Tool · 55 routes · 8 countries
Which visa do I need for Europe?
By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026
Narrow it down
Every route stays on the page whatever you pick — this only hides the ones that do not match, so you can always widen it again. Nothing here is a judgement about whether you would be accepted; it is what each government publishes about its own route.
Living on savings or a pension
8 routes · Austria · France · Greece · Italy · Malta · Portugal · Spain
Austria — Settlement Permit excluding gainful employment (Niederlassungsbewilligung – ausgenommen Erwerbstätigkeit, § 44 NAG)
Austria's route for settling without working — pensioners and financially independent people living on foreign pensions, profits from businesses abroad, or returns on assets, savings and company shareholdings.
No local work permitted. The title itself is defined as authorising “befristete Niederlassung ohne Ausübung einer Erwerbstätigkeit” — fixed-term settlement without any gainful activity. Erwerbstätigkeit covers employed and self-employed work alike, so neither is permitted. Note the exclusion bites on local work only: the income you must show is expressly income from outside, such as foreign pensions and returns on assets.
⚠️ Two traps. First, this route requires DOUBLE the standard rate — § 44 Abs. 1 Z 3 says income must equal “dem Zweifachen der Richtsätze des § 293 ASVG”, so the general migration.gv.at page quoting €1,308.39 is the baseline for other permits, not this one. Second, A1 German must be proved BEFORE arrival when first applying for this permit, on a diploma less than a year old.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 44, § 8 Abs. 1 Z 5, § 13, § 45; migration.gv.at; oesterreich.gv.at; Bundesministerium für Inneres, Informationsbroschüre über die Unterhaltsberechnung (2026) — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
France — Long-stay visitor visa and visitor residence card (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour « visiteur »)
For someone who can prove they are able to live in France on their own resources alone, and who undertakes to carry out no professional activity in France.
No local work permitted. Among the most explicit prohibitions of any route here. CESEDA art. L426-20 requires the holder to undertake “à n'exercer en France aucune activité professionnelle”, then states that by way of derogation from the general rule giving residence-card holders the right to work, “cette carte n'autorise pas l'exercice d'une activité professionnelle”. Prefectures require a handwritten sworn undertaking not to work. ⚠️ Note precisely what is NOT settled: the prohibition is worded as activity “en France”, and the source does not address remote work performed from France for an employer or client abroad. We will not present that as permitted.
⚠️ This figure moved mid-year. The test is pegged to the net annual minimum wage rather than a fixed sum, and the published net SMIC rose to €1,477.93 a month on 1 June 2026 from €1,443.11 on 1 January. Any figure sourced before June 2026 is stale.
Official source: Légifrance — Code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile (CESEDA) art. L426-20, L414-10, and L426-17 to L426-19 for long-term residence — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Greece — Financially Independent Person — residence permit for third-country nationals with sufficient means of subsistence, title I.8 (Art. 163 par. 8, Law 5038/2023)
For people who will support themselves in Greece from stable income they already have — typically a foreign pension or investment income — without working in Greece.
No local work permitted. The controlling instrument is explicit, and this is the hardest work prohibition of any route here. The ministerial decision sets the threshold for third-country nationals “without providing dependent employment or exercising independent economic activity in Greece”. You may not take a Greek job and you may not trade or freelance in Greece.
The Ministry's own English “categories of residence permits” page is still written against the repealed Law 4251/2014 and must not be relied on. This entry follows the Gazette-published decision instead.
Official source: Joint Ministerial Decision No. οικ. 225679, Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ) Β′ 5223 of 17.09.2024, Ministry of Migration & Asylum; Ministry circular of 3 June 2024 on Law 5038/2023 — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Italy — Elective residence visa (visto per residenza elettiva)
For someone moving permanently to Italy who can support themselves there from substantial, stable private income not derived from employment — pensions, annuities, property income, or stable economic activities.
No local work permitted. The bar operates twice, and the issuing consulates put it in unusually blunt terms. The Consulate General in New York states this visa “DOES NOT ALLOW ANY WORK ACTIVITIES IN ITALY” and that means “CANNOT be derived from ANY FORM OF EMPLOYMENT”; Los Angeles adds that holders “are not allowed to work in Italy”, that “Income from work is ineligible for the purposes of this visa”, and that the holder “is not allowed to work or seek employment under any conditions”. So it prohibits working in Italy AND disqualifies earned income as proof of means — a combination unique among the retirement routes here.
The income figure is genuinely set at consulate level and the missions do not agree: New York publishes “typically around €31,000 per person” while Los Angeles publishes no figure at all, only “substantial and stable private income”, and notes the consular administration may request further documents. Treat any figure as a consulate-published guide, not national policy.
Official source: Ministero degli Affari Esteri — Consulate General of Italy in New York, “Elective residency”, cross-checked against the Consulate General in Los Angeles; statutory basis D.M. 850 of 11 May 2011, with D.Lgs 286/1998 arts. 5 and 9 — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Malta — Malta Retirement Programme — special tax status (Legal Notice 317 of 2012 as amended by Legal Notice 269 of 2014)
For non-Maltese nationals who are not in an employment relationship and receive a pension as their regular source of income, granting a beneficial Maltese tax status.
Local work restricted. Narrowly bounded, and worth reading in full before relying on it. A beneficiary may hold a non-executive post on the board of a company resident in Malta, which the tax authority spells out as meaning the beneficiary is prohibited from being employed by that company in any capacity. Beneficiaries may also take part in the activities of an institution, trust or foundation of a public character engaged in philanthropic, educational or research work in Malta. Anything beyond that is not permitted.
The pension must be received in Malta and make up at least 75% of chargeable income. Property owned at €275,000 in Malta or €220,000 in Gozo and south Malta, or rented at €9,600 or €8,750 a year on a minimum 12-month lease. Minimum annual tax €7,500 plus €500 per dependant. This confers tax status only — a third-country national still needs a residence permit from Identità, which these guidelines do not cover.
Official source: Malta Tax and Customs Administration — Malta Retirement Programme Rules and Guidelines, Version 4.0 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Malta
Malta — Global Residence Programme — special tax status for non-EU nationals (Global Residence Programme Rules, 2013)
For people who are not nationals of the EU, EEA or Switzerland and are not long-term residents, who want to establish a Maltese tax residence on their own means. Unlike the Retirement Programme it is not limited to pensioners.
Local work restricted. The more permissive of Malta's two special-tax routes, and the wording matters: beneficiaries are not precluded from working in Malta, provided they satisfy the requisite conditions for obtaining a work permit. So local work is allowed in principle, but only after separately clearing Malta's work-permit process. Beneficiaries may also employ household staff in the qualifying property.
Property owned at €275,000 in Malta excluding the south, or €220,000 in south Malta and Gozo; rented at €9,600 a year, or €8,750 in south Malta and Gozo. Minimum annual tax €15,000. Confers tax status only — the residence-permit step is separate.
Official source: Malta Tax and Customs Administration — Global Residence Programme Rules and Guidelines, Version 2.0 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Malta
Portugal — D7 residence visa — retirement, pension or passive income (visto de residência: aposentados, titulares de rendimentos próprios)
For people who will live in Portugal on income they already have — a pension, or passive income from property, intellectual or financial assets — rather than on money earned in Portugal.
The source does not say. Portugal does not publish an answer. The Visa Portal files this route under retirement and passive income and asks only for a document certifying the pension amount or revenue from property or assets; AIMA's general-regime page lists the conditions and says nothing granting or refusing access to the Portuguese labour market. AIMA's separate page for employed work shows that moving into a local job is done by substituting the residence title, which suggests a title change rather than an automatic right — but that is our inference, not published wording.
The €920 figure traces to PCM Regulatory Decree n.º 139/2025 of 29 December, which sets the 2026 minimum wage.
Official source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Portugal Visa Portal (means of subsistence); AIMA — Autorização de Residência, Regime e Requisitos Gerais, Art. 77.º n.º 1; Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, Diário da República — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Spain — Non-lucrative residence visa and authorisation (visado y autorización de residencia temporal no lucrativa)
Applied for from your country of origin, this permits you and your family to reside in Spain without carrying out employment or professional activities.
No local work permitted. The status is defined as being authorised to reside “sin realizar actividades laborales o profesionales” — without carrying out employment or professional activities — and the means test is framed as sufficient resources “sin necesidad de desarrollar ninguna actividad laboral o profesional”. It is enforced evidentially too: where your means derive from shares in companies based in Spain, you must produce a company certificate that you carry out no work in them plus a sworn declaration. The ministry's own FAQ confirms the bar covers remote work — asked whether a non-lucrative holder can rely on remote work already performed, it answers “No. The non-lucrative temporary residence authorisation does not permit work.”
🚨 Two things a self-funded mover must know. First, renewal requires having lived in Spain “de forma real y efectiva” for more than 183 days in the calendar year — this route is not compatible with part-year living, and it puts you into Spanish tax residency. Second, the IPREM behind the figure is still the 2023 amount, in force in 2026 only because no subsequent state budget has been enacted and the 2023 one stands extended; if a new budget passes, every IPREM-linked figure moves at once.
