Dossier · Relocation & residency counsel
Five jurisdictions. One of them fits you and four of them don’t, and the difference is rarely the one people argue about online. We tell you which, file the visa, and then land the bank, the apartment, the car and the school place.
We are not tax advisors. We hand you to one in-country, and we sit in the meeting.
Type
Residency dossier
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Every one of these programmes is marketed as the obvious answer. Four of them are wrong for you. What follows is what each one actually asks of you, and what it actually gives back.
Iberian Atlantic · EU · Schengen
Indicative Indicative figure, verified July 2026. Programme rules change without notice; we confirm every figure in writing before you commit.Real residence. Roughly 183 days a year on D7 or D8 — this is a move, not a mailbox. The investment route asks far less: about 7 days in year one, 14 days per two-year block after.
4–10 months, consulate to card. The scheduling, not the decision, is what takes the time.
An EU residence permit with Schengen mobility for the whole family, and a clock that starts running toward permanent residence at year five.
Government and legal fees run to the low four figures for D7/D8. The investment route commits six figures of capital, plus fees.
Our fee: From $9,000
The frictionD7 (passive income) or D8 (remote work) residence permit. The investment route still exists, but no longer through residential property.
Someone genuinely relocating a household to Europe, who wants the five-year clock running and can live there.
Anyone who wants an EU permit without spending time in the EU. On D7 and D8, the residence requirement is the point, and it is enforced at renewal.
Appointment scheduling with the immigration authority is the bottleneck, and it has been for years. Budget a document that takes twelve weeks to legalise and a booking window you do not control. Everyone underestimates this; it is the single most common reason a Portugal timeline slips.
Arabian Gulf · Non-EU
Indicative Indicative figure, verified July 2026. Programme rules change without notice; we confirm every figure in writing before you commit.One entry every 180 days keeps a standard residence visa alive. The ten-year route relaxes that considerably.
2–8 weeks. This is the fast one, and the reason people who need a base this quarter end up here.
Residence tied to a company or a qualifying investment, an Emirates ID, and a banking system that will actually open an account for someone who has just arrived.
A free-zone company with a visa runs to the mid four figures a year. The ten-year route requires a qualifying investment, typically from AED 2 million.
Our fee: From $7,500
The frictionFree-zone company plus an employment residence visa, or the ten-year route for qualifying investors and specialists.
Someone who needs a functioning base in weeks rather than seasons, travels constantly, and wants the paperwork to be somebody else’s problem.
Anyone who wants a European permit, or who cannot make an entry every six months.
The medical, the biometrics and the Emirates ID are sequential and each has a queue. Bank onboarding is the real gate: it is thorough, it asks for source-of-funds documentation, and no one can make it faster. We prepare the file so it clears first time.
Eastern Mediterranean · EU · Not Schengen
Indicative Indicative figure, verified July 2026. Programme rules change without notice; we confirm every figure in writing before you commit.One visit every two years keeps the permanent permit alive. Among the lightest obligations in the EU.
2–6 months to a decision on the permanent route.
EU permanent residence for you, your spouse and your children, a common-law legal system, and English spoken in every office you will need to walk into.
The permanent route commits from €300,000 into qualifying property or a Cypriot company, plus fees.
Our fee: From $10,000
The frictionPermanent residence by investment, or a temporary residence permit for those with income from outside the island.
A family that wants an EU permit and a common-law system, without a residence requirement that pins them to one country.
Anyone assuming EU means Schengen. Cyprus is in the European Union and outside the Schengen area — your permit does not, by itself, move you freely through it.
You are acquiring a permit, not a passport. Naturalisation from here is a long and discretionary road, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. The investment is committed capital, not a fee — it is exposed to a property market you should look at with your own eyes before you wire.
Central America · Non-EU
Indicative Indicative figure, verified July 2026. Programme rules change without notice; we confirm every figure in writing before you commit.One visit every two years. Effectively, a base you are not obliged to live in.
3–8 months, and it will cost you two trips to Panama City. Both are non-negotiable.
Permanent residence in the Americas, a straightforward second base in a dollarised economy, and no European stay obligation hanging over it.
The property or fixed-deposit route commits from roughly $200,000 under current rules. The employment route commits no capital but requires a real Panamanian job.
Our fee: From $8,000
The frictionThe Friendly Nations route, which now requires a genuine economic tie — qualifying property, a fixed deposit, or Panamanian employment.
Someone who wants a hemispheric base with almost no stay requirement, and is comfortable that it is not a European one.
