What Income Does a Retirement Visa Ask For? Country by Country
Beside it lie their two Social Security statements, and they have just read that Spain asks for about €28,800 a year.
Picture a couple named Aldous and Rhea, both 66, at a kitchen table in Ohio. A laptop is open. Beside it lie their two Social Security statements, and they have just read that Spain asks for about €28,800 a year.
Aldous adds the two statements on his phone. "Together we clear it," he says.
Rhea goes back to the consulate page. "That figure is for the main applicant. Each family member adds €7,200."
They do the sum again. For two people the figure is €36,000 a year, which is €3,000 a month. Their two statements add up to more than the first number and less than the second.
The first number in a guide often belongs to one person. The line about spouses and children may sit lower on the same page.
| Visa | What it asks | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Spain, non-lucrative visa | About €28,800 a year, plus €7,200 for each family member, reported. Spain's consulate in Washington converts this to US$32,000 plus US$8,000 (the dollar figure moves with the exchange rate). | 2026 |
| Portugal, passive-income visa | €920 a month (a spouse adds 50%, each child 30%), plus savings of about €11,040 for one person, reported | 2026 |
| Mexico, temporary resident | Net income of about 79,771 pesos a month for 6 months, or an average balance of about 1,344,373 pesos for 12 months. One test, not a mix. | 2026 |
| Thailand, retirement extension, age 50+ | 800,000 baht in a Thai bank, or 65,000 baht a month, or a mix | Oct 2026 |
| Colombia, pensioner visa | A certified lifetime pension of 5,252,715 pesos a month (3 minimum wages), reported | 2026 |
| Costa Rica, pensionado | US$1,000 a month, reported | Oct 2026 |
| Italy, elective residence | €31,000 a year, no work of any kind, reported | Oct 2026 |
Rhea copied the table onto a legal pad and looked at the units. Spain counts in euros. Mexico counts in a daily government unit that was reset on 1 February 2026, and the peso figures above come from that reset. Colombia counts in pesos.
"So the number can move while we stand still," Aldous said.
One law-firm guide reports that the Colombian peso gained about 18.8% against the dollar over a year. A dollar pension that cleared the bar a year ago could sit lower against it now. The same guide reports that withdrawals from an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan are often refused there, since the visa asks for a lifetime pension certificate.
Offices differ too. Spain's consulate in Los Angeles lists investment accounts as accepted proof. The one in San Francisco says they are not accepted, so one rule can read two ways. For Greece, Panama, Cyprus and Malaysia, ask the consulate, or a paid professional.
You could…
- Write your own household figure beside each country, with the year and the currency.
- Email the consulate for your state and ask which proof it accepts: pension letters, bank statements or investment accounts.
- Check the exchange rate again close to the day you apply, for any figure set in local currency.
- Ask an accountant or lawyer who works with Americans abroad which of your income counts.
Have you added up your own household against one of these tests? Tell us in the comments what you found lower on the page.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Rules change, so each figure shows the year it applies to; ask the official office before you act.
Sources: Spanish consulates in Los Angeles (page updated 11 February 2026) and Washington (page updated 20 May 2025); Mexican consulate income and savings sheet and the national statistics institute's 2026 daily-unit bulletin; a Spanish law-firm page for the euro figure; Thailand's government site (thailand.go.th/event-detail/001_01_134); reports by law firms and legal guides for Portugal, Colombia, Costa Rica and Italy, which we could not check against official pages.
Tell us in the comments