Official source: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Hoja informativa 6; Real Decreto 1155/2024 arts. 60 to 64 and art. 176 (BOE-A-2024-24099); Ley Orgánica 4/2000 arts. 30 bis and 31 — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Working remotely for employers or clients abroad
5 routes · Greece · Italy · Malta · Portugal · Spain
Greece — Digital nomad — national entry visa and residence title Z.1 (Art. 68, Law 5038/2023, as affected by Law 5275/2026)
For self-employed people, freelancers and employees who can perform their work remotely using communications technology for employers or clients outside Greece.
No local work permitted. The statutory framing limits the route to people working remotely for employers or clients outside Greece, and the state-backed Work From Greece portal states it plainly: you will not have the right to work for a Greek company during this period, either permanently or on a freelance basis.
The permit stage changed with Law 5275/2026 and the amended Article 68 text could not be retrieved from an official source, so the two-year permit length rests on the state portal rather than the statute.
Official source: Joint Ministerial Decision No. οικ. 225679 (ΦΕΚ Β′ 5223 of 17.09.2024) for the threshold; Law 5275/2026 (ΦΕΚ Α′ 17 of 06.02.2026) for the visa-then-permit structure; Work From Greece (state portal) — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Italy — Digital nomad and remote worker visa (visto per nomadi digitali e lavoratori da remoto)
For a highly qualified person carrying out that highly qualified work from Italy using technology that lets them work remotely — either self-employed as a “digital nomad”, or as an employee or collaborator as a “remote worker”.
Local work restricted. This is where Italy differs sharply from Spain, and it is easy to get backwards. Setting out the Interministerial Decree of 29 February 2024, the Italian Embassy in Pristina states for the remote-worker branch that “THE EMPLOYER OR CLIENT MAY HAVE ITS REGISTERED OFFICE IN ITALY OR ABROAD”. There is no foreign-employer-only rule and no percentage cap on Italian clients of the kind Spain imposes. The binding restriction is the MODE of work, not its source: the activity must be highly qualified and performed remotely through technological tools. Procedurally it also sits outside the ordinary labour channels and outside the quota.
Also required: highly qualified status (a tertiary qualification of at least three years, or a regulated-profession qualification, or five years' comparable experience, or three years within the last seven for ICT managers and specialists); medical and hospitalisation insurance valid nationally for the stay; suitable accommodation evidenced by a registered rental contract or proof of ownership; and at least six months' prior experience as a digital nomad or remote worker.
Official source: Ministero degli Affari Esteri — Embassy of Italy in Pristina, “Digital nomad and remote worker visa”, setting out the Interministerial Decree of 29 February 2024 (Gazzetta Ufficiale, 4 April 2024) implementing D.Lgs 286/1998 art. 27 — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Malta — Nomad Residence Permit
Lets someone who works remotely keep their existing employment based in another country while legally living in Malta.
No local work permitted. Explicitly prohibited, and Malta closes the obvious loophole too. The Agency states a holder cannot offer their services or be engaged in any economic activity with employers or companies based or registered in Malta, and that violation risks revocation. It adds that people contracted by a foreign company who provide services to that company's Maltese subsidiary are not eligible. The permitted patterns are employment with a foreign-registered employer, conducting business for a foreign company as partner or shareholder, or freelance work for clients outside Malta.
Applicants who applied before 1 April 2024 keep the earlier €32,400 threshold. Renewal requires bank statements showing Malta-based transactions for at least five cumulative months of the preceding year.
Official source: Residency Malta Agency — Nomad Residence Permit eligibility page and FAQs — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Portugal — D8 residence visa — professional activity performed remotely (visto de residência para exercício de atividade profissional prestada de forma remota)
For people who will keep earning from work performed remotely for employers or clients outside Portugal while living in Portugal.
Local work restricted. AIMA defines the permit's scope as professional activity performed remotely for outside the national territory, and asks for a declaration from your employer or service client confirming the arrangement. Neither AIMA nor the Visa Portal publishes an explicit prohibition on taking Portuguese clients, so the honest reading is that the permit is granted for outward-facing remote work and the source is silent on local work.
Official source: AIMA — Autorização de Residência para atividade profissional prestada de forma remota, Art. 88.º n.º 1; Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Portugal Visa Portal — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Spain — International teleworking visa and authorisation (visado y autorización de residencia para teletrabajo de carácter internacional)
For moving to Spain to carry out employment or professional activity remotely for companies based outside Spain, exclusively through computer and telecommunications systems.
Local work restricted. Spain draws a hard line between the two employment forms, and it is the sharpest contrast with Italy on this page. Art. 74 bis of Ley 14/2013: if you are an EMPLOYEE you “solo podrá trabajar para empresas radicadas fuera del territorio nacional” — you may work only for companies based outside Spain. If you are SELF-EMPLOYED you may work for a company located in Spain “siempre y cuando el porcentaje de dicho trabajo no sea superior al 20 %” of your total professional activity, and never as an employee. Work must in all cases be performed exclusively through remote means, and duties must not require on-site supervision. Registration with Spanish Social Security is mandatory, and failure to register after grant terminates the authorisation for you and your dependants.
This route tracks the minimum wage, NOT the IPREM that the non-lucrative route uses — the two have diverged sharply, because the minimum wage was raised to €1,221 a month for 2026 by Real Decreto 126/2026 of 18 February while the IPREM has been frozen since 2023. The statutory article is 74 BIS, not 74.
Official source: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos — official English FAQ for international teleworkers (April 2026); Ley 14/2013 arts. 62 and 74 bis to 74 quinquies (BOE-A-2013-10074) — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Self-employed or starting a business locally
15 routes · Austria · France · Germany · Italy · Malta · Portugal · Spain
Austria — Red-White-Red Card — Self-employed Key Workers (selbständige Schlüsselkräfte, § 41 Abs. 2 Z 4 NAG with § 24 Abs. 1 AuslBG)
Austria's route for establishing and running your own business, where the self-employed occupation creates macroeconomic benefit going beyond its own operational benefit.
Local work restricted. Entitles you to fixed-term settlement and the pursuit of the specific self-employed occupation described in your application and cleared by the Public Employment Service — not salaried work. Trade authorisations must be produced where the trade requires them. No points system applies to this category.
There is no salary or personal-income threshold. The statutory test is macroeconomic benefit, satisfied by any of four alternatives: a sustained transfer of at least €100,000 of investment capital to Austria, creating new or securing existing Austrian jobs, transferring know-how or introducing new technologies, or a business of considerable significance for a whole region. The €100,000 is one form of evidence of benefit, not a purchasable entitlement.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 24 Abs. 1 and Abs. 3; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 41 Abs. 2 Z 4 and Abs. 5, § 8 Abs. 1 Z 1 and Z 4, § 43 Abs. 4, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Austria
Austria — Red-White-Red Card — Start-up Founders (Start-up-GründerInnen, § 41 Abs. 2 Z 5 NAG with § 24 Abs. 2 AuslBG)
For founding a company to develop and bring to market innovative products, services, processing methods or technologies, while personally exercising controlling influence over its management.
Local work restricted. Entitles you to fixed-term settlement and self-employed work. Salaried work is not covered and requires a formal change of purpose to one of the employment card categories, meeting that category's requirements, points and a binding job offer. Entry conditions include a coherent business plan, personal controlling influence over management, and company capital of at least €30,000 with at least half of it equity.
No personal-income threshold; the financial gate is capital of at least €30,000, half equity. A points test then applies with a pass mark of 50 of a maximum 85, scoring qualification, matching work experience, language skills, and bonus points for additional investment capital of at least €50,000, admission to an Austrian business incubator or funding by an Austrian start-up agency, and being under 35.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 24 Abs. 2, Abs. 3 and Abs. 4; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 41 Abs. 2 Z 5 and Abs. 5, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Austria
France — Entrepreneur and self-employed professional card (carte de séjour temporaire « entrepreneur/profession libérale »)
For someone carrying on a non-salaried activity in France that is economically viable and provides sufficient means of subsistence, in compliance with the legislation applicable to that activity.
Local work restricted. CESEDA art. L421-5 issues the card for “une activité non salariée, économiquement viable et dont il tire des moyens d'existence suffisants”. The permission is to the self-employed activity, not to salaried employment — taking a job as an employee is a different card and requires a change of status. Since Décret n°2025-539 of 13 June 2025 an opinion on the economic viability of the project is required from the foreign-workforce authority for all activities, including the liberal professions.
There is deliberately no euro figure here. The statute sets a qualitative test — economically viable, sufficient means — and prefectures apply it by reference to the minimum wage in practice. Do not treat any circulating figure as a legal threshold for this route.
