{ "dataset": "Expat Gate Residence Policy Index", "publisher": "Expat Gate, https://expatgate.com/", "lang": "en", "issue": 1, "issue_date": "2026-08", "data_as_of": "2026-08-12", "page": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/", "method": "https://expatgate.com/method", "license": "https://expatgate.com/terms", "notes": { "what": "Residence Policy Index: how the state in each of 97 countries treats voluntary newcomers. It measures state policy towards the people who move in, not quality of life: climate, prices, street safety and friendliness are not part of it.", "applicant": "Every score is calculated for one reference applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route actually in use. A different passport, income or family changes which rows apply to a given person.", "scores": "Scores run from 0 to 100 on a fixed scale, not relative to neighbours. The seven categories are not equally weighted: the core (agency processing, pressure on newcomers, status security) carries about half the weight. A red flag caps the score when any core category falls below the critical mark.", "range": "place_range is the interval of places across 10,000 simulations that account for source uncertainty; differences between countries inside a shared interval are not significant.", "update": "Recalculated every three months; next update December 2026.", "cite": "Cite as: Expat Gate, Residence Policy Index, issue 1 (August 2026), expatgate.com/ranking/en/." }, "axes": [ "Agency processing", "Pressure on newcomers", "Status security", "Access to entry", "Path to citizenship", "Family rights", "Settling in" ], "leagues": { "A": { "name": "They keep their word", "band": "80 points and above", "meaning": "The rules are written, they are followed and they do not change retroactively. A mistake costs you nerves here, not your life: if something goes wrong you will have a deadline, a legal provision and a procedure you can follow." }, "B": { "name": "Their word, with a catch", "band": "65-79 points", "meaning": "The structure works, but one thing sags, and you need to know exactly which. Most often it is agency processing: the law is good, the agency cannot cope." }, "C": { "name": "Depends on your route", "band": "50-64 points", "meaning": "The most crowded league and the most deceptive. The outcome depends on which door you come through, in which year, and who handles your case. Most of the favourites of where-to-move lists live here." }, "D": { "name": "You are a guest here", "band": "below 50 points", "meaning": "The state is not building you a future and, to its credit, usually does not hide it. You can come and work; you cannot count on permanent status, full family rights or protection when you lose your job." } }, "countries": [ { "place": 1, "name": "Albania", "id": "albaniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/albania/", "score": 85, "place_range": "1-4", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Hardly ever pushes anyone out: 100 out of 100 for pressure on newcomers. But the state does not publish how many people it refused to let in.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 75, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 82 }, "analysis": [ "The European Commission report for the period found no case of pressure on legal residents: management of legal migration was rated «broadly satisfactory». Law No 79/2021 says it plainly: unemployment is not grounds to annul a permit until it exceeds three months in a year (six, if the person has lived in the country for more than three years), and financial difficulty is not grounds for a self-employed person. The single Leje Unike permit is issued online through the e-Albania portal, and since April 2026 the temporary permit is issued on the day you apply and stays valid while the case is decided. A self-employed person pays 0% income tax until turnover passes 14 million lek; the relief runs to the end of 2029.", "Downside: the state does not publish refusal statistics. Under our rule the refusal rate indicator scores 25 out of 100 for that, and it drags agency processing down.", "About first place: it cannot be read as sole leadership. Australia has the same place interval, and the intervals of New Zealand and Kyrgyzstan overlap it. The difference between first and fourth place is not significant in our data, and we are the ones saying so." ] }, { "place": 2, "name": "Australia", "id": "avstraliya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/australia/", "score": 84, "place_range": "1-4", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The only country of the 97 where, after losing your job, you may work for six months rather than merely look for work.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 92, "Pressure on newcomers": 87, "Status security": 81, "Access to entry": 59, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [ "180 consecutive days after losing your sponsor and up to 365 days in total. During that time you may work for other employers or for yourself. Nowhere else in the index does income survive that moment: everywhere else you may look for work but not work. Beyond that, the country simply stays out of your way: a bank account opens online before you even arrive, there is no compulsory address registration and no integration exams. Path to citizenship is scored at 100 out of 100.", "Downside: access to entry scores 59. There is no visa for remote work or for the self-employed at all; you get in only through an employer, through points or through study. The salary threshold for the main work visa is A$79,423 a year from 1 July 2026, and an applicant on $2,500 a month does not clear it.", "A warning: in January 2026 a new law added grounds for cancelling visas that are already in force." ] }, { "place": 3, "name": "New Zealand", "id": "novaya-zelandiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/new-zealand/", "score": 84, "place_range": "1-5", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "100 out of 100 for agency processing, and only 25 for the grace period after you lose your job.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 100, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [ "One of two countries in the index with the maximum on this criterion; the other is the Netherlands. The agency works the way it promises to. Children of work visa holders attend state schools alongside locals and free of charge, an account opens on a passport, there is no address registration, and path to citizenship scores 100.", "Downside: there is no grace period after dismissal. The visa is not annulled automatically, but you cannot work until a change of employer is approved, and since November 2025 the immigration service may put an application on hold if it has questions about the new employer. There is no visa for remote work: since January 2025 newcomers have been officially allowed to work for a foreign client for up to 90 days, but that grants no local rights." ] }, { "place": 4, "name": "Kyrgyzstan", "id": "kyrgyzstan", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/kyrgyzstan/", "score": 83, "place_range": "1-6", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "100 out of 100 for access to entry, the maximum in the index. Only Taiwan matches it.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 75, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 100, "Path to citizenship": 90, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 78 }, "analysis": [ "For citizens of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) entry is on an internal passport and work under an employment contract needs no separate permit. For everyone else there is a Digital Nomad status. Family members are registered on the day they apply, state schools are free, studying in Russian is widely available, and income tax is 10%.", "In April 2026 the Cabinet of Ministers almost doubled the quota for hiring foreign workers, from 52,000 to 100,000, citing a shortage of qualified staff. It is a rare case of a country not merely letting people in but calling them.", "Downside: since 31 December 2025 there is a limit on staying without status, 90 days out of 180, and it applies to everyone, including citizens of the union. The old regime, with six-month registration and unlimited extension, is over. A bank account can be opened, but under sanctions pressure the banks are cautious." ] }, { "place": 5, "name": "Taiwan", "id": "tayvan", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/taiwan/", "score": 80, "place_range": "4-10", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The result is calculated for one entry route. Take another one and you get a different country.