passport.sv
Glossary
Terms, Defined · 2026
The vocabulary, precise.
El Salvador’s Freedom Passport carries its own language: the decrees that grant it, the offices that screen it, the Bitcoin reserve behind it, and the tax and reporting terms that decide whether any of it reaches you. Here is every term that matters, defined in a sentence or two, with a link to the page that proves it. Numbers are canonical and dated; nothing here is inflated. Read it straight through or jump to the word you came for.
The program
How the route is built.
- Citizenship by Investment (CBI)
- A lawful route to a second citizenship in exchange for a defined contribution to the granting state. In El Salvador the route is the Freedom Passport: a $1,000,000 government contribution settled in Bitcoin or USDT, yielding permanent, hereditary citizenship in 6–8 weeks remote. The full pathway is on the Freedom Passport program page.
- Freedom Passport
- El Salvador’s official name for its citizenship-by-investment program, launched 7 December 2023. A flat $1,000,000 contribution in BTC or USDT, plus $999 per additional applicant, grants permanent and hereditary Salvadoran citizenship with a 132-destination passport, capped at 1,000 grants a year. The program is laid out in full on the program page.
- Licensed Agent
- A firm authorized to prepare and submit Freedom Passport files to the Salvadoran authorities. passport.sv works the file as a licensed agent of the program, The Bitcoin Office and DGME, rather than claiming to be the government itself. Why that chain matters is set out on the legitimacy page.
- Hereditary citizenship
- Citizenship that passes by descent to your children and theirs. Salvadoran citizenship granted under the Freedom Passport is permanent and hereditary, not a status that lapses or renews like a visa, which is part of what separates it from temporary residency routes. The legal footing is on the legitimacy page.
- Non-resident citizen
- A Salvadoran citizen who does not live in, or become tax-resident in, El Salvador. The 0% Bitcoin capital-gains and Non-CRS features apply to non-resident citizens at the Salvadoran level, but home-country rules and FATCA still apply. The honest framing is on the tax page.
Institutions & authorities
Who grants it, and who screens it.
- The Bitcoin Office
- El Salvador’s sovereign Bitcoin agency, which administers the Freedom Passport alongside the DGME and is directed by Stacy Herbert. It manages the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the state’s Bitcoin policy, and it is the institution that makes the program a sovereign offering rather than a private scheme. The institutional picture is on the legitimacy page.
- DGME (Direccion General de Migracion y Extranjeria)
- El Salvador’s immigration authority, which processes Freedom Passport applications and issues the citizenship grant and the passport itself. It is the government body that turns a cleared file into a credential; the passport is produced only after it decides. The path from file to grant is on the timeline page.
- CNAD (Comision Nacional de Activos Digitales)
- El Salvador’s national digital-asset regulator. It supervises the digital-asset framework that makes Bitcoin and USDT viable as the settlement rails for the contribution, which is what lets the entire file be paid on-chain rather than through a bank wire.
- Stacy Herbert
- Director of The Bitcoin Office of El Salvador, the agency that administers the Freedom Passport and manages the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The office is a named, public institution, not an anonymous desk, which is part of why the program is verifiable rather than opaque.
- Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
- El Salvador’s sovereign holding of roughly 7,684 BTC, published transparently at bitcoin.gob.sv and managed by The Bitcoin Office. It is the on-chain evidence that the state holds Bitcoin on its own balance sheet, not only in policy, and it is the reserve a Bitcoin-settled contribution flows toward.
- Geothermal mining
- Bitcoin mining powered by El Salvador’s volcanic geothermal energy. It ties the state’s Bitcoin position to its own renewable resource and is part of why El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy is structural rather than symbolic. The wider story sits on the program page.
Law & compliance
The statute and the screen.
- Legislative Decrees No. 918 and No. 286
- The Salvadoran instruments that establish the Freedom Passport and its legal basis. Citizenship granted lawfully under them is permanent and hereditary, anchored in statute rather than administrative discretion, which is what separates a grant of citizenship from a sale. The legal basis is laid out on the legitimacy page.
- LEAD framework
- The compliance posture under which the Freedom Passport is run: lawful source, enhanced due diligence, and documented provenance for every contribution. It is why a clean, traceable Bitcoin history clears and an unexplained balance does not. The method is on the source-of-funds page.
- KYC / AML / CTF
- Know Your Customer, anti-money-laundering, and counter-terrorist-financing checks: the identity, sanctions, and lawful-source screening run on every applicant before a file is approved. Clearing them is the substance of the program, and a clean file is exactly what the screen rewards. The detail is on the source-of-funds page.
- Source of funds
- Documented proof that the money funding your file is lawfully earned and traceable end to end. For a Bitcoin holder this means an on-chain history tied to a clean origin, reconstructed as UTXO provenance, not a screenshot of a balance. passport.sv runs this reconstruction as standard; the full method is on the source-of-funds page.
- UTXO provenance
- The traceable lineage of the specific unspent transaction outputs that fund your contribution, from origin to the wallet that pays. It is the on-chain form of source-of-funds evidence and the core of what the screen examines, which is why a documented chain matters more than a balance. The reconstruction is detailed on the source-of-funds page.
- Non-CRS
- El Salvador is not a participating jurisdiction in the OECD Common Reporting Standard, so it does not automatically exchange financial-account information through the CRS network. This is a true and material feature, but home-country obligations still apply and the passport creates no privacy from your own tax authority. The honest version is on the Non-CRS page.
- Common Reporting Standard (CRS)
- The OECD framework for the automatic exchange of financial-account information between participating jurisdictions. El Salvador does not participate; many home countries do, and the Freedom Passport changes nothing about reporting where you are tax-resident. The distinction is drawn in full on the Non-CRS page.