Official source: Légifrance — CESEDA art. L421-5 and L421-6 (Section 2, Étranger exerçant une activité non salariée) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: France
France — Talent residence card — project holder, business creation (« talent-porteur de projet », création d'entreprise)
For a master's-level graduate, or someone with at least five years' comparable professional experience, creating a real and serious business in France or carrying out an innovative economic project recognised by a public body.
Local work restricted. Granted for the business-creation or innovative project that justified it, with the general right of a multi-year card holder to work in metropolitan France attaching. In substance the permission is to run and work in the funded project rather than a general licence to take salaried employment elsewhere. Before applying you must obtain the economy ministry's opinion on the real and serious character of the project.
Requires project financing of at least €30,000. Note that this is a PROJECT-FINANCING threshold, not a personal income requirement — a distinction that matters when comparing it against the income figures elsewhere on this site.
Official source: Légifrance — CESEDA art. L421-16 and art. R421-33 et seq. (sub-section “Création d'entreprise, projet économique innovant et investissement”), as amended by Décret n°2025-539 du 13 juin 2025 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: France
Germany — Freelance residence permit for the liberal professions (Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Ausübung einer freiberuflichen Tätigkeit, § 21 Abs. 5 AufenthG)
For someone who will work in Germany as a freelancer in one of the liberal professions, on their own account rather than as an employee.
Local work restricted. § 21 Abs. 5 authorises the named freelance activity only, and any professional licence the profession requires “muss erteilt worden oder ihre Erteilung zugesagt sein” — must already be granted or promised. Salaried employment is not covered; the mirror provision in § 21 Abs. 6 shows that adding a second kind of activity needs separate permission.
The no-threshold finding is confirmed against the statute: § 2 Abs. 3 lists the permits that get a fixed monthly minimum and § 21 appears nowhere in it, and Make it in Germany's 2026 minimum-amounts table has no § 21 row at all. The assessment is the § 21 Abs. 1 Satz 2 business test — viability of the idea, entrepreneurial experience, capital deployed, employment effects, contribution to innovation — with the chambers of commerce and licensing authorities consulted.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 21 Abs. 5, § 21 Abs. 6, § 7 Abs. 2, § 9 Abs. 2, § 30 Abs. 1; Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Make it in Germany — visa for self-employment — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Germany — The over-45 condition on German self-employment permits (angemessene Altersversorgung, § 21 Abs. 3 AufenthG)
Not a separate route. § 21 Abs. 3 is an extra condition attached to every German self-employment or freelance permit where the applicant is over 45, requiring adequate old-age provision.
Local work restricted. The work rule is whatever the underlying § 21 permit allows — business self-employment under Abs. 1, or freelance activity under Abs. 5. Abs. 3 adds only an eligibility condition: applicants older than 45 “soll die Aufenthaltserlaubnis nur erteilt werden, wenn sie über eine angemessene Altersversorgung verfügen”.
🚨 Read this before relying on any figure you have seen elsewhere. There is NO income threshold here and no option to satisfy it with salary. The widely quoted €55,770 a year belongs to § 18 Abs. 2 Nr. 5, which applies to first issue of a SALARIED skilled-worker permit under §§ 18a or 18b after your 45th birthday. We published that figure against this route ourselves until 30 July 2026 and it was wrong in the direction that misleads.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 21 Abs. 3 and § 18 Abs. 2 Nr. 5; Auswärtiges Amt, Mindestgehalt Arbeitsmigration 2026 (09.01.2026); Bundesministerium des Innern, Anwendungshinweise zum Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Germany — Residence permit for business self-employment (Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Ausübung einer selbständigen Tätigkeit, § 21 Abs. 1 AufenthG)
For setting up and running a trade or business in Germany, as distinct from practising a liberal profession as a freelancer.
Local work restricted. The permit authorises the described self-employed activity, not salaried work. It is granted where there is an economic interest or regional need, the activity is expected to have positive economic effects, and financing is secured by equity or a loan commitment. § 21 Abs. 6 is the route by which a holder of a permit for some other purpose may be allowed to add self-employment.
No minimum investment sum is published. The assessment criteria are the viability of the business idea, your entrepreneurial experience, the amount of capital deployed, effects on employment and training, and contribution to innovation and research — with the chambers of commerce, trade authorities and professional bodies consulted.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 21 Abs. 1, Abs. 4, Abs. 6, § 30 Abs. 1; Make it in Germany — visa for self-employment; Bundesministerium des Innern, Anwendungshinweise notes 21.0 and 21.4 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Germany
Germany — Residence permit to prepare founding a company on a start-up scholarship (§ 21 Abs. 2b AufenthG)
For a skilled worker preparing to found a company in Germany while receiving a subsistence-covering start-up scholarship from a German business organisation or public body out of public funds.
Local work restricted. The permit covers the preparatory stay only. It confers no entitlement to salaried employment, and actually trading requires moving to § 21 Abs. 1 or Abs. 5. Note the practical gate: without a qualifying German publicly funded scholarship this route is unavailable however much money you have of your own.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 21 Abs. 2b, § 18 Abs. 3, § 30 Abs. 1; Bundesministerium des Innern, Anwendungshinweise notes 21.2b.0 to 21.2b.1.4 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Germany
Italy — Self-employment visa (visto per lavoro autonomo)
For someone intending to carry on a non-occasional self-employed activity in Italy — industrial, professional, artisanal or commercial — including setting up a company or taking corporate office.
Local work restricted. Art. 26 of D.Lgs 286/1998 permits entry for “un'attività non occasionale di lavoro autonomo”, provided the activity is not one reserved by law to Italian or EU citizens. The permission is specific rather than general: the visa carries “l'espressa indicazione dell'attività cui il visto si riferisce” — an express statement of the activity it relates to. Salaried employment is a different permit. You must also hold the legal requirements for that specific activity including professional-register enrolment, and an attestation issued within the previous three months that there is no impediment to the required licence.
🚨 Read the constraint before the requirements: this visa is issued only within an annual national quota, and the current three-year flows decree sets self-employment at 650 entries for 2026 — out of 164,850 total entries. Six hundred and fifty places nationally. The income test is qualitative and indexed rather than a published figure: suitable accommodation plus annual lawful income above the healthcare cost-sharing exemption minimum, the same reference the digital nomad route multiplies by three.
Official source: Ministero dell'Interno / Normattiva — D.Lgs 25 July 1998 n. 286 art. 26 and art. 5(3-quater); quota set by DPCM of 15 October 2025 (programmazione dei flussi 2026-2028) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Italy
Malta — Malta Startup Residence Programme
For founders and co-founders launching an innovative startup in Malta, plus the core employees needed to get it operating, with the business plan approved by Malta Enterprise.
Local work permitted. Founders, co-founders and core employees work in Malta through the startup and hold an employment licence. Core employees need a full-time Maltese employment contract at a minimum €30,000 a year. The limit that catches families out: a family member's permit does not grant automatic access to the labour market, though they may apply separately through the existing processes.
Tangible investment or paid-up share capital of at least €25,000, plus €10,000 per co-founder beyond four, maximum six co-founders. The business must be under seven years old globally and meet at least two innovation criteria.
Official source: Residency Malta Agency — Malta Startup Residence Programme Eligibility and Requirements, V4.2, August 2025 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Malta
Malta — Employment Licence for a self-employed third-country national (Jobsplus Employment Licences Unit)
The route for someone who wants to be self-employed in Malta rather than employed, applied for outside the Single Permit process through the Jobsplus Employment Licences Unit.
Local work permitted. The licence authorises self-employed activity in Malta. The capital test is the part to read first: the guidance requires a capital expenditure of at least €500,000 to be used by the business, consisting solely of fixed assets such as immovable property, plant and machinery used for the business purposes set out in the submitted business plan. Rental contracts do not qualify, and the spend must be supported by receipts in the applicant's own name.
⚠️ The €500,000 figure is quoted from Jobsplus guidance stamped as in force from 19 January 2021, so it may have been superseded — treat the amount as indicative and confirm it with Jobsplus before relying on it. The guidance also contains alternative qualifying grounds not enumerated here.
Official source: Jobsplus — Employment Licences Unit guidance for third-country nationals; servizz.gov.mt service WEB2407 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Malta
Portugal — Residence permit for independent professional activity (autorização de residência para exercício de atividade profissional independente, Art. 89.º n.º 1) — the D2 family
For people who will work in Portugal as freelancers, independent professionals or company founders, on the strength of a service contract or written service proposal plus registration with the Portuguese tax authority and social security.
Local work permitted. The permit authorises independent professional activity in Portugal. AIMA adds that holders may also take employed work by replacing their residence title accordingly — so moving into a job is possible but requires a title substitution rather than being an automatic right. Regulated professions need a declaration from the relevant professional body verifying registration or qualification.
No fixed income threshold is published. Means are proven through the contract or service proposal; the entrepreneur variant also requires investment operations executed and proof of financial means available in Portugal.
