In short: of the 97 countries we track, 28 make it easiest to get a residence permit, 16 of them in Europe. These are countries with several routes to residency and an income threshold within reach of an average earner. Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan top the list; in Europe it is Spain, Albania, Germany, Moldova and Serbia. But easier does not mean unconditional: in most of these countries the main route runs through an employer. Without one, it is easiest in Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil, and in Europe in Spain, Serbia and Albania.
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80 or more out of 100 for access to entry in our ranking: several working routes to residency, an income threshold within reach of an average earner, and an employer is not always required. Within each group, countries are in alphabetical order.
65 to 79 points: there is a route to residency, but one thing gets in the way: a high income threshold, a labour market check, few routes without an employer, or a long wait.
Under 65 out of 100 for access to entry: there are few routes to residency and they usually run through an employer, the income threshold is high, or the country barely needs workers. It is hardest in Switzerland (18 out of 100), the US (24), Israel (31), the UK (39) and India (40). Details are on each country page.
As of our check on 1 October 2026, 28 of 97 countries have open entry. Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan lead (100 out of 100), then Spain (91), followed by Albania, Germany, Moldova, Serbia, the UAE, Japan and Mauritius (90 each). Another 24 countries grant residency with strings attached: a high income threshold, a labour market check or a long wait.
16 European countries have open entry. In the EU they are Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovakia, Romania, Cyprus and Slovenia; outside the EU, Serbia, Albania, Moldova and Montenegro. Serbia and Albania set no fixed income threshold, and you apply entirely online.
Among the countries with open entry: Uruguay (permanent residence straight away, and the status itself lets you work), Spain with the remote work permit (from €2,849 a month), Argentina on passive income (about $1,247 a month), Ecuador (passive income from $1,446 or income with a degree from $482 a month) and Brazil with the nomad visa (from $1,500 a month). In Serbia and Albania you can go without an employer through your own sole proprietorship or remote work for a foreign client.
There is no fixed threshold in Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Albania, Kazakhstan, Uruguay and the UAE: you show means of support or a salary under a contract. In EU countries the threshold is usually the minimum wage: €920 a month in Portugal, €1,000 in Cyprus, about €1,823 in France. In Montenegro the minimum wage is about €600-700 a month.
By fees, among countries with open entry the cheapest are Kazakhstan (865 tenge for the residence permit, the employer pays the work permit fee), Albania (4,500 lek, about €43, for the first permit), Uruguay (about $85 once, no annual payments) and Montenegro (€67 a year). The most expensive are the first card in France (€350) and residency in Portugal (about €857 over five years).
Fastest in the UAE (2-4 weeks in practice), South Korea (usually 3-4 weeks) and Taiwan (4-8 weeks for the whole process). In Albania a provisional permit is issued on the day you apply, and the decision comes in 30-60 days. Open entry is not always fast: in Uruguay the real wait is 12-24 months, in Portugal the whole process takes 6-9 months, and in Spain's big cities 5-8.5 months.
No. This list is only about entry. In the UAE entry is fast, but the status depends on your job and there is no permanent status at all; in Montenegro the permit ends on the day the employment contract ends; in Kazakhstan the status goes when you lose the job. How a country keeps its word after granting residency is shown by the overall score and league in our ranking.
We took the access to entry score from our ranking. It has four indicators: how many routes to residency actually work (employment, your own business, remote work, study, investment), whether the income threshold on the main route is within reach of someone earning $2,500 and $3,856 a month, whether there is a remote work visa or a self-employment route, and whether the country needs workers. We count 80 or more as open entry and 65-79 as entry with conditions. Thresholds, terms and fees come from the country pages and the ranking's index cards, where every fact has a source; where a source gives no figure, the field is not shown. The score ignores nationality: for benefits and restrictions tied to particular passports, see the country page. Latvia is described under the law of 15 September 2026; we will recalculate its score in the next edition of the ranking.
The list is built from the index cards of the 97 countries in our ranking and the country pages, where every fact has a source. Checked 01/10/2026.