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Yes, that's it, as an investor would you pay such an amount to automatically become an El Salvadorian citizen? According to the news on various news site, El Salvadorian government has partnered with Tether to launch a program tagged "Adopting El Salvador Freedom Visa Program.” Applicants are required to pay a non refundable $999 fee in BTC or USDT, if the application is successful, they'd be required to undergo KYC and a $1M dollar deposit in BTC or USDT to secure a freedom visa and citizenship.


Share your thoughts, would you do this if you've a very deep pocket?

https://tether.to/en/tether-powers-el-salvadors-visionary-freedom-visa-program-through-technology-support/

I just converted the money to my local currency and mhen that’s no joke… ;D

But since you mentioned the person having a deep pocket then I’d be down with it, if I had 10,000x of that amount or an amount that won’t make me notice that I spent such an amount on a ticket & a visa then what’s stopping me from not enjoying a country that has adopted a system of decentralization as a payment method.

And that goes for several users here, if they all had a good amount of money in their pocket they’ll still want to experience it, unless they have a place they had dreamt of going to all their life.

No. Not at all.

If I'd be rich I could easily go to better countries than El Salvador - maybe not so nice weather, but for example much better schools, roads and medical system.
Even if I'd pe much poorer than "very deep pockets" (but still not poor), there are much cheaper ways to get El Salvador citizenship (I've seen on twitter even ideas to get married there, lol).

However, El Salvador is not in my top10 countries I would want to be citizen of, and this pretty much sums it up.

Is there some financial benefit that comes with that citizenship? Because that amount alone is big enough to set someone up for life in any country of his choice.
 
There must be some benefit to having such an offer because it's not a small amount of money, and that offer is not even for the common people. If there is more to be achieved when you are a citizen of that country, then many investors will take that offer, as they can rest assured that with time they will make more than that with the opportunity they will get to explore the country.
 
But left to me alone, I can't spend that much just to acquire a citizenship passport or visa. Well, let me just say this is my level of thinking based on my current financial status. If I have more, I will definitely think big, but still, the money is too high. Something between $100 and $500k is a little more considerate.

Like seriously? Do you know many countries are better than this El Salvador? It's not a heaven paradise here on earth, I don't see any reason why anyone should do this, $1M dollars is a lot of money if I convert it into my local currency, I will live like a king in many countries that are better than El Salvador.

If it's possible to buy a Plot of land on Satoshis island I would probably do this, but I guess the lands on there are just for rent on time bases, I wish, hehe, mind you, in coming years if things go very well with Bitcoin and crypto I believe that few countries will fully embrace crypto just like El Salvador is doing right now.

If I have $1M dollars right now I would invest most of that into Bitcoin and wait for a pleasing cash out by 4th quarter of 2024, or when I see Bitcoin reach over 80k in value, good luck 🎲 .

What benefits they can offer to those people would pay such huge amount of money? If nothing just a passport and citizenship for sure no people will think about paying such huge amount of money. Although they are rank 38 in the world in terms of that still I doubt there's someone will get an interest on what they offer not unless if they want to do some business there. But for people who doesn't give any importance with that for sure they rather create a business out of that huge amount of money rather paying it for things that doesn't make sense at all. If US or Canada offer that maybe I will consider to get that but in other country will I might choose to have a local passport on my country since I can still use it to travel anywhere.

Considering that nowadays we no longer have to deal with finding a way to spend our Bitcoins in almost all countries, my answer would be a big fat "NO".
^{- I do know it's mostly being done indirectly, but it still doesn't change the fact that it gets the job done!}

Thats too much. But for rich people likely they will probably do that. El Salvador is a country that is pro crypto and bitcoin and there must be a lot of people wanting to stay there to rip the benefits of the visa and citizenship. Are there any benefits aside from the citizenship? Like some perks of the program of course a big money like this should have benefits too.

I admire El Salvador and its government when its come to this type of development. But, with this program if I'd be willing to pay or deposit $1M in USD or BTC or Tether? Definitely a big no. If I want to get another passport or residency, I'd go into those countries in the Carribbean. They're requiring less than that amount and I think that they've got more powerful visa than El Salvador. Well, that's just me and with that money, I can distribute that to a lot of things that I'd be set probably for a lot of years until I leave this world.