Official source: AIMA — Autorização de Residência para Exercício de Atividade Profissional Independente, Art. 89.º n.º 1; Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Portugal Visa Portal — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Portugal
Portugal — StartUP Visa — residence permit for immigrant entrepreneurs (autorização de residência para imigrantes empreendedores, Art. 89.º n.º 4)
For entrepreneurs setting up an innovation-based company in Portugal inside a certified business incubator.
Local work permitted. The permit is granted for the entrepreneurial activity itself, so the holder works through their own incubated company. AIMA publishes no separate wording on taking outside local employment under this sub-article.
Requires a declaration from IAPMEI certifying a signed incubation contract.
Official source: AIMA — Autorização de Residência para Imigrantes Empreendedores 'StartUP Visa', Art. 89.º n.º 4; Portugal Visa Portal (IAPMEI incubation-contract declaration) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Portugal
Spain — Self-employment residence and work authorisation (autorización de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta propia)
For carrying out a gainful self-employed activity in Spain under the general immigration regime.
Local work restricted. The restriction is structural rather than a percentage cap: the initial authorisation “se limitará a un ámbito geográfico autonómico y a un sector de actividad” — limited to ONE autonomous community and ONE sector of activity. Salaried employment is not covered. You must meet the requirements Spanish law imposes on nationals for opening and operating the activity, hold the professional qualification or proven experience legally required including professional-body registration, and evidence that the planned investment is sufficient and its effect on job creation.
There is deliberately no published income or minimum-investment figure — the test is that the projected investment is sufficient for the project, assessed case by case, and the ministry names the professional bodies whose valuation report it will accept as evidence. Do not treat any circulating figure as a threshold for this route.
Official source: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Hoja informativa 14 (May 2025); Real Decreto 1155/2024 arts. 82 to 85 (BOE-A-2024-24099); Ley Orgánica 4/2000 arts. 25 bis, 36 and 37 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Spain
Spain — Entrepreneur residence authorisation (autorización de residencia para emprendedores)
For someone over 18 intending to start, develop or direct an entrepreneurial and business activity in Spain that is innovative and/or of special economic interest to Spain.
Local work permitted. Grants a residence authorisation for business activity “que tendrá validez en todo el territorio nacional” — valid throughout Spain. Unlike the general self-employment authorisation it is NOT limited to one autonomous community or one sector, which is the main practical reason to prefer it. The permission attaches to the approved project: you must maintain the conditions that gave access to it and notify any change affecting them within 30 days, failing which the authorisation may be terminated.
The headline here is a negative, and it is the ministry's own wording: “No existen mínimos de inversión ni de creación de empleo” — there are no minimum investment or job-creation requirements. What the route tests instead is a mandatory favourable report from the national innovation agency, assessing your professional profile and involvement, the business plan and funding sources, and the added value for the Spanish economy.
Official source: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos — “Emprendedores” (July 2026); Ley 14/2013 arts. 62, 69 and 70 (BOE-A-2013-10074) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Spain
Qualifying through investment
5 routes · France · Greece · Italy · Malta · Portugal
France — Talent residence card — project holder, direct economic investment (« talent-porteur de projet », investissement économique direct)
For someone making a direct economic investment in France. This is France's nearest equivalent to residence by investment, but it is structured as a productive-investment-plus-jobs test rather than a passive asset purchase.
Local work restricted. As a multi-year talent card with no derogation from the general rule, it carries the entitlement to exercise a professional activity in metropolitan France; in substance it is granted for the investment and the economic activity supporting it. There is no separate published prohibition on work and no published cap on activity.
🚨 Requires at least €300,000 in tangible or intangible fixed assets AND, cumulatively, the creation or preservation of jobs in France within four years of the investment. France does NOT operate a passive residence-by-investment or property-purchase scheme — buying a €300,000 property does not qualify. This and the business-creation route above are the same card reached through different qualifying limbs.
Official source: Légifrance — CESEDA art. L421-16, 3° and art. R421-35 to R421-36 (“Étranger procédant à un investissement économique direct en France”), as amended by Décret n°2025-539 du 13 juin 2025 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: France
Greece — Golden Visa — permanent residence permit for investors (Art. 100, Law 5038/2023, as replaced by Art. 64 par. 1 of Law 5100/2024)
A residence permit for people who acquire qualifying real estate in Greece at or above a zone-based minimum value.
The source does not say. Greece does not address this in the official circular. The circular restricts the property rather than the holder: property acquired under the conversion-to-residential category cannot serve as business headquarters or branches, and properties cannot be used for short-term rentals through sharing-economy platforms or sublet. Whether the holder may take Greek employment is not stated, and we will not guess at it.
Thresholds: €800,000 in Attica, the Thessaloniki regional unit, Mykonos, Thira and islands over 3,100 residents including Euboea; €400,000 elsewhere; €250,000 for property converted to residential use or requiring restoration. Minimum 120 m² main area where built, and the threshold must be met by a single property.
Official source: Ministry of Migration & Asylum, Circular 9 of 25.09.2024 (ref. 240076/24) on Art. 100 real-estate investment residence permits — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Greece
Italy — Investor visa (visto per investitori / “Investor Visa for Italy”)
For someone making a qualifying investment or philanthropic donation in assets treated as strategic for Italian development and competitiveness. Italy's residence-by-investment route is open and operating.
Local work restricted. Unusually explicit and unusually favourable. Art. 26-bis(5-bis) provides that the holder “esercita gli stessi diritti inerenti al permesso di soggiorno per lavoro autonomo” — exercises the same rights as a self-employment permit. So it carries self-employed work rights; it is not a no-work permit. The same provision exempts the holder, for the first five years, from signing the integration agreement and from the continuity-of-stay obligations — material for someone who will not live in Italy year-round. Salaried employment is not covered by the self-employment rights conferred.
Four qualifying amounts: at least €2,000,000 in Italian government securities held two years; at least €500,000 in capital instruments of a company or venture-capital fund operating in Italy held two years, or €250,000 for a registered innovative start-up; or a philanthropic donation of at least €1,000,000 to a public-interest project. Entry is expressly OUTSIDE the quotas, and the investment must be made within three months of ENTERING Italy — investments completed before applying do not qualify. ⚠️ Trap: figures of €1,000,000 for a company still circulate; the current statutory figure is €500,000.
Official source: Ministero dell'Interno / Normattiva — D.Lgs 25 July 1998 n. 286 art. 26-bis, cross-checked against the Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy programme page — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Italy
Malta — Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP) — S.L. 217.26, as amended by Legal Notice 310 of 2024 and Legal Notice 146 of 2025
Grants a certificate of permanent residence to someone who holds qualifying property in Malta, pays a government contribution and administrative fee, and demonstrates capital and assets.
Local work restricted. The Agency is unambiguous: a certificate of residency under this programme does not entitle the beneficiary to any employment licences. You may live in Malta indefinitely on this route, but to earn money in Malta you must separately obtain an employment licence through the standard procedures — the residence status gives you no head start on it.
Per Legal Notice 310 of 2024: qualifying property owned at €375,000 or more, or leased at a minimum €14,000 annual rent, with the former south-Malta and Gozo distinction removed; contribution unified at €37,000 whether buying or renting; assets of €500,000 including €150,000 financial, or €650,000 including €75,000 financial. The main applicant's administration fee is €60,000.
Official source: Residency Malta Agency — MPRP legal framework; Legal Notice 310 of 2024 (in force 1 January 2025); Legal Notice 146 of 2025 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Malta
Portugal — Golden Visa / ARI — residence permit for investment activity (autorização de residência para investimento, Art. 90.º-A)
A residence permit for people who carry out a qualifying investment in Portugal, granted with exemption from needing a residence visa to enter.
Local work permitted. AIMA states holders may reside and work in Portugal, and move through the Schengen area without visa requirements. This is the most permissive published work rule of Portugal's routes.
Five current options: ten permanent jobs; €500,000 scientific research; €250,000 artistic production or national heritage; €500,000 into non-real-estate collective investment funds with 60% in Portuguese companies and a five-year minimum maturity; or €500,000 company incorporation creating five permanent jobs. No real-estate purchase option appears in the current framework.
Official source: AIMA — Autorização de Residência para Investimento, Art. 90.º-A — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Taking a job with a local employer
19 routes · Austria · France · Germany · Greece · Italy · Malta · Portugal · Spain
Austria — Red-White-Red Card — Other Key Workers (sonstige Schlüsselkräfte, § 41 Abs. 2 Z 1 NAG with § 12b Z 1 AuslBG)
The general skilled-hire route for someone who already has an Austrian job offer as a key worker.
Local work restricted. Tied to the employer named in your application. The card entitles you to fixed-term settlement and employment by that specific employer, and you may also work self-employed only if that work is subsidiary. A labour market test applies: no equally qualified jobseeker registered with the Public Employment Service may be placeable in the role.
