The Discreet InvestorSecond citizenship case studies How the files actually run
Six engagements, six different problems — priced with the same numbers you'll find in our live calculators, structured the way our milestone process promises. Based on real engagements and anonymised, because our clients buy discretion.
Six problems, six structures
From "declined everywhere" to done
St Kitts & Nevis · SISCThe exit founder who wanted a switch, not a suitcase
The problem
A software exit left the family liquid — and exposed. One passport, one jurisdiction, one banking system. He didn’t want to move anywhere; he wanted the option to move everywhere, priced and executable in advance.
The structure
Stage-0 triage ruled out the real-estate route (no appetite for a managed asset) and priced the SISC contribution for four: $250,000 + $25,000 Due Diligence + $11,644 in government fees — the exact figure our live calculator shows for his family shape. The 19-year-old qualified as a dependent student; her file carried the education evidence.
The outcome
Approval in Principle in month 6; contribution wired directly to the Federal Consolidated Fund; passports couriered in month 7. The family hasn’t moved — which was precisely the point. 173 destinations now sit in a drawer in Bucharest.
Vanuatu DSP → Paraguay residencyThe crypto portfolio every other agency declined
The problem
Seven figures in documented BTC gains from 2017–2021 — and three polite rejections from large firms whose compliance teams saw "crypto" and closed the file. His actual problem wasn’t the money; it was the absence of a source-of-funds narrative a state examiner could follow.
The structure
We rebuilt the trail: exchange statements, on-chain records matched to acquisition dates, conversion-to-fiat documentation through a regulated EU exchange, and a tax attestation from his home filing. On that dossier, Vanuatu’s FIU screening cleared him in 19 days. Contribution paid post-approval; oath administered remotely.
The outcome
Passport in week 7. Stage two, six months later: a Paraguay SUACE residency moved his tax base to the 10%/0% territorial system. The file nobody wanted became a two-status stack.
Antigua & Barbuda · UWI FundSix passports, one contribution — and a year of university thrown in
The problem
Six people. Priced at the usual per-head supplements, most programmes turned a family application into a second investment. The grandparents were non-negotiable; the budget cap was $350,000, everything included.
The structure
Antigua’s University of the West Indies Fund exists for exactly this shape: $260,000 covers six, grandparents over 55 qualify, and one family member receives a one-year tuition scholarship at UWI Five Islands — which the 18-year-old daughter took. Government fees and Due Diligence for the six brought the file to roughly $305,000.
The outcome
Approved in month 5.5; the mandatory 5-day visit became the family’s December holiday, oath included. Cost per passport: ~$51,000 — the best per-head economics on the market, working as designed.
Grenada NTF → US E-2The long way into America that actually works
The problem
Their nationality has no E-2 treaty with the United States — the investor-visa door was structurally closed. EB-5 at $800,000+ was out of budget. They needed a treaty nationality first, then a real business plan.
The structure
Grenada is the only Caribbean CBI state with an E-2 treaty. NTF contribution for the family of four: $235,000 + $15,000 Due Diligence + $15,450 in fees — $265,450, the same figure our Grenada calculator produces. Interviews for both adults prepped and passed; approval in month 7, passports in month 9. Because the AMIGOS Act requires citizens by investment to be domiciled in the treaty country for three years before an E-2, the family moved to Grenada and runs a small business there while the US franchise plan is prepared with a partner US immigration attorney.
The outcome
Year 2 of the three-year domicile at the time of writing; the E-2 application follows in year 4, renewable as long as the business runs. Total path cost: roughly a third of EB-5 — slower than it used to be, with a passport that remains theirs for life either way.
St Kitts · Approved Private HomeThe investor who wanted the passport to pay for itself
The problem
He rejected donations on principle: "I don’t give money away; I park it." The mandate: citizenship where the qualifying capital remains an asset — with yield during the hold and a credible exit.
The structure
A $325,000 Approved Private Home condominium share in a branded resort project: ~4% net rental yield paid quarterly, state fee $65,000 for the family, $25,000 Due Diligence, $2,500 processing and $11,644 in government fees — $429,144 committed, of which $325,000 stays his. Lawyers verified the developer’s escrow, resale terms and the CBI-buyer pipeline before a dollar moved.
The outcome
Passports in month 6. Projected: ~$91,000 gross rent across the 7-year hold, then resale to the next CBI applicant — modelled conservatively at par. Net cost of four passports if the model holds: the fees alone.
Dominica now → Malta residenceThe EU endgame, sequenced so nothing waits on anything
The problem
The destination was never in doubt: EU citizenship — schooling, healthcare, the single market. But Malta’s passport stopped being for sale in 2025, and EU naturalisation through residence takes years — years the family refused to spend exposed on a single passport.
The structure
We sequenced it. Stage 1: Dominica — $200,000 EDF plus fees, ~$228,000 all-in — delivered a 10-year passport and 140+ destinations in month 6, de-risking the wait. Stage 2: Malta Permanent Residence — permanent EU residence for the family in month 9, children enrolled in school — with our frank Stage-0 warning in writing: citizenship comes later, through residence, and no one can sell a shortcut.
The outcome
Month 14 at the time of writing: the family lives in Malta on permanent residence and travels on Dominica. Whenever naturalisation comes, they are never again a single-passport household — the sequence, not either program alone, was the product.
Confidentiality note: these case studies are based on real engagements — the structures, timelines and figures follow the actual files, real programme rules and official fee schedules, while names, nationalities and identifying details are changed so that no client is identifiable. That is the deal we make with everyone who hires us.
Patterns worth stealing
What the six have in common
Stage 0 decided everything
Every structure above was chosen at the free triage — before fees, before forms. The programme is the output of the problem, never the starting point.
The capital moved last
In all six files, the investment left the client's account only after Approval in Principle — the sequence that makes the risk calculable.
Stacks beat singles
Half the cases ended as two-status structures — passport + tax base, passport + E-2, interim passport + EU track. The second mandate is where the real design happens.
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Your file will look like none of these.
That's the honest pitch: the structures repeat, the details never do. Bring us the problem — budget, family shape, the country you're worried about — and we'll show you the two or three designs that fit, with exact numbers, before anything is due.