5 Countries That Will Actually Pay You to Move There

Moving is expensive. Between the down payments or security deposits and the cost to hire movers — not to mention purchasing new furniture and decor! — it can be pricey even if your new place is just across town. Moving to another country, meanwhile, is enough to make you feel lightheaded (and your wallet a lot lighter, too). 

But expats are made daily, so if you’re feeling drawn to faraway shores, know that it can be done. In fact, some countries are even willing to sweeten the deal by paying you to move there. (Yes, really.) Why would a country pay you to move there? It could be that some need help to repopulate communities, or they want to stimulate the economy by encouraging entrepreneurs and business owners to set up shop within their borders. 

Of course these aren’t perfect solutions, but it could sweeten the deal enough to help you figure out your visa situation, find work, and, at the very least, download a foreign language app and start learning some local phrases. 

Before you dive into the list of countries that will welcome new residents with financial incentives, there are a few things you should know.

If you need a passport to relocate, you’ll also need to give the whole endeavor some serious research and thought. “One of the biggest things to consider is how you are going to sustain yourself and what the fine print of some of these programs are,” says Nicole Beauchamp, associate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty. 

These programs might seem too good to be true, and they may indeed be if you don’t meet the age or work requirements. Some countries will want you to work specifically in the country — including starting a new business — so digital nomads will want to really make sure they understand everything before packing up their laptops and moving.

A word about working remotely: Beauchamp says that if you intend to keep your job, you’ll need to confirm with your current employer that they will indeed permit you to work abroad and what you or they have to do now that you’ll be WFH in a far-off time zone. And while she stresses that she is a real estate professional, not a tax professional, you must do your due diligence to see what your tax obligations will be in your new homeland.

This list is by no means exhaustive, so don’t be alarmed if your new intended home is not on here. But it can give you an idea of what might be available elsewhere and how you can (or can’t) make it work for your lifestyle.

A program called Startup Chile could be the ticket for entrepreneurs to move to South America. Depending on whether you’re in the launch or growth phase of your business, you could receive anywhere between $15,000 and $100,000 in funding, along with co-working space and a year-long visa.

Small towns in Spain are in need of a population boost. For example, in 2023, Ponga — in the northern province of Asturias — was paying up to €2,000 for single people to move there and up to €3,000 for families with children. In September of 2024, the country also announced a digital nomad grant. The country announced it would pay 200 people $16,000 to move to the Extremadura region, with some caveats.

Urban migration has left the village of Legrad feeling a little lonely. To cheer it up, since 2018 Croatia has run a program that allows you to purchase a home there for about 1 Kuna (around 16 cents). No doubt a gut renovation is in your future, but if you meet the requirements — you’ll need to be under 40 and have a degree and stable finances — you may be able to get some money from the government out of it, too, depending on how long you live there. Having said that, the program may be over for now: The last batch of homes and construction sites they put up for sale was in January of 2024.

No, you can’t move to one of those amazing towers in Tokyo on the Japanese government’s yen. But the country does have a Regional Revitalization Corps program, per Travel + Leisure, in which you could earn about $19,000 a year to live and work in rural communities that have fewer citizens and tourists for at least one year, but up to three years. 

Our Living Islands is a policy that Ireland announced in 2023 — and it’s a plan to repopulate the 30 more remote Irish islands that are, at times, cut off from access to the Irish mainland. The country announced it would pay people about $92,000 to renovate, and live in, a house on the island — provided the property was built in 1993 and has been vacant for a number of years.