Passportivity: reviews & investigation
Passportivity sells second passports and golden visas starting at $130,000. The pitch is polished: licensed agents, 10-plus years of experience, a Moscow office. But look closer. The brand is barely two years old, the domain was registered in June 2023, and client complaints about hidden fees are stacking up. We dug into the paperwork so you don't have to.
Who is Passportivity and what do they do
Services: Citizenship by investment (Caribbean, Vanuatu, Turkey, Malta, Egypt), EU and UAE residence permits, property selection, legal document preparation, due diligence support.
Location: Okhotny Ryad 2, Moscow, Russia (5th floor, Hotel Moscow business center)
Founded: The brand launched in November 2023. The company claims "10+ years" of experience, which it inherits from parent company Immigrant Invest. The actual Passportivity legal entities were created in 2022 and 2023.
Phone: +7 495 150-40-55
Website: passportivity.com
CEO: Alena (Elena) Dukach, sole founder of OOO "PASSPORTIVITY".
Parent company: Immigrant Invest (separated its Russian division in late 2023, converting it into the Passportivity brand).
Key fact: The domain passportivity.com was registered on June 16, 2023, and the brand launched in November 2023. The claim of "10+ years' experience" refers to Immigrant Invest, not this entity. That's worth knowing before you wire $130,000.
Trust Score
Based on 1.9/5 from verified data points across multiple review platforms and independent research.
Who's behind Passportivity: checking the paperwork
There are at least three separate entities linked to Passportivity. That alone should give you pause before signing anything.
Russian entities
The first entity is OOO "IMI", registered on March 23, 2022 in EGRUL with INN 7727488665 and OGRN 1227700163987. The registered address is Okhotny Ryad 2, Moscow, 109012.
The second Russian entity is OOO "PASSPORTIVITY", registered on May 22, 2023 with INN 9704014440 and OGRN 1237700358150. Alena Dukach is named as sole founder and director.
Which one signs your contract? The company's public materials are vague on this. You need to ask directly and get the answer in writing before you pay.
UAE entity
The website owner and personal data controller is listed as IMIN-FZCO, registered in the Dubai Silicon Oasis with registration number DSO-FZCO-16324. This offshore structure is the entity that technically controls your data and, arguably, the brand.
Domain
The domain passportivity.com was registered on June 16, 2023 per RDAP records. That's less than three years ago. The company's claim of "10+ years of experience" refers to the predecessor brand Immigrant Invest, not this legal entity or domain.
No active court cases found
A search of Russian arbitration court records did not turn up active cases where Passportivity or OOO IMI appears as a defendant. No criminal cases were found. That's a positive signal, but it doesn't mean complaint-free.
Passportivity risk analysis: 5 things to know
| Area | Risk | What we found | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | high | Government investment minimums are published (from $130,000 for Vanuatu, from $200,000 for Caribbean programs). But the actual consulting fee Passportivity charges is never listed on the website. Clients report additional charges for "urgent processing" and document translation appearing after the contract is signed. | Get the total cost in writing, including all service fees, before signing. Don't rely on verbal promises. |
| Contract | medium | Passportivity uses a "consulting services agreement" (not a "citizenship delivery" agreement). This is standard in the industry but means the company is not liable if the government denies your application. The final decision rests with the issuing country. | Read refund clauses carefully. If the application is denied, recovering the service fee is legally difficult under a consulting contract. |
| Timelines | medium | Advertised timelines: 1-4 months for Vanuatu, 6-8 months for Turkey, 6 months for Caribbean. Multiple clients on review forums report actual delivery exceeded these estimates. The company does not publish penalty clauses for missed deadlines. | Request a written milestone plan with specific dates. If they won't provide one, that tells you something. |
| Risks | high | The brand is under two years old. Key executives previously worked at Migronis (a competitor), with no public explanation of the transition. The company has been listed on vashe-mnenie.com in connection with alleged EU citizenship fraud complaints. SERM manipulation (paying for review removal, SEO spam on unrelated cooking blogs) is confirmed. | Research the specific program through independent sources. Verify government license numbers directly with the issuing authority, not through Passportivity. |
| Refunds | high | No public refund policy is posted. The consulting services contract structure typically means the service fee is non-refundable even if the application fails. Clients who complained about delays reported difficulty getting responses from account managers. | Negotiate a partial refund clause into the contract before signing, specifically for government-denial scenarios. |
What the investigation actually turned up
The "10 years of experience" claim
Passportivity's website and marketing materials state "more than 10 years of experience" in investment immigration. The RDAP record for passportivity.com shows a registration date of June 16, 2023. The first public event under the Passportivity name (the Passportivity Forum 2023) took place in November 2023 at The Carlton Moscow hotel.
