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.
medium confidenceMongolia keeps its door narrow and expensive. A foreigner can be hired only after a two-week check that no local can fill the job, and for every foreign job the employer pays two minimum wages a month; since 2023 some sectors get a 50% discount. There is no remote-worker visa and no route for the self-employed, which leaves an employer or a $100,000 investment. The state publishes no refusal statistics, and after a refusal you can reapply for the same permit type only a year later.
Status depends entirely on the job. The permit is issued for a specific post with a specific employer, the residence permit runs exactly as long, and when the job ends the employer must make sure the foreigner leaves. The law gives no grace period to find new work, and changing employer means the whole process again, labour market check included. A spouse gets no right to work and needs their own permit on the general terms. The law does not say what your status is while a renewal is pending.
Pressure on foreigners is rising without any change in the law. The Immigration Agency reported 1,222 forced returns in 2025, up 41.4% on the year before. In January 2026 raids led to 78 people from 12 countries being deported in one month, with entry bans of 3-5 years. The grounds include activity not matching the purpose of entry, so the risk extends to people with valid status. A labour migration bill with new limits for mining, IT, finance and real estate has been before parliament since November 2024; as of August 2026 it had not passed.
Putting down roots is hard. Permanent status is discretionary, granted taking into account the internal situation and economic capacity, with caps of 0.5% of the population overall and 0.17% from any one country. Citizenship requires good spoken Mongolian, knowledge of traditions and the Constitution, and monthly income of at least ten minimum wages, about $2,200.
Day to day there are three registrations: your accommodation registers you online within 48 hours of entry, stays over 30 days need registration with the agency within 7 working days, and address registration with the district office within 14 days. With a residence permit you can open a bank account; without one, refusals happen. State schools are free but teach in Mongolian.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
No visa for up to 90 days. For living there, the same employer or investment route as for everyone.
No visa for up to 90 days, but only with an official invitation. Mongolia is not in the EU, so EU temporary protection does not apply; residency is on the general terms through an employer.
We found no nationality restrictions in open sources, but there is no official confirmation that none exist either: quotas are set by sector and employer, not by passport. No visa for up to 30 days.
We found no nationality restrictions in open sources, and there is no official confirmation that none exist. No visa for up to 90 days.
The place interval 69-82 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
Medium confidenceSome scores rest on second-class sources. The score and the place stand, but read them with that caveat.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Settling in: 65 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 69.5. The weakest is Status security: 33 against 57.9. Above the world average: 1 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
The official standard is 60 days; in practice from a few weeks to a couple of months. You must apply within 21 days of entry, in person, with biometrics.
Hardly: there is no route for the self-employed or remote workers. The one alternative is an investment of at least $100,000 with a stake of 25% or more in a company.
The residence permit fee starts at 135,000 tugrik plus $7 for the card. Hiring costs the employer most: a monthly fee of two minimum wages for each foreign worker.
Yes. The residence permit runs for the term of the work permit, there is no grace period after dismissal, and the employer must ensure you leave. The law allows expulsion for activity not matching the purpose of entry.
The law sets no timeline for permanent residence: it is discretionary and capped at 0.5% of the population. Citizenship after 5 years of permanent residence, provided you speak good Mongolian, know the traditions and the Constitution and earn at least ten minimum wages a month; dual citizenship is banned.
The state protects the local labour market: hiring a foreigner is costly and tied to one employer, and permanent status is blocked by discretion and caps. Since 2025 deportations have risen markedly, including for activity not matching the purpose of entry.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.