Residency Without Moving in 2026: 10 Golden Visas for Your Plan B
10 countries where you can get residency now and keep living where you are: Cyprus, Dubai, South Africa, Thailand, Panama and more, what each costs and what keeps it.
Most residence permits only work if you live in the country: spend too long abroad and you lose them. Some countries give you one you can keep from anywhere. You buy property, you park money in a local bank, or you simply prove what you are worth, and you keep the right to live there without moving there.
For an entrepreneur, high earner or investor who is not ready to move, that is a Plan B: a second country that has to let you in. In 2020 many countries closed their borders to everyone except their own citizens and residents, and residents could usually still get in. If you decide to move one day, you already have the right to live there. Most permits do not work this way. A US green card, for example, can be lost if you live outside the US for more than a year. The 10 below can be held while you live somewhere else.
- Cyprus
- €300,000 + VAT, one visit every 2 years
- Dubai
- AED 2,000,000, 10 years, no limit on time away
- South Africa
- No investment, net worth over R12 million
- Thailand
- From 900,000 baht for 5 years
- Panama
- From $300,000, permanent straight away
- Paraguay
- No investment on the standard route
- Cheapest passport
- Nauru from $90,000, Caribbean from $200,000
- Holding more than one
- Nothing stops you
The 10 at a glance
| Compared | What it takes | What keeps it |
|---|---|---|
| Cyprus | €300,000 + VAT invested, €50,000 a year from abroad | A visit every 2 years |
| Dubai (UAE) | AED 2,000,000 in property or a bank deposit | Nothing: valid until it expires |
| South Africa | Net worth over R12 million, about $735,000 | An entry every 3 years |
| Thailand | A fee from 900,000 baht, or $500,000 invested | No minimum stay |
| Indonesia (Bali) | $350,000 for 5 years, $700,000 for 10 | No minimum stay |
| Mexico | About $7,400 a month of income or $298,000 saved | Never expires |
| Panama | $300,000 in property, or securities or a deposit | A visit every 2 years |
| Paraguay | No investment, or from $70,000 as an investor | A visit every 3 years once permanent |
| The Bahamas | A $1,000,000 home, held 10 years | No minimum stay |
| New Zealand | NZ$5 million for 3 years | 21 days over the 3 years |
1. Cyprus
With an EU passport you do not need this: you can already live in Cyprus. Without one, €300,000 plus VAT invested gets you permanent residency, in a new home from a developer, shares in a Cyprus company or units in a Cyprus fund. You also show €50,000 a year of income from outside Cyprus, plus €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each child.
It covers your family, it is permanent, and you keep it with a visit every 2 years. It can lead to a passport, but only if you actually live in Cyprus. The catch is work: you declare that you will not take a job there, although you can be paid as a director of the company you invested in.
If you do move, Cyprus is one of the best places in Europe to do it: as a non-dom you pay nothing on dividends and interest for 17 years, companies pay 15%, and 60 days a year can make you tax resident with a home and a business there. Our guide to moving to Cyprus covers it.
2. Dubai and the UAE
The UAE golden visa runs for 10 years and renews as long as you still qualify, with your spouse and children of any age on it. Unlike a normal UAE residence visa, which lapses after more than 180 days in a row abroad, it stays valid until it expires, wherever you are.
There are 2 ways to get it by investing. Property in Dubai worth at least AED 2,000,000, about $545,000, which you can rent out but cannot sell while you hold the visa. Or AED 2,000,000 deposited with a UAE bank: it earns interest and there is nothing to manage, but the money is frozen for the full 10 years and you still need a place to live in Dubai. There are also routes through a UAE company or your career, set out in our guide to the golden visa.
If you do move, there is no tax on your personal income, and a UAE company pays 9% on profit above AED 375,000.
3. South Africa
Cape Town and Johannesburg are the 2 business centres, the country runs in English, and it shares a time zone with Europe. It is the one country here that does not want your money. With a net worth over R12 million, about $735,000, you can apply for permanent residency as a financially independent person. A South African chartered accountant certifies the net worth, and you pay R120,000, about $7,400, on approval. You invest nothing and buy nothing.
You get the right to live, work or start a business, with no obligation to do any of it, and you keep it by entering the country once every 3 years. The catch comes if you move: residents pay up to 45% on worldwide income unless the structure is right. It is a strong permit to hold and an expensive country to be tax resident in.
4. Thailand
There are 2 ways in, and neither needs property. The privilege visa is a membership: 900,000 baht, about $27,000, for 5 years, up to 5 million baht, about $150,000, for 20 years. No investment, no income test, no minimum stay, but the fee is spent.
The long-term resident visa for wealthy global citizens needs $1,000,000 in assets and $500,000 invested in Thailand, in government bonds, a Thai company or property in your own name. It runs 5 years and extends by 5 more.
The difference is tax. Thailand taxes foreign income you bring into the country, and you are tax resident after 180 days. The long-term resident visa exempts your foreign income; the privilege visa does not.
5. Indonesia and Bali
The golden visa gives you 5 years for $350,000 or 10 years for $700,000 placed in government bonds, listed shares, funds or a deposit at a state-owned bank, and 10 years for $1,000,000 in residential property. Your family is included and there is no minimum stay. The money sits in rupiah assets, so the currency risk is yours.
