Jordan

No, that route is closed. The zero-interest USD 1m / JOD 1m Central Bank deposit and the JOD 1m treasury bond options were phased out by the Cabinet decision of 2 July 2025, in favour of active investment, share purchase and job creation. This is the route almost every adviser and comparison site still quotes. So if a firm is offering you a USD 1m Jordanian deposit for citizenship in 2026, it is either not reading primary sources or hoping you will not, and that tells you what you need to know about the firm. Historically the passive options were largely a fiction anyway. A 2020 review found 97% of investors chose business creation or expansion.

Following the July 2025 overhaul and a further July 2026 Cabinet revamp, every route now runs through active investment. One option is JOD 1.5m in newly purchased Amman Stock Exchange shares, locked for five years, with no leverage and no profit withdrawals. Another is JOD 500,000 in minimum paid-up capital for a new productive business outside Amman, or JOD 700,000 within Amman. There is also JOD 1m in new shares of existing projects, and JOD 3m for specialised sectors such as logistics or pharmaceutical warehousing. A no-capital route exists too, built around directly employing 150 Jordanians in Amman or 100 in the provinces. A retroactive route accepts existing investors holding JOD 350,000–700,000 in fixed assets, provided they maintain 90% Jordanian staff. The July 2026 figures are only days old, and the implementing detail may not yet be published. Reconfirm every figure with the Ministry of Investment.

Weak is the honest answer, and it is the central fact about Jordanian CBI. The passport ranks 85th on the Henley index with 50 visa-free destinations, and it offers no Schengen access, no UK access and no US visa-free access. As a mobility instrument, it performs poorly. A client buying Jordan purely for travel freedom is making a mistake, since Caribbean CBI is cheaper and stronger, and Malta or an EU route stronger still. In practice, the applicant pool is predominantly Syrian and Iraqi nationals who need a functional Arab passport. This is a regional programme, not a global mobility product.

Yes, and that makes it a fundamentally different asset class from Caribbean CBI or Israel's Law of Return. Jordanian investor citizenship is conditional and revocable. Breach of the investment or employment conditions results in immediate revocation of citizenship or residency. Maintaining headcount, holding shares and sustaining assets are ongoing obligations, not one-time boxes to check. Naturalised citizens also face restrictions. They are barred for 10 years from political and diplomatic office and for 5 years from municipal councils and trade union positions. Judge this as an operating commitment, not a passport purchase that vests permanently.

Realistically three years or more, not months. Due diligence and approval run roughly 3–6 months. But most routes then impose a three-year temporary passport phase before citizenship is confirmed on verified compliance. During that phase you are treated as a citizen except for political rights. This is not a fast programme, and any timeline promising quick citizenship should be treated with suspicion. Capital is locked throughout the process: five years for the stock-market route, three years for the share routes.

No. It is marketing fiction. The 500-per-year cap has never been remotely approached. A total of 681 investors have been naturalised since inception in 2018, a run-rate of roughly 76–81 per year, or about 15% of the cap. There is no queue and no scarcity. Intermediary claims of a roughly 50% rejection rate and 56 restricted countries also appear only on marketing sites and are unverified, so do not rely on them.

Jordan is territorial in practice. It taxes income earned in or from Jordan, and foreign-source income of resident individuals generally falls outside its scope. The top personal rate is 30%, plus a 1% National Contribution Tax above JOD 200,000. Capital gains within the Kingdom are generally exempt, and there is no wealth or inheritance tax. On confidentiality, Jordan has not signed the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement and does not yet exchange information automatically. But that non-CRS status is a depreciating asset. Jordan has committed to implement AEOI, and the Global Forum's 2025 peer review found significant gaps. The confidentiality is on a clock, much as Israel's was before Amendment 272.

No, never. The government has said so explicitly, regardless of how long the property or residency is held. The real-estate residency, introduced in the 2025–2026 reforms, requires JOD 150,000 outside Amman, JOD 200,000 through a developer or JOD 300,000 through a private seller. It grants a 5-year renewable permit, provided the property is held for five years without sale or mortgage. Its honesty about not leading to citizenship is unusual, and worth respecting. The only reason to take it is that you genuinely want to live in Jordan. The 50% premium for buying from a private seller rather than a developer is a deliberate distortion, and it works against you.

Yes. Jordan permits dual citizenship, so the investor routes do not require renouncing your existing passport. Family eligibility is also relatively broad. It covers a spouse, unmarried, widowed or divorced daughters, unmarried sons under 24, and dependent parents. For investments above JOD 2m it extends to sons up to age 30 plus their wives and children. Bear in mind, though, that the citizenship itself is revocable if you breach the investment or employment conditions. The status is not as secure as dual-citizenship permission alone might suggest.