July 10, 2025, 3:21 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
The island nation of Nauru is currently offering citizenship for sale. Sunnytrips explains what’s behind it.
Does living on a remote island sound like a dream to you? Maybe the offer from the third smallest country in the world is something for you. The island nation of Nauru is currently selling citizenships. But the reason behind the “Golden Pass” is unfortunately a sad one.
Nauru in the South Pacific offers citizenship for sale
Island is in danger of sinking due to climate change
Access to multiple countries with passport
Strict verification when purchasing citizenship for Nauru
Nauru in the South Pacific offers citizenship for sale
21 square kilometers in area, around 30 degrees all year round and the Pacific Ocean all around - this is the island state of Nauru, which is also known as the third smallest state in the world. The island is about 3000 kilometers from Australia and is located south of the Marshall Islands.
Nauru currently offers citizenship for purchase. With this “Golden Pass” visa-free entry would no longer be a problem. According to CNN, acquiring citizenship will cost $105,000 (around 97,000 euros). The money should be used to literally save Nauru from ruin.
Island is in danger of sinking due to climate change
Nauru is particularly affected by climate change due to rising sea levels, storm surges and coastal erosion. But the small island state unfortunately lacks the financial means to protect itself from these effects. The money will primarily be used to relocate around 90 percent of the approximately 12,500 residents to higher-altitude areas and to build new communities there.
Commenting on the plan, President Nauru said: “As the world debates climate action, we must take proactive steps to secure the future of our country.”
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Access to multiple countries with passport
It is not assumed that those who purchase citizenship in Nauru will actually ever visit the remote island. However, the Nauru passport allows visa-free access to 89 countries, including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore.
It is expected that the program will bring in around 5.6 million dollars (the equivalent of around 5.16 million euros) in the first year. At some point, this value is expected to increase to around 42 million dollars (around 38.7 million euros) and make up around 19 percent of state revenue. As the program is gradually built up, “unintended consequences or negative impacts” will be assessed, said Edward Clark, CEO of the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program.
Strict verification when purchasing citizenship for Nauru
However, according to CNN, there will be a clear restriction on acquiring citizenship for Nauru: people with a criminal history will not have the opportunity to obtain the passport. The island state is thus drawing a lesson from a scandal related to an earlier program of this type. Citizenship for Nauru was already up for sale in the mid-1990s when two suspected al-Qaeda terrorists with Nauru passports were arrested in Malaysia. The government therefore promises that the review of the program will be very strict. High-risk countries such as Russia and North Korea are generally excluded.
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In the face of climate change, Nauru is not the first country to want to finance climate protection measures through the sale of passports. The Caribbean nation Dominica, among others, has been using this concept since 1993, and other countries may consider it in the future if the costs of climate change exceed their economic resources.
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