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 100, "Path to citizenship": 80, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 90 }, "analysis": [ "100 out of 100 for access to entry, 90 for settling in, income tax of 7.6% on $2,500 a month, and a diploma accepted without extra recognition.", "But we score the ordinary resident work card, and on that one the tie to the employer is real: a new employer obtains a new labour ministry permit, then a new card is filed for and the old one is annulled. A spouse gets a dependant card, but the right to work does not come with it; a separate permit is needed.", "Downside: 50 out of 100 for statuses revoked retroactively. Since 2025 at least five cases have been documented of spouses from mainland China losing legal status over things they said.", "Note: Taiwan sits exactly on the border of leagues A and B, and should be read as a country between two leagues." ] }, { "place": 6, "name": "Canada", "id": "kanada", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/canada/", "score": 80, "place_range": "4-10", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "100 points for both path to citizenship and family. Only Armenia has the same combination. But the door is closing.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 75, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 81, "Access to entry": 56, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [ "Express Entry leads straight to permanent residence, skipping the intermediate work visa, and few places are built that way. The right to a bank account is written into law, school is free, there are no integration exams, and language courses are free and voluntary.", "Downside: access to entry scores 56, and it is falling. Work permit issuance is down 37% for 2026 and study permits down 49%, with a moratorium on low-paid streams. Twice in 24 months the rules changed retroactively: in March 2025 bonus points for a job offer were removed, including for people who had already filed a profile, and in March 2026 law C-12 came into force, giving the cabinet the power to cancel and suspend applications." ] }, { "place": 7, "name": "Brazil", "id": "braziliya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/brazil/", "score": 80, "place_range": "4-10", "league": "A", "league_name": "They keep their word", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "One of two countries with 100 out of 100 for status security: an appeal halts removal by an explicit provision of the law.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 100, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 87, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [ "The other such country is Chile. You get at least 60 days, extendable, to put your status in order, freedom of movement is preserved meanwhile, and the law explicitly forbids detention on migration grounds. A spouse works immediately and on equal terms with Brazilians, without a separate permit, and that extends to the family of someone on a remote work visa. Education is a right of everyone under the Constitution, regardless of migration status.", "Downside: agency processing scores 53, settling in 62. Delays in issuing the registration number block both the bank account and payroll; diploma recognition goes through state universities and takes months; income on a remote work visa is taxed at around 24%." ] }, { "place": 8, "name": "Japan", "id": "yaponiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/japan/", "score": 78, "place_range": "6-15", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "It opened the door, 90 points. But from April 2027 permanent residence can be revoked over unpaid taxes and contributions, including for people who already hold it.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 80, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [ "Since 2023, people who qualify by income or by degree no longer need to collect points. Family reunification takes the one to three months the law promises, the immigration service accepts a bachelor's degree itself with no separate recognition procedure, and ten years of experience can replace it. There are no integration exams.", "Downside: a spouse on a dependant visa cannot work straight away; a separate permit is needed, and even with it the ceiling is 28 hours a week. Only spouses of highly qualified specialists have a full right to work.", "Stability of the rules scores just 25 out of 100. An immigration service instruction of 29 September 2025 takes effect in 2027 and introduces revocation of permanent residence over unpaid taxes and mandatory pension and health contributions. It contains no protection for people who already hold it, and that is around 918 thousand people." ] }, { "place": 9, "name": "Ecuador", "id": "ekvador", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/ecuador/", "score": 77, "place_range": "6-15", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The professional visa threshold is $482 a month, one of the lowest in the world, and it leads to permanent status.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [ "You need a diploma registered with SENESCYT, the state body that recognises education, and an income of one minimum salary, around $482 a month. Path to citizenship is 100 out of 100: permanent status here is reached quickly rather than existing on paper. The family applies through the same process, with a benchmark of about 60 days, access to education does not depend on migration status, and there is no compulsory address registration.", "Downside: the migration law reform of October 2025 introduced a rule that two years of absence from the country costs you permanent status, with no appeal. The rule applies to people who obtained status earlier too. A family member's visa grants residence but not the right to work: an adult dependant has to obtain a permit separately or change category." ] }, { "place": 10, "name": "Bulgaria", "id": "bolgariya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/bulgaria/", "score": 77, "place_range": "6-15", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The EU Blue Card protects you here when you lose your job, because that is the main route. In Greece the same directive does not.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 87, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 80, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [ "This is the clearest example of how the whole index works: it is not about the country, it is about the route you enter by. The same European directive gives protection when you lose your job: three months, six with longer service. In Bulgaria the Blue Card is the main route, and the indicator scores 100. In Greece the main route is a different one, an ordinary permit with no such rule at all, and the score there is 50.", "The Bulgarian Blue Card threshold is noticeably lower than the western European one, IT roles can be entered on experience without a degree, income tax is 10%, and there is no separate financial threshold for family reunification: the card holder's salary covers it.", "Downside: path to citizenship scores 63. Citizenship is possible only five years after obtaining permanent status, that is, roughly ten years after arrival, and citizens of non-EU countries are usually required to renounce their previous citizenship." ] }, { "place": 11, "name": "Luxembourg", "id": "lyuksemburg", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/luxembourg/", "score": 77, "place_range": "6-15", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Status security scores 94, close to the maximum in the index. There is no visa for remote work, and access to entry drops to 56.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 94, "Access to entry": 56, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 12, "name": "Paraguay", "id": "paraguay", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/paraguay/", "score": 77, "place_range": "8-16", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Not a single pressure event against newcomers, 100 out of 100. Yet residence takes longer than three months against the one to three promised, and agency processing collapses to 45.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 73, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 13, "name": "Romania", "id": "rumyniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/romania/", "score": 76, "place_range": "8-16", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law lets you leave an employer of your own accord only after six months of work, and the rule was extended to people already employed. Family rights here are 100 out of 100.