If you move, Indonesia is not a low-tax country. Residents are taxed on worldwide income, dividends from your foreign company can be taxed at up to 35% unless you reinvest them in Indonesia, and you are tax resident at 183 days, or sooner if your life is based there.
6. Mexico
Mexico does not sell residency; you qualify on money you already have. For permanent residency you show about $7,400 a month of income over 6 months, or about $298,000 in savings held for a year, and each consulate sets its own exact figure. Mexican permanent residency never expires, has no minimum stay and lets you come and go. One trap: entering as a tourist instead of using your residency can get it cancelled. If you move there, residents are taxed on worldwide income at up to 35%.
7. Panama
Panama City is a banking and shipping centre, and the country uses the US dollar. The qualified investor visa gives permanent residency straight away, with no temporary permit first: $300,000 in property, or $500,000 in securities through a Panamanian broker, or $750,000 in a 5-year fixed deposit at a Panamanian bank. The money has to come from abroad and stays invested for at least 5 years.
You keep it as long as you are not outside Panama for more than 2 years in a row, so a visit every 2 years is enough. Citizenship is possible after 5 years, but only if you have lived there, passed a Spanish exam on its history and constitution and given up your other citizenship, so as a backup you do not live in, it will not lead to a passport. If you move, Panama only taxes income earned in Panama.
8. Paraguay
The cheapest way onto this list. On the standard route you invest nothing: you get temporary residency for 2 years with a visit a year, then permanent residency that runs 10 years and renews, after which a visit every 3 years is enough. An investor route rebuilt in 2026 gives permanent residency straight away from $70,000 in a business, $140,000 in tourism or $200,000 in property or financial instruments.
Paraguay only taxes income earned in Paraguay, and residency comes with a tax number and a tax residency certificate. That does not mean you stop paying tax at home, as our guide to Paraguay explains. As a cheap Plan B, it is a good choice.
9. The Bahamas
The Bahamas gives permanent residency for buying a home: since 2025 at least $1,000,000 in one property, held for 10 years, with faster processing from $1,500,000. There is no minimum stay. People do it for the tax: no income tax, no capital gains tax and no inheritance tax, so if you move there, dividends and gains are taxed at nothing. The catch is cost: property and daily life are expensive, and almost everything is imported.
10. New Zealand
The Active Investor Plus visa asks for NZ$5 million, about $2.8 million, invested for 3 years in growth assets such as New Zealand companies or managed funds, and only 21 days in the country across those 3 years, after which you can move to permanent residency. A larger version takes NZ$10 million in safer assets with 105 days over 5 years.
New Zealand taxes residents on worldwide income, but a new migrant gets 48 months in which foreign income is exempt: dividends, interest, rent, pensions and income attributed from foreign companies. Work you do yourself is not covered, and you only get it once in your life. It is the furthest and most expensive Plan B here, bought for stability rather than tax.
Buying a passport instead
Some countries sell citizenship instead. A passport cannot be cancelled because a government changed its rules, nobody asks you to visit to keep it, and it passes to your children.
5 Caribbean countries sell it: Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis, from $200,000 to $250,000 on the donation routes, and all 5 also have property options. Outside the Caribbean, Vanuatu starts at $130,000 and Nauru at $90,000. Almost none ask you to live there: Antigua wants 5 days in the first 5 years, and the Caribbean 5 have agreed to move towards 30 days.
Questions
Can I get residency without moving to the country?
Yes, in countries whose permits allow long absences. Cyprus asks for a visit every 2 years, South Africa an entry every 3 years, Panama a visit every 2 years, and the UAE golden visa, Thai privilege visa, Indonesian golden visa, Mexican permanent residency and Bahamas residency have no minimum stay.
What is the cheapest Plan B residency?
Paraguay: the standard route needs no investment, and permanent residency is kept with a visit every 3 years. South Africa also needs no investment, but a net worth over R12 million and a R120,000 fee on approval.
Which golden visa can I keep while living abroad?
The UAE golden visa stays valid until it expires wherever you live, unlike a normal UAE visa, which lapses after more than 180 days in a row abroad. It costs AED 2,000,000 in Dubai property or a frozen bank deposit.
Does a Plan B residency lead to a passport?
Rarely without living there. Cyprus and Panama both require actual residence before citizenship, and Panama also an exam and giving up your other citizenship. Citizenship by investment in the Caribbean, Vanuatu or Nauru is the route that does not.
Does holding residency abroad change where I pay tax?
No. A permit lets you live somewhere; tax residency depends on where you actually live. If you stay in a high-tax country, it keeps taxing you.
Is citizenship by investment still worth it?
It is the strongest backup, but the EU has asked the 5 Caribbean countries to phase their programmes out by June 2028 and can remove visa-free travel from countries that run one, as it did with Vanuatu.
Which one fits you
Those are 10 countries where you can hold residency without living there, plus the passports you can buy outright, and nothing stops you holding more than one. Which one fits depends on your passport, your money and whether you might move one day. If you run a business at 7, 8 or 9 figures, or you are a high-net-worth individual, book a consultation and we will work out the right Plan B for your situation.
