Europe's residency-by-investment landscape: what remains, and how it differs

Europe was once the default answer to "where should a family buy a residence permit?" Today the continent is a patchwork: several famous routes are gone, a few have been reshaped, and a second tier of less-marketed programs has quietly become more relevant. This guide maps what remains, groups it into categories that actually behave differently, and flags the questions that matter before any capital moves.

First, what no longer exists

A map of European residence-by-investment has to start with its closed doors, because they are still marketed:

• Spain's Golden Visa was abolished by Organic Law 1/2025, effective 3 April 2025, across every investment category.
• Ireland's Immigrant Investor Programme closed in February 2023.
• The UK's Tier 1 (Investor) visa closed to new applicants on 17 February 2022. Its Innovator Founder route is a business-plan visa without a fixed capital threshold, a different instrument.
• Portugal's real-estate route was removed in October 2023. The program continues through a regulated fund investment.
• Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme was held contrary to EU law by the Court of Justice on 29 April 2025. Malta's residence programme, which is a different instrument, continues.

Three families of European program

1. The classic golden visas

Fixed-formula routes, with a defined investment, a defined holding period and a renewable residence permit or a path to permanent residence:

These are the programs most people mean by "golden visa." They are also the most exposed to political change, because they are the most visible. Read the risk guide before treating any of them as stable.

2. Business and fund-based routes

A newer cluster ties residence to an operating or financial commitment rather than property:

• Hungary's Guest Investor Program (real-estate fund, from €250,000).
• Bulgaria (alternative investment or ETF fund, €512,000).
• Latvia (business equity from €60,000. Since 15 September 2026 a new Immigration Law has ended the real-estate and bank routes, and a state-fund route is written into law but not yet operational).
• Luxembourg (business investment from €500,000, with real estate explicitly excluded).
• Austria (discretionary, with indicative contributions between €3 million and €10 million).

These suit applicants who want to hold something other than property. They also demand more diligence on the instrument itself: fund quality, manager standing and exit terms matter as much as the permit.

3. Solvency, tax and discretionary residence

Some European residences are not investments at all:

• Switzerland: lump-sum taxation, an annually negotiated tax on deemed living expenses.
• Monaco: residence on proof of financial self-sufficiency and a local housing commitment, with an indicative banking-practice threshold of about €500,000 rather than a statutory minimum.
• Jersey: a high-value residency with a property requirement and an annual tax contribution.
• Montenegro and Serbia: residence through real-estate ownership, at much lower price points and outside the EU.

Comparing these with a €500,000 fund on a single "minimum investment" line is misleading. The right comparison is the recurring cost against the rights obtained.

What a European residence permit does, and does not, give you

• Residence in the issuing state. That is the core right, subject to conditions such as holding the investment and renewing on time.
• Limited onward travel. Holders of residence permits issued by Schengen states can generally travel within the Schengen area for short stays, usually up to 90 days in any 180. This is not a right to live or work in other member states.
• No automatic work rights elsewhere, and in some programs no automatic work rights in the issuing state either. Check the specific permit.
• No citizenship by itself. Naturalisation depends on years of lawful residence, language and integration requirements, and in many countries physical presence that an investor-only permit does not create.
• No change in tax residence on its own. Moving tax residence requires genuinely moving your life. See citizenship, residency and tax residency.

Seven questions to ask about any European route

1. Is the route currently open, and what is the legislative outlook?
2. What exactly is the qualifying asset, and who vets and regulates it?
3. How long must it be held, and can it be sold or redeemed without losing status?
4. What physical presence is required to renew, and what is needed for a path to permanent residence?
5. Does the permit allow work, and for whom among your dependants?
6. What are the all-in costs, including taxes, transaction costs and annual charges? See the true cost.
7. What is the realistic timeline, from filing to physical card?

Choosing among the three families

The classic golden visas suit applicants who want a recognisable, property- or fund-based residence and accept the policy risk. The business and fund routes suit those who would rather hold a financial instrument than a building, and who can diligence it. The solvency and tax routes suit people whose circumstances, such as a high income and genuine willingness to live there, make a tax-based residence the point of the exercise. In every case the starting question is not "which country" but "which outcome, and what am I prepared to commit?" See sequencing a second passport for the broader framework.

Explore every European program on the Atlas, or ask us to shortlist for your situation.