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 14, "name": "Chile", "id": "chili", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/chile/", "score": 76, "place_range": "9-16", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "One of two countries with 100 out of 100 for status security. And 506 days of waiting for residence against the six months the law promises.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 100, "Access to entry": 55, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 15, "name": "South Korea", "id": "yuzhnaya-koreya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/south-korea/", "score": 75, "place_range": "9-17", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A spouse cannot work without a separate permit, and proven Korean is often required for it. Access to entry scores 80.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 67, "Family rights": 80, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 16, "name": "Netherlands", "id": "netherlands", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/netherlands/", "score": 74, "place_range": "13-19", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Agency processing is 100 out of 100, the maximum in the index. And an income threshold of 5,942 euro a month before tax for an applicant over thirty, which drags access to entry down to 42.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 100, "Pressure on newcomers": 45, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 42, "Path to citizenship": 80, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 17, "name": "Ireland", "id": "irlandiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/ireland/", "score": 73, "place_range": "14-21", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Since 2025 first registration happens only in Dublin, for the whole country, and appointments open in a ten-week window. Path to citizenship scores 90.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 52, "Pressure on newcomers": 87, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 53, "Path to citizenship": 90, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 18, "name": "Mauritius", "id": "mavrikiy", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/mauritius/", "score": 73, "place_range": "15-21", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Access to entry scores 90, status security 42. Changing jobs means filing the whole permit package again, and in 2025 the residence requirement for permanent status went from three years to five, including for people who had planned around three.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 42, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 90 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 19, "name": "Belgium", "id": "belgiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/belgium/", "score": 71, "place_range": "17-25", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Path to citizenship scores 90. But the law allows nine months for a family reunification decision, extendable twice by three, which makes fifteen.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 87, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 58, "Path to citizenship": 90, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 20, "name": "Serbia", "id": "serbia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/serbia/", "score": 70, "place_range": "18-28", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The fifteen days the law promises for a decision are not kept, and the indicator for time against the promise stands at zero. Access to entry, meanwhile, is 90 and family rights 100.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 42, "Pressure on newcomers": 53, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 80, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 21, "name": "Uruguay", "id": "uruguay", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/uruguay/", "score": 70, "place_range": "18-28", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Residence takes between one and two years to process, and the law sets no deadline for family reunification at all. Agency processing scores 28.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 28, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 87, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 22, "name": "Estonia", "id": "estonia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/estonia/", "score": 69, "place_range": "18-30", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "In March 2025 a constitutional amendment stripped local voting rights from around 78 thousand Russian and three thousand Belarusian residents, and pressure on newcomers fell to 48.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 62, "Pressure on newcomers": 48, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 87, "Path to citizenship": 57, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 23, "name": "Peru", "id": "peru", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/peru/", "score": 69, "place_range": "19-33", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Family rights are 100 out of 100. But there is no window to find new work: when the contract ends your stay stops being lawful, and you have thirty days to report it.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 62, "Path to citizenship": 87, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 24, "name": "Armenia", "id": "armeniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/armenia/", "score": 69, "place_range": "20-33", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The queue for an appointment at the migration service runs about four months. And Armenia scores 100 for both path to citizenship and family rights: apart from it, only Canada does.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 81, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 25, "name": "Iceland", "id": "islandiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/iceland/", "score": 68, "place_range": "20-33", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law ties the work permit to a named employer and gives no period to find another: both indicators stand at zero.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 61, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 76 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 26, "name": "Argentina", "id": "argentina", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/argentina/", "score": 68, "place_range": "20-36", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law sets no deadline for deciding a residence application, and agency processing falls to 27. Argentina's path to citizenship is 100 out of 100.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 81, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 100, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 27, "name": "Finland", "id": "finlyandiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/finland/", "score": 68, "place_range": "20-35", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Stability of the rules stands at zero: four tightenings in two years with no protection for people already living there, including the wait for permanent status raised from four years to six.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 70, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 62, "Access to entry": 77, "Path to citizenship": 53, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 28, "name": "Mexico", "id": "mexico", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/mexico/", "score": 67, "place_range": "22-39", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "To bring your family the sponsor needs an income of around 4,432 dollars a month plus around 1,434 for each family member, several times the average local salary. Status security scores 94.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 94, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 68, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 29, "name": "Panama", "id": "panama", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/panama/", "score": 66, "place_range": "23-39", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "You cannot file on your own: the law requires a Panamanian lawyer and your personal attendance.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 35, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 67, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 52 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 30, "name": "Colombia", "id": "kolumbiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/colombia/", "score": 66, "place_range": "24-41", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A spouse's visa carries no right to work: to work, the spouse needs a visa of their own, through the same procedure as a stranger.