Nomad Capitalist Chapter 4 Part 1: Second Passports and Why Countries Sell Citizenship

Imagine you are sitting in a hotel room in Dubai. A man with a bulletproof briefcase hands you a green passport from a country you cannot find on a map. You put your finger on an ink pad. He shakes your hand and says, “Congratulations, you are now a citizen of the Comoros Islands.”

That is literally how Chapter 4 of Nomad Capitalist starts. And honestly, it reads like a spy novel. Except it is real life for Andrew Henderson.

A Passport From a Country Nobody Knows

Henderson paid $45,000 for Comoros Islands citizenship. This tiny African nation off the coast of Madagascar gave him a passport that lets him visit 47 countries visa-free. Most of them are places you probably never heard of either.

Why would anyone do this? The Comoros passport is obviously way worse than an American one for travel. But that was not the point. Henderson wanted diversification. He wanted to not be stuck with just one government controlling his life.

Here is what I find interesting about this. Most of us grew up thinking our passport is just a travel document. You get it from the country you were born in. End of story. But Henderson looks at it completely differently. To him, a passport is a product. And you can shop for a better one.

The History Nobody Taught You

The book gives a quick history of passports that I actually enjoyed reading. Turns out passports started as letters from one king to another. “Hey, let this guy pass through your land safely.” That was it. The earliest example is from the Old Testament, where Nehemiah got papers from King Artaxerxes to travel to Jerusalem.

For most of human history, you just showed up in a new place. No visa, no border control, no stamps. The British Parliament created the first real passports under Henry V. The Holy Roman Empire even exiled people who left without proper documents.

Now we are in a world where your passport basically decides your freedom of movement. And Henderson’s argument is simple. You did not choose your first passport. It was decided by where your mother happened to be standing when you were born. So why not choose your second one?

Why Would You Want a Second Passport?

Henderson lays out several reasons. Let me go through them because some are actually quite practical even if you are not a millionaire.

Insurance Against Bad Times

This is the big one. Henderson calls it “citizenship insurance.” If your country goes through a crisis, mass unrest, economic collapse, or just introduces laws you really do not like, having a second passport means you have somewhere else to go. Legally. No questions asked.

He brings up the Arab Spring. People who had second citizenships left Egypt and Syria and were welcomed as legal residents elsewhere. People without a second passport were stuck. No developed country was rushing to let in Egyptian tourists during a revolution.

And here is something that hit close to home for me. Henderson mentions 2020, when the mighty US passport became practically useless for travel. There were times when a Serbian passport gave you more travel freedom than an American one. I remember thinking the same thing during that period. Nobody expected that.

The Chinese culture has a great saying he quotes: “Always have a second set of papers and some gold coins in a fast junk in the harbor.” That is basically ancient wisdom for what Henderson is selling.

Access to Real Estate and Investments

This one I did not expect. In many countries, especially in Asia, foreigners cannot own land or certain properties. Only citizens can. Henderson tells a story about a young woman named Alika in Laos who was making great money flipping land. She could do it because she was Laotian. Foreigners were locked out.

Same thing in Cambodia. You can buy apartments, but not ground floor ones or houses. If you had citizenship, you could access the best deals. Henderson argues that some passports are worth getting not for travel but for investment access.

This is actually a smart angle. When people think “second passport,” they imagine jet-setting around the world. But sometimes the real value is in buying property or starting a business in a country that does not let foreigners do that.

Business Without Borders

Israeli citizens cannot enter many Muslim-majority countries. So some get second passports to do business in Malaysia or Indonesia. Americans face issues too. Because of laws like FATCA, foreign banks sometimes refuse to work with US citizens. Having a second passport can literally open doors that are closed to your first one.

Henderson shares a personal example. He had a trip planned to Turkey when the US and Turkey mutually blocked visa services. He used his second passport and entered Turkey as a citizen of another country. No problems. Imagine if that was a critical business trip and you had no backup.

