A third country national (non-EU national) who wants to reside in Luxembourg with no intention to work is able to apply for a private reasons residence permit. This residence permit was aimed, among others, at wealthy and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) who did not need to work in Luxembourg, but could prove that they were able to live off their own resources. The required resources for this residence permit are assessed according to their nature and regularity and with reference to the monthly social minimum wage for unskilled workers in Luxembourg (currently EUR 2,256.95 index 855,62).
A draft law was published on 19 January 2022 (n°7954) aiming, among others, to foresee stricter conditions for obtaining a private reason residence permit.
Under the current rules, the type of resources that could be shown to prove that a person is able to live his own resources were not defined.
Under the new rules, the applicant would only be allowed to apply for this private reason residence permit if he has one of the following type of income:
- Income deriving from a professional activity exercised in another EU Member state of the EU or the Shengen area or,
- Income deriving from an old-age, invalidity or survivor’s pension paid by a Luxembourg social security institution or another Member State of the EU or the Schengen Area;
This amendment proposal is justified, by the author of the draft law, by the concern of the growing immigration in Luxembourg of third-country nationals, who, on the one hand, have no link with Luxembourg (or another EU country) and bring no added value to the Luxembourg economy. The draft law also explains that the current rules for the private reason residence permit allow an applicant to bypass the more restrictive conditions imposed by the investor permit created in 2017 (see our article here on the investor permit).
