Where Can French Citizens Live?

The EU/EEA baseline: unlimited by right

Freedom of movement means no visa application, no income test, and no expiry date. Of the 46 non-French countries GeoRank tracks, 14 are unlimited via EU/EEA/Swiss freedom of movement: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia. The real number is larger still — freedom of movement covers all 27 EU states plus the EEA and Switzerland, roughly 31 countries; GeoRank's dataset simply tracks 14 of them in depth. The only formality is registering with the local municipality after about 90 days of residence, and dependents move under the same right, with no separate income multiplier to satisfy.

This is why moving to Portugal as an EU citizen looks nothing like a US citizen's D7 application: no minimum passive income, no consulate interview, no annual renewal fee. A French citizen living in Portugal, retiring in Malta, or working remotely from Estonia simply shows up, finds a place to live, and registers within roughly three months. The trade-off is that freedom of movement gives access, not a subsidy — cost of living, healthcare quality, and tax residency rules still vary enormously from Lisbon to Riga. Compare the real cost of that move on cost of living before picking a city, and remember that becoming a tax resident (typically the 183-day rule) still applies regardless of the EU right to reside.

Georgia: 360 days without asking

Outside the EU, Georgia is the standout on a French passport: 360 visa-free days per entry, the longest tourist-entry window in GeoRank's entire dataset — no application, no income test, no proof of funds. It is close to a full year of legal residence for the cost of a plane ticket. For anyone who wants a formal, renewable residence permit on top of that, Georgia's Temporary Residence Permit via Real Estate Investment requires a $150,000 non-agricultural property purchase, carries a path to permanent residency, and comes with 0% capital-gains tax after two years of ownership. The catch: sources still disagree on the exact terms of Georgia's higher-tier $300,000 investor route, so verify current rules directly with Georgia's Public Service Hall before relying on it.

Latin America's rentista routes

Latin America runs on proof of steady income rather than a lump-sum investment. Costa Rica's Rentista route asks for $2,500/mo in guaranteed income (or a $60,000 bank deposit), carries a path to permanent residency, and leads to citizenship in 7 years; its Pensionado track drops the bar to $1,000/mo for anyone with a certified lifetime pension. Panama's Pensionado visa matches that $1,000/mo threshold, with a path to permanent residency and citizenship in 5 years — one of the fastest naturalization timelines on this list. Colombia's Visa M Pensionado wants COP 5,252,715/mo (roughly $1,600), with a path to permanent residency and citizenship after 10 years. Mexico sits at the expensive end: Residente Permanente needs $7,430/mo in income (or the Residente Temporal route at $4,432/mo or $74,687 in savings), both with a path to permanent residency and citizenship in 5 years.

For anyone with capital rather than qualifying income, Costa Rica and Panama both also run investor tracks — Costa Rica's Inversionista from $150,000 and Panama's Qualified Investor Visa from $300,000, both with a path to permanent residency. Costa Rica additionally runs a digital-nomad visa at $3,000/mo for remote employees of foreign companies, though — unlike the Rentista and Pensionado tracks — it carries no path to residency on its own. Run the numbers against your own budget with the budget finder before comparing routes.

Asia and the Gulf

Thailand offers two very different routes on a French passport: the Non-Immigrant O-A retirement visa at ฿65,000/mo income (plus a ฿800,000 deposit, age 50+), or the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) at ฿500,000 in savings — a 5-year multi-entry visa capped at 180 days per entry, open to remote workers with no age limit and no income test beyond the savings figure. On top of a French passport's own 60-day visa-free entry to Thailand, that makes the DTV one of the easier long-stay routes to actually use. Taiwan's Employment Gold Card wants 160,000 TWD/mo in qualifying income (roughly €4,800), carries a path to permanent residency, and leads to citizenship in 5 years — it also functions as a combined work permit and residence card, which most of the routes on this page don't.

The UAE charges the highest entry price on this list — the Golden Visa needs AED 2,000,000 in property, capital or a fund deposit for a 10-year renewable residency — but its Virtual Working Programme opens the country to remote workers for just $3,500/mo, valid for 12 months at a time. Neither UAE route carries any personal income tax, and a French passport enters visa-free for 90 days to sort out the paperwork on the ground. None of the Gulf or Southeast Asian routes above carry French-specific restrictions; they're open on the same terms to most nationalities.

The hard three: US, Canada, Australia

These are the only 3 of the 46 tracked countries with no ordinary 1-year+ route for a French citizen — each caps out at 180 days as a tourist. The US does have one narrow opening: the E-2 Treaty Investor visa, available to French citizens under the US-France treaty, requiring roughly $100,000 in a US business. It is selective and investment-based — not something an ordinary applicant qualifies for by showing income or savings — and it never converts into a green card, so it is excluded from the 41-country headline count. See the full route-by-route comparison, including these three, in the visa checker.

Non-EU routes compared, side by side

The EU/EEA table is simple — unlimited, everywhere. The interesting comparison is what a French passport buys outside Europe, where every country sets its own price of admission:

Requirements shown as published by the issuing government; most scale with dependents. Selective, points-tested, and invitation-only routes are excluded from this table and from the 41-country headline count — see our methodology.

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