Wow this is too much even as a pro bitcoiner, seriously the amount is too much even for a wealthy fellow, a person with such amount in tons wouldn’t go through this unnoticed. Personally if I have that amount or preferably more than that I will just consider going to one of these places that less economical or let me say middle class countries. El Salvador is just the top country talked about in crypto because of its laws to use bitcoin as a legal tender but it is not the only country that has a relaxed law when it comes to bitcoin and cryptocurrency usage. Even Central Africa Republic can be a place to go not to talk about great places with decent weather. This amount to be a Salvadoran os just too much

even if I had enough money to travel to several countries, why El Salvador? perhaps due to the adoption of Bitcoin there. but with costs like that, of course, even if I were rich I would consider going to another country which might be one of the countries I want to visit. but as for El Salvador, I'm not so sure I'll go there.

Everyone will probably have their thoughts, in the media I have read about the changes that have occurred in the country of El Salvador. Maybe there is another attraction to the country besides the Bitcoin they use that makes people interested in going there.

I personally wouldn't, but I mean — it's totally optional. No one is forced to pay this amount and can go the normal way of getting a passport. And if a person has that much amount of money, chances are, he/she has a way of getting a passport anyway so why not try earning money from it?

El Salvador citizenship for 1M dollars in btc does not worth it. Instead of my wasting my bitcoin going to such place, I will prefer to sit down in my country and hodli my 1m worth of btc for a very long period of time. Do you know how much profit that I will get from my bitcoin investment.

El Salvador doesn't have anything to offer me that will give me the profit that 1m dollars worth of bitcoin will give to me. Instead, I will think of going to the Caribbean Island on vacation. Let's not forget that El Salvador is a third world country.

If El Salvador isn't like any other country out there, and it's like a "UTOPIA" where everything is perfect then I guess I'll save some Bitcoins for it... or not. :D

I'm living in a developing country and that amount of money is already huge for me even though I will work all my life, I might not save that amount of money. I don't see any differences between living in El Salvador and living in another country.

I wonder who will try to do this one? Rich businessmen maybe who want to live in El Salvador? Maybe miners who want to mine there? I mean I can't think of somebody who will spend a million dollars just to be a citizen of that country. :D

Just by knowing that you need to deposit Bitcoin worth $1M is already a huge obstacle for me. If I converted the money needed then it will take a very long time before I can reach the said amount. It's around 55 million in my fiat currency and that alone is the deposit amount only and how much more if you add the fee $999 or let's put it to $1000. I think there are more expenses since you have to go through KYC and stuff so that means I need to pay money to get the documents needed for the verification. My answer in short is NO. I am lucky enough that my country didn't ban Cryptocurrency and there are E-Wallets that are now accepting crypto where you can buy, sell and receive crypto.

If I would have that kind of money then why would I care to get a citizenship of El Salvador while I can use that money for my own good.
Although El Salvador has adopted bitcoin but it doesn't mean that people should pay such a huge amount to them just to get a citizenship.
That's a huge amount for a citizenship.

Nope, as if I am filthy rich, there are far better passports to buy than the one from El Salvador. On top of that, my country's passport is ranked 26th in the world while El Salvador 72nd according to VisaGuide (https://visaguide.world/visa-free-countries/salvadoran-passport/) meaning I woulnd't gain absolutely anything by getting one.

Absolutely not. The Salvadoran passport is not special, and I can get better passports at a cheaper price. For example, some countries require a deposit or investment of $500,000 in real estate or direct deposit, and they have a better visa after the security examination. Also, El Salvador is not one of the developed countries in terms of health or education. Therefore, it is not an ideal place for my children, especially with a million dollars spent, which could mean a luxurious life in Southeast Asian countries.

I'm struggling with my English and much more on my Latin I have zero knowledge when it comes to Latin and besides Bitcoin, I hardly know anything about El Salvador I prefer to invest my $1 million if I have that amount in my own country I think my country is better than El Salvador in terms of tourist attraction we have the best beaches and we have the cheapest services and cost of living here is very low.
And besides my my country's passport ranked 7 higher than El Salvador.

If I have that amount of money in my place, I am already an average person and can live a comfortable life here. Getting an El Salvadoran passport won’t be a nice idea for me to go for now but maybe later in the future when I have a deeper pocket like you’ve said. Even so, many things will be put into consideration before applying for one.

In fact, I won’t get one even when I am filthy rich, there should be other more options I can get for a lesser price than that. 1 million dollars for just a passport, oh no, it is now worth it seriously. I thought it was 1 thousand dollars and not a million dollars initially.

The 1M $, according to their promotional site (see link listed below) is meant to be used for:
In parts of their site, they use the term "invest", though it certainly looks more like a donation than anything (certainly not an investment of a type that one would expect a direct return from). Their terms (https://adoptingelsalvador.gob.sv/terms) use the term "donation", which is more adequate the term "investment" used throughout the site.