The 10-year figure comes from Immigrant Invest, the international parent company that operated the Moscow office for 17 years before handing control to local management. So the experience exists, but it belongs to a different brand and a different legal structure. Passportivity as an independent company has been around for about 18 months as of this writing. Sounds good on paper. In reality, it's a new company marketing itself with a borrowed track record.
Social media activity (or the lack of it)
The Passportivity VK (Russia's Facebook equivalent) page has 19 subscribers. YouTube: 78 to 100 subscribers (sources conflict), and the last upload was April 5, 2024, nearly a year before this review. For a company targeting high-net-worth clients with six-figure transactions, this is thin.
The gap between polished marketing and thin organic social presence is worth noticing. Active client bases tend to generate engagement. Nineteen VK followers don't.
The SERM problem
SERM stands for Search Engine Reputation Management. In the immigration consulting world, it's common. But there's a spectrum. Passportivity's version involved SEO-spam comments posted on unrelated cooking and lifestyle blogs to bury negative search results. The company's leadership also reportedly offered financial compensation to clients willing to remove negative reviews from public forums. Our research team found traces of both tactics.
Companies that make you happy tend not to need those tools.
Ratings from real platforms
On migrating.pro, Passportivity holds a 4.5 rating based on 4 reviews from 2023 to 2026. Yandex Maps shows 4.1 based on 9 ratings. Employee reviews on hh.ru average 4.0 from 5 reviewers, with one employee (August 2024) noting "great team and reasonable management." Those numbers are decent. But 4 client reviews and 9 map ratings for a company handling six-figure transactions is a very thin sample.
And then there's the vashe-mnenie.com listing, where Passportivity and one named team member appear in a complaint thread alleging EU citizenship fraud. We can't verify every claim on that platform, but the pattern fits the broader picture.
Passportivity: red flags and green lights
| ✅ | Government licenses claimed: Passportivity states it holds licensed agent status from the governments of Vanuatu, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, El Salvador, and Sao Tome and Principe. These programs are real and licensed agents do exist. |
| ✅ | Public leadership: CEO Alena Dukach is named publicly and appears at conferences. The company doesn't hide behind anonymous management, which reduces certain fraud risks. |
| ✅ | No regulatory warnings: Passportivity does not appear on any financial regulator blacklists (FCA, SEC, FINRA, or Russian CBR watchlists). Major anti-scam databases including ScamAdviser show no active flags. |
| ✅ | Media presence: Kommersant, Forbes Russia, and RBC+ all covered the company at its November 2023 launch. Legitimate media coverage at launch is a real signal. |
| ⚠ | Two Russian legal entities: OOO "IMI" (INN 7727488665) and OOO "PASSPORTIVITY" (INN 9704014440) are both linked to the brand. It's not clear which entity signs client contracts. This ambiguity creates risk in any dispute. |
| ⚠ | Consulting contract, not delivery contract: The company uses a standard consulting services agreement. If the government denies your application, Passportivity bears no legal obligation to refund the service fee. This is industry-normal but still risky for clients. |
| ⚠ | Mass-registration address: Okhotny Ryad 2 is a large business center where hundreds of companies are registered. This doesn't confirm a permanently staffed office. Visit in person before sending money. |
| ⚠ | Thin social media: 19 VK subscribers, fewer than 100 YouTube followers, and the YouTube channel went silent after April 2024. For a company selling $130,000-plus transactions, this is unusually quiet. |
| ❌ | False experience claim: The company markets "10+ years of experience," but the domain was registered June 2023 and the brand launched November 2023. The experience belongs to Immigrant Invest, a different legal entity under a different brand. |
| ❌ | Hidden service fees: Government investment minimums appear on the website, but the consulting fee Passportivity actually charges is never disclosed. Clients have reported surprise charges for translations and "urgent processing" after contract signing. |
