Thinking of Moving to Europe? Don’t Put it Off

Thinking of Moving to Europe? Don’t Put it Off
Europe’s door is still open—but for how long? Now’s the time to plan your move.|©iStock/pawel.gaul

After the global financial crisis of the early 2010s, many European countries adopted policies to encourage immigration by those with money to spend or invest. Nearly two decades on, that’s changing… and fast.

There’s no immediate threat to retirement or digital nomad visas, the most popular route to European residency. None of the countries popular with North Americans have made any changes to those. But getting permanent residency and citizenship is becoming more difficult.

This year, three countries have either changed their pathways to citizenship or announced plans to do so.

Italy was the first, drastically limiting ancestral citizenship. Then the Portuguese ruling coalition—which just won an election—promised to make naturalization harder to achieve. Finally, the European Court of Justice ruled that Malta’s citizenship by investment program violated the EU constitution.

There are still plenty of ways to get citizenship in Europe, whether through ancestral connections or naturalization. Some countries have even made it easier, like Germany, which now recognizes dual citizenship. But the overall trend is to limit opportunities to become a European citizen.

On the residency front, the biggest change has been the demise of residential property investment for a golden visa. These visas, which give five-year renewable residency without requiring much time in the country, have been popular, especially with people carrying weak passports like Chinese and Russian.

Just as they were becoming popular with North Americans, however, countries began to limit them. Ireland was the first, shutting down its program entirely in 2023. At the end of that year, Portugal announced the end of the housing option. Spain ended its program earlier this year.

Although there are some countries where owning a home will get you residency, the only country still offering a fully-fledged golden visa for buying residential property is Greece. And even there, there is rising political pressure to cancel the program.

Why is this happening, and what does it mean for anyone hoping to move to Europe?

From the perspective of citizenship, the overall trend is to require potential applicants to have meaningful connections to the country in question.

In Italy’s case, there were simply too many potential citizens under the old rules. Anyone with an ancestor alive in Italy in 1860 or afterwards could apply for citizenship. The number, therefore, expanded every generation. Combined with a nativist right-wing government in Rome, this made limits inevitable.

In Portugal, although limitations on naturalization haven’t been announced, there are plans afoot to increase the time needed to qualify, as well as time spent in country. Again, that’s understandable. Under current policy, someone can get a golden visa by investing in a business or other asset, spend almost no time in the country, and after five years qualify for a Portuguese passport. Many Portuguese—and many in the European Union—find this unfair.

A different set of issues has weighed on golden visas. When they were available for a reasonably small investment in residential property, they were extremely popular with foreigners. That’s what they were intended to do. Countries that offered them hope that foreigners would offer the minimum required to get a visa and thereby boost housing prices in the weak post-crisis market. They did that and then some. Countries like Portugal, Spain, and Greece have seen protests against housing shortages, especially from the young.

On the other hand, most European countries that offer them still welcome immigrants who qualify through passive income or remote work. There are three big differences with these types of visas. First, they require you to be in the country, bringing in money from abroad and spending it in the local economy. Second, they trigger tax obligations. Third, they must be renewed periodically, giving governments the opportunity to limit numbers.

There are also countervailing trends in the golden visa space. All countries that offer them now emphasize investment in business, especially new startups. In fact, it’s now possible to get golden visas in places like Spain, Portugal, and Greece at far less cost than before, if you have the right skills to support a new business venture.

The bottom line is that if you are looking to get residency in Europe through investment, you should move quickly. If you have an opportunity to apply for ancestral citizenship start right away—Remember, holding an EU passport lets you live and work anywhere in the bloc.

Finally, if your goal is to retire in Europe, start planning your finances now. The required incomes to qualify for such visas haven’t changed… but who knows what might happen in the near future?

Share