The interest of Americans in obtaining residency in European countries has marked an increase. However, many member states have tightened their immigration rules, limiting the opportunities offered to them to live in the EU countries.
While the Citizenship-by-Investment programs, which offer citizenship in exchange for financial investments, no longer exist, some famous routes of obtaining residency through European Golden Visa Programs have also been terminated, with some countries abolishing their Residency-by-Investment schemes altogether, Schengen.News reports.
In addition, restrictions on skilled worker visas, as well as tougher rules on citizenship-by-ancestry schemes, have also left Americans fewer options when planning to move to European countries.
However, the interest of Americans in reaching European countries remains high. A 16 per cent increase has been registered in the number of Americans hired by companies in Europe for the period between January and April, based on the statistics from the human resource company Deel, as explained by Bloomberg.
At the same time, the recruitment website Glassdoor revealed that there was an increase in the number of people searching for jobs in Ireland and Portugal.
It’s definitely different from what we’ve ever seen. People are really worried; they have this sense of urgency to have citizenship.
Tightened Residency & Citizenship Rules Across Europe
Recently, the European Union’s highest court ruled Malta’s Golden Passport Program illegalarguing that the program is subject to several law violations. The Citizenship-by-Investment scheme of Malta was the last one offered to wealthy foreign nationals in European countries.
It cannot be considered that actual residence on that territory was regarded by the Republic of Malta as constituting an essential criterion for the grant of the nationality of that member state under that scheme.
At the same time, Spain, which has among Europe’s most famous Golden Visa Programs, terminated it altogether on April 3, 2025, in a bid to deal with the housing crisis.
Mentioning the same reasons, Portugal abolished its real estate investment option from its Residency-by-Investment Program.
On the other hand, Italy recently agreed to limit citizenship by descendants. Earlier this month, the Italian Senate approved a decree-law that limits obtaining Italian citizenship for descendants born in other countries.
However, the text still needs the approval of the Chamber by May 27, according to local media reports. Last year alone, several European countries introduced new citizenship rules.