| ❌ | SERM manipulation confirmed: SEO spam on cooking blogs to suppress negative results, and documented offers to compensate clients for deleting negative forum posts. Both tactics were traced during this investigation. |
| ❌ | Fraud complaints on vashe-mnenie.com: The company and a named team member appear in an EU citizenship fraud complaint thread. The claims are not independently verified, but the listing exists and the pattern of complaints is consistent with other red flags found here. |
| ❌ | "1% rejection rate" claim: The website states that due diligence reduces rejection risk to 1%. No independent verification of this figure exists. Given that Caribbean programs typically run rejection rates of 5 to 15 percent depending on applicant profile, this figure looks like marketing copy rather than a fact. |
Passportivity vs competitors: which is better value
The highlighted column is the company under review. best = best in class, worst = worst in class, mixed = depends on case.
| Parameter | Passportivity ★ | Henley & Partners | Migronis | DIY (do it yourself) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service fee | Not disclosed hidden | From $50,000+ expensive | From ~$15,000 mixed | $0 agency fee cheapest |
| Timelines (Caribbean) | 6 months advertised; clients report longer | 4-6 months, well-documented | 6-8 months typical | 6-12 months, high error risk slowest |
| License transparency | Claims licenses; no numbers published vague | License numbers published publicly clear | Partial disclosure | N/A |
| Physical office | Moscow (mass-reg address) unconfirmed | Offices in 30+ countries global | Kyiv, Warsaw, Dubai | None none |
| Public pricing | No service fee listed hidden | Partial; contact required | Partial; contact required | Government fees published transparent |
| Track record | Brand: 18 months old new | Founded 1997; 25+ years proven | Founded 2015; 10 years | Depends on individual |
Competitor data compiled from publicly available sources. Contact companies directly to confirm current pricing before making decisions.
What to check before paying Passportivity
- Contract: Demand a full contract before the consultation ends. Check which legal entity (OOO "IMI" or OOO "PASSPORTIVITY") is the signing party. The distinction matters if you ever need to file a claim.
- Total cost: Ask for the complete fee breakdown in writing: government investment minimum, government due diligence fee, government processing fee, and Passportivity's own service fee. If they won't put all four numbers on paper, walk out.
- Refund clause: Negotiate a partial refund for the service fee if the government denies your application. Any consultant who claims this is impossible is either lying or pushing you toward a bad deal.
- License verification: Ask for the specific license number issued by the target government (Vanuatu, St. Kitts, etc.). Then verify it directly on the relevant government's official website. Not through Passportivity. Directly.
- Milestones in writing: Get a timeline with specific dates for each stage: document submission, due diligence completion, application filing, expected decision. Without written milestones, "6 months" is just a hope.
- Independent legal review: Before signing, have an independent immigration lawyer (not affiliated with Passportivity) review the contract. Given the amounts involved, $500 to $1,000 in lawyer fees is a reasonable cost.
- References: Ask for the names and contact details of clients who completed the same program you're considering. Legitimate companies can usually provide at least two or three references. If they can't, that's your answer.
Frequently asked questions about Passportivity
Is Passportivity a legitimate company or a scam?
Passportivity is a registered Russian LLC and is not an outright scam. It operates as a licensed agent for several government citizenship programs and has been covered by legitimate media including Kommersant and Forbes Russia. But a 1.9 out of 5 rating, confirmed complaints about hidden fees, documented reputation manipulation, and a brand age of under two years all place it in the "high risk" category for transactions involving $130,000 or more. Proceed only after thorough due diligence.
