship under the Citizenship Act 1984 and under the Constitution respectively.

On the passport itself, section 1719 provides that a Regular Passport issued to a lawful citizen remains valid for ten years from issuance and may be retained by the bearer at expiry provided a photocopy of the most recently expired passport is submitted at renewal.

An Official Passport runs five years and must be returned at expiry or on termination of government employment

The decisive provision is section 1726(5), and it runs to a single sentence: any passport issued under that section shall be bound by the relevant provisions of the compact of free association between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, as amended.

The travel and residence rights attaching to such a passport therefore do not rest with the Marshall Islands alone but inside a bilateral treaty, and their scope is settled by that treaty rather than by the passport statute.

On passports generally, section 1715 provides that a Regular Passport, issued under a dark blue cover, may be issued to a lawful citizen of the Republic in a private capacity and serves as the official Government confirmation of the identity of the bearer.

That passport is the property of the government and must be surrendered on demand by the Attorney General or an authorised representative.

An Official Passport, under a black cover, may be issued only to a lawful citizen in government employment and only to facilitate travel associated with official duties, and the applicant must already hold a valid regular passport.

On machinery, the Act establishes a Passports and Citizenship Division, a Director, and a passport review panel with authority to approve or reject; the Attorney General holds supervisory authority, and it is the Attorney General signature that gives a passport its validity

The Act creates no mechanism whatever for a spouse: the word spouse does not appear anywhere in the Citizenship Act 1984.

There is no provision for an accompanying partner, and none for parents, grandparents or siblings.

The only accompanying-person mechanism anywhere in the Act is the one for children, at section 403(3).

Where an applicant requests that a child named in the application become a citizen by naturalization, the child becomes a citizen when the applicant does. This applies provided the application includes a statement by the other parent, or the legal guardian if there is one, that they also wish the child to become a citizen.

Section 402 defines a child as a person who is not of full age, and full age under the same section is eighteen years.

That provision must be read in its own place, because this is precisely where a conclusion can outrun its evidence:

Section 403 is the ordinary naturalisation route, the one demanding ten years of ordinary residence and a written test, whereas the investment programme ran under section 404, which section 404(1) describes as the route for someone who may not qualify under section 403.

Because the consolidated text does not reproduce the repealed subsection (4), it cannot be determined from this document whether the investment route admitted dependants at all.

Stated within its proper scope: the Act provides no spousal mechanism on any route, and for the investment route specifically the dependants rule ceased to be readable once that subsection was repealed on 18 October 2001

A person granted citizenship under this programme receives the Marshall Islands passport, so the figure in this cell is the figure for that passport itself.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the Marshall Islands passport reaches 147 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

This programme is barred by statute, and the statute names both the year it was created and the year it was abolished.

The Passport Act 2020, section 702(t), defines the Passport Investment Program as the programme established in 1994 but since abolished in 2001 through the repealer enacted by Nitijela Public Law No. 2001-30.

Section 1726(4) requires Cabinet to ensure that the programme, and every reference to it, is permanently excluded from national legislation and Regulations, while also ensuring that everyone on the Master List enters the naturalisation process.

Section 1726 is the provision reserved for those who already received a passport under the former programme:

A renewal application must enclose evidence of lawful issuance, the passport purchase receipt where required, a certified copy of the Certificate of Naturalisation issued under the programme, and the last passport issued, for the Director and the Board to consider.

Every application under this section must first establish that the applicant appears on the Master List, and a passport issued under it is subject to the Compact of Free Association with the United States.

The statute does not mention tax, meaning the instrument governing the position of former programme passport holders imposes no tax obligation on them.

One date must travel with any Marshall Islands tax figure: the Net Profit Tax Act 2025 repeals four Parts of the Income Tax Act 1989, including the whole Part on non-resident income tax, and applies to tax years beginning on or after 1 October 2026.

The new Act sets net profit tax at 16 percent, counts gross revenue only from sources in the Republic, and defines a resident person by a dwelling in the country, presence of 183 days or more in any twelve-month period, or status as a government employee posted abroad, with no nationality criterion.

The Passport Act 2020 sets two kinds of money side by side, and the distance between them is the history of this programme.

The first is money of the past: section 1726(1)(b) lists copies of receipts of purchase of a passport under the Passport Investment Program as a valid document in a renewal file, and subsection (1)(f) requires a Ministry of Finance receipt proving that the required fees were paid.

The second is money of the present: section 1742 makes it an offence to knowingly sell a passport or to receive any funds as payment for one, punishable by a fine of up to USD 10,000 or up to ten years imprisonment, or both.

Section 1743 applies the same range to soliciting a passport for someone who is not a lawful citizen, and to using influence to solicit the issuance of a passport for private gain.

Section 1744, on forged or tampered passports, likewise carries USD 10,000 and ten years. For conduct with no specific penalty, section 1752 sets a general range of a fine not exceeding USD 5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years, or both.

The Act publishes no schedule of issuance or renewal fees; section 1719(3) leaves it to the Minister, in consultation with the Attorney General and with Cabinet approval, to promulgate Regulations prescribing fees and changes to the validity period of a Regular Passport, and section 1755 deals separately with exemption from fees