Guide
Where to retire in Europe: the routes, compared without romance
By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026
The income-bar countries
Four countries run classic means-tested retirement visas, each documented on its own page from the sources. Spain's non-lucrative visa — the volume route, with authorised-insurer cover as its distinctive demand and two-year renewals after year one. Portugal's D7 — the low-bar door, its insurance asked at two separate stages. France's visitor card — the bar floating on the net SMIC, renewed annually. Greece's FIP route — a flat monthly figure with Schengen-standard cover at the visa stage. The income tool quotes each bar from its government source, updated as they move.
Behind all four sits the same annual truth: the visa is won once, but the insurance line is re-read at every renewal — the pattern our renewals family documents country by country.
The hard modes and the priced modes
Italy's elective residence is the evidentiary hard mode: no single national threshold, consulates expecting resources well beyond the ~€31–32k they sometimes quote, work banned and earned income disqualified as proof. Austria is the expensive mode with a lottery attached: double pension-reference rates and an annual quota that can simply run out. Malta replaces income bars with price tags — the MPRP's fee-and-contribution schedule buys permanent residence directly. Belgium's rentier visa is the quiet European outlier almost nobody writes about.
And two honest absences, verified on the agencies' own pages: the Netherlands publishes no retirement route, and Germany none either — plans built on "there must be a way" for those two are plans built on air. Ireland's Stamp 0 exists but sits outside the countries we arrange cover for.
60-second check
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Check my policyHow to actually choose
Three questions sort almost everyone. What does your income look like? Pension-only favours Portugal, France or Spain; capital-heavy opens Malta; borderline numbers rule out Austria and Italy first. How much annual paperwork will you tolerate? France renews yearly, Spain two-yearly, Malta hands you permanence up front. Where do you actually want the healthcare? Each hub documents what the public system gives residents and what the visa demands privately — and our where-to-move tool weighs the livability data underneath. When the shortlist is two countries long, check your existing cover against both rules and let the certificates argue: