Retirement & Passive-Income Visa Requirements 2026

It varies enormously by visa. The lowest income bars among the visas we track are around $800–$1,000/month (Philippines SRRV, Costa Rica/Panama pensionado), the European non-lucrative routes sit around $2,400–$3,800/month (Spain, Greece), and the highest is Thailand's LTR Wealthy Pensioner at $80,000/year. Several are deposit-driven instead of income-driven (Malaysia MM2H, Philippines SRRV). Every figure on this page shows its source and how confident we are in it.

Because not all of these figures are equal. Some are fixed in law and verifiable on a government page (official). Some are statutory rules whose dollar amount is indexed to a minimum wage and re-floats every January (statutory basis). Some — notably Italy's Elective Residence and France's visitor visa — have NO figure fixed in law; the commonly-quoted numbers are consular benchmarks, not legal minimums. And some are corroborated from reputable secondary sources but we couldn't read them off a live government page this cycle. We label each honestly rather than presenting them all as hard facts.

For most of these visas, yes — the income must be passive (pensions, rental, dividends, investments), not salary or remote employment. Spain's NLV and Portugal's D7 explicitly exclude remote-work income (that routes to a digital-nomad visa instead). Pensionado routes in Costa Rica and Panama require a guaranteed lifetime pension — a drawdown 401(k) that can be exhausted does not qualify.

Every row was sourced on 2026-06-25. But these thresholds change frequently: minimum-wage-indexed ones (Ecuador, Colombia) reset every January; Spain's IPREM moves with each budget; France's net SMIC changes twice in 2026. Treat this as decision-support and always confirm the current figure with the consulate before you act.