The offer (so as to say) is delimited to 1K people per year. I’m not really convinced that they’ll really need to apply such a limit in practice, specially for a passport that’s not really very high up in the passport rankings (https://www.passportindex.org/byRank.php).

See:
https://adoptingelsalvador.gob.sv/welcome

This is just a pastor we are talking about here. The first thing I will consider is how many years it took me to save up $1,999,000, after which I will also see if there are fair opportunities in El Salvador that can earn me more than $1,999, 000 in a shorter period of time with low stress. If there's one, then I would consider paying that amount because I know I will only need a very short time to recover the money again, but where there's no better means to earn such an amount, I will not make such a mistake, even if I have a deep pocket. Before someone should spend that kind of money, he or she should ask themselves, "What's in it for them?" What will they gain in El Salvador that they can't see in some other country that will not require them to pay up to that amount for a passport

Thanks guys for your inputs. $1 million dollars is a whole lot of money, especially in some countries. If I wanted another citizenship, El Salvador would be one of the list countries on my mind. Aside being a Bitcoin friendly nation, there's nothing really captivating there and it's still underdeveloped. I don't know why they had to place such a ludicrous pricetag for a passport when one could easily get a european citizenship at $500,000 or less in some countries.

If you know what it means by the virtue of what you stand to gain, you will see that those interested in doing so really understand the need for that, not only that, they were very much eager to do so, if you can have a demand of paying huge amount of money to secure you lifetime opportunity of making business, what will be your decision, are you to consider the amount demanded and in question or you will focus on the opportunities doing such will served you later, this are the rich people's kind of mentality.

Does anyone know the benefits thereof? There must be benefits that will warrant people to pay upto 1m dollars to go El Salvador. Maybe after the developmental stage of the program, if the program is matured, the country will start paying back to the donors or something like that?

The idea is not really bad, because it is innovative. It is only bad because it is a country like El Salvador. If it was US, many people will buy the idea.

Like you, I really do think it's an awesome program by the El Salvador government but I'm only disappointed that it only caters for the big boys. If all goes right with the program, major developments might that start happening with El Salvador including it's economy that could position it to be one of the top countries in the future — they already have bitcoin on lock and this program could pan out nicely in the long run.

But even if I had that much more, I doubt if I won't put it into the program unless I'm Elon Musk or Michael Saylor  rich.

 In the clause to becoming an El Salvadoran citizen it says you'd pay a non refundable fee of $999k and that's if your application gets selected. So I'm asking, what happens if my application doesn't get selected? That means I've wasted a lot of money enriching another country when there's the possibility that I may not get selected? I was expecting a better catch than just being a citizen.
 For me, El Salvador gained prominence after they started accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender so I seriously don't get the fuss why I'd be in a hurry to jump on that offer, especially if it's not on my top 5 most interesting locations. So I'd certainly pass.

There are even less figures in some better countries but I guess this price tag is decided by their entire government and people who can really afford will be the one to put up with their application and go through the process.

It's not mandatory and those that are truly rich can avail that. Someone who has probably a lot of citizenships already and wanting to expand and to have more for most business ventures in different countries.

But yeah, we don't have yet that amount for now but who knows in the future if we'll have that and our mind changes and would want to have one.   ::)

Rich people buy citizenships of jurisdictions that provide them with certain benefits like low taxes or non-extradiction. El Salvador doesn't strike me as a particularly stable and reliable country. Yes, today they have a pro-Bitcoin government, but tomorrow that can change. The whole South American region is well-known for leftist revolutions and governments that replace more right-wing ones, it's quite possible that the same will some day happen with El Salvador.

If I have a lot of money, am not that busy, love what El Salvador has to offer, and so on, I would do that. But if I only have a lot of money, a supporter of Bitcoin and El Salvador, but has a lot to take care of in my place, I won't do that.

All I'm saying is that I won't be sacrificing a lot for the sake of supporting El Salvador, particularly its strategy of attracting Bitcoin supporters.

I wish that beautiful country and its leader luck and success, of course. They'd be registered on the annals of Bitcoin and forever be remembered as the first and boldest of all countries.

I like this, wish other countries would provide such option (No, I do not prefer, El Salvador).

Sorry if I'm wrong, but the question is, for what? Isn't the main attraction of crypto the decentralization and privacy? If everything is known, then what is the difference with conventional banks which have to KYC? What does this country offer anyway? free health? low taxes? big salary or something, besides they legalized btc. Moreover, BTC has also been legalized in my country, even though it is an asset, not a currency. but I think that's enough.