The €3,465 a month for 2026 is 50% of the monthly maximum social-insurance contribution basis, plus special payments, and the wording “zuzüglich Sonderzahlungen” is statutory. A points test also applies: 55 of a maximum 90, scoring qualification, work experience, language skills and age, with extra points where English is the predominant company language.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 12b Z 1; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 41 Abs. 2 and Abs. 5, § 8 Abs. 1 Z 1, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Austria — Red-White-Red Card — Skilled Workers in Shortage Occupations (Fachkräfte in Mangelberufen, § 41 Abs. 2 Z 2 NAG with § 12a AuslBG)
For someone with completed training in an occupation on Austria's annual shortage list who has a binding Austrian job offer.
Local work restricted. As with the other key-worker cards, you may work for the employer named in your application, plus subsidiary self-employment. Unlike Other Key Workers there is no separate labour market test — the agency checks your points, your training in the shortage occupation, and that the pay is adequate. The employer must pay the minimum set by law, regulation or collective agreement, and any overpay customary in that company must also be granted to you.
There is no euro threshold — the financial test is adequacy of pay against the applicable collective agreement. The gate is a points test: 55 of a maximum 90, scoring qualification, matching work experience, language skills and age. ⚠️ Which occupations qualify is set annually by regulation, and the official shortage lists were still labelled for 2025 when checked on 30 July 2026, so occupation eligibility must be re-checked against the current regulation.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 12a; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 41 Abs. 2 and Abs. 5, § 8 Abs. 1 Z 1, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Austria — Red-White-Red Card — Very Highly Qualified Workers, with the six-month job-seeker visa (besonders Hochqualifizierte, § 41 Abs. 1 NAG with § 12 AuslBG)
For a highly qualified worker, and uniquely among the Austrian categories it offers a two-step entry: with no job offer yet you can come on a six-month job-seeker visa to look for work, then apply for the card once a matching offer exists.
Local work restricted. The job-seeker visa is for looking for work and migration.gv.at does not state that it authorises any work at all. Once the card is granted you may settle on a fixed-term basis and work for the employer named in your application, plus self-employment only if subsidiary to that paid employment. No labour market test applies; the agency instead assesses whether the job matches your qualification and the pay is adequate.
No euro bar — salary scores points rather than acting as a threshold. The pass mark is 70 of a maximum 100, and the same score qualifies for both the job-seeker visa and the card. Scoring covers qualifications (a four-year degree, more for a STEM subject, most for a doctorate; alternatively senior-management salary bands, research and innovation activity, or recognised awards), work experience, language skills, age, and study in Austria.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 12; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 41 Abs. 1 and Abs. 5, § 8 Abs. 1 Z 1, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Austria — EU Blue Card (Aufenthaltstitel Blaue Karte EU, § 42 NAG with § 12c AuslBG)
For someone with a tertiary degree of at least three years — or, for ICT professionals and service managers, at least three years of comparable experience gained in the previous seven — who has a binding Austrian job offer of at least six months matching that education.
Local work restricted. Entitles you to fixed-term settlement and the specific gainful activity the Public Employment Service cleared, with a named employer. A labour market test applies: the agency must find no equally qualified registered jobseeker available. Separately, a holder of another member state's EU Blue Card may carry out business activities in Austria for 90 days in any 180 without a posting or employment permit.
The €55,678 for 2026 is one times the average gross annual income of full-time employees, plus special payments — reduced from the 1.5 times that applied before Austria implemented the 2021 EU Blue Card directive in 2024. Because it tracks a Statistik Austria series it resets annually and must be re-checked each January; the Minister may raise it by regulation up to 1.5 times.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 12c; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 42, § 8 Abs. 1 Z 3, § 45 Abs. 1 and 3; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Austria
Austria — Red-White-Red Card for graduates of Austrian universities (Studienabsolventen, § 12b Z 2 AuslBG)
For someone who completed a diploma programme from at least its second stage, or a bachelor's, master's or doctoral programme, at an Austrian institution, and then receives a matching job offer.
Local work restricted. Allows fixed-term settlement and work for the employer named in your application. The advantage is procedural and statutory: for graduates “entfällt die Arbeitsmarktprüfung im Einzelfall” — no labour market test in the individual case. There is no points system for graduates, but a named employer's offer is still required.
No fixed euro threshold and no points test. The statute requires gross monthly pay at least matching the locally customary rate for Austrian graduates doing comparable work with comparable experience — a comparability test against domestic graduate pay, not a published figure.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 12b Z 2; Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 41 Abs. 5, § 64 Abs. 4, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Austria
Austria — Red-White-Red Card plus (Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus, § 41a NAG) — the follow-on permit, not an entry route
The second-stage permit that lifts the employer tie, and the permit family members of card holders receive. It is not applied for from abroad as a first entry route except by family members.
Local work permitted. The single most important distinction in the Austrian system. This title authorises fixed-term settlement plus BOTH self-employed and employed work, with no tie to a named employer — where a plain Red-White-Red Card holder may work only for the employer specified in their application.
Where the general subsistence test applies the 2026 rates are €1,308.39 single, €2,064.12 for a couple and €201.88 per child — the single rate, not the doubled rate that the settlement permit excluding gainful employment requires.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2, § 41a, § 45; migration.gv.at — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Austria
France — Talent residence card — qualified employee (carte de séjour pluriannuelle « talent-salarié qualifié »)
For a master's-level graduate recruited into qualified employment, an employee recruited by an innovative company or one running an R&D project, or an employee transferred within a group with at least three months' service — in each case above a salary threshold.
Local work permitted. The card authorises the salaried activity that justified it. Unlike the visitor card it contains no derogation from CESEDA art. L414-10, so the general right to exercise a professional activity in metropolitan France attaches. The practical limit is that it is granted on a specific qualifying job at a specific salary level, so changing employer or dropping below the threshold triggers a fresh examination rather than being free movement between jobs.
🚨 A structural change most sources have not caught up with: Décret n°2025-539 of 13 June 2025 DE-INDEXED these thresholds from the minimum wage and tied them to a ministerially-set average gross salary. Any explanation of this threshold as a multiple of the SMIC is now wrong.
Official source: Légifrance — CESEDA art. L421-9 and L421-22; Arrêté du 21 août 2025 relatif au montant du salaire brut moyen annuel de référence (NOR INTV2520646A), JORF n°0202 of 31 August 2025, applying CESEDA art. R421-16 A — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
France — Talent residence card — EU Blue Card (carte de séjour pluriannuelle « talent - carte bleue européenne »)
For a highly qualified worker with a contract or binding offer of highly qualified employment lasting at least six months, holding a higher-education qualification of at least three years or equivalent professional experience.
Local work permitted. Authorises the highly qualified employment meeting the statutory criteria, with the general right to work in metropolitan France attaching. The distinctive feature is built-in intra-EU mobility: a Blue Card holder from another member state may work in France for 90 days in any 180 with no further French authorisation, and after twelve months as a Blue Card holder elsewhere in the EU — six if in more than one state — has the right to enter, reside and work in France on applying for a French Blue Card.
The requirement is remuneration of at least 1.5 times the reference average gross annual salary, which the August 2025 arrêté sets at €39,582 — so €59,373 gross a year.
Official source: Légifrance — CESEDA art. L421-11 and L421-12; Arrêté du 21 août 2025 relatif au montant du salaire brut moyen annuel de référence, applying CESEDA art. R421-21 A — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
France — Employee and temporary worker cards (carte de séjour temporaire « salarié » ou « travailleur temporaire »)
The ordinary employment route outside the talent schemes — “salarié” for an indefinite contract, “travailleur temporaire” for a fixed-term contract or a posting.
Local work permitted. Issue depends on a prior work authorisation that the EMPLOYER obtains; the card then authorises the employment covered by it. This is employer-driven, not applicant-driven — there is no route without a French employer sponsoring the authorisation, and the employment-market situation is in principle opposable, except for occupations and areas facing recruitment difficulties and for eligible master's-level graduates.
No salary threshold applies the way it does to the talent cards — pay must comply with the applicable law and collective agreement, so there is no single figure to publish. Of limited use to a self-funded mover, because you cannot start this process yourself.
Official source: Légifrance — CESEDA art. L421-1 to L421-4 (Section 1, Étranger exerçant une activité salariée); Code du travail art. L5221-2 et seq. for the work authorisation — Last verified: · Insurance rule: France
Germany — Opportunity Card — job-seeker residence permit (Chancenkarte, § 20a AufenthG)
Lets a qualified person come to Germany to look for work, or for a procedure recognising a foreign qualification, before they have a job.
Local work restricted. Capped, and the cap is statutory. § 20a Abs. 2 permits only employment averaging at most 20 hours a week, plus trial employment of at most two weeks per employer. The cap falls away on the follow-on card: “Absatz 2 findet auf die Folge-Chancenkarte keine Anwendung.” Actually going self-employed needs a switch to § 21.
