GlobeQuest

Luxembourg visas and residency

Who can visit Luxembourg without a visa, and the 6 long-stay routes that let you actually live there.

Short stay

Visiting Luxembourg, by passport

How the 198 passports we track get in. A visitor entry is never permission to work, study or settle — that is what the routes further down are for.

United StatesVisa-free · 90 daysUnited KingdomVisa-free · 90 daysIndiaVisa requiredCanadaVisa-free · 90 daysAustraliaVisa-free · 90 daysGermanyFree movementFranceFree movementNetherlandsFree movementIrelandFree movementSpainFree movementItalyFree movementPortugalFree movementPolandFree movementSwedenFree movementSwitzerlandFree movementSouth AfricaVisa required
No visa at all

Who can simply move to Luxembourg

EU/EEA and Swiss free movement

Citizens covered by EU/EEA and Swiss free movement need none of the routes below

Citizens of EU and EEA countries and Switzerland can live, work and study in each other's countries without a visa or a work permit.

For the first three months a valid passport or national ID card is all you need. Beyond that you may have to register as a resident, and if you are not working or studying you need enough money to live on and health cover. Switzerland issues an EU/EFTA residence permit on the same terms.

Verified November 2026:Your Europe — residence rights when living abroad in the EUState Secretariat for Migration — free movement of persons Switzerland–EU/EFTA
Long stay

How you actually move to Luxembourg

Work / sponsoredHigh confidenceVerified August 2026

Residence permit for salaried workers

The standard route: a third-country national with a Luxembourg employer. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need none of it — they make a declaration of arrival at the commune and register within three months. So do the enormous cross-border workforce commuting daily from France, Belgium and Germany, who work in Luxembourg without residing here at all.

What you need
  • A temporary authorisation to stay, applied for from the Immigration Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs BEFORE entering Luxembourg
  • An employment contract, plus a certificate from ADEM (the national employment agency) showing the vacancy was declared and the local and EU labour market could not fill it
  • Copies of your passport and of the qualifications the post requires
  • Where your nationality requires one, a type D visa obtained after the authorisation is granted
  • A declaration of arrival at your commune within 3 days of arriving, a medical examination including tuberculosis screening, and a residence permit application within 3 months of entry
How long it lasts
The first permit is issued for a maximum of one year and is restricted to one profession and one sector. From the first renewal it can run up to three years and opens to any sector and any profession.
Path to permanent residence
A long-term resident's permit after 5 years of continuous legal residence, subject to stable resources, health insurance and evidence of integration. Luxembourgish naturalisation requires 5 years' residence and a Luxembourgish language test — the spoken-language requirement is the real bar.
Cost
€80 for the residence permit application. The temporary authorisation to stay and the visa carry their own charges.
Processing time
The authorisation to stay decision takes weeks to a few months; it is valid for 90 days once granted, which is your window to travel.
Worth knowing
  • This is the single most-missed step in Luxembourg: the authorisation to stay must be granted before you set foot in the country. Arriving as a tourist and applying from inside is not the process, and it costs people entire job offers.
  • Three days to declare arrival at the commune is genuinely three days, not three weeks. Your copy of that declaration, together with the authorisation, is what gives you a lawful right of residence until the permit card is issued.
  • The first permit is locked to one profession in one sector — the ISCO code is written into the observations field on the card. Changing jobs in year one is a fresh application, not a transfer.
  • The ADEM certificate is the employer's obligation and the usual source of delay. Ask when it was requested, not whether it will be.
  • Living in Luxembourg is expensive enough that a large share of the workforce chooses not to: over 200,000 cross-border commuters travel in daily from the three neighbouring countries. If your employer is here, residence is a choice with real alternatives.
Sources:Guichet.lu — conditions of residence for third-country salaried workersGuichet.lu — immigration
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

EU Blue Card

Highly qualified workers — the route much of Luxembourg's finance, fund administration and technology recruitment runs on, because it avoids the ADEM labour market test.

