Citizenship by Investment in Cambodia: What the December 2025 Law Actually Says

“Buy property, get a second passport” is one of the oldest pitches in investment migration, and versions of it circulate around Cambodian real estate too. Since 1 December 2025, Cambodia has a clear statutory answer — and it is worth knowing precisely, because the gap between the marketing and the law is now an order of magnitude wide.

The ladder, from visa to passport

It helps to see the four rungs as the law sees them, because sales material routinely blurs them:

1. Visas — entry and extension. The ordinary E-class visa and its 6/12-month extensions remain the workhorse of long-stay Cambodia; the ER retirement route serves the 55-plus with proof of means [S-044] [S-045].
2. Investor residency — CM2H, the “Cambodia My 2nd Home” programme: a ten-year renewable residency visa against a qualifying investment, launched at $100,000 and marketed since at lower entry points [S-047] [S-055]. It is a residency product. Our CM2H review takes it apart in full.
3. Naturalisation — citizenship by law, the subject of this piece.
4. What property buys you — none of the above automatically. Owning a strata unit confers ownership of that unit, not immigration status; the ownership rules and the immigration rules are separate regimes.

What changed on 1 December 2025

Cambodia’s overhauled nationality framework sets naturalisation-by-investment at at least US$1 million of personal capital invested in an approved project, or a US$3 million donation to the national budget, with enhanced background vetting of applicants [S-056]. Two further points matter:

• Dual citizenship is now explicitly permitted — a first for Cambodia, and the genuinely new convenience in the package [S-056].
• The price is statutory, not promotional. No property purchase, CM2H enrolment, or developer “pathway” changes the number. CM2H marketing that speaks of a “pathway to citizenship after 5 years” [S-055] describes eligibility to apply at most — and the statutory cost of that application now sits roughly an order of magnitude above CM2H’s entry investment.

How Cambodia now compares regionally

Read against its neighbours, Cambodia’s new threshold prices citizenship as a premium product while leaving residency comparatively cheap:

• Malaysia (MM2H) — residency only, in three tiers requiring fixed deposits of US$150,000 to US$1 million plus a mandatory property purchase locked against resale for ten years [S-049]. No citizenship component.
• Indonesia (“Golden Visa”) — residency only: US$350,000 buys five years, US$700,000 ten [S-057]. Again, no passport attached.
• Cambodia — long-stay residency remains the region’s most accessible (E-class extensions, ER, CM2H) [S-045] [S-047], while citizenship is now a separate, vetted, seven-figure decision [S-056].

The regional pattern is consistent: South-East Asian programmes sell residency. Anyone packaging a passport with a US$150,000 condo is selling something the statute does not contain.

What this means for a property buyer

• Price property as property. If a development’s pitch leans on citizenship or residency outcomes, strip that premium out and value the unit on rent, title, and developer quality — the things our due-diligence checklist actually tests.
• If residency is the goal, the ordinary E-class route or CM2H will get you there without a seven-figure commitment — compare the terms in our visas guide.
• If citizenship is genuinely the goal, it is now a defined, vetted, million-dollar statutory process [S-056] — one to run with specialist immigration counsel, not through a sales gallery.

As ever: immigration rules are administered with discretion and change without much notice. Verify current requirements with qualified counsel before any of this shapes a purchase. This is general research, not immigration advice.

Sources

• [S-056] BowerGroupAsia — Cambodia Overhauls Citizenship Prerequisites — from 1 December 2025: naturalisation at US$1M approved investment or US$3M donation; enhanced vetting; dual citizenship explicitly permitted.
• [S-055] CM2H programme marketing — “pathway to citizenship after 5 years” framing; launch terms.
• [S-047] CM2H programme terms — $100,000 launch investment, ten-year renewable residency; later entry-point drift.
• [S-044] / [S-045] Cambodian visa framework — E-class extensions; ER retirement route (55+, proof of means, no work permit).
• [S-049] MM2H 2024 overhaul — three tiers, US$150k–$1M deposits plus mandatory locked property purchase.
• [S-057] Indonesia Golden Visa — US$350k five-year / US$700k ten-year investor residency.