The government of Jordan has approved amendments to Jordanian citizenship and residency lowering costs and making more family-friendly to appeal to more foreign investors.
The amendments, including to three of the five investment options available, mean securing citizenship of Jordan is not only more affordable, but also requires less long-term commitment of funds and is more family-friendly.
Lower investment, more family-friendly
According to the new government regulations, to obtain citizenship of Jordan, investors can now make an investment of a zero-interest US$1m deposit at the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) for three years, a reduction of US$500,000 and two years (previously US$1.5m for five years). The investor must also purchase one US$1m of treasury bonds for a period of six years, with interest determined by the CBJ. And the investor must be residing in Jordan for a at least a month before the granting of citizenship.
Alternatively, an investor can now purchase US$1.5m worth of shares and/or stocks in Jordanian companies for a minimum of three years
A further amendment means that investors can now be granted a three-year temporary Jordanian passport following the establishment and registration of an investment project in Jordan with investment of US$1m (previously US$2m) and provide 20 jobs for Amman-based projects and US$750,000 (previously US$1.5m) and provide 10 jobs for projects in other areas. The investor is given four months to complete the employment requirement and then will be granted citizenship.
And with all investments, an investor’s wife, daughters of any age and sons under the age of 18 can also be granted citizenship. Sons up to the age of 29 will be granted citizenship if the investment made is worth more than US$3m.
Jordan’s Citizenship by Investment programme
Taking around 90 days to secure, with only 500 applications per year granted, second citizenship of Jordan comes with a number of benefits and is particularly popular with citizens of other Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Iraq as until recently it was the only CBI programme on offer regionally (Egypt has now launched its CBI programme).
Unveiled in 2018, the Citizenship by Investment programme of Jordan offers applicants five investment options to choose from including the three recently improved options mentioned above with processing for all options taking around three months. Successful applicants can obtain citizenship and Jordanian passports for their spouses, as well as their children (below 18) and financially dependent parents.
The country has however slipped from 89th (out of 109) in the powerful passport rankings to 96th since last year according to Henley’s Passport Index Q3 2021, giving Jordanian passport holders visa-free access to 51 countries. However, it does certainly offers access to more countries than does the passport of Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Lebanon, and provides a more stable economy and political situation making it an in-demand acquisition for citizens of those nations.
Since October 2019, 232 investors have been granted citizenship with 26 achieving a Jordanian passport in the first half of 2021 and 206 prior to that with applicants mainly hailing from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Libyan Lebanon and Yemen, as well as Canada, America, India and Pakistan.
According to the Jordan Investment Commission (JIC), this brings an economic and employment boost to the country with foreign investments totalling over JD1bn (US$1.4bn) during this period and employment for 8,431 individuals.
The JIC says that it will seek to increase the size of investments during the second half of 2021 by promoting projects in priority sectors and simplifying procedures to help investors.
To find out more about obtaining Jordanian citizenship via its CBI programme, read our country profile by clicking here