A guide to citizenship of Sierra Leone: thelegal status, the terms and the cost

No, and we say so first. It cannot be called a citizenship-by-investment programme in the sense that Vanuatu, Nauru or the Caribbean programmes are: no published act or regulation introducing such a ground exists in open sources. The only official document is the press release of the Immigration Department of Sierra Leone of 2 January 2025 on new mechanisms for the naturalisation of investors and of persons of Sierra Leonean descent; it contains no amounts, no programmes and no reference to any statute. The regulation the agents cite is not published, no parliamentary debate has been found and where the money goes is not disclosed. Until that question is closed we do not put the route into active sale and do not recommend it as the main option.

The Citizenship Act 1973, as amended in 1976, 2006 and 2017. Naturalisation under it requires continuous lawful residence in the country: eight years where one of the applicant’s parents is of Negro-African descent, and fifteen years for everyone else. Section 9 as in force adds majority and capacity, the oath of allegiance, a registered declaration of residence and employment satisfactory to the Minister, and payment of the prescribed fees. The residence requirement is written into the statute itself rather than into secondary legislation — which is exactly why we put the question of what replaces it on the fast-track route in writing.

Fast Track — citizenship in up to 90 days, with a contribution of $140 000 for the main applicant. Heritage — citizenship in up to 60 days, with a contribution of $100 000, but DNA proof of African descent within five generations is required. Residence through gold — status in up to 40 days: a base fee of $65 000 plus a 1 kg bar of 99.99 fineness placed in the state vault for 5 years. The third route gives permanent residence, not citizenship.

An ordinary dependant — the spouse, a child under 18, a parent or a grandparent — is $10 000 per person. A special dependant — an adult child or a brother or sister under 30 — is $20 000. A business partner or co-investor who is not a relative is $30 000. Above that: due diligence of $5 000 for each adult participant and an escrow fee of $2 000 per application. Children under 18 are not checked and no fee is charged for them. In total a single applicant under Fast Track is $147 000 and under Heritage $107 000.

The BRIDGES GLOBAL fee, legalising the documents, translations, the DNA test under Heritage and notarising the oath. How the due diligence fee is charged is confirmed with the agent: some sources state a single fee per application rather than one per participant. A change of name and a tax residency certificate are separate services on request, at $10 000 each.

No. It is permanent residence. Of a total of roughly $209 200, about $137 200 is the bar — your asset in the state vault, not an expense. The real non-refundable cost of the route is around $72 000. Storing the metal costs $150 a year per kilogram.

Three things. The price of the bar changes daily with the spot price of gold: our calculation was checked on 8 August 2026 and holds for one day. The terms of the exit after 5 years — the mechanism of the return, the buyer, the buy-back price and what happens if the gold price falls — are not described in open sources and must be fixed in the agreement before any money moves. An early exit from the metal, as the route is described, revokes the status and carries a penalty of 15% of the market value of the asset.

The right to live, work and do business in West Africa — that is the one thing in which it beats Vanuatu and Nauru. But the widely quoted «15 ECOWAS countries» has to be corrected: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger left the community on 29 January 2025, and the official list now has 12 states. There is no visa-free entry to the Schengen area, the United Kingdom, the United States, China or Türkiye; the UAE and Hong Kong require an electronic authorisation. In the rankings of freedom of movement the passport sits around 139th. As an instrument of mobility this route does not work.

Three cases. A business with interests in West Africa — mining, agriculture, logistics, trade. An applicant of African descent who can prove it documentarily and genetically: Heritage from $107 000 with a stated time of up to 60 days is the most accessible position in our range. And someone who was going to place capital in physical gold anyway. For everyone else it is fairer to look at programmes with a published statute.

Agents state a fully remote process, filing and the issue of the documents included. At the same time the statute requires an oath of allegiance to the Republic of Sierra Leone. How it is taken, how it is notarised and how the passport is issued we confirm in writing against the procedure in force before the work begins — there is no claim of «100% remote» on this page without such confirmation.

Yes. Section 10 of the Citizenship Act as amended in 2006 expressly allows a citizen of Sierra Leone to hold the citizenship of another country. There is no need to renounce your current passport. But what obtaining a second citizenship entails is determined by the law of your own country, including any duty to notify.

Section 16 of the Act as in force allows the Minister to deprive a naturalised person of citizenship if satisfied that keeping the status is not conducive to the public good. The wording is wide and the Act describes no procedure for appeal. The provision does not apply to citizenship by birth. That is a material difference, and it should be known before the decision rather than after.

No restrictions by the applicant’s citizenship have been announced publicly on this route. But no current official list exists in the public domain, so we confirm availability and how the check runs on your citizenship in writing with the agent before the documents are prepared and before the agreement is signed.

We say so plainly and offer an alternative. The tasks people usually look at Sierra Leone for — a quick second document and a modest budget — are covered by programmes with a published statute: Vanuatu, Nauru, São Tomé and Príncipe. If it is West Africa specifically that you need, we will say how much risk you are taking and fix in the agreement every term that has to be settled before payment.