Here’s How Much One Country Plans to Spend to Relocate Everyone to Combat Rising Sea Levels

Golden passports and second citizenships is helping raise funds.

Fact checked by Vikki Velasquez

Nauru, a small island nation in the Pacific, is offering golden passports and second citizenships to investors from around the world. The money raised will be used to bolster the nation’s efforts to fight rising sea levels.

Key Takeaways

• Nauru is offering a second citizenship and golden passport program, with proceeds going to protect the island from rising sea levels.
• The government estimates that moving people and infrastructure to higher ground on the island will cost at least $60 million.
• Getting a Nauru passport for a single person requires a financial contribution of $105,000, plus fees of $36,700.

How Much Will Relocation Cost?

Nauru is a neighbor, if a remote one, to Kiribati and the Marshall Islands. It sits between Australia and Hawaii in the Pacific, and it is one of the smallest countries in the world, with only about 8 square miles of land. The country’s main revenue has historically come from now-depleted phosphate mining, fishing, and processing Australian asylum seekers.

Nauru officials have predicted that 90% of its 13,000-member population will need to relocate because of climate change and rising sea levels. The government predicts that the first stage of that migration will cost more than $60 million.

$105,000 for Citizenship

You’ll need to contribute to the country’s treasury fund to gain citizenship. It costs $105,000 for a single applicant. For an applicant with up to three dependents, the financial contribution is $110,000. If you have four or more dependents, the financial contribution to Nauru is $115,000. A spouse or an additional sibling can be added for $15,000. Applications are processed in three to four months.

With a Nauru citizenship, there are no residency requirements. So there’s no need to travel to this small island in the Pacific to secure your citizenship and gain a passport. However, the passport does offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 85 countries, including Ireland, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, the UK, and other Polynesian destinations.

Note

Nauru is the smallest independent republic in the world.

Additional Fees

Gaining citizenship in Nauru requires paying four sets of fees: an application fee, a due diligence fee, a bank due diligence fee, and a passport fee.

1. The application fee is $25,000 for singles, $27,500 for applicants with up to three dependents, and $30,000 for applicants with four or more dependents.
2. The applicant is charged a $10,000 due diligence fee, plus $7,500 for each family member 16 and up.
3. A bank due diligence fee is $1,200 for a single applicant, $1,700 for an applicant with up to three dependents, and $2,200 for an applicant with four or more dependents.
4. A fee of $500 per passport is also charged and paid to the Nauru government.

Proceeds to Fight Rising Sea Levels

Money from Nauru’s golden passport program will benefit the country’s Higher Ground Initiative. This initiative would relocate people and infrastructure to safer, higher elevations on the island.

Other aspects of the Higher Ground Initiative include land rehabilitation, affordable green housing, increased food production, green spaces, walkable neighborhoods, reforestation, solar energy, and economic diversification.

The Bottom Line

Nauru, a small island located in the Pacific, is offering a golden passport and second citizenship program to investors from around the globe. Proceeds from this program will aid efforts to relocate people and infrastructure to higher and safer ground on the island. In addition to protecting against rising sea levels, Nauru will use money from its golden passport program to build affordable green housing, adopt solar energy, and establish green spaces and walkable neighborhoods.