Comparing programmes properly: the threshold is the least of it

Comparison tables line up qualifying amounts and stop there. Five other variables move the real cost by more than the threshold does.

What the threshold does not include

• Transaction costs. Transfer taxes, notary, agent and legal fees differ enormously — a few percent in the Gulf against double digits in parts of Europe.
• Government and due diligence fees, which are per person and scale with family size.
• The annual cost of holding it: property tax, service charge, insurance, and the cost of the permit's own renewals.
• Opportunity cost of the capital, which for a locked deposit or a low-yielding qualifying asset is the largest hidden number in the whole comparison.
• Exit costs and liquidity — what it costs to sell, and how long it takes.

The variables that matter more than money

• Does it lead anywhere? A permit that matures into permanent residence and citizenship is a different product from one that renews indefinitely.
• What presence is required? A programme with no residence requirement and one that demands months a year are not comparable.
• Who is covered? Adult children, parents, and unmarried partners are included in some and excluded from others.
• Where can you go with it? Schengen mobility or none.
• What is the programme's political exposure? Where it sits on the closure curve.

How to build a comparison that means something

Take three candidate programmes and compute, for each, the total cash out over ten years — entry costs, annual holding costs, renewals — plus the opportunity cost of the qualifying capital, minus any income the asset produces. Then write beside each what you hold at the end of ten years: a renewable permit, a permanent residence, or a passport.

That single page reorders most people's shortlist, and it is arithmetic rather than advice. The programme with the lowest threshold is frequently not the cheapest, and the cheapest is frequently not the one that leads anywhere.