Anyone who needs European access, or who cannot travel to Panama twice.
The Friendly Nations route is not what it was before 2021 — the economic-tie requirement is real and is where most self-filed applications fail. You will also need documents apostilled at home before you fly; getting that sequence wrong costs you an entire trip.
Caucasus · Non-EU
Indicative Indicative figure, verified July 2026. Programme rules change without notice; we confirm every figure in writing before you commit.Many nationalities can simply stay for 365 days visa-free. Where a permit is needed, presence requirements are light.
30–60 days to a decision on a residence permit.
The cheapest and fastest legal base on this list, a functioning banking system, and a one-hour flight to Istanbul. It is not the EU, and it does not pretend to be.
The property route commits from roughly $100,000. The business and work routes commit no capital threshold at all.
Our fee: From $5,000
The frictionResidence permit through property, business, or work. For many passports, a year of visa-free stay before you need a permit at all.
Someone testing a base before committing capital elsewhere, or who wants somewhere to land legally this quarter without a six-figure decision.
Anyone who needs an EU permit, or who wants the permit itself to signal something. This is a practical base, not a status purchase.
Property valuations for the investment route must be certified by an approved local valuer, and a valuation that comes in under the threshold sinks the application. Banking is straightforward but conservative — an account is not automatic on arrival, and we prepare that file too.
Every figure above is indicative. Residency programmes, minimum stays, processing times and government fees are jurisdiction-specific and change without notice. We confirm every figure in writing before you commit, and we would rather you took none of this on trust.
You will notice there is no tax column. That is deliberate — see the line we don’t cross.
We ask these on the first call. There is no quiz and no scored result — a decision this expensive deserves a conversation, not a form that tells you what you wanted to hear.
This is the question that decides it, and it is the one people answer optimistically. If the honest number is under a hundred days, Portugal’s residence routes are the wrong shape for you and no amount of paperwork will change that. Cyprus and Panama ask for a visit every two years. Be truthful here and the list halves itself.
Under 100 days → Cyprus, Panama, UAE. A genuine move → Portugal.
An EU permit is worth real money if you need to live, work, or move inside the bloc, or if you want a naturalisation clock running. It is worth very little if what you want is a base with light obligations and a good airport. People routinely buy the first and needed the second.
EU access matters → Portugal, Cyprus. It does not → UAE, Panama, Georgia.
A family turns the school calendar into the master schedule and everything else negotiates around it. A single person can land in six weeks and sort the rest from a hotel. These produce genuinely different recommendations, and it is the fastest way to be wrong if you skip it.
A family → the school place drives the timeline, and often the country.
If the answer is "this quarter", there are two serious options and Georgia is the cheap one. If you have a year, the field opens and you should use the time — the slow routes are slow because they are giving you something durable.
Weeks → UAE, Georgia. Seasons → Portugal, Cyprus, Panama.
A permit is a piece of paper. What people actually need is a bank that will take them, a lease they can read, a car with a plate on it, and a school that has a place in September. Take all five, or take one.
The application, prepared properly and filed once.
Government and legal fees, which are paid to the authority and its licensed professionals, never to us.
An introduction to a regulated bank, and a file that clears their checks first time.
Any guarantee of approval. The bank decides who it onboards, on its own criteria, and it does not tell us why.
Somewhere to live that you have actually seen.
Rent, deposit, agency commission, and any purchase price.
Registered, insured, and on the drive when you arrive.
The vehicle, the insurance premium, and any road or registration tax.
A place secured, in a school you chose for reasons you can defend.
Tuition, registration fees, and deposits, all paid directly to the school.
The full scope of each — what we do, what you do, and what we hand to a licensed professional — is on the services page .
We are not tax advisors.
We hand you to one in-country, and we sit in the meeting.
Because anyone who puts a number there is guessing with your money. Residency and tax treatment are two different questions, decided by two different authorities, under rules that are specific to your circumstances and change without notice. A firm that promises you an outcome before it has seen your affairs is telling you what you want to hear.
We brief a licensed advisor in the jurisdiction before you meet them, so you are not paying someone to read your file in front of you. We sit in that meeting. We take the notes, we hold them to plain English, and afterwards we build the relocation around what they actually said — not around what we hoped they would say.
The decision. Immigration authorities approve applications, not consultants, and any firm quoting you a success rate is quoting you a number it made up. We prepare the file so that it is complete, correct, and boring to the officer reading it. That is the entire job, and it is the whole of what we control.