What you need
  • A higher-education qualification from a programme of at least three years, or recognised equivalent professional experience under the recast directive
  • An employment contract of at least six months
  • A gross annual salary at or above the national threshold, pegged at one times the average gross annual salary in Luxembourg — €65,652 for applications filed from 3 March 2026, set by the Ministerial Regulation of 23 February 2026 and up from €63,408. It is revised roughly annually, so verify the figure in force on your filing date
  • The same pre-entry temporary authorisation to stay, declaration of arrival within 3 days, medical check and 3-month permit application as the salaried worker route
How long it lasts
Issued in line with the contract, renewable, with intra-EU mobility rights after a qualifying period.
Path to permanent residence
Counts toward the 5-year long-term resident's permit, and Blue Card holders may aggregate residence accrued in other EU member states — the practical advantage over the national permit.
Cost
€80 residence permit fee, as for the salaried worker route.
Processing time
Statutory limits under the recast Blue Card directive apply; the authorisation-to-stay stage remains the gating step.
Worth knowing
  • The salary threshold is indexed to the Luxembourg average gross annual salary and reset roughly annually, and the reset is not on 1 January — the 2026 increase to €65,652 took effect on 3 March. Applications filed before the change date are assessed against the previous figure. Luxembourg's average wage is the highest in the EU, so the euro figure is high in absolute terms even though the multiple is only 1× — do not benchmark it against a neighbouring country's number.
  • There is one threshold, not two. Luxembourg abolished the lower Blue Card rate for shortage occupations in June 2024; guidance offering a discounted floor for IT or engineering roles is describing the superseded scheme.
  • The Blue Card avoids the ADEM labour market test that slows the ordinary salaried-worker route. For a qualifying candidate it is usually the faster filing.
  • It does not exempt you from the pre-entry authorisation. Every third-country route into Luxembourg goes through that door.
  • If you also meet the impatriate tax conditions, the two run together — the Blue Card is the immigration status and the impatriate regime is the tax election on top.
Sources:European Commission — EU Blue Card in LuxembourgGuichet.lu — conditions of residence for third-country salaried workers
Work / sponsoredHigh confidenceVerified August 2026

Impatriate tax regime for highly skilled and qualified workers

People recruited from abroad into highly qualified roles, typically in finance, funds, insurance and technology. It is a tax election attached to an employment, not an immigration route — you still need the permit underneath it.

What you need
  • A fixed annual salary in Luxembourg of at least €75,000 gross, before benefits in cash and in kind
  • Not having been tax-domiciled in Luxembourg, nor resident within 150 km of the Luxembourg border, nor subject to Luxembourg personal income tax on professional income, in the 5 tax years preceding entry into service
  • Recruitment from abroad or secondment from a group company abroad into a highly qualified role
  • The employer must submit a list of employees benefiting from the regime to the competent tax office by 31 January each year
How long it lasts
The year of arrival plus the following eight years.
Path to permanent residence
None — it is a tax treatment. Residence and permanence come from the permit underneath.
Cost
No fee. The cost is the employer's compliance work and the risk of losing the benefit if the annual list is not filed.
Processing time
Applied through payroll once eligibility is established; no separate approval process for the individual.
Worth knowing
  • The regime was rewritten by the Law of 20 December 2024 with effect from the 2025 tax year. The old regime exempted 50% of specific relocation allowances and cost-of-living premiums; the new one exempts 50% of total gross annual remuneration, capped at €400,000 — a maximum exemption of €200,000. Anything describing 'the impatriation premium' is describing the superseded rules.
  • The 150 km rule is the condition that disqualifies most people who assume they qualify. Luxembourg is small: Metz, Trier, Arlon and much of the Belgian and German border region all fall inside it, so a candidate hired from a neighbouring commuter town is out.
  • The €75,000 floor is a fixed annual salary figure, not total compensation with bonus. Structuring a package to clear it on variable pay does not work.
  • Employers must file the list by 31 January. If they forget, the benefit is at risk for the year — worth confirming with payroll rather than assuming.
Sources:Guichet.lu — tax regime for highly skilled and qualified workers (impatriates)Guichet.lu — immigration
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Intra-corporate transferee (ICT) permit

Managers, specialists and trainee employees transferred into a Luxembourg entity from a group company established outside the EU — common in the fund administration and Big Four world here.