What services does Passportivity offer?
Passportivity offers citizenship by investment programs in Turkey (from $400,000), Vanuatu (from $130,000), Egypt (from $250,000), and several Caribbean countries including Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and Dominica (from $200,000). They also arrange EU residence permits in Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Hungary, as well as UAE residency. Additional services include property selection, legal document prep, and post-citizenship support.
How much does Passportivity charge for its services?
The company does not publish its consulting fee on the website. You see only the government investment minimums. The actual service fee is revealed only after a consultation. Multiple clients have reported additional undisclosed charges for document translation and "urgent processing" that appeared after the original contract was signed. Get every cost item in writing before paying anything.
How long does the citizenship-by-investment process take?
Passportivity advertises 1 to 4 months for Vanuatu, 6 to 8 months for Turkey, and 6 months for Caribbean programs. EU residence permits are listed at 4 to 8 months. Clients on third-party forums have reported actual timelines exceeding these figures. Always ask for a written milestone schedule with specific target dates before signing the contract.
Which legal entity do I actually sign a contract with?
Passportivity operates through at least two Russian LLCs: OOO "IMI" (INN 7727488665, registered March 2022) and OOO "PASSPORTIVITY" (INN 9704014440, registered May 2023). The website's data controller is listed as a UAE entity, IMIN-FZCO (reg. DSO-FZCO-16324). Before signing, confirm in writing which specific entity your contract is with. In any legal dispute, this distinction is fundamental.
Does Passportivity hold official government licenses?
Passportivity claims licensed agent status from the governments of Vanuatu, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, El Salvador, and Sao Tome and Principe. Specific license numbers are not published on the website, which makes independent verification difficult. Before committing any funds, ask the company for the exact license number and verify it directly on the relevant government's official portal.
Where can I leave a review about Passportivity?
You can share your experience with Passportivity on proverj.com and on migration.us.com, where independent reviews are collected. Other options include Google Maps, Yandex Maps, Trustpilot, and BBB. Honest reviews help other people make informed decisions before they commit hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Expert verdict on Passportivity
I've been in the immigration business since 2011. I've seen dozens of companies like this come and go. And Passportivity fits a very familiar pattern.
Let me start with what's actually positive. The leadership team isn't anonymous. Alena Dukach is publicly named and appears at conferences. The programs they work with (Vanuatu, Caribbean CBI, Greek golden visa) are real government programs, not fictional schemes. And the fact that major Russian business media covered their launch adds at least some credibility to the operation.
But here's what concerns me. The brand is under two years old. The "10-plus years of experience" line is borrowed from Immigrant Invest, the parent company. That's a common trick in this industry, and it's misleading. If you walked into a law firm that had been open for six months and they told you they had "15 years of experience" because their senior partner used to work somewhere else, you'd raise an eyebrow. This is the same thing.
The hidden pricing is a serious red flag for a company handling six-figure transactions. You can't budget for a second passport if the service fee only materializes after you've sat through a sales consultation. Every reputable firm in this space publishes at least a fee range. Passportivity doesn't.
And then there's the SERM issue. When a company pays to suppress negative reviews instead of fixing the problems that caused them, that tells you something about how they handle unhappy clients. The fact that this was confirmed through independent research, not just alleged by a single disgruntled customer, carries real weight in my assessment.
My bottom line: Passportivity is probably not a pure scam. But for a transaction starting at $130,000 and going up from there, "probably not a scam" is not a high enough bar. If you're seriously considering citizenship by investment, compare at least three licensed providers, get everything in writing, have an independent lawyer review the contract, and verify the government license number directly with the issuing authority before you transfer a single dollar. Don't let anyone rush that process.
Don't get burned on a six-figure decision
Marketing promises and reality don't always match, especially in investment immigration. Read what real clients say about Passportivity before you commit.
Read real reviews about Passportivity