Home > Europe > Luxembourg > How To Get Residency in Luxembourg | A Complete Guide
How To Get Residency in Luxembourg | A Complete Guide
Capital: Luxembourg City
Population: 681,973 (2025, 163rd)
Ethnic Groups: 52.8% Luxembourgers, 14.5% Portuguese, 7.6% French, 3.7% Italians
Area: 2,586.4 km2 (168th)
Offical Language: Luxembourgish
Currency: Euro (€) (EUR)
GDP per Captial: $154,914 (2024 estimated, 1st)
Human Development Index: 0.922 (25th)
Country Profile:
Luxembourg is a landlocked country in Western Europe, surrounded by France, Germany, and Belgium. It’s known as one of the world’s smallest and wealthiest sovereign states.
Luxembourg’s economy primarily revolves around financial services, with its capital, Luxembourg City, serving as a major European financial hub. The country is also a significant base for the European steel, chemical, and high-tech industries.
After World War II, Luxembourg became an active proponent of European integration, standing as a founding member of the European Union, NATO, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Visa & Immigration System:
Like Liechtenstein, San Marino, and Monaco, Luxembourg is a small, economically developed European nation with a limited population and land area. It isn’t a traditional immigration country in the conventional sense.
Currently, non-EU citizens have three primary ways to legally immigrate to Luxembourg:
1. Residency By Investment Program:
Since 2017, Luxembourg has operated an Investor Permit Program, allowing wealthy foreign nationals to gain a five-year residency permit in exchange for an investment.
This program offers four investment pathways:
1. Invest over €500,000 in an existing company registered in Luxembourg. This investment must be maintained, the asset value preserved, and the company’s employees retained for at least five years.
2. Invest over €500,000 to establish a new company in Luxembourg. Within three years, this new company must employ at least five full-time local workers with the assistance of the National Employment Agency.
3. Invest over €3 million in Luxembourg-based funds, such as family wealth funds, venture capital funds, or private equity funds, and hold the investment for at least five years.
4. Deposit over €20 million into a local Luxembourgish bank account and maintain the deposit for a minimum of five years.
As you can see, these financial options are quite demanding, which explains why the Luxembourg Investor Residency Program has seen limited interest. Data from 2025 indicates that over a seven-year period, from 2017 to 2024, the program only attracted 15 investor residency applications, with six of those coming from Chinese applicants.
Furthermore, all these investment visa applicants chose the company investment options; none selected the more expensive options of purchasing funds or making bank deposits.
2. Residence Permit for Private Reasons (Non-Profit Residence):
This is the most popular residency option in Luxembourg. It requires applicants to demonstrate sufficient financial means to live independently without relying on Luxembourg’s resources.
Simply put, you need to prove that you have a stable monthly income to support yourself while residing in Luxembourg, without being employed by a local company.
The required income standard for the residence permit for private reasons is at least equivalent to Luxembourg’s monthly social minimum wage for unskilled workers, which is currently €2,570.93.
This requirement is significantly lower than that of the investor permit, making the residence permit for private reasons a much more attractive option for potential applicants for quite some time. According to official data, the largest groups of applicants for this permit come from China, the United States, and Russia.
Unfortunately, in May 2023, the Luxembourg government decided to “cool down” the residence permit for private reasons program. Now, to apply, you must demonstrate a direct connection to Luxembourg, an EU member state, or the Schengen Area.
This connection can be established if you work or invest in the EU, receive a pension from an EU institution, or have relatives in Luxembourg. Individuals without economic or familial ties to the EU are now unable to directly apply for Luxembourg’s residence permit for private reasons.
3. Startup Visa:
This visa is issued to foreign nationals who wish to establish a business in Luxembourg. The startup visa doesn’t focus heavily on the investment amount (you can start with as little as €1), but it requires applicants to have an approved business plan and for the proposed enterprise to benefit Luxembourg’s national interests.
One challenge with the Luxembourg startup visa is that establishing a company in Luxembourg generally requires obtaining a local business license. However, obtaining a Luxembourg business license typically requires the applicant to already possess a local residency permit. Only in exceptional cases, where a business plan is particularly outstanding, might the Luxembourg Ministry of Interior grant an exception and issue a business license without prior residency.
Therefore, in most circumstances, only foreigners who are already legally residing in Luxembourg can apply for the Luxembourg startup visa.
Aside from these three main immigration routes, other Luxembourg immigration visas are predominantly limited to family reunification and skilled migration options, such as work permits and research scholar visas.
Dependents:
For all Luxembourg immigration visas, the main applicant’s spouse and children under 21 can also be included on the same visa application.
Permanent Residency & Citizenship:
After living legally and continuously in Luxembourg for five years (with single absences not exceeding six months, and total absences within the five years not exceeding ten months), you can apply for Luxembourg permanent residency. To qualify, you’ll need to demonstrate your integration into local society. This can involve showing proficiency in Luxembourgish, joining local social clubs, or having a Luxembourg citizen vouch for you.
If you’re looking to apply for naturalization and become a Luxembourg citizen, you’ll need to meet the following conditions:
1. Become a Luxembourg permanent resident and not have left the country for the 12 months prior to submitting your application.
2. Have a good reputation in Luxembourg.
3. Pass a language test in French or German.
4. Complete the government’s civic course, “Living Together in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.”
There’s an exception: if you’re a foreigner who has completed seven or more years of basic and higher education in Luxembourg, you’ll be exempt from the language test and the civic course when applying for citizenship.
Passport Power:
Luxembourg recognizes dual citizenship. Its passport is ranked joint fourth globally. Its citizens can freely travel (either visa-free or with visa on arrival) to 188 countries and regions worldwide. (July 4th, 2025)
Useful Links:
Luxembourg Residency By Investment Program：https://guichet.public.lu/en/citoyens/immigration/plus-3-mois/ressortissant-tiers/investisseur/investisseur-pays-tiers.html
Luxembourg Visa Online Platform：https://guichet.public.lu/en.html
Luxembourg Residence Permit for Private Reasons: https://guichet.public.lu/en/citoyens/immigration/plus-3-mois/ressortissant-tiers/raisons-privees/sejour-raisons-privees.html
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