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More than half of European residency inquiries at one advisory firm came from Americans, data shows

Saint Cloud, MN, USA / KNSI
Dean Fankhauser for Movingto
Apr 6, 2026 | 10:30 AM

More than half of European residency inquiries at one advisory firm came from Americans, data shows

US.-based investors accounted for 52% of all European residency-by-investment inquiries where the source country could be identified at Movingto, a Lisbon-headquartered migration advisory firm, between August 2025 and March 2026. The figure is drawn from approximately 1,600 leads with country attribution in the firm’s CRM system. It represents one firm’s inquiry funnel—not a market census—but the sustained concentration over an eight-month window suggests the shift may be more than temporary.

The US share stayed elevated across every month in the dataset

The U.S. share peaked at 55% in October 2025 and did not fall below 33% in any month. By early 2026, it had settled around 46%, where it remained in both January and March. Earlier data from a prior CRM system suggests the U.S. share was approximately 25% in the first half of 2025, though differences in data capture methodology mean the two periods are not directly comparable.

Movingto

The October peak came roughly eleven months after the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, though the dataset cannot establish whether political factors drove the shift. What it does show is that the elevated U.S. share persisted well beyond any single news cycle.

The trend is consistent with broader reporting on American outbound mobility. The Henley & Partners Private Wealth Migration Report 2025 recorded 142,000 global millionaire relocations, projecting 165,000 for 2026. Those figures describe completed moves rather than enquiry-stage demand, but they point in the same direction.

Where the rest of the demand comes from

The United Kingdom was the second-largest source at 26.4%, consistent with increased outbound interest following the abolition of the UK’s non-domiciled tax regime. Gulf states, South Asia, and Turkey collectively accounted for roughly 17%—a small share but a notable signal that demand for European residency is broadening beyond the traditional U.S.-U.K.-China base.

Table listing the top countries with share of enquiries.
Movingto

Demand is shifting between programmes, not shrinking

Portugal’s Golden Visa remained the most inquired-about program at 33% of tagged enquiries overall, but its share fell from 35.7% in the second half of 2025 to 29.5% in the first quarter of 2026. Over the same period, Portugal’s D7 passive income visa grew from 20.8% to 30.7%, and the D8 digital nomad visa grew from 9.5% to 16.8%.

Table listing the top most-enquired programmes.
Movingto

The shift coincides with uncertainty over Portugal’s citizenship timeline. The government proposed extending the residency requirement from five to ten years in June 2025; Parliament approved it in October; the Constitutional Court partially struck it down in December; and as of March 2026, the original five-year pathway remained in effect. Investors who might have pursued the Golden Visa for its citizenship pathway may be exploring D7 and D8 routes that carry lower investment thresholds and less exposure to citizenship-timeline changes.

Methodology

Data is drawn from Movingto’s CRM system covering August 2025 through March 25, 2026, using a single platform with consistent methodology throughout. Country attribution is based on self-reported country of residence. Program-type attribution uses internal tagging applied during lead qualification; not all leads have program tags. A bulk data import on Feb. 4, 2026 has been excluded from monthly trend analysis. Earlier first-half 2025 figures referenced for comparison are from a prior CRM system and are not directly comparable.

External context is drawn from the Henley & Partners Private Wealth Migration Report 2025.

This story was produced by Movingto and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.