The €1,091 figure is administratively published rather than statutory — § 2 Abs. 3 does not list § 20a — and equals the student amount plus 10%. Where a contract of up to 20 hours a week is already signed, the agreed pay can be counted toward it.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz §§ 20a, 20b and the points Anlage; Make it in Germany — job search opportunity card, and financial security by purpose of stay (January 2026) — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Germany — EU Blue Card (Blaue Karte EU, § 18g AufenthG)
For a skilled worker with academic training taking a job in Germany appropriate to that qualification, granted without Federal Employment Agency consent at the standard salary level.
Local work permitted. Granted for qualification-appropriate employment on a concrete job offer of at least six months. Job mobility is unusually free: § 18g Abs. 4 removes the normal requirement for immigration-office permission to change jobs, though in the first twelve months the authority may suspend a change for 30 days and refuse it within that period if the Blue Card conditions are not met. Self-employment alongside is not automatic and needs permission under § 21 Abs. 6.
One precision point on the lower salary tier: it is not a shortage-occupation list but ISCO-08 groups named in § 18g Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1, or a degree obtained within the previous three years, or — under Abs. 2 — ICT professionals with three years' relevant experience in the last seven and no degree. Unlike the standard threshold, the lower one requires Federal Employment Agency consent.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 18g, § 18 Abs. 4, § 18c Abs. 2; Bundesministerium des Innern, Bekanntmachung über die Mindestgehälter für die Blaue Karte EU of 2 December 2025, BAnz AT 18.12.2025 B3 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Germany
Germany — Skilled worker employment permit (Fachkräfte mit Berufsausbildung oder mit akademischer Ausbildung, §§ 18a and 18b AufenthG)
The ordinary salaried-employment permits for a qualified hire that does not go through the EU Blue Card.
Local work permitted. Both sections grant the permit for “jede qualifizierte Beschäftigung” — any qualified employment, not merely the job you applied for. The entry gate is employer-driven: a concrete job offer, Federal Employment Agency consent unless dispensed with, any professional practice licence, recognition of your qualification, and an assurance from both you and the employer that the job will actually be taken up. Self-employment alongside requires permission under § 21 Abs. 6.
Below 45 no minimum salary is specified — the Federal Employment Agency assesses whether the pay is appropriate. For FIRST issue after your 45th birthday, § 18 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 requires at least €55,770 gross a year (€4,647.50 a month) for 2026 unless you can prove adequate old-age provision. This is the provision that figure actually belongs to.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz §§ 18, 18a, 18b, 18c, 9 Abs. 3a, 30 Abs. 1; Make it in Germany — financial security by purpose of stay (January 2026) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Germany
Germany — Employment permit for workers with pronounced practical experience, including IT specialists (§ 19c AufenthG with § 6 Beschäftigungsverordnung)
A salaried route for someone whose skills rest on substantial work experience rather than a qualification recognised as equivalent in Germany — in practice the main route for IT and ICT professionals without a recognised degree.
Local work permitted. Admits you to qualified employment where the Beschäftigungsverordnung so provides. § 6 Abs. 1 BeschV requires at least two years of relevant experience gained in the last five, and a job paying at least 45% of the annual pension-insurance contribution ceiling. Two carve-outs matter: the salary threshold does not apply where the employer is bound by a collective agreement and employs you on its collectively agreed terms, and in information and communications technology occupations the formal-qualification condition does not apply at all.
The published minimum is 45% of the contribution ceiling: €45,630 gross a year, €3,802.50 a month for 2026. For applicants 45 and over on first issue it rises to €55,770 unless adequate old-age provision is proved.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 19c, § 18 Abs. 4, § 30 Abs. 1; Beschäftigungsverordnung § 6; Auswärtiges Amt, Mindestgehalt Arbeitsmigration 2026 (09.01.2026) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Germany
Germany — Job-search permit after study, research or training completed in Germany (§ 20 AufenthG)
For looking for work after successfully completing a degree, research stay, qualified vocational training, qualification-recognition procedure or health-care assistant training in Germany.
Local work permitted. Not restricted in the way the Opportunity Card is. § 20 imposes no hours cap, in deliberate contrast to the 20-hour limit § 20a Abs. 2 places on the Chancenkarte, and Make it in Germany states you can work part-time without restrictions during this period. The search purpose covers self-employment as well as employment.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 20, § 18c Abs. 1, § 9 Abs. 4; Make it in Germany — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Germany
Greece — Residence permit after approval of an employer's recruitment request (metaklisi) for dependent employment, title E.4
For people recruited from abroad by a Greek employer, who then live in Greece to work for that employer.
Local work permitted. The permit authorises dependent employment with the sponsoring employer. Conditions include a full-time employment contract of at least one year at wages meeting the minimum standard for unskilled workers, plus a submitted application for full health-insurance enrolment.
Employer-driven: the employer files the recruitment-approval application first, then you obtain the national D visa, enter, and apply for the permit before the visa expires.
Official source: National Registry of Administrative Procedures (mitos.gov.gr), legal basis Joint Ministerial Decision 95931/2024 (ΦΕΚ Β′ 1807) implementing Law 5038/2023; Law 5275/2026 (ΦΕΚ Α′ 17 of 06.02.2026) — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Greece
Italy — Subordinate employment visa (visto per lavoro subordinato)
The ordinary salaried route: entry for fixed-term or indefinite employment with an Italian employer, on an authorisation that employer obtains.
Local work permitted. The visa permits entry for those holding the “nulla osta” issued by the immigration office, and the permission is to the employment that authorisation covers. Firmly employer-driven: the Italian employer applies through the interior ministry's portal during a scheduled window, and every application now requires an “asseverazione” — certification by a qualified labour professional or a nationally representative employers' organisation that the contractual conditions required by law are met. You cannot start this process yourself.
Quota-bound. The current three-year decree admits 497,550 people in total, of which 164,850 for 2026 — comprising 76,200 non-seasonal employment entries, 88,000 seasonal and 650 self-employment. Application windows for 2026 opened in January and February. Of limited use to a self-funded mover, since it needs both an Italian employer and a quota place.
Official source: Ministero degli Affari Esteri — Embassy of Italy in Pristina, “Employment (subordinate work) visa”; quota and procedure set by the DPCM of 15 October 2025 with Interministerial Circular no. 8047 of 16 October 2025 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Italy
Malta — Single Permit — combined residence and work permit (S.L. 217.17), with the Key Employee and Specialist Employee Initiatives as fast tracks
Allows a third-country national to legally live in Malta and take up employment for a defined period of over six months, combining the employment licence and residence permit in one application.
Local work permitted. Employment is authorised but tightly tied to one employer. Holders cannot carry out paid duties assigned by parties other than the identified employer, and cannot be assigned duties outside Maltese territory. The permit stays valid only while the specific designation, employer and duration criteria continue to be met; a change must be notified to the Expatriates Unit and the residence card returned.
Employer-driven: the initial step is an employment offer from a Maltese employer. Two published fast tracks — the Key Employee Initiative for managerial or technical roles paying at least €35,000 a year, and the Specialist Employee Initiative for skilled workers paying at least €25,000 a year with an MQF level 6 or higher qualification.
Official source: Identità — Expatriates Unit, Employment Related Permits: Single Permit; Jobsplus — Employing Non-EU Nationals — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Malta
Portugal — Residence permit for subordinate employment (autorização de residência para exercício de atividade profissional subordinada, Art. 88.º n.º 1)
For people who will be employed in Portugal by a Portuguese employer.
Local work permitted. The permit exists to authorise employed work in Portugal. The Visa Portal requires a work contract, work promise or demonstration of interest, plus a professional certificate where the profession is regulated.
Applicant-driven in form, but dependent on a Portuguese employer's contract or promise. A separate job-seeker route exists under Art. 88.º n.º 7.
Official source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Portugal Visa Portal (subordinate employment); AIMA — Art. 88.º n.º 1 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Portugal
Spain — Highly qualified professional authorisation, including the EU Blue Card (profesionales altamente cualificados / Tarjeta azul-UE)
For a professional with a job offer in Spain for highly qualified employment — a managerial post, or an activity requiring higher-education qualification or, exceptionally, equivalent professional experience.
Local work permitted. Valid throughout Spain, granted where a company requires a foreign professional for a highly qualified employment or professional relationship, and issued as a single permit so residence and work come in one act. Semi-applicant-driven, unlike the French and Italian general employment routes: the application may be filed by the company OR by the professional themselves. For Blue Card holders, more than three months' unemployment while a holder for under two years — or six months if a holder for at least two — grounds revocation, with a corresponding grace period. Intra-EU rights attach: another member state's Blue Card allows work in Spain for 90 days in any 180, and after twelve months as a holder elsewhere you may work in Spain from the moment a complete application is filed.
This figure changed weeks ago. The statistics institute published the updated 2024 average salary on 28 May 2026 at €29,540.26, giving Blue Card thresholds of €41,356.36 general and €33,085.09 reduced — the reduced figure available for shortage occupations and for those who obtained the required qualification within the previous three years. For the national highly-qualified authorisation the threshold is €41,356.36 with no reduced tier. Anyone citing a 2025 figure for this route is out of date.
