Relocation
Countries with a retirement visa in 2026: six routes compared, from €920 a month to AED 240,000 a year
Six countries, six ways of letting a retiree in. Portugal asks €920 a month, Argentina about US$1,280, Cyprus €2,000, Greece €3,500 and Dubai AED 20,000, roughly US$5,450. Malta asks for a home and a minimum tax instead of an income, and changes the price on 1 January 2027. The tax on a foreign pension runs from nothing in the UAE to 5% in Cyprus, 7% in Greece, 15% in Malta, and the ordinary scale in Portugal and Argentina. Every figure here links to the page that reads it from the instrument.
Checked against PortugalGreeceMaltaCyprusUAEArgentina
Jurisdictions pt · gr · mt · cy · ae · ar
Contents
- Countries with a retirement visa: the income each one asks for
- Retirement visa for a couple: how each country adds the second person
- Retirement visa cost and how long the permit lasts
- How each retirement visa country taxes a foreign pension
- Retirement visa in Europe: Portugal, Greece, Cyprus or Malta
- Retirement visa outside Europe: the UAE or Argentina
- Frequently asked questions
- Each country's retirement visa, in full
- If you are choosing where to retire
- Sources: where each figure comes from
Lists of the best places to retire abroad rank countries by sunshine and coffee prices. This page does something narrower: it takes the six countries this site reads at source and sets out, for each, what a retiree from outside the EU must show to get in, what it costs, how long the permit lasts and what happens to the pension. Every row comes from a page on this site that quotes the instrument it rests on, read in August to October 2026, and each country links to that page.
What this page does not do is cover countries we have not read. Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Thailand are popular with retirees and absent here because we have not yet opened their law. A ranking that included them on somebody else's numbers would be the kind of page this site exists to correct.
Countries with a retirement visa: the income each one asks for
| Country | Route | Money test for one person | In US dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | D7 residence visa | €920 a month, the national minimum wage | about US$1,030 |
| Argentina | Pensionado or rentista | Five minimum wages: 1,956,000 pesos a month in October 2026 | about US$1,280 |
| Cyprus | Visitor's permit | €2,000 a month, shown as transfers into a Cypriot account | about US$2,240 |
| Greece | Income permit, type Ι.8 (FIP) | €3,500 a month | about US$3,920 |
| UAE, Dubai | Retirement visa | AED 240,000 a year, or AED 1 million in property or on deposit; aged 55 with 15 years of work | about US$5,450 a month |
| Malta | Global Residence Programme, for non-EU | No income test; a home bought for €275,000 or rented for €9,600 a year, and €15,000 a year in minimum tax | — |
Euro figures are converted at the European Central Bank's rate of 1.1193 dollars on 23 October 2026, the peso at the Argentine central bank's 1,528.26 on the same day, and the dirham at its fixed peg of 3.6725.
Two of those numbers move on their own. Portugal's is indexed to the minimum wage, so it changes every January without any rule changing. Argentina's is five times a minimum wage that the government raises every month, while the peso moves against the dollar.
Retirement visa for a couple: how each country adds the second person
| Country | Second adult | Each child | Couple, per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | +50% | +30% | €1,380 |
| Argentina | Not stated per person since 2023 | Not stated | Ask before relying on one income |
| Cyprus | +20% | +15% | €2,400 |
| Greece | +20% | +15% | €4,200 |
| UAE | Spouse can be sponsored | Children can be sponsored | No uplift published |
Argentina is the odd one: the rule that required the income "by each applicant" was taken out of the disposition in October 2023, and Migraciones publishes nothing on how it now treats a spouse applying alongside.
Retirement visa cost and how long the permit lasts
| Country | Government fees | First permit | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | €110 for the visa | Two years | Three-year renewals; permanent residence at five years |
| Greece | €180 visa, €1,000 permit, €16 card | Three years | €1,000 every three years |
| Cyprus | €70 permit, €70 registration | One year | €70 every year, with a fresh bank statement |
| UAE, Dubai | About AED 3,715 all in | Five years | Renewable on the same terms |
| Argentina | 100,000 pesos, about US$65 | One year | The same fee at each renewal; permanent residence after three years |
| Malta | €6,000 for the tax status, €100 for the permit | Status runs while the conditions hold | New rules from 1 January 2027 |
The cheapest permits to obtain are also the ones that must be won again most often. Cyprus and Argentina cost almost nothing and renew every year; Greece and the UAE cost more and leave you alone for three and five.
How each retirement visa country taxes a foreign pension
| Country | Tax on a foreign pension | The condition that matters |
|---|---|---|
| UAE | None | A home country may keep taxing you unless you hold the UAE tax residency certificate: 183 days, or 90 with a home or a job |
| Cyprus | 5% above €5,000, by election each year | Only for residents, and a retiree on the visitor's permit is resident only at 183 days; below about €27,700 a year the ordinary scale is cheaper |
| Greece | 7% on all foreign income for fifteen years | A separate application to the tax office by 31 March; not tax resident in Greece for five of the previous six years |
| Malta | 15% on income brought into Malta, minimum €15,000 a year under the GRP | The minimum means the real rate is higher below €100,000 a year remitted |
| Portugal | The ordinary rules | IFICI, the regime that replaced NHR, covers income from qualifying work, not pensions |
| Argentina | The ordinary rules, 5% to 35% on worldwide income | You become tax resident after twelve months on temporary permits |
None of these is automatic with the permit. In every country above, the residence permit and the tax treatment are filed with different authorities and tested by different rules.