Tax Reasons

Here is where it gets really interesting and a bit controversial. Henderson explains that only two countries in the world tax their citizens no matter where they live: the United States and Eritrea.

Let that sink in. The US has the same tax policy as a war-torn African nation that needed to pay its war debts. Every other country in the world stops taxing you once you move out.

So if you are an American making $250,000 in Dubai, where there is no income tax, you could still owe about $60,000 to the US government. Every year. Even if you never set foot in America. Over ten years that is $600,000 gone. Not to mention what you could have earned by reinvesting that money.

The only way to completely escape US taxation is to renounce your citizenship. And you cannot do that without having a second passport first. So for many Americans, getting a second passport is step one in a much bigger plan.

I grew up in a country that was part of the Soviet Union. The idea that a government can tax you even after you leave and live on the other side of the planet feels very… familiar. Let us just say I understand why people want options.

The Different Ways to Get a Second Passport

Henderson outlines four methods, each with a memorable nickname.

The “Lucky Sperm Club” - Citizenship by Descent

If your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents came from certain countries, you might qualify for citizenship by descent. Ireland is famous for this. There are 10 million non-resident Irish passport holders. If your grandpa’s name started with “O’” or “Mc,” you might be in luck.

Most European countries offer this. Italy lets you go back to 1918. Lithuania to 1940. The book lists dozens of countries with specific generational limits.

The catch? Time and paperwork. You need birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, translations, authentications. Then you wait months or years. But the fees are tiny, sometimes as little as $5 to $400.

The “Sit Back and Relax” - Naturalization

Get a residence permit, live there (sometimes just a few days a year), wait the required years, apply for citizenship. Panama used to offer permanent residence for tossing $5,000 into a bank account. Paraguay lets you become a citizen after three years with just one day per year in the country.

The cost is low but the time investment is real. And governments can change the rules while you wait. Henderson knows people who lived in Panama for fifteen years and still do not have citizenship because their paperwork is sitting on the president’s desk, unsigned.

The “Pay Your Way In” - Citizenship by Investment

This is the fastest route. Donate or invest money, get a passport in weeks or months. St. Kitts and Nevis started this in 1984. Now several Caribbean nations offer it. The cheapest options start around $100,000. Malta offers EU citizenship for about $1 million.

Henderson paid $45,000 for his Comoros passport but says he would not recommend it to most people. For a more serious passport, expect to pay at least $100,000 plus legal fees.

The “Fonzie” Method - Exceptional Citizenship

This is for athletes, artists, and investors who can contribute something special. Countries like the UAE hand out passports to Olympic athletes. Singapore gives citizenship to famous artists. Smaller countries like Montenegro offer it to investors who create jobs.

If you are a regular business person, this works best with developing countries that need investment. You bring money and jobs, they give you a passport. It is not guaranteed, but it is negotiable.

My Thoughts So Far

I have to say, this chapter changed how I think about passports. Growing up, a passport was just a document you needed to cross a border. The idea that it is a product you can shop for, that countries actively compete for citizens by offering different deals, that was new to me.

Henderson is obviously selling his consulting services throughout this chapter. But the underlying information is solid. Countries really do sell citizenship. People really do build passport portfolios. And the reasons go way beyond just travel.

What I appreciate most is the insurance angle. You do not have to be a tax-dodging millionaire to see the value in having a Plan B. History has shown that things can change fast in any country. Having options is just smart planning.

What I am less sure about is whether most regular people can actually afford this. Even the “cheap” options cost tens of thousands of dollars. And the naturalization route takes years of paperwork and patience. This is still very much a rich person’s game, even if Henderson tries to make it sound accessible.

We will get into the practical details and specific country programs in Part 2.

Book: Nomad Capitalist by Andrew Henderson | ISBN: 9798461831486

Previous: Chapter 3 - The Location Independent Lifestyle Next: Chapter 4 Part 2 - Second Passports Continued

Part of the Nomad Capitalist series