Landfall is an independent private firm. We are not affiliated with, and are not an agent of, any government or immigration authority, and we are not a law firm. Where the work requires a licensed professional — a lawyer, a tax advisor, a certified valuer — we introduce you to one and stay in the room.
Ninety minutes, with a principal, not a salesperson. We ask the four questions, you tell us the truth about how much time you can really spend abroad, and we tell you which jurisdictions are plausible and which are not. If none of them are, we say that too.
You leave knowing whether there is a deal here at all.
A written recommendation: the route, why it beats the other four for you specifically, the document schedule with the twelve-week items flagged, the realistic timeline, and every third-party cost named separately from ours. It is a document you can take to your advisor and argue with.
You get the memo whether or not you engage us further.
We assemble, legalise, translate, and file. We hold the appointment calendar and we chase the authority. Where a licensed professional is required — a lawyer, a tax advisor, a certified valuer — we introduce you and sit in the meeting.
A complete, correct, boring file on the officer’s desk.
The bank introduction, the apartment, the car, the school place. This is the part that decides whether the move actually works, and it is the part nobody sells you, because it is unglamorous and it takes months.
Keys, a plate, an account, and a place in September.
You will see the whole number before you sign anything. We have never understood the firms that make you take a call to find out what they charge.
$2,500
The ninety-minute call and the written recommendation: the route, the reasoning, the document schedule, the timeline, and every cost named. Credited in full against a full engagement if you go ahead within ninety days.
Most people should start here.
$5,000 — $12,000
The memo, plus the application prepared, legalised, translated and filed, the appointment calendar held, and the authority chased. The band is set by the jurisdiction and by how many people are on the application.
Georgia sits at the bottom of the band. Cyprus sits at the top.
$18,000 — $50,000
Everything above, plus the packages you take: the bank introduction, the apartment, the car, the school place. Priced on the file, agreed in writing before we start, and fixed after that.
A family of four relocating with schools is the top of this band.
Government fees are paid to the authority, at the rate the authority publishes, and we never mark them up.
Legal and professional fees are paid directly to the licensed lawyer, advisor, or valuer. We do not take a commission from them, and we will tell you if anyone offers us one.
Committed capital — a qualifying investment, a property, a fixed deposit — is your money, in your name. It is not a fee, it is not paid to us, and it is at your risk.
Third-party costs shown across this site are indicative and change without notice. Our fee is fixed in writing before any work begins, and it does not move afterwards.
Most of the answers below are “no”. We think that is more useful to you than a page of praise from clients you cannot call.
No, and neither can anyone else. Immigration authorities approve applications; consultants do not. What we control is the file — that it is complete, correct, consistent with what you have told other authorities, and boring to read. A firm quoting you a success rate is quoting you a number it invented.
No. We are not tax advisors, and residency and tax treatment are two different questions decided by two different authorities, under rules specific to your circumstances. What we do is brief a licensed advisor in the jurisdiction before you meet them, sit in that meeting with you, and then build the relocation around what they actually said. Any firm that puts a tax number on a marketing page is guessing with your money.
We do not sell citizenship, and you should be wary of anyone who says they do. These five programmes give you residence. Residence is a permit to live somewhere; in some jurisdictions it starts a clock that may, years later and at the authority’s discretion, lead to naturalisation. That is a genuinely different product from a passport, and conflating the two is the oldest trick in this industry.
Because we would have to make the numbers up. Programme rules and tax treatment change without notice and depend entirely on your circumstances, so a figure on a public page is worth nothing to you and would be a claim we cannot back. The table describes the process; the licensed advisor states the number.
No, and we would not want a bank that let us. Source-of-funds and identity checks are legally required, and the bank runs them on its own criteria. What we can do is introduce you to a bank that actually onboards new residents, and prepare your file to the standard it expects — so you go through the checks once instead of three times.
You do not, and that is why every figure on this site carries a stamp with the date we last checked it. Programme rules move faster than websites do. We re-verify every number against the official source before you commit to anything, and we put the confirmed figures in writing.
No. We are paid by you, on a fee agreed in writing before we start. If a developer or a bank offers us an introducer fee, we decline it and we tell you it was offered. A firm that is paid by both sides is working for the side that pays more.
Then that is what the memo says, and you keep the memo. It happens more than you would think — usually when someone wants an EU permit but cannot spend time in the EU, which is a wish rather than a plan. We would rather lose the engagement than file an application that will not survive its first renewal.
Not a discovery call, not a qualification call. We ask the four questions, you tell us the truth about how much time you can actually spend abroad, and we tell you which of the five is plausible for you — including, sometimes, none of them.