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 75, "Pressure on newcomers": 75, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 31, "name": "Slovakia", "id": "slovakia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/slovakia/", "score": 66, "place_range": "25-41", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Access to entry scores 84, agency processing 35: in spring 2025 there were almost no appointment slots in Bratislava, and some residents had their permits expire while they waited for one.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 35, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 84, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 32, "name": "Spain", "id": "spain", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/spain/", "score": 66, "place_range": "25-43", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "An appointment at the agency takes three to six months: free slots are taken within seconds, and a resale market has grown up around them. Access to entry scores 91.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 91, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 33, "name": "Norway", "id": "norvegiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/norway/", "score": 66, "place_range": "25-43", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "An appointment at the Oslo police takes up to sixteen weeks, against the thirty days promised for the decision itself. Meanwhile there is not a single pressure event against newcomers, 100 out of 100.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 58, "Path to citizenship": 73, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 34, "name": "Greece", "id": "greece", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/greece/", "score": 65, "place_range": "26-43", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "You cannot bring your family for the first two years: the law lets you apply for reunification only after two years of lawful residence.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 35, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 69, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 65, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 35, "name": "Uzbekistan", "id": "uzbekistan", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/uzbekistan/", "score": 65, "place_range": "26-44", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "A spouse has no right to work, neither on arrival nor after any period at all. Settling in scores 82, income tax is 7.5%.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 60, "Status security": 62, "Access to entry": 71, "Path to citizenship": 70, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 82 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 36, "name": "Czechia", "id": "czechia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/czechia/", "score": 65, "place_range": "26-46", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Citizenship comes about ten years after arrival. There are also documented cases of permanent residence revoked on classified national security grounds.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 43, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 37, "name": "Croatia", "id": "horvatiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/croatia/", "score": 65, "place_range": "27-44", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A 2026 law allows you to bring your family only after two years of continuous residence, and a spouse may not work without a separate permit. Access to entry scores 87, family rights 50.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 87, "Status security": 62, "Access to entry": 87, "Path to citizenship": 57, "Family rights": 50, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 38, "name": "France", "id": "franciya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/france/", "score": 65, "place_range": "28-46", "league": "B", "league_name": "Their word, with a catch", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Every new employment contract requires its own work authorisation, and you cannot bring your family until eighteen months of residence.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 35, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 87, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 74 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 39, "name": "Moldova", "id": "moldova", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/moldova/", "score": 64, "place_range": "29-47", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Families move fast here: the law gives ten working days for a reunification decision. But you cannot change employer except by going through the whole procedure again.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 80, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 40, "name": "El Salvador", "id": "salvador", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/el-salvador/", "score": 64, "place_range": "27-45", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law requires at least 90 percent of a company's workforce to be citizens, and a newcomer's spouse cannot work. Path to citizenship scores 90.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 42, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 90, "Family rights": 68, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 41, "name": "Denmark", "id": "daniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/denmark/", "score": 63, "place_range": "33-52", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Family rights are 100 out of 100 and path to citizenship is 27: eight years to permanent status as a baseline, nine to citizenship, all of it on top of a Danish exam at B2.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 58, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 58, "Path to citizenship": 27, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 42, "name": "United Kingdom", "id": "velikobritaniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/united-kingdom/", "score": 62, "place_range": "35-52", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "In 2025 the Home Office revoked 3,100 sponsor licences, a record for the whole observation period. The worker's permission is cut back along with the licence, though nothing about it depended on the worker.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 78, "Pressure on newcomers": 23, "Status security": 62, "Access to entry": 39, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 43, "name": "Sweden", "id": "sweden", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/sweden/", "score": 62, "place_range": "34-53", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The refusal rate for first-time work permits rose from 26 to 42 percent, a ten-year high.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 54, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 44, "name": "Singapore", "id": "singapore", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/singapore/", "score": 62, "place_range": "37-53", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Settling in scores 90, family rights 40. State school for a newcomer's child is paid: 1,035 Singapore dollars a month for primary and 2,190 for secondary, and a place is not guaranteed.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 53, "Path to citizenship": 53, "Family rights": 40, "Settling in": 90 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 45, "name": "North Macedonia", "id": "severnaya-makedoniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/north-macedonia/", "score": 62, "place_range": "36-53", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The residence permit is taken away at the very moment the employment contract ends. Pressure on newcomers, meanwhile, is 100 out of 100: not a single case.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 57, "Family rights": 80, "Settling in": 76 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 46, "name": "Hungary", "id": "vengriya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/hungary/", "score": 62, "place_range": "37-56", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The permit is tied both to the employer and to the job title: changing work means a new application from scratch.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 60, "Family rights": 78, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 47, "name": "Portugal", "id": "portugal", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/portugal/", "score": 62, "place_range": "40-57", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The wait for citizenship was doubled from five years to ten, including for people already living in the country, and the years spent waiting for the card were not counted towards it at all.