Overview
Moldova holds a rank-39 passport with 110 destinations reachable without a prior visa, including visa-free access to the Schengen area since 2014. It is a small Eastern European country of around 2.5 million people, and an EU candidate country since June 2022.
But the reason Moldova deserves its own article in this series lies elsewhere:
🔴 Moldova operated a citizenship-by-investment programme — launched in 2018 and SUSPENDED in 2020. It lasted roughly two years.
Not for lack of buyers. The cause was pressure from the European Union and international bodies, concerned that a country with Schengen visa-free access selling citizenship creates a gap in the Schengen area itself. Moldova was pursuing European integration, and chose that relationship over the programme's revenue.
This is the most recent example in time within this series, and it adds to a pattern that has become clear:
Seychelles — a 1990s programme, abandoned under international pressure. Moldova — launched 2018, suspended 2020. Nauru — currently running, with the UK having revoked visa-free access. St Vincent and the Grenadines — refused to create one at all, for exactly this reason. Ireland · Netherlands · Portugal · UK · Malta — investment programmes closed or tightened in recent years.
The practical lesson: when a country combines visa-free access to a large bloc with the sale of citizenship, that visa-free access becomes the pressure point. The very thing that makes such a programme attractive is what makes it likely to close.
For readers today: Moldova has no programme to buy. But the country still holds things worth examining, including one route many Moldovans have used that connects directly to the Romania article.
Geography & climate
Moldova lies between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south, landlocked, with gently rolling terrain and fertile black earth.
The capital is Chișinău, where most economic activity concentrates.
🔴 The Transnistria region on the strip east of the Dniester has not been under the control of the Moldovan government since the early 1990s. This is a fact worth knowing because it affects travel, documentation and business activity in that area. Stated as fact, without political commentary.
The climate is temperate continental: four clear seasons, with warm sunny summers — good conditions for agriculture and viticulture.
History
This territory — largely corresponding to historical Bessarabia — changed hands repeatedly among empires: Ottoman, Russian, then part of Romania between the world wars, then a Soviet republic.
Moldova declared independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved. Conflict in Transnistria followed shortly after, producing the situation described above.
Having been part of Romania between the wars has one very concrete consequence today, and it is the most useful piece of information in this article for those researching citizenship:
✅ A great many Moldovans have obtained Romanian citizenship through the restoration route — available to those who lost Romanian citizenship other than by their own choice, and to descendants to the third degree. Because Romania is an EU member, this route confers full EU citizenship, and Romania permits dual nationality.
This is why, in migration terms, Moldova and Romania should be read together. That route is descent-based and so does not apply to most readers, but it explains much of the movement of people and capital between the two countries.
Moldova was granted EU candidate status in June 2022, in the same round as Ukraine.
Culture & people
The state language is Romanian — linguistically the same as spoken in Romania, though its official designation has been a subject of domestic debate. Russian is also widely used, particularly in Chișinău and the east.
Romanian carries the advantage of being a Romance language in the Latin alphabet — more approachable than Russian or the Slavic languages.
English is common in IT and among urban young people.
The population is falling quickly through low birth rates and emigration to the EU — many Moldovans work in Romania, Italy and other EU countries. For newcomers this means an untroubled housing market and low costs, but a narrow domestic labour market.
Moldova has a very old winemaking tradition — the Mileștii Mici cellars are recorded as holding among the world's largest wine collections, in tunnel systems tens of kilometres long.
The Vietnamese community in Moldova is very small.
Economy & opportunity
Moldova has long been among Europe's lowest-income countries, but two sectors merit attention:
Agriculture and wine — fertile black earth, with wine as the emblematic export. The sector has substantially reoriented its markets over the past decade toward the EU.
Information technology — a genuine bright spot. Moldova established Moldova IT Park, a virtual technology park with a single very low unified tax replacing most taxes and contributions for qualifying technology businesses and staff. The mechanism is simple and competitive, and has attracted both domestic firms and foreign companies placing teams there.
For technology workers or software company operators, this is the most substantive reason to look at Moldova — far more concrete than any passport consideration.
Living costs are among the lowest in Europe.
Risks to note: the economy is small and vulnerable, dependent on remittances, and exposed to regional conditions — particularly the war in neighbouring Ukraine, affecting energy, logistics and refugee flows.
As always: Moldovan tax obligations do not replace those in your home country.
Immigration routes
The citizenship-by-investment programme — suspended
Repeated because it is this article's main content: launched 2018, suspended 2020, with no successor. Anyone still offering it is describing something that no longer exists.
Current routes
- Work permits and temporary residence — requiring a contract; the IT sector has easier arrangements.
- Residence through investment and business activity — establishing and running a genuine company. This is activity-based residence, not a card-purchase scheme.
- Study — low fees, with English-taught medical programmes at costs well below Western Europe.
- Family reunification.
- Permanent residence — after continuous temporary residence.
Citizenship
Ordinary naturalisation requires several years of lawful residence — typically on the order of a decade — plus Romanian language ability, knowledge of the Constitution and history, and lawful means of support.
✅ Moldova permits dual citizenship.
But place that in context: with a rank-39 passport and a roughly ten-year path, Moldova is rarely the optimal choice if a passport is the goal. Within this same series, Romania permits dual citizenship with a rank-10 EU passport, and Peru offers a roughly two-year path. Saying so plainly is more useful.
The sound reason to choose Moldova is work — particularly in IT — or personal ties, not passport value.
Everyday life
Living costs are very low by European standards — the clearest advantage for remote workers or those with foreign-currency income.
Housing: the Chișinău market is untroubled, with accessible rental and purchase prices.
Healthcare: the public system is resource-constrained; private care in Chișinău is of reasonable quality at low cost. Highly specialised cases usually go to Romania or Türkiye.
Education: public schools teach in Romanian; international school options exist in Chișinău but are few.
Internet: good and cheap — Moldova has solid telecommunications infrastructure for its income level, a necessary condition for its IT sector.
Travel: Chișinău airport serves many European cities. Travel to Southeast Asia is a multi-leg journey.
Regional security: the border with Ukraine is a factor many families weigh, alongside the Transnistria situation. Consider it on current evidence and consult official travel advisories at the time of deciding.
Who should consider Moldova
A good fit if:
- You work in information technology or run a software company and are interested in the Moldova IT Park unified tax regime — a specific, calculable reason.
- You work remotely and want Europe's lowest living costs with good internet.
- You work in agriculture, food or wine and see export opportunity into the EU.
- You follow Moldova's EU accession as a long-term prospect, understanding it is a multi-year process without a guaranteed timeline.
Not a fit if:
- 🔴 You are being offered a Moldovan citizenship-by-investment programme: suspended since 2020, with no successor.
- You are aiming at passport value: rank 39 with a roughly ten-year path — Romania and Peru in this same series are more sensible choices for that goal.
- You need a broad labour market: 2.5 million people and falling.
- Your family requires regional stability as a precondition.