It is not that hard. I have my birth citizenship. But my grandpa was an Italian, so it entitled me to obtain Italian citizenship. My wife's grandpa and grandma are portuguese, so this entitles her, and me as her husband to portuguese citizenship. And I am not rich as Mr Durov, if I was, probably I'd have a few more passports for business and tax purposes.
OPTION 1. Donate to the Sustainable Island State Contribution (SISC)
Your SISC donation to the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis must be at least $250,000 as a single applicant. Additionally, this rises to $275,000 if you include an extra dependent under 18. Furthermore, if you add a dependent over 18, you will pay $300,000.
OPTION 2. Invest in Property
The Developer’s Real Estate Option requires you to invest no less than $400,000 in an approved real estate development. Consequently, you must own the property for at least seven years. Furthermore, it can only be resold once, to a new CBI programme member.
In contrast, an Approved Private Home, either a condo or single-family dwelling, qualifies as a CBI option. In this case, you must pay at least $400,000 to the condo owner and $800,000 to the single-family dwelling owner.
Subsequently, you have to own the private home for at least seven years. Following this, you can’t resell your real estate investment to a CBI applicant unless Federal Cabinet approves. Ultimately, you must inject substantial extra investment by way of construction, renovation, or any other improvements.
OPTION 3. Contribute to an Approved Public Benefit Project
Invest at least $250,000 in a project that boosts local employment and, also, transfers all real estate to the State on completion.
I feel like it only comes across as dodgy because of the jason-bourne genre of spy flicks where agents have stacks of passports and alternate identities
What's dodgy about having multiple countries consider you respectable enough ( slash rich enough ) to issue you citizenship?
No, it just needs some time and effort, and you need a good lawyer (I remember lcamtuf writing about it on his blog). You just need a residence (even if it's a coach (or basement) at your friend's) in a country for a few years; you need to visit periodically and ensure your lawyer is advancing your case. 3-5 years later (depending on the country, of course), you get citizenship and a passport. It's absolutely doable without too much of an effect on your financials if you work in tech or a similarly well-paid job. If you do this consistently over the years, you'd have 3-4 passports by your forties. Unfortunately, people under forty rarely seem to think that far ahead. I'm personally starting to really worry about retirement, but I'm too old and too ill now to jump ship like that...
BTW, I'd like to send you a private message - is the `pro` (at) your.domain a good way to do that?
I’m a citizen of three countries. I don’t know that it is all that unusual to have multiple citizenships, particularly for the very rich (a group I am most deinfitely not a part of) who might access citizenship via investment in a country.
To be clear anyone with a few million in savings can take on multiple citizenships as a hobby, maybe OP just considers it table stakes for billionaires, as in, why wouldn't you.
St kitts and Nevis is only a quarter mil, tho I don't know what benefit that would confer unless you're coming from a country without visa free travel
And for what it's worth, UAE citizenship is not for sale directly, you have to actually live there long term
Residency is pretty much for sale in the UAE. However it is virtually impossible to be naturalized in the UAE through the official route. Most of the country is foreign born and there are lots of benefits to being a citizen so this deliberate. It requires something like 30 years of uninterrupted residency. Most people who get it are basically granted citizenship by a king. That’s why when you look at the list of Emiratis on Wikipedia the ones who aren’t Arab are almost entirely elite athletes and businessmen with political connections. It’s interesting that France and the UAE granted him citizenship and hacked his phone together.