San Marino · Residency by investment
Residenza Elettiva (elective residence)
Open, capped at 50 grants per year. This is San Marino's genuine residence-by-investment route, requiring either a property purchase or a long-locked state-bond deposit.
The EUR 600,000 deposit route is quietly punitive: non-interest-bearing and locked for ten years, its real cost is the forgone return — roughly EUR 300,000 of compound yield at 4%, which makes it substantially more expensive than the headline suggests. The EUR 500,000 property route is usually the better economic choice because you retain an asset.
Qualifying routes
Minimum EUR 500,000. A property to be renovated qualifies where purchase plus works reach that figure, with renovation counting up to EUR 150,000.
Minimum EUR 600,000 in San Marino state securities or a designated fund, locked and non-interest-bearing for 10 years. A EUR 10,000 one-off tax applies on this route.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €500k
- Total landed cost
- EUR 500,000 property or EUR 600,000 locked for a decade earning nothing, plus a EUR 1,000 first-request fee, EUR 10,000 one-off tax on the deposit route, and EUR 20,000 one-off per accompanying family member (spouse or cohabitant, children under 25 or disabled children).
- Timeline
- 4–12 months — Subject to the annual cap of 50; figures verified from secondary Sammarinese sources as the official agency.sm page was unreachable
- Physical presence
- Genuine residence expected; residence consolidates over 10 years
- Family
- spouse or cohabiting partner (EUR 20,000 one-off each)cohabiting children under 25 or disabled children (EUR 20,000 one-off each)
- Permanent residency
- Consolidation after 10 years
- Citizenship
- 30 years' residence
- Language test
- Italian required for naturalisation
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- property purchase of at least EUR 500,000, or a EUR 600,000 non-interest-bearing 10-year deposit in state securitiesEUR 1,000 first-request feeEUR 10,000 one-off tax on the deposit route; EUR 20,000 one-off per family memberclean criminal recordproof of lawful origin of fundshealth insurance
- The deposit is non-interest-bearing and locked for 10 years — model the opportunity cost, not the headline figure.
- Only 50 elective residences are granted per year.
- Family members cost EUR 20,000 each as a one-off, which is unusual and often omitted from cost comparisons.
- Elective residents are barred from public sector employment during the 10-year consolidation period.
- No EU or Schengen rights; citizenship is 30 years away and requires renouncing your other nationalities.
- Official primary sources were unreachable during this research (agency.sm refused connections). Confirm every figure with the Ufficio Informazione or a Sammarinese professional before committing.