Luxembourg · Residency by investment
Investor Residence Permit (loi du 8 mars 2017)
Open only until the repeal takes effect. Parliament adopted bill No. 8586 on 14 October 2026 by 54 votes to 0, with 6 abstentions, and the Council of State waived the second vote on 27 October 2026. The law repeals Articles 53bis to 53quater of the Immigration Act, the legal basis of this permit, and takes effect after publication in the Official Journal. Investor permits issued before then stay valid until they expire.
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, and refused real estate. The market wanted none of it. Parliament voted it away in October 2026.
Qualifying routes
A commercial, craft or industrial activity. Hold it for at least 5 years and keep employment at the level it stood at when you invested.
At least 5 jobs created within 3 years of incorporation, hired in cooperation with the National Employment Agency (ADEM).
Existing or newly created. It must have, and keep, genuine substance in Luxembourg.
Held for a minimum of 5 years. At EUR 20m, this is one of the most expensive residence routes in the world, and it has attracted essentially no takers.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €500k
- Total landed cost
- EUR 500,000 at the low end, rising 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 the substance conditions make it genuinely illiquid.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 6–12 months (Requires a prior opinion on the investment project from the Ministry of Finance, obtained before the residence application is filed.)
- Physical presence
- Genuine residence is expected. The permit is valid for a maximum of 3 years, and it renews only if the conditions still hold and the investor provisions are still in force.
- Family
- SpouseDependent children, through family reunification
- Permanent residency
- 5 years of legal residence
- Citizenship
- 5 years of residence, with the final year continuous
- Language test
- The Sproochentest in Luxembourgish (A2 spoken, B1 listening comprehension), plus a course on living together in the Grand Duchy.
- 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.
- The repeal has passed. Once the law is published, no new investor permits are issued. Permits already granted stay valid until their expiry date, and the law sets no rule for pending applications or renewals.
- Real estate is explicitly excluded. Direct and indirect investments involving the purchase or rental of real estate are not taken into consideration.
- The approval rate is genuinely poor. 4 of 6 applications were refused across 2023–2024. This is not a rubber stamp.
- The EUR 500,000 routes carry hard operating obligations. You must maintain employment levels for 5 years, or create 5 jobs within 3 years via ADEM. These are business commitments, not investments.
- The EUR 3m structure route requires genuine substance, and that substance must be maintained. Regulators scrutinise it closely.
- Luxembourg residence makes you taxable at up to 45.78%, with exposure to CFC rules and exit tax. For most UHNW families, the tax consequences of the permit dwarf its benefits.
- Only 3-year validity, renewable only while the investor provisions remain in force, so not a durable status until permanent residence at 5 years.