Official source: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos — “Profesionales altamente cualificados” and the June 2026 salary-threshold update; Orden PJC/44/2026 de 27 de enero (BOE-A-2026-2142); Ley 14/2013 arts. 71 and 71 bis; Real Decreto 1155/2024 art. 176 — Last verified: · Insurance rule: Spain
Studying
3 routes · Austria · Germany · Spain
Austria — Student residence permit (Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Student, § 64 NAG)
For a degree programme at an Austrian university, university of applied sciences, accredited private university or university college of teacher education. Note the character of the title: it is issued for temporary residence without intent to settle.
Local work restricted. The permit itself confers NO work right. § 64 Abs. 3 refers work entirely to employment law, and the work must not compromise study as the exclusive purpose of stay. In practice you may be granted an employment permit for up to 20 hours a week without a labour market test — but your prospective EMPLOYER has to file that application with the Public Employment Service, not you.
Two additions to the headline figures: accommodation costs above the standard allowance of €386.43 a month, and the cost of the required health insurance, must be shown on top of the rate. And two spouses both over 24 applying in parallel must show the couple rate of €2,064.12 between them rather than the single rate each. Age is assessed prospectively over the period the permit will cover, not at the decision date.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 64, § 45 Abs. 1 and 2, § 11 Abs. 2 Z 2; oesterreich.gv.at; migration.gv.at FAQ for students; Bundesministerium für Inneres, Informationsbroschüre über die Unterhaltsberechnung (2026), section 1.2 — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Germany — Student residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis zum Zweck des Studiums, § 16b AufenthG)
For full-time study at a state or state-recognised higher education institution that has admitted you; also covers preparatory measures and a compulsory internship.
Local work restricted. Counted in working days, not hours. § 16b Abs. 3 permits employment totalling up to 140 working days a year on a working-day account, and academic side jobs at your own institution do not count against it at all. A day worked up to four hours counts as half a day; a term-time week of up to 20 hours counts as two and a half days.
The €992 a month is set by reference to the BAföG monthly requirement, with the figure published in the Bundesanzeiger each year by 31 August for the following calendar year.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 16b, § 2 Abs. 3, § 9 Abs. 4, § 20; Make it in Germany — financial security by purpose of stay (January 2026) — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Spain — Long-duration study stay for higher education (autorización de estancia de larga duración para estudios superiores)
To remain in Spain for more than 90 days for full-time higher education, or full-time post-compulsory secondary education, at a recognised Spanish institution leading to a recognised qualification.
Local work restricted. This changed substantially under the 2024 regulation and the widely repeated “20 hours with a separate work permit” description is now wrong. For higher studies the authorisation permits both self-employed and employed work “automáticamente y sin necesidad de un trámite adicional” — automatically, with no additional procedure — provided the work is compatible with the studies. The cap is thirty hours a week, and breaching it is a ground for terminating the stay. The authorisation is also restricted to the autonomous community that granted it, though work is allowed in bordering localities of an adjacent community. Curricular placements forming part of the study plan need no separate authorisation.
The requirement is waived where accommodation is demonstrably prepaid for the whole stay, and sums used to pay course fees are not counted toward it. Same IPREM caveat as the non-lucrative route: the figure rests on the 2023 amount, applying only because the budget stands extended.
Official source: Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Hoja informativa 1 (November 2025); Real Decreto 1155/2024 arts. 34 to 36, 52 to 58 and 176 (BOE-A-2024-24099); Ley Orgánica 4/2000 arts. 25 bis and 33; Directive (EU) 2016/801 — Last verified: · Insurance rule for this route
Where the route you are looking for does not exist
4 of the combinations people most often search for are not routes at all. These are verified absences, checked against the statute rather than assumed from silence, and they are usually more useful than another row in a table — they tell you to stop looking.
Spain — Spain's investor “golden visa” was repealed and is closed to new applicants
Spain no longer operates a residence-by-investment scheme. The investor route formerly permitted residence on a significant capital investment including property purchase; it does not exist for new applicants.
The question cannot arise, because no new authorisation can be granted. Articles 63 to 67 of Ley 14/2013 — the investor visa, evidencing the investment, its effects, the investor authorisation and its duration — appear in the consolidated statute as “(Sin contenido)”, voided with effect from 3 April 2025 by Ley Orgánica 1/2025. The specialist unit's own list of authorisations no longer includes an investor category. Any page still presenting a Spanish golden visa as available is wrong.
Verified two independent ways: the consolidated statute shows the articles as voided with the repealing instrument named, and the ministry's own management-criteria note governs the run-off. If you are comparing investment routes across Europe, the live ones among these eight are Portugal, Greece, Malta and Italy — and France's investment card, which requires job creation as well as capital.
Germany — Germany publishes no retirement or independent-means route
Germany operates no retirement, pensioner, passive-income or independent-means residence route. If you intend to live in Germany on a pension or investments without working, there is no permit designed for you.
The only statutory hook is the residual discretion in § 7 Abs. 1 Satz 3 to grant a permit, in justified cases, for a purpose the Act does not provide for — and the very next sentence says such a permit “berechtigt nicht zur Erwerbstätigkeit”, carries no right to gainful activity at all, neither employed nor self-employed, though the authority may separately permit it. Treat this as “no route, with a footnote” rather than as a route.
This absence is one of the most useful facts on this page for a US or UK retiree, and almost nobody states it plainly. If Germany is on your list because you like the healthcare, the route you would need does not exist — the comparable options are Austria's settlement permit excluding gainful employment, or the passive-income routes in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Greece.
Official source: Bundesamt für Justiz, Aufenthaltsgesetz § 7 Abs. 1 and 2, § 2 Abs. 2, § 9 Abs. 2, and the statutory table of contents — sections covering education, gainful activity, humanitarian grounds, family reunification and special residence rights contain no retirement, independent-means or passive-income category — Last verified:
Germany — Germany publishes no residence-by-investment route
Germany operates no golden-visa, investor or passive-investment residence route. Money alone buys no permit and no minimum investment sum is published anywhere.
Not applicable — no such route exists. Capital matters only as evidence inside the business self-employment route, where § 21 Abs. 1 requires financing to be secured by equity or a loan commitment and lists the amount of capital deployed as one assessment criterion among several. An investor's actual options are that business route, which requires an operating business judged economically beneficial, or the residual discretionary permit, which expressly authorises no gainful activity.
Austria — Austria publishes no residence-by-investment route
Austria operates no golden-visa, investor or passive-investment residence route. Capital appears in the immigration rules only as evidence of economic benefit inside two active-business routes, and as proof of means for the non-working settlement permit.
Not applicable — no such route exists. An investor's actual options are the Red-White-Red Card for Self-employed Key Workers or for Start-up Founders, each authorising only the specific business described in the application, or the Settlement Permit excluding gainful employment, which authorises fixed-term settlement with no gainful activity at all and is quota-limited.
The relevant capital benchmarks, none of which buys residence by itself: at least €100,000 transferred as one way of showing macroeconomic benefit for a Self-employed Key Worker card; at least €30,000 of company capital, half equity, for a Start-up Founder card, with extra points for a further €50,000; and returns on assets, savings or company shareholdings counting as qualifying monthly income for the settlement permit excluding gainful employment.
Official source: Bundeskanzleramt RIS, Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz § 8 Abs. 1 — the exhaustive statutory list of Austrian residence titles contains no investor title — and § 44; Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz § 24; migration.gv.at — Last verified:
The distinction that catches people out
Almost every refusal story that starts “but I had enough money” is really a story about the wrong category. The routes above divide on a question that has nothing to do with how much you earn: where your income comes from, and whether you may add to it locally.
A passive-income or retirement route generally asks you to prove money arriving from outside the country and then forbids you to earn inside it — 7 of these 55 routes bar local work. A remote-work route inverts one half of that: you may work, but typically only for employers and clients outside the country, so signing a local client can be what breaks it. A self-employment route inverts the other half: trading locally is the entire point, and the test moves from your bank balance to your business case.
Only 19 of the 55 routes here permit local work outright, with 27 more permitting it under stated restrictions. That is why “which country is easiest” is usually the wrong first question. Two people with identical savings can need different countries because one of them intends to take on local clients and the other does not.