I wouldn't throw a thousand dollars at a dud passport much less a thousand times that at a Central American country.

Whose deep pockets are being lined with what looks very much like a shady deal?  What's the benefit?

What's in the offing for me in El Salvador besides BTC? That's the first question I would ask myself if I ever contemplate being her citizen. I know that life doesn't start or end with Bitcoin and so I've to weigh other options. I don't like the idea of El Salvador, to start with. There are countries I won't want to live in despite how well planned or organized people think that system is. The United States of America is one of them. I don't like the proliferation of arms there and won't want to always be scared of random maniacs who would shoot at people with the least provocation. Some of them even do it for fun, not out of provocation. The road rage there is out of this world. Besides infrastructural development and nice government, peace of mind isn't something to be toiled with. This isn't denigrating the US, after all it's far and way ahead of my country but I'm just stating my POV.

No, no offense to the people who are from El Salvador but there are a lot of countries that are far far better than El Salvador. also, what exactly are the benefits one will get when one becomes a Citizen of El Salvador? if they want rich people to move into their country, they need to give a benefit that will be extremely tempting to the rich people.

If their country adopts a way to freedom you can not find in other countries.  And they stand as one of the only countries to accept Bitcoin in the far future.  Then MAYBE.  But in todays conditions, no.  With that much money you can do much much more than just get citizenship if you are smart enough.

No that's way too much considering my current stream of income and we can get option on citizenship by investment for other nations like Turkey, Cyprus and other nations on Caribbean island with far lesser investment.

I would only think of acquiring El Salvadorian passport only if two conditions are met:

1. If I because ultra rich through crypto currency and I am an active trader and need to transact in Crypto everyday as a part of my business
2. If the country I am residing starts cracking down on crypto transactions and makes it impossible to continue with crypto.

Did the inflation also affect El Salvador, so they decided to raise the price x10? Just a little over a year ago, the price was 3 BTC or $100 000 (https://www.imidaily.com/caribbean/el-salvador-citizenship-by-investment-program-could-open-by-spring-bukeles-tweet-indicates/), but apparently the Presidente doesn't want ordinary holders, but those with deeper pockets.

There are definitely better ways to spend $1 million, without the fear of being kidnapped or shot by a gang.

Just going to leave this here:
https://www.fodors.com/news/deals/how-to-buy-citizenship-around-the-world
Buying citizenship is not new, and there are a lot of places to do it. And for the most part they don't care if it's BTC or $ or some other form or fiat.

This is just making headlines because they are asking for BTC or USDT personally I would go for St. Lucia but that's just me.

-Dave

Haha, buddy in a few words, I'm not willing to pay even a single penny to just obtain the citizenship of any other country, at least for now. $1M haha I wish I had such an amount in Bitcoin, I would have been so happy because this amount is not a joke at least in the locality you can say it can be a dream amount of anyone (middle-class) to live his/her life peacefully with family.

Latin? Latin or Latin language has not been spoken for hundreds of years, more than a thousand years if we count street speech, since it survived in the Middle Ages in the churches as a language of worship. You mean Spanish.

Going to the topic of the thread, having a passport from El Salvador is not one of my priorities either, and if I were to get one, it would not be at the top of the list. However, if I had a very high net worth, like more than $30M, maybe I could think about it after visiting the country and seeing that I liked it.

I am not against El Salvador but this is not a safe nation to live. With high criminal rate, do you think it is a safe place to live?

So spending $1M for a passport in an unsafe nation is something not smart. It can be changed in future if El Salvador government can do massive changes for their nations from politics to economics and social status. Only make that nation is Bitcoin legal tender is not enough to make the nation as a heaven, a wanted destination for the rich.

$1M for a passport is like from the rich's spending and as said, I don't believe will want to live in El Salvador.

Thank you for the info Ddmr: we tend to run for conclusions in topics we don't fully understand, but everything is a bit clearer with relevant insight.

So it seems that the Salvadoran government is looking for new funding channels, and that it's directly selling the nationality (limited offer: up to 1000 people per year :D). If I was in a position where I could spend such amount of money without hesitating, I would prefer to donate it directly to causes I really like rather than any government, even if the latter has the mentioned incentives attached.

Trying to find out an exception, if I was a Cuban for example and got rich thanks to cryptos, I would think about it in order to get the second nationality and escape the country. But I think that this kind of cases are very unusual.