What you need
  • At least the minimum period of prior employment within the group required by the directive, immediately before the transfer
  • An assignment letter setting out the position, remuneration and duration
  • Qualifications for the role, and professional qualifications where the host role is regulated
  • The same pre-entry authorisation to stay, declaration of arrival within 3 days and residence permit application as other third-country routes
How long it lasts
Up to three years for managers and specialists, up to one year for trainee employees, after which you must leave the EU before a new ICT permit can be issued.
Path to permanent residence
ICT is by design temporary. It does not build toward long-term residence in the way a salaried worker permit does — if you intend to settle, switching status is the conversation to have early with your employer.
Cost
€80 residence permit fee plus the authorisation and any visa costs.
Processing time
Standard Immigration Directorate timelines; the assignment documentation is usually what determines speed.
Worth knowing
  • The time limit is a genuine ceiling, and it is followed by a required period outside the EU before another ICT permit. People plan multi-year Luxembourg careers on ICT and discover the cliff late.
  • Mobility within the EU on a Luxembourg ICT permit is possible but procedural — it is not free movement.
  • The impatriate tax regime can apply to a seconded employee who meets its conditions, including the 150 km and five-year tests, so check both together rather than sequentially.
Sources:Guichet.lu — intra-corporate transferee (ICT) residenceGuichet.lu — immigration
InvestmentLow confidenceVerified August 2026

Residence permit for investors

Third-country nationals investing in a Luxembourg business or in instruments the law specifies. A small, tightly-drawn programme with substance requirements — it is not a golden visa in the way the Mediterranean schemes are.

What you need
  • One of the statutory investment forms set out in the immigration law, each with its own minimum amount, holding period and job-creation or management conditions
  • Evidence of the lawful origin of the funds
  • The same pre-entry temporary authorisation to stay, declaration of arrival within 3 days, medical check and 3-month residence permit application
  • Health insurance and appropriate accommodation
How long it lasts
Initially three years, renewable while the investment and its conditions are maintained.
Path to permanent residence
Counts toward the 5-year long-term resident's permit on the ordinary conditions.
Cost
The investment itself, plus the €80 permit fee and the professional cost of documenting source of funds.
Processing time
Months rather than weeks — the source-of-funds review is the substantive stage.
Worth knowing
  • Uptake has been low since the scheme opened, and the amounts and conditions are set in the immigration law rather than in agency policy. Read Guichet.lu's own page for the current statutory forms rather than an intermediary's summary.
  • Some forms require job creation or active management. A passive deposit does not satisfy those variants.
  • There is no citizenship dimension. Luxembourgish naturalisation still requires five years of residence and a spoken Luxembourgish test.
Sources:Guichet.lu — conditions of residence for investors from third countriesGuichet.lu — immigration
RetirementMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Residence for private reasons (including sufficient resources)

Third-country nationals who do not intend to work in Luxembourg — retirees and people living on their own resources — plus family and personal-ties cases.

What you need
  • Evidence of sufficient resources to support yourself without recourse to the social assistance system, and without working in Luxembourg
  • Appropriate accommodation and health insurance cover
  • The same pre-entry authorisation to stay, declaration of arrival within 3 days and 3-month residence permit application
How long it lasts
Typically one year initially, renewable for longer periods where conditions continue to be met.
Path to permanent residence
Counts toward the 5-year long-term resident's permit.
Cost
€80 residence permit fee plus the authorisation and any visa costs.
Processing time
Standard Immigration Directorate timelines.
Worth knowing
  • This permit carries no right to work. Taking a Luxembourg job on it means changing status, not notifying a change.
  • Luxembourg has no digital nomad visa. A remote worker paid by a foreign employer has no dedicated route here; the private-reasons permit is the nearest thing and it is not designed for people actively working, so take advice before assuming it fits.
  • The resources test is assessed against Luxembourg living costs, which are among the highest in the EU — the bar in euros is correspondingly high.
  • Residing here makes you a Luxembourg tax resident on worldwide income regardless of where your income arises. Living in Luxembourg while being paid from elsewhere does not keep you outside the system.
Sources:Guichet.lu — residence for private reasons for third-country nationalsGuichet.lu — immigration
On the ground

Where you'd land in Luxembourg

Luxembourg City

The EU's highest salaries and highest rents, free nationwide transport, and half the workforce driving in from three countries.

Full Luxembourg City guide

Luxembourg at a glance

Capital
Luxembourg
Population
687K
Languages
Luxembourgish, French, German
Currency
EUR