Golden Visas & Retirement

Some countries grant residence to people who make a qualifying investment, often called a golden visa. Others offer residence to retirees and financially independent people who can show a reliable income without working in the country.

Investment routes differ widely. Portugal’s golden visa no longer accepts property purchases, and now focuses on routes such as qualifying investment funds, research, culture and job-creating companies. Italy’s Investor Visa covers investments in government bonds, companies and innovative start-ups, and philanthropic donations. The United States EB-5 programme can lead to a green card through a qualifying investment that creates jobs, and New Zealand runs the Active Investor Plus visa.

Other well-known programmes have closed, including Ireland’s Immigrant Investor Programme and the UK investor visa. Australia’s retirement visas are also closed to new applicants.

Retirement and passive-income routes include Portugal’s residence visa for people with their own income (often called the D7), Italy’s elective residence visa, France’s long-stay visitor visa, Ireland’s permission for financially independent people and New Zealand’s temporary retirement visitor visa. Each sets its own income, savings, insurance and age conditions.

At Ashford Immigration, we help you compare investment and retirement routes that match your finances and plans, explain what each one requires and helps you prepare the documents. Where an investment needs regulated financial or legal advice, we say so.