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 65, "Settling in": 65 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 48, "name": "Slovenia", "id": "sloveniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/slovenia/", "score": 61, "place_range": "39-57", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "Since November 2024 renewing a family residence permit requires a passed Slovenian exam, and the rule caught people who already live there.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 49, "name": "Bosnia and Herzegovina", "id": "bosniya-i-gercegovina", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/bosnia-and-herzegovina/", "score": 61, "place_range": "37-56", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A holder of an ordinary permit can bring family only after a year, and only with \"justified prospects\" of permanent residence; the spouse can work only on a permit of their own, like any foreigner.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 69, "Path to citizenship": 57, "Family rights": 50, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 50, "name": "Germany", "id": "germany", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/germany/", "score": 60, "place_range": "42-63", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Access to entry scores 90, agency processing 27. In Berlin, since 2025, you cannot book an appointment yourself: you file through a form and wait between two weeks and three months for the first reply.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 53, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 87, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 51, "name": "Bahrain", "id": "bahreyn", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/bahrain/", "score": 60, "place_range": "44-63", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "State schools stopped taking newcomers' children in 2018, and citizenship requires 25 years of residence.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 83, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 42, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 52, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 52, "name": "Morocco", "id": "marokko", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/morocco/", "score": 60, "place_range": "43-62", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "A new labour ministry visa is required for any change to the contract: pay, term, conditions or employer.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 47, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 53, "name": "Austria", "id": "avstriya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/austria/", "score": 60, "place_range": "45-63", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Changing employer in the first two years is only possible by obtaining the permit again, through the full cycle. The spouse does get a card with free access to the labour market.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 75, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 59, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 82, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 54, "name": "Montenegro", "id": "montenegro", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/montenegro/", "score": 59, "place_range": "44-62", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Status security scores 25: the permit ends on the same day as the employment contract, and the law gives no grace period.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 25, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 80, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 55, "name": "Kazakhstan", "id": "kazahstan", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/kazakhstan/", "score": 59, "place_range": "45-62", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The work permit belongs to the employer, not the worker: when the contract is terminated it is annulled, and the grounds for being in the country disappear.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 25, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 67, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 56, "name": "Rwanda", "id": "ruanda", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/rwanda/", "score": 59, "place_range": "48-65", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Citizenship takes fifteen years of continuous residence, and a newcomer's spouse cannot work.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 58, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 72, "Path to citizenship": 38, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 57, "name": "Turkey", "id": "turkey", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/turkey/", "score": 59, "place_range": "46-65", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law has not changed, but residence permit renewals are refused more and more often: pressure on newcomers stands at 20 out of 100.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 48, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 54, "Path to citizenship": 80, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 58, "name": "Dominican Republic", "id": "dominikanskaya-respublika", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/dominican-republic/", "score": 58, "place_range": "51-67", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Amnesty International documents detentions during raids without document checks, and legal residents of Haitian origin are caught up in them.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 48, "Status security": 69, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 72, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 59, "name": "Guatemala", "id": "gvatemala", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/guatemala/", "score": 58, "place_range": "51-67", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law explicitly forbids an employer to have fewer than 90 percent Guatemalan workers, and the work permit is filed and held by the employer.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 75, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 67, "Family rights": 60, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 60, "name": "South Africa", "id": "yuar", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/south-africa/", "score": 58, "place_range": "50-67", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "When you lose your job the rules give neither a grace period nor a period to leave, and a spouse cannot work. Path to citizenship scores 87.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 37, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 87, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 61, "name": "Sri Lanka", "id": "shri-lanka", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/sri-lanka/", "score": 58, "place_range": "51-66", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "The only country in the index with a zero for path to citizenship: permanent status exists only for former citizens and their families, and for everyone else it does not exist.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 78, "Status security": 58, "Access to entry": 67, "Path to citizenship": 0, "Family rights": 42, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 62, "name": "Belize", "id": "beliz", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/belize/", "score": 57, "place_range": "51-67", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Family rights score 12 out of 100: a dependant permit is available only to someone aged 55 or over, a person with a disability or a child, so an adult spouse cannot be brought in on it.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 92, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 64, "Path to citizenship": 87, "Family rights": 12, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 63, "name": "Malta", "id": "malta", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/malta/", "score": 57, "place_range": "54-68", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Working for anyone other than the employer named on the permit is explicitly forbidden, and those who miss the deadline after losing a job are deported.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 40, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 65, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 64, "name": "Poland", "id": "poland", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/poland/", "score": 56, "place_range": "54-69", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "After losing your job you have thirty days to file a new application, and fifteen to notify the voivode, otherwise the permit is revoked.