What each route asks you to earn
20 of these 55 routes publish a financial figure. The rest test something a number cannot capture — a business case, a points score, an investment, or nothing at all. Figures below are quoted as published, not normalised; the income requirement checker shows the derivation and the official source for each.
| Country | Route | Published figure | Local work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Settlement Permit excluding gainful employment (Niederlassungsbewilligung – ausgenommen Erwerbstätigkeit, § 44 NAG) | €2,616.78 per month (single); €4,128.24 per month (married or registered partners); plus €403.76 per child | No local work permitted |
| Austria | Red-White-Red Card — Other Key Workers (sonstige Schlüsselkräfte, § 41 Abs. 2 Z 1 NAG with § 12b Z 1 AuslBG) | €3,465 gross per month (2026), plus special payments | Local work restricted |
| Austria | Student residence permit (Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Student, § 64 NAG) | €1,308.39 per month if aged 24 or over; €722.58 per month if under 24 | Local work restricted |
| Austria | EU Blue Card (Aufenthaltstitel Blaue Karte EU, § 42 NAG with § 12c AuslBG) | €55,678 gross per year (2026), plus special payments | Local work restricted |
| France | Long-stay visitor visa and visitor residence card (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour « visiteur ») | €1,477.93 net per month, over 1 year (€17,735.19 net per year) | No local work permitted |
| France | Talent residence card — qualified employee (carte de séjour pluriannuelle « talent-salarié qualifié ») | €39,582 gross per year | Local work permitted |
| France | Talent residence card — EU Blue Card (carte de séjour pluriannuelle « talent - carte bleue européenne ») | €59,373 gross per year | Local work permitted |
| Germany | Opportunity Card — job-seeker residence permit (Chancenkarte, § 20a AufenthG) | €1,091 per month (€13,092 for the full 12-month validity) | Local work restricted |
| Germany | Student residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis zum Zweck des Studiums, § 16b AufenthG) | €992 net per month (€11,904 net per year) | Local work restricted |
| Germany | EU Blue Card (Blaue Karte EU, § 18g AufenthG) | €50,700 gross per year (standard); €45,934.20 gross per year for shortage occupations and recent graduates | Local work permitted |
| Greece | Financially Independent Person — residence permit for third-country nationals with sufficient means of subsistence, title I.8 (Art. 163 par. 8, Law 5038/2023) | €3,500 per month | No local work permitted |
| Greece | Digital nomad — national entry visa and residence title Z.1 (Art. 68, Law 5038/2023, as affected by Law 5275/2026) | €3,500 per month | No local work permitted |
| Italy | Elective residence visa (visto per residenza elettiva) | Approximately €31,000–€32,000 per year per applicant where a consulate publishes a figure at all — several consulates publish no figure | No local work permitted |
| Italy | Digital nomad and remote worker visa (visto per nomadi digitali e lavoratori da remoto) | Three times the annual income level that exempts a person from healthcare cost-sharing — official Italian missions state this as €25,500 (Embassy in Pristina) or €28,000 (Consulate General in Buenos Aires) | Local work restricted |
| Malta | Nomad Residence Permit | €42,000 minimum gross yearly income | No local work permitted |
| Portugal | D7 residence visa — retirement, pension or passive income (visto de residência: aposentados, titulares de rendimentos próprios) | €920 per month | The source does not say |
| Portugal | D8 residence visa — professional activity performed remotely (visto de residência para exercício de atividade profissional prestada de forma remota) | Average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the guaranteed minimum monthly remuneration — €3,680 per month in 2026 (4 × €920) | Local work restricted |
| Spain | Non-lucrative residence visa and authorisation (visado y autorización de residencia temporal no lucrativa) | 400% of IPREM — €2,400 per month, €28,800 per year | No local work permitted |
| Spain | International teleworking visa and authorisation (visado y autorización de residencia para teletrabajo de carácter internacional) | 200% of the monthly SMI — €2,442 per month at the 2026 SMI (€29,304 per year) | Local work restricted |
| Spain | Long-duration study stay for higher education (autorización de estancia de larga duración para estudios superiores) | 100% of IPREM — €600 per month of stay | Local work restricted |
Your route decides the timing. Your country decides the insurance.
This is the part that surprises people who have already chosen a route. The insurance condition is set by the destination, not by which route you took into it — so switching from a retirement route to a remote-work route in the same country changes almost nothing about the policy you need, while moving that same route to the country next door can change everything.
France · 7 routes above
“For a long-stay visa (VLS-TS), you must hold private health insurance covering your full stay in France. Travel insurance and short-stay Schengen policies are not accepted.”
“Consulates commonly refuse policies with a deductible (excess) on the core cover. Applicants report rejections over deductible clauses; the certificate should show cover without a disqualifying deductible.”
Official source: France-Visas (france-visas.gouv.fr) & FrenchEntrée long-stay guide — Last verified:
Italy · 5 routes above
“The elective residence visa is widely handled to the €30,000 Schengen insurance standard — hospitalisation and repatriation cover for the full visa year — though published consulate checklists vary: some ask for cover of 100% of medical expenses, and requirements differ by consulate.”
“For the first year, consulates commonly expect zero deductible or co-pay and repatriation cover — practice varies by consulate, and no published checklist states a deductible rule outright.”
Based on: Official esteri.it consulate checklists (Chicago, Boston et al., which vary) & widely-applied Schengen standard — Last verified:
Spain · 6 routes above
“Spain requires health insurance “contracted with an insurance entity authorized to operate in Spain” for the non-lucrative and digital-nomad visas — with no deductible, no copayment, no waiting period and no coverage limit. Most international policies fail this rule on registration grounds.”
Official source: Consulates General of Spain (Los Angeles & London) — official visa requirements — Last verified:
Portugal · 6 routes above
“Portugal’s national-visa documentation page requires valid insurance covering urgent medical care and possible repatriation. In practice, consulates and visa centres commonly apply the €30,000 Schengen standard (Schengen-wide validity, urgent care, hospitalisation, repatriation), and some US visa centres ask for a full year of validity — treat €30,000 as the practical bar, with the published national-visa rule as the floor.”
“At the AIMA residence-permit appointment after arrival, travel-grade insurance is no longer enough: applicants show full health insurance valid in Portugal, or registration with the public SNS. Applicants consistently report this second stage catching them out.”
Official source: Portuguese MFA visa portal — national-visa documentation (vistos.mne.gov.pt); €30,000 = the MFA’s published Schengen-visa standard, commonly applied in practice — Last verified:
Greece · 4 routes above
“Greece’s national (type D) visas require travel medical insurance with minimum cover of €30,000, valid for the whole Schengen area and the full duration of stay, covering emergency care, hospitalisation, and repatriation.”
“The Greek visa is only the entry step. Financially Independent Person residence permits are issued under Article 163(8) of Law 5038/2023 — the Migration Code, applying from 31 March 2024 — as permit type I.8, and the supporting file requires an insurance policy from a private insurance company alongside proof of sufficient resources. That level is set at €3,500 per month of net income or capital, increased by 20% for a spouse and 15% for each child. The permit itself is an electronic residence card carrying biometric data.”
Official source: Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mfa.gr) national-visa documentation — Last verified:
Malta · 7 routes above
“Malta’s Nomad Residence Permit requires health insurance covering the EU (including Malta) and the UK, for one full year with the premium paid in advance. Travel insurance is not accepted — but a foreign health policy that meets the requirements is explicitly acceptable.”
“Malta checks the policy AFTER approving the application, not with it. A successful application receives a Letter of Approval in Principle; proof of accommodation and the health insurance policy must then be submitted within 30 working days. The policy must cover the applicant and any dependants in Malta and be fully pre-paid for one full year. Only once it satisfies the programme requirements is a Letter of Final Approval issued, after which you travel to Malta for biometrics and the residence card follows.”
Official source: Residency Malta Agency — Nomad Residence Permit health-insurance policy — Last verified:
Germany · 10 routes above
“For Germany’s national visa, health insurance must include the benefits statutory-insured persons are entitled to under §11(1–3) SGB V, and the contract must be open-ended — no expiry or cancellation clauses tied to age, employment, or residence status. Travel insurance is insufficient.”
Official source: German Federal Foreign Office — health insurance in the national visa procedure — Last verified:
Austria · 10 routes above
“Austrian residence permits require health insurance that provides benefits in Austria and covers all risks, with claims payable in Austria — a stricter standard than a Schengen travel policy.”
Official source: migration.gv.at & oesterreich.gv.at — residence-permit general conditions — Last verified:
How to use this without getting it wrong
Read the work rule before the income figure. Clearing a money bar on a route that forbids the thing you intend to do is the most common way an otherwise strong application fails, and it is the one mistake no amount of savings fixes.
Then check the source link. 23 of these 55 routes have a full page here covering the insurance condition in detail; every route, page or not, links to the government document it came from. Where our summary and the source ever disagree, the source is right and we want to know.
When you know your route, the free policy check reads any cover you already hold against your destination’s published rule, the visa checklist prints what your certificate must say, and pricing shows real 2026 rates by exact age.
This is not immigration advice. We are an insurance introducer. This page reports what each government publishes about its own routes and links to the source; it does not assess whether you would be accepted on any of them. Consulates keep discretion, and requirements can change. We show the published rule and its source; the final decision is the consulate’s. Covered Abroad is an insurance introducer, not an insurer. We cannot extend cover beyond the policy wording. We log rule changes as we find them on updates.