Thinking of upping sticks and starting a new life abroad? If you’re lucky enough to work remotely, there are loads of countries offering digital nomad visas. But if you still need to go into an in-person workplace, you might have to go down the classic route of gaining citizenship – and in some European countries, that’s easier said than done.
Canadian immigration agency CanadaCIS has published some research into which countries across the continent are easiest (and hardest) to gain citizenship for. They analysed Eurostat immigration data from 2009 to 2021, looking at the percentages of successful applications for non-EU residents.
So, which country welcomes the highest percentage of non-EU residents? That would be Sweden, which has an acceptance rate of 9.3 percent, more than double the EU average. Given that it’s one of Europe’s and the world’s happiest countries, it’s no surprise that people want to move there, nor that they’re so welcome. Just don’t get it confused with Switzerland.
Gaining citizenship isn’t so easy everywhere though, especially in Estonia. The northeastern European country has the lowest acceptance rate for citizenship, at just 0.6 percent. However, it’s closely followed by the other Baltic states – Latvia comes in third place, with only 0.7 percent, and Lithuania comes in fourth, with 0.8 percent.
These are the 10 easiest European countries to gain citizenship
- Sweden
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Portugal
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Romania
- United Kingdom
- Belgium
- Finland
And these are the 10 hardest European countries to gain citizenship
Have a look at our Europe hub for all the very best things to do across the continent, whether you’re attempting the citizenship battle, or just passing through on a mini break.
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