Retirement visa in Europe: Portugal, Greece, Cyprus or Malta
For a non-EU retiree choosing inside the EU, the four answer different questions.
- On a modest pension, Portugal asks the least, €920 a month, and Cyprus the next least, €2,000. Cyprus taxes the pension at 5% only once you live there 183 days and only where that beats the scale.
- On a large pension, Greece's 7% on everything earned abroad, fixed for fifteen years, is the strongest tax offer of the four, against a higher bar of €3,500 a month.
- With capital rather than income, Malta's Global Residence Programme asks for a home and a minimum tax instead of an income test. On 1 January 2027 it is replaced: €700,000 to buy or €14,000 a year to rent, and €35,000 of minimum tax for non-EU global residents, or €15,000 under the new retired pensioner status. Applications received by 31 December 2026 keep the old terms to the end of 2031.
Retirement visa outside Europe: the UAE or Argentina
The two non-European routes sit at opposite ends. Dubai asks the most, AED 240,000 a year or AED 1 million, plus an age of 55 and fifteen years of work, and in return taxes nothing. Argentina asks the least of anyone after Portugal, about US$1,280 a month, and then taxes a resident's worldwide income at ordinary rates after a year. The Dubai figure is also the one on which official pages disagree: the issuing authority, GDRFA, says AED 240,000, while a Dubai investment portal still prints AED 180,000.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries have a retirement visa?
Of the countries this site reads at source: Portugal (the D7), Greece (the type Ι.8 income permit), Cyprus (the visitor's permit), the UAE (the retirement visa), Argentina (pensionado and rentista) and Malta (the Global Residence Programme for non-EU nationals, the Malta Retirement Programme for EU citizens). Only the UAE's is actually called a retirement visa.
Which country has the cheapest retirement visa?
By the income asked, Portugal: €920 a month for one person in 2026. Argentina follows at about US$1,280 a month in October 2026, and Cyprus at €2,000.
Which countries do not tax foreign pensions?
The UAE levies no personal income tax at all. Cyprus charges 5% above €5,000 and Greece 7%, both by election; Malta 15% on what is brought in, with a minimum.
What is the easiest retirement visa in Europe?
On the money asked, Portugal's D7 at €920 a month. On paperwork, Cyprus's visitor's permit is the lightest, but it lasts one year and must be renewed every year on a fresh bank statement.
Do I need to be a certain age for a retirement visa?
Only in the UAE, where the retirement visa requires 55 years of age and, in Dubai, 15 years of work. Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Argentina set no age; they test income or assets.
Can I work on a retirement visa?
Not in Greece, where the Ι.8 permit bars any employed or self-employed activity, and not in Cyprus, where a visitor may carry out no economic activity. For the other four, the rule is set out on each country's page.
Each country's retirement visa, in full
- Portugal: the D7 and the €920 test.
- Greece: retiring in Greece on the Ι.8 permit and the 7% regime.
- Malta: the retirement programme, the GRP and the 2027 rules.
- Cyprus: the visitor's permit and the 5% pension tax.
- UAE: the Dubai retirement visa and the figures that disagree.
- Argentina: pensionado and rentista at five minimum wages.
Every figure on this page is traced to its instrument on the sources page.
If you are choosing where to retire
We do not sell property and we do not give legal or tax advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in the country they have chosen. If two countries on this page both fit, the question to bring is usually not which permit is cheaper, but which tax treatment your own pension gets in each, and what your home country does with it afterwards. Send it through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.
Sources: where each figure comes from
- Portugal: Portaria 1563/2007, art. 2(2) and 13; Decreto-Lei 139/2025, art. 3; Lei 23/2007, arts. 58, 75 and 80; Portaria 91/2025/1; EBF art. 58-A; as recorded on our Portugal pages, September 2026.
- Greece: Law 5038/2023, art. 163 §8; ministerial decisions 225679/2024 and 95391/2024; Law 4172/2013, art. 5B; read 25 October 2026.
- Malta: S.L. 123.134, S.L. 123.148 and L.N. 195 of 2026; Identità, economic self-sufficiency permits; read 25 October 2026.
- Cyprus: Migration Department, visitor permit and supporting documents; Income Tax Law 118(I)/2002, arts. 2 and 20 as amended by 244(I)/2025; read 25 October 2026.
- UAE: GDRFA Dubai, retired foreigner residence permit; Visit Dubai, retirement visa application; Invest in Dubai; ICP; Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022; read 25 October 2026.
- Argentina: Law 25.871, art. 23; Migraciones Dispositions 1732/2023 and 3446/2023; Resolution 4/2026; Decree 584/2024; Income Tax Law art. 116(b); read 25 October 2026.
- Exchange rates: European Central Bank, 23 October 2026; Banco Central de la República Argentina, Communication A 3500, 23 October 2026; the dirham's peg of 3.6725.
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