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 53, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 63, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 65, "name": "Barbados", "id": "barbados", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/barbados/", "score": 56, "place_range": "57-69", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "If your renewal has not been decided in time, you have to leave the country on the day the permit expires.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 75, "Status security": 25, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 67, "Family rights": 48, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 66, "name": "Lithuania", "id": "litva", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/lithuania/", "score": 56, "place_range": "54-69", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A valid residence permit is revoked for travelling home too often: by January 2026, 149 people had lost their status this way.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 68, "Pressure on newcomers": 23, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 59, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 67, "name": "United Arab Emirates", "id": "uae", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/united-arab-emirates/", "score": 56, "place_range": "57-70", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Permanent status does not exist in the country: even a ten-year visa is annulled the moment the grounds for it disappear. Access to entry scores 90, path to citizenship 7.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 40, "Status security": 75, "Access to entry": 90, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 48, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 68, "name": "Costa Rica", "id": "costa-rica", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/costa-rica/", "score": 55, "place_range": "60-71", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The state has set no deadline at all for deciding an application, and after you lose your job there is not a single day of grace.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 27, "Pressure on newcomers": 75, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 67, "Path to citizenship": 73, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 69, "name": "Cyprus", "id": "kipr", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/cyprus/", "score": 55, "place_range": "59-71", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "You can bring your family only after two years of residence, and permanent status is out of reach on the main route: permits are issued in a way that never adds up to five consecutive years.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 53, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 40, "Family rights": 52, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 70, "name": "Switzerland", "id": "shveycariya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/switzerland/", "score": 52, "place_range": "69-83", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Access to entry scores 18, the lowest of anyone: there is no visa for remote work, self-employment is closed to third-country nationals, and there is no shortage occupation list to make hiring easier.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 69, "Access to entry": 18, "Path to citizenship": 32, "Family rights": 85, "Settling in": 56 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 71, "name": "Indonesia", "id": "indonesia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/indonesia/", "score": 51, "place_range": "67-82", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "The rules contain no mechanism for changing employer: when a contract ends the status is not transferred, it is obtained again from scratch.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 37, "Status security": 31, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 72, "name": "Mongolia", "id": "mongoliya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/mongolia/", "score": 51, "place_range": "69-82", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "Residence is granted for exactly the term of the work permit, and a newcomer can only be hired after a two-week check that no local could take the job.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 33, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 33, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 65 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 73, "name": "Oman", "id": "oman", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/oman/", "score": 51, "place_range": "70-85", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "However long you live there on a work visa, permanent status never arises, and citizenship requires twenty years.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 42, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 38, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 74, "name": "Azerbaijan", "id": "azerbaydzhan", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/azerbaijan/", "score": 51, "place_range": "69-84", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A new work permit is required even for a transfer to a different position with the very same employer.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 67, "Pressure on newcomers": 32, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 20, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 75, "name": "Italy", "id": "italiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/italy/", "score": 50, "place_range": "72-77", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Agency processing scores 10, the minimum in the index. Of the 127,707 quota places for 2023, 9,528 people reached an actual permit a year later, which is 7.5 percent.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 10, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 88, "Access to entry": 81, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 92, "Settling in": 66 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 76, "name": "Latvia", "id": "latviya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/latvia/", "score": 50, "place_range": "73-78", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A 2022 law declared already issued permanent residence permits of Russian citizens invalid, and in autumn 2025, 841 people received a letter ordering them to leave.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 25, "Status security": 81, "Access to entry": 77, "Path to citizenship": 50, "Family rights": 100, "Settling in": 46 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 77, "name": "Fiji", "id": "fidzhi", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/fiji/", "score": 50, "place_range": "74-79", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "Lawyers describe permanent status as a category unavailable in practice, though formally it exists. The rules give no grace period after losing a job either.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 100, "Status security": 17, "Access to entry": 42, "Path to citizenship": 53, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 70 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 78, "name": "China", "id": "kitay", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/china/", "score": 50, "place_range": "71-86", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "Permanent status on the work route requires four years of employment and an income of at least six average regional salaries.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 53, "Pressure on newcomers": 40, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 52, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 79, "name": "Philippines", "id": "filippiny", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/philippines/", "score": 50, "place_range": "71-86", "league": "C", "league_name": "Depends on your route", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": true, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Permanent status runs on a quota: no more than fifty visas a year per nationality.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 67, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 56, "Path to citizenship": 13, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 80, "name": "Saudi Arabia", "id": "saudovskaya-araviya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/saudi-arabia/", "score": 49, "place_range": "72-86", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Permanent status here is not earned but bought: there is no other way to it in the country.