Our Approach
A new citizenship or residency is one of the most significant steps a family can take. Here is how we treat it, who does the work, and what it costs.
What We Commit To
Any firm can list values. These are the four ours are tested against, each with the evidence you can check on this page.
Our fee is agreed in writing before any work begins, and every government and due-diligence cost is itemized separately. You always know what you are paying, and to whom.
Your fee and its payment stages are set in your engagement letter. The three cost buckets, and what sits in each, are set out below. See it
If a program is wrong for your family, we say so, even when that costs us the engagement. A clear no today is worth more than a failed application in a year.
Four real answers that have cost us engagements are printed further down this page. See it
Applications fail on preparation, not on merit. Your file is built to the standard government reviewers actually apply, before submission rather than after questions come back.
The four things reviewers check, and what we resolve first, are set out in the engagement section. See it
From signing to documents in hand, one named advisor knows your family's file — and still answers the phone for renewals years later.
The people are named, pictured, and reachable directly in the next section. See it
Who You Deal With
From signing to documents in hand, one named advisor manages your file. These are the people who do that work.
Chairman
Amir Sardar is Chairman of Citizenship & Co., the Dubai-based citizenship and residency by investment advisory.
Managing Director
Isfahan Tahir leads Citizenship & Co. from Dubai, advising families and entrepreneurs on government-authorized citizenship and residency by investment programs.
Operations Manager
Pauline Pepito is Operations Manager at Citizenship & Co., working from the firm's Dubai office.
Office Administrator
Maribeth Villamor is Office Administrator at Citizenship & Co., working from the firm's Dubai office.
The Question Everyone Asks
Most firms quote one number and reveal the rest later. There are three separate buckets, and our advisory fee is only one of them. Select any bucket to see what sits inside it.
Widths illustrate relative scale, not a quote — every program differs. Our advisory fee is the smallest of the three.
The qualifying investment itself, plus the government's own processing and certificate fees. This is the largest part of every budget and is paid to the issuing state, on its published schedule.
Note: Set by the issuing government and subject to change without notice.
Independent background investigation, commissioned by the government from specialist firms, plus the costs of assembling a file. Itemized separately in your fee schedule.
Note: Non-refundable once the investigation is commissioned, regardless of outcome.
A single professional fee, agreed in the engagement letter before any work begins. It covers the advice, the preparation, the submission, and the management of everything above.
Note: Quoted per engagement and fixed in the engagement letter before any work begins.
Candor, Demonstrated
Any firm can claim honest advice. These are the actual answers we give when the honest answer costs us the engagement.
Our answer
Then investment migration is the wrong instrument, and we will say so in the first call. No European program grants citizenship in a year. Portugal's naturalization clock moved to seven years for Portuguese-speaking nationals and ten for everyone else in 2026, and it requires genuine residence. What is realistic is European residence — a different, real, and often better answer.
Our answer
No. The UAE does not operate a citizenship-by-investment program and never has. Emirati nationality is granted by descent, marriage, or government nomination, and cannot be applied for. What exists is the Golden Visa — genuine renewable residency, 10 years on the real-estate route. Anyone quoting a price for an Emirati passport is selling something that does not exist.
Our answer
Then most of the market is closed to you, and we would rather say that now than after an engagement letter. Below roughly $200,000 the Caribbean programs are out of reach. Vanuatu and Nauru remain genuine options, with real trade-offs we would walk you through. If those do not suit, the honest advice is to wait and revisit rather than stretch into a program that fits badly.
Our answer
That framing usually leads to a poor decision, so we push back on it. The relevant question is which specific doors you need open — Schengen, the United States, China, business banking — because no single program leads on all of them. A family with US ambitions should look at Grenada's E-2 treaty eligibility; a family who never will should not pay Grenada's premium for it.
The Engagement
Select a stage to see what we do, what we need from you, and what you receive.
Week 0
Weeks 1–3
Weeks 3–4
Varies by program
On approval
Resolved in the preparation stage, before your file is submitted
Who you are, verified independently — not merely as stated on the form.
The single most common reason files stall. Reviewers trace the money, not just its balance.
Multi-jurisdiction checks conducted by the specialist firms a government appoints.
Open-source investigation — the part applicants least expect, and most often underestimate.
Working With Us
Our professional fee is set out in the engagement letter before work starts. Government, due-diligence and investment amounts are separate and are paid as each program requires.
The decision belongs to the government, and some fees are not returned if an application is refused. Non-refundable government and due-diligence fees are listed in the engagement letter. We work through source-of-funds questions and disclosure issues before submission, and we tell you if we think a file is not yet ready to submit.
Yes, and we do. If investment migration is not the right instrument for your goal, or your budget does not reach a program that suits you, the consultation ends with that answer rather than a proposal.
From signing to documents in hand, one named advisor manages your file — and the same person handles renewals years later. You will not be handed to an account manager after signing.
Your file is shared only with the parties needed to process it, as set out in our privacy policy. We do not sell, rent, or share enquiry data, and we do not discuss clients — including the fact that someone is a client.
Questions about the programs themselves? Read the full FAQ.
Bring your situation and we'll walk through the full fee picture — ours, the government's, and the due diligence — before you commit to anything.