The Easiest Countries to Move Abroad With a Family in 2026/27

Last checked: September 2026. Visa income thresholds are often linked to national minimum wages and change every year, and several countries on this list changed their rules in 2025–26. Treat figures as a starting point for your own research.

The short answer: for most families in 2026/27, the easiest countries to move abroad to are Portugal, Spain, Georgia, the UAE and Mauritius, with Canada, the Netherlands and Mexico close behind. But “easiest” always depends on your family: which visa you qualify for, how you will earn money there, your children’s ages, and whether both partners can work.

Choosing where to raise your children is one of the biggest and most exciting decisions a family can make, and it can also feel overwhelming. This guide does not pretend any country is effortless. It shows you honestly where the hard parts are in each place, so you can pick the ones your family can live with. Here “easy” means five things: the whole family can get a visa without years of waiting; the children can get a school place; you can see a doctor soon after you arrive; you can find somewhere to live; and, most important of all, you have a way to pay for life there that the visa allows.

What makes a country “easy” for a family?

A country that is easy for one adult with a laptop can be hard for a family of four. These are the eight criteria we used. Each one is rated Easy, Moderate or Hard in the table further down.

• Visa accessibility: Is there a clear route for the whole household? Are the income rules realistic once you add a partner and children? Can the family apply together?
• International schools: Can you get a place, including mid-year? Are local state schools a real option for your children’s ages and languages?
• Healthcare: Can the family use public healthcare, and how soon? If not, is private insurance affordable and good?
• Housing availability: Can a family find a long-term rental of a sensible size, in a good school area, without months of searching?
• Language: Can you manage daily life, school meetings and paperwork in English while you learn the local language?
• Cost: What does a normal family month cost, including rent and school fees, compared with most Western European or North American cities?
• Family lifestyle: Safety, outdoor space, a child-friendly culture, and whether weekends feel good, not just the holiday version.
• How you will finance life there: Which income routes does the visa allow? A local job offer, a remote job for a foreign employer, your own business or freelancing, or passive income and savings. Can the second adult work too? This is the criterion most lists leave out, and it often decides everything else.

The partner question deserves its own line. In some countries the accompanying partner can work freely. In others the family permit does not allow work at all. Read can your partner work there? before you shortlist anywhere.

How do the easiest countries compare?

These ratings are relative. “Easy” means easier than most countries for a typical family, not effortless. Your passport, income and children’s ages can move any rating up or down.

Country	Visa	Schools	Healthcare	Housing	Language	Cost	Family life
Portugal	Easy	Moderate	Easy	Hard	Moderate	Moderate	Easy
Spain	Easy	Easy	Easy	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Easy
Georgia	Easy	Moderate	Moderate	Easy	Hard	Easy	Moderate
UAE	Easy	Easy	Easy	Moderate	Easy	Hard	Moderate
Mauritius	Easy	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Easy	Moderate	Easy
Canada	Moderate	Easy	Moderate	Hard	Easy	Hard	Easy
Netherlands	Moderate	Moderate	Easy	Hard	Easy	Hard	Easy
Mexico	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Easy	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate

Money, partner work and who each country suits

The second table answers the questions that usually decide a family move. Income figures are indicative 2026 minimums for the main route, taken from the country sections below. Your real cost of living will be higher.

Country	Main family route	Indicative income needed	Can the partner work?	Best for
Portugal	D8 (remote work) or D7 (passive income)	D8: about €3,680 a month for the main applicant, plus more per family member	Check the exact family permit with AIMA	Remote earners and families with savings who want EU life
Spain	Digital nomad visa or non-lucrative visa	Digital nomad: about €4,600 a month for a family of four	Not on the non-lucrative visa	Families who want free schooling from age three
Georgia	Visa-free stay of up to a year for many passports	No income threshold (health insurance required)	A work permit is needed for local work since March 2026	A low-cost trial year before committing
UAE	Employer-sponsored residence	About AED 4,000 a month to sponsor a family	Yes, once an employer arranges a work permit	Families with a local job offer
Mauritius	Premium Visa or Occupation Permit	Premium Visa: about US$1,500 a month plus US$500 per child	Needs their own permit (2026 change)	English- and French-speaking island life on remote income
Canada	Job offer or skilled permanent residence	Depends on the route	Only if the main worker is in a higher-skilled job	Skilled workers planning to settle long term
Netherlands	Highly skilled migrant, or DAFT for US citizens	About €5,940 a month (aged 30 or over)	Yes	Highly skilled job offers and US entrepreneurs
Mexico	Temporary residence via a consulate	About US$4,400 a month, or about US$75,000 in savings	Needs separate permission for a Mexican employer	Families with savings or remote income who want space and warmth

Notice that no country is easy on everything. Portugal’s visas are accessible but its housing is not. The UAE is quick to enter but expensive. Canada is excellent once you are in, but getting in takes planning. The best country for you is the one whose hard parts you can live with.

How will you pay for life abroad? The four routes

Before you fall for a place, be clear about where the money will come from. Each visa is built around one kind of income. If your income does not match, the country is not easy for you, however lovely it is.

1. A job offer from a local employer

The employer usually sponsors the visa, and often the family’s permits too. This is the most common route into the UAE, the Netherlands (as a highly skilled migrant) and Canada. It is also a strong route into Mauritius through the Occupation Permit. The risk: your right to stay is tied to that job. Ask what happens to the family if the job ends.

2. A remote job for a foreign employer

You keep your current employer or clients and move your desk. Portugal’s D8, Spain’s digital nomad visa, Mauritius’s Premium Visa and the UAE’s remote work visa are built for this. Georgia and Mexico also suit remote earners. Check two things early: that your employer will allow you to work from abroad, and that you understand where you will pay tax. These are questions to take to a qualified adviser. Our guide to digital nomad visas that allow children and spouses compares the family income maths.

3. Your own business or freelancing

Freelancers can often use the same remote-work visas if their clients are abroad. For Americans, the Netherlands’ DAFT route