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 70, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 50, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 81, "name": "Kenya", "id": "keniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/kenya/", "score": 49, "place_range": "70-88", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The permit stops working the moment you are dismissed, automatically and without notice. And to hire a newcomer, the employer must name a Kenyan who will be trained as their replacement.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 37, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 70, "Path to citizenship": 67, "Family rights": 48, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 82, "name": "Qatar", "id": "katar", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/qatar/", "score": 49, "place_range": "73-89", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "For the 2.3 million foreigners living in the country there are one hundred approvals of permanent status a year.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 50, "Pressure on newcomers": 57, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 52, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 38, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 83, "name": "Belarus", "id": "belarus", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/belarus/", "score": 49, "place_range": "72-89", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The work permit is issued to the employer rather than the worker, and after dismissal not a single day of grace remains.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 42, "Pressure on newcomers": 32, "Status security": 31, "Access to entry": 59, "Path to citizenship": 47, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 84, "name": "Georgia", "id": "georgia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/georgia/", "score": 48, "place_range": "74-91", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "People who have lived in the country for more than ten years are stopped from re-entering after a trip. Formally, nobody revokes their status.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 42, "Pressure on newcomers": 15, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 64, "Path to citizenship": 32, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 85, "name": "Malaysia", "id": "malaysia", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/malaysia/", "score": 48, "place_range": "78-91", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Early dismissal leaves fourteen days to leave the country, however much time the permit still had to run.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 53, "Status security": 31, "Access to entry": 74, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 55, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 86, "name": "Tunisia", "id": "tunis", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/tunisia/", "score": 47, "place_range": "78-91", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Since 2023 a state campaign has been running with collective expulsions to the Libyan and Algerian borders: pressure on newcomers scores 17, which is a red flag. An employment contract for a foreigner is renewed exactly once.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 17, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 77, "Family rights": 70, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 87, "name": "Cambodia", "id": "kambodzha", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/cambodia/", "score": 47, "place_range": "78-91", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "Foreigners may not exceed ten percent of a company's staff, and the work permit is issued within that quota, for a named employer.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 50, "Access to entry": 55, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 50, "Settling in": 65 }, "analysis": [] }, { "place": 88, "name": "Ghana", "id": "gana", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/ghana/", "score": 47, "place_range": "80-91", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "The law explicitly requires a renewal with the same employer to be treated as a new application.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 48, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 42, "Path to citizenship": 53, "Family rights": 60, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [ "Immigration Act 573, section 23(2): even an annual renewal with the very same employer is treated as a new application. Stable status does not exist here by the design of the law itself. There is no grace period after dismissal: the law obliges the employer to carry out the director's instruction to repatriate the worker and their dependants. Dependants receive residence, but entering the labour market on it is not allowed, and the wording in the law is explicit. How many foreigners a company may hire depends on the volume of the employer's foreign capital: that is a restriction on hiring, not a way to attract people.", "Pressure: on 3 December 2025, more than 200 foreign-owned shops in Kumasi were closed without warning." ] }, { "place": 89, "name": "Vietnam", "id": "vietnam", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/vietnam/", "score": 46, "place_range": "82-93", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Permanent status is closed to an ordinary newcomer, and so is citizenship. Path to citizenship scores 20 out of 100.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 45, "Status security": 38, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 20, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [ "Permanent residence is granted for services to Vietnam, to an academic with ministry sponsorship, or through kinship with a citizen. For an ordinary specialist there is no road. Citizenship is formally possible after five years, but the clock runs from permanent residence, which is closed, and renunciation of the previous citizenship is required.", "When a contract is terminated the work permit is annulled, the employer is obliged to withdraw the residence card and return it to the migration service, and an exit visa of about 15 days is issued instead. There is no right to stay and look for work. Changing employer means a new permit through the full cycle. There is no visa for remote work and none has been announced: in practice remote workers live on 90-day e-visas and leave to get a new one, but working on them is not allowed." ] }, { "place": 90, "name": "Bahamas", "id": "bagamy", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/bahamas/", "score": 45, "place_range": "85-94", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "90 out of 100 for settling in and 8 out of 100 for status security. The absence of taxes does not cure that.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 62, "Status security": 8, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 33, "Family rights": 48, "Settling in": 90 }, "analysis": [ "The red flag is for status security, 8 points. The work permit is personal and annual, and it is issued after the employer has advertised the vacancy in a newspaper for three days running. The tie to the employer scores zero, the grace period zero.", "Separately, about a programme relocation guides still advertise: the BEATS visa for remote work has not existed since February 2022. It is not in the immigration department's list of categories, nor in the official fee schedule, and there is no application portal for it.", "Permanent status takes 20 years of continuous legal residence, citizenship around 16 years, and the decision is theirs to make. There is no income tax, no diploma is needed at all, and there are no integration exams. Daily life is beautifully arranged; no future is provided for." ] }, { "place": 91, "name": "United States", "id": "usa", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/united-states/", "score": 45, "place_range": "86-94", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Zero out of a hundred for pressure on newcomers. The only such zero in the index.