Luxembourg · Residency by investment
Investor Residence Permit (loi du 8 mars 2017)
OPEN BUT SLATED FOR ABOLITION. Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden tabled a repeal bill before parliament's summer recess in 2025, citing 'very low added value' and disproportionate administrative burden. As of July 2026 the repeal has not been adopted and guichet.public.lu still publishes the conditions as current — but anyone considering this route should assume the window is closing.
The most instructive failure in European investment migration. Nine people have been approved since 2017 out of just 15 applicants; four of the six who applied across 2023–2024 were refused. Luxembourg priced an EU residence permit at EUR 500,000–20m, demanded real substance and real jobs, refused real estate — and discovered the market wanted none of it. The government is now legislating it away.
Qualifying routes
Commercial, craft or industrial activity; hold for at least 5 years and maintain employment at the level existing at the time of investment
At least 5 jobs created within 3 years of incorporation, recruited in cooperation with the National Employment Agency (ADEM)
Existing or to be created; must have and maintain appropriate substance in Luxembourg
Held for a minimum of 5 years. At EUR 20m this is among the most expensive residence routes in the world and has attracted essentially no takers.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €500k
- Total landed cost
- EUR 500,000 at the low end through to EUR 20m for the deposit route, plus legal, structuring and Ministry of Finance opinion costs. The capital is invested, not spent — but the 5-year lock-up and substance conditions make it genuinely illiquid.
- Timeline
- 6–12 months — Requires a prior opinion on the investment project from the Ministry of Finance before the residence application
- Physical presence
- Genuine residence expected; the permit is valid for a maximum of 3 years and is renewable only if the conditions still hold
- Family
- spousedependent children — via family reunification
- Permanent residency
- 5 years' legal residence
- Citizenship
- 5 years' residence, with the last year continuous
- Language test
- Sproochentest in Luxembourgish (A2 spoken, B1 listening comprehension) plus the 'Living Together in the Grand Duchy' course
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- third-country (non-EU/EEA/Swiss) nationala favourable prior opinion on the investment project from the Ministry of Financeproof of lawful origin of fundsclean criminal recordadequate accommodation and health insurancemaintaining the investment and its conditions for 5 years
- A repeal bill is before parliament. Adoption would close the route; existing holders' treatment under any transitional regime is not yet clear.
- Real estate is explicitly excluded — 'direct and indirect investments concerning the acquisition or rental of real estate are not taken into consideration'.
- The approval rate is genuinely poor: 4 of 6 applications refused across 2023–2024. This is not a rubber stamp.
- The EUR 500,000 routes carry hard operating obligations — maintaining employment levels for 5 years, or creating 5 jobs within 3 years via ADEM. These are business commitments, not investments.
- The EUR 3m structure route requires and must maintain genuine substance, which is scrutinised.
- Luxembourg residence makes you taxable at up to 45.78% with CFC and exit-tax exposure. The permit's tax consequences dwarf its benefits for most UHNW families.
- Only 3-year validity, renewable — not a durable status until permanent residence at 5 years.