- FATCA
- The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which obliges foreign institutions to report US persons’ accounts and obliges US citizens to report worldwide income. It reaches US persons regardless of any second citizenship; the Freedom Passport does not switch it off. Ending US worldwide taxation requires formal renunciation, handled through our sister service exit.ly.
Money & payment
What you pay, and how.
- Settlement asset (BTC / USDT)
- The asset a contribution is paid in. The Freedom Passport settles only in Bitcoin or USDT; no other stablecoin and no fiat rail substitutes for the $1,000,000 contribution, which is paid direct to the government wallet. The mechanics are on the pay-in-Bitcoin page.
- Self-custody
- Holding your own Bitcoin private keys rather than trusting a third party to hold them for you. Self-custodied coins with a clean, documented trail are exactly what the source-of-funds screen rewards; an unexplained balance is what fails it. How a self-custodied position clears is on the source-of-funds page.
- Sats
- Satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin: 1 Bitcoin is 100,000,000 sats. The pricing calculator shows the cost of a file in both BTC and sats at the prevailing rate, for reference, so you can read the figure in whichever unit you think in. Run it on the pricing page.
- Dollarization
- El Salvador’s use of the US dollar as legal tender, in place since 2001. Because the country is dollarized, there is no local-currency FX risk on holdings or on settlement; the unit of account is USD. The full tax and currency picture is on the tax page.
Tax & treaties
What it carries, and what it does not.
- Capital gains
- Tax on the profit from selling an appreciated asset. El Salvador applies 0% capital gains on Bitcoin for foreign investors, retained even after legal tender was repealed on 30 April 2025. Whether that zero reaches you depends on your tax residence, not your citizenship. The worked example and caveat are on the tax page.
- Tax residency vs citizenship
- Two separate statuses. Citizenship is the legal bond to the state and is permanent; tax residency requires physical presence plus genuine economic ties. The Freedom Passport grants the first, not the second, and does not move your tax home or switch off your home country’s rules by itself. The crucial caveat is on the tax page.
- Double Tax Agreement (DTA)
- A treaty that prevents the same income being taxed twice across two jurisdictions. El Salvador holds a full DTA with Spain that blocks double taxation on investment income and allocates the right to tax as enforceable law. The treaty layer is set out on the tax page.
- Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT)
- A treaty protecting foreign investors against nationalization, expropriation, and discriminatory treatment. El Salvador holds six BITs, with the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Panama, and Uruguay, extending protection that survives a change of government. The full treaty picture is on the tax page.
- CA-4
- The Central America-4 free-movement zone covering El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. A Salvadoran citizen moves freely across all four, which is regional mobility layered on top of the passport’s visa-free reach. It sits beside CAFTA-DR and the investment treaties as part of the legal footing.
- CAFTA-DR
- The Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement linking El Salvador, its Central American neighbors, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. It anchors trade and investment access for those operating from El Salvador, alongside the CA-4 zone and the bilateral investment treaties.
Mobility & travel
Where the passport reaches.
- Henley Passport Index
- A widely cited ranking of passports by the number of destinations their holders can enter without a prior visa. The Salvadoran passport reaches 132 destinations and ranks #36, including full Schengen and Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but not the US or UK visa-free. The canonical map is on the Schengen access page and the visa-free map.
- Schengen Area
- The 29-country European zone of borderless travel. The Salvadoran passport carries full visa-free access to all 29 Schengen states, the backbone of its 132-destination reach. The full access picture is on the Schengen access page.
- ETIAS
- The European Travel Information and Authorisation System, a pre-travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors to the Schengen Area, expected in 2026. Salvadoran passport holders keep full Schengen access and will complete the online ETIAS step like other visa-free nationals; it is a form, not a visa. The detail is on the Schengen access page.
The honest line on mobility is the one most pages skip: 132 destinations, Henley #36, full Schengen and the major Asian hubs, but no visa-free entry to the United States or the United Kingdom. The Freedom Passport is a strong regional and European travel document, not a universal key, and the full country-by-country reach is on the Schengen access page and the visa-free map.
Sources & authorities
Where these definitions come from.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Verify any line against the law and your own advisor before you act.
- Legal basis
- The Freedom Passport is established under Legislative Decrees No. 918 and No. 286, administered by The Bitcoin Office and the DGME, with digital-asset settlement supervised by CNAD. Launched 7 December 2023; capped at 1,000 grants a year.
- Pricing
- A flat $1,000,000 contribution in BTC or USDT plus $999 per additional applicant, with the 21 CBI advisory fee at 5%; all-in $1,050,000 for a single applicant and $1,052,997 for a family of four. Itemized on the passport cost page and the pricing page.
- Mobility
- 132 destinations on the Henley Passport Index, ranked #36; full Schengen access to 29 states plus Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong; no US or UK visa-free; ETIAS expected in 2026. Detailed on the Schengen access page.
- Tax & reporting
- 0% Bitcoin capital gains for foreign investors, 0% income tax on Bitcoin earnings, 0% inheritance and wealth-transfer tax, 0% VAT on Bitcoin with a 13% VAT on other goods; dollarized since 2001; Non-CRS. Covered on the tax page and the Non-CRS page.
- Reserve
- El Salvador holds roughly 7,684 BTC in its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, published at bitcoin.gob.sv. Bitcoin’s legal-tender status ran from September 2021 until repeal on 30 April 2025; the 0% foreign-investor treatment was retained.
- Disclaimer
- General information only, not tax, legal, or investment advice. Home-country obligations always apply; US persons remain subject to FATCA. Consult a qualified professional about your specific circumstances.
Terms understood
Now run the numbers.
You know the words; the next step is the math on your own application. Run the calculator to see your all-in figure in dollars, BTC, and sats, then, if El Salvador fits, book a confidential file-read with Adam, where the first thirty minutes go straight to your file, not a sales script.