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 43, "Pressure on newcomers": 0, "Status security": 56, "Access to entry": 24, "Path to citizenship": 40, "Family rights": 88, "Settling in": 82 }, "analysis": [ "The zero appears three times: for pressure events, for the cost of losing status, and for statuses revoked retroactively. In spring 2025 more than 4,700 records were annulled without notice in the system that tracks legal students, parole already in force was cancelled, and temporary protected status was ended early for hundreds of thousands of people.", "There is no grace period to find a new employer, and only a court may allow you to leave voluntarily, at its own discretion. The immigration service's own target is two months; the actual time as of July 2026 is nine to ten and a half months, five times longer than promised. Access to entry scores 24: a sponsored work visa remains the only route at scale, and since February 2026 the lottery has been weighted by salary level.", "Upside: family scores 88, and a bank account is opened on a passport, without a social security number." ] }, { "place": 92, "name": "India", "id": "indiya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/india/", "score": 44, "place_range": "87-95", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "The entry threshold is $25,000 a year, you cannot change employer, and permanent status does not exist.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 32, "Status security": 31, "Access to entry": 40, "Path to citizenship": 33, "Family rights": 62, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [ "The work visa requires a salary of at least $25,000 a year, is tied to a named employer and a named position, and the employer has to explain why an Indian citizen was not hired for the job. Changing employer during the visa term is generally forbidden. There is one exception: a move between a holding company and a subsidiary with prior approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs. In every other case you have to leave and obtain a new visa abroad.", "There is no permanent status for an ordinary specialist: the visa is extended for up to five years, no rights accumulate along the way, and the investor status effectively does not work. Citizenship takes 12 years of residence and mandatory renunciation of the previous citizenship; dual citizenship is strictly forbidden. A spouse on a dependant visa may not engage in any economic activity at all." ] }, { "place": 93, "name": "Jordan", "id": "iordaniya", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/jordan/", "score": 43, "place_range": "88-95", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Path to citizenship scores 7 out of 100: the law simply has no permanent residence.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 45, "Pressure on newcomers": 53, "Status security": 31, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 52, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [ "Law 24/1973 does not know permanent residence. The most it provides is that, after ten years of lawful residence, the minister may issue a five-year renewable residence permit. That is a renewable status, not a permanent one, and the decision is theirs to make.", "The law gives no grace period after dismissal at all: the employer must notify the authorities within 48 hours and the status ends. You can change employer only with their permission, and anyone who resigns loses their legal standing. The GLOBALCIT report describes citizenship with the formula «many options in the law, few in practice».", "Upside: the employment route has no income threshold, the employer sponsors you, and the family is processed together with the sponsor: the main applicant's permit covers spouse and children at the same time." ] }, { "place": 94, "name": "Thailand", "id": "thailand", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/thailand/", "score": 43, "place_range": "89-95", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Access 80, family 28, path to citizenship 20. It takes you in for a long time, but not for good and not with your family.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 23, "Status security": 44, "Access to entry": 80, "Path to citizenship": 20, "Family rights": 28, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [ "The widest entry in the whole bottom ten, and the widest gap between entry and everything else. The work permit is issued for a named employer and a named workplace; when you change, the procedure is repeated in full, including a check on the new employer: 2 million baht of capital and four Thais per foreigner. A spouse's right to work scores zero.", "Citizenship is possible no earlier than five years after holding permanent status, that is, more than ten years after arrival, and at every step there is a quota and discretion. Pressure on newcomers scores 23.", "Upside: under Thai labour law wages must be paid into a Thai account, so a work visa together with a work permit is the profile banks in the country accept most readily." ] }, { "place": 95, "name": "Israel", "id": "izrail", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/israel/", "score": 40, "place_range": "93-96", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": false, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "A work licence is not extended beyond 63 months from the day of first arrival. After that, you leave.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 35, "Pressure on newcomers": 32, "Status security": 25, "Access to entry": 31, "Path to citizenship": 20, "Family rights": 75, "Settling in": 80 }, "analysis": [ "The main route is the «foreign expert» visa, with a salary of at least twice the national average: 27,132 shekels a month before tax from January 2026. The procedure contains an explicit limit: the licence is not extended beyond 63 months from the day of first arrival. The length of your life in the country is set in advance.", "There is no path to permanent status for someone who is not repatriating. Citizenship requires the right to live in the country permanently, and a foreign expert never acquires that right. You may work only for the employer who filed the hiring application; there is no simplified transfer between employers. Family members cannot work: a spouse receives a tourist visa. An exception is made for spouses of specialists in high technology, but that is a separate privileged category." ] }, { "place": 96, "name": "Egypt", "id": "egipet", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/egypt/", "score": 38, "place_range": "95-96", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": true, "diagnosis": "A red flag for status security, 19 points, against the background of a raid campaign running since the end of 2025.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 25, "Status security": 19, "Access to entry": 49, "Path to citizenship": 27, "Family rights": 55, "Settling in": 62 }, "analysis": [ "Since the end of 2025 a campaign has been running in the country: plain-clothes raids on streets and workplaces targeting Syrians, Sudanese, South Sudanese and people from countries south of the Sahara. The UN refugee agency estimates at least 3,000 arrests in two months. This is not a story about people without papers: Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented the expulsion of people whose documents were valid.", "A work permit is issued for a named employer and only if no suitable Egyptian was found, and within a quota; changing employer means the whole process again. Permanent status does not exist; the most on offer is a five-year renewable card for $200,000 invested in property. A spouse has no right to work, neither on arrival nor after any period.", "Upside: there is no income threshold on any route: you get in either with capital or through an employer." ] }, { "place": 97, "name": "Kuwait", "id": "kuveyt", "url": "https://expatgate.com/ranking/en/kuwait/", "score": 33, "place_range": "97-97", "league": "D", "league_name": "You are a guest here", "red_flag": true, "between_leagues": false, "low_confidence": false, "diagnosis": "Status security 6 out of 100, path to citizenship 7, family 15. The worst result in the index.", "axes": { "Agency processing": 37, "Pressure on newcomers": 48, "Status security": 6, "Access to entry": 42, "Path to citizenship": 7, "Family rights": 15, "Settling in": 72 }, "analysis": [ "There is no permanent residence, and the new law went the other way, capping work residence at five years. For the first three years you can move to another employer only with their consent and for a separate fee. From 1 July 2025 the exit permit was reinstated for the entire private sector: you can leave the country only with your employer's knowledge.", "Decree 114/2024, whose regulation has been in force since 23 December 2025, gives no grace period at all once a residence permit has expired. That is what collapsed the renewal waiting indicator from 100 to zero and earned the country a red flag.", "Upside: there is no income tax." ] } ] }