British Citizens Retiring in the EU

Since Brexit the subject of British citizens retiring in the EU, and the new hoops they have to jump through as they are no longer EU citizens, has been a discussion point on many social media platforms as well as in the mainstream press.

A British citizen, currently not resident in the EU,  wanting to visit or stay in the European Union will have to adhere to the 90/180 rules that apply to third country nationals.

This means a UK citizen must limit their stay in the EU to 90 days out of any 180, unless they have agreed permanent residency status in a European Union country.

However, this does not mean that British citizens should give up on their idea of retiring in the EU.

British Citizens who want to retire in the European Union are still able to

The fact is that British Citizens Retiring in the EU still can.  Countries in the EU have different financial requirements for residency/retirement visas and UK citizens that are not fortunate enough to have good occupational/private pensions , but still have a full UK State Pension, may well find that they can meet these requirements in some countries. A recent article in International Adviser covered this and so we thought we would highlight the financial requirement of the countries within the article.

Minimum financial requirements for British Citizens Retiring in the EU

British citizens retiring in the European Union can separately consider providing evidence of financial resources to help an application- for example, in some cases, where capital meets an income multiple requirement in its own right.

Finally, there are Golden Visas awarded where you can agree to invest into a business, or buy a property and automatically meet a retirement requirement or even be granted citizenship. We will write a separate article about just this.

British Citizens Retiring in the EU- Advice

If you are planning to move to an EU country, it is always a good idea to take financial advice before making a decision. It is better still to take advice from organisations that have cross-border licences and qualifications. We have organisations both regulated in the UK and the EU (various countries) and we are licenced and qualified to the highest investment standard. Come and talk to us.

The views expressed in this article are not to be construed as personal advice. You should contact a qualified and ideally regulated adviser in order to obtain up to date personal advice with regard to your own personal circumstances. If you do not then you are acting under your own authority and deemed “execution only”. The author does not except any liability for people acting without personalised advice, who base a decision on views expressed in this generic article. Where this article is dated then it is based on legislation as of the date. Legislation changes but articles are rarely updated, although sometimes a new article is written; so, please check for later articles or changes in legislation on official government websites, as this article should not be relied on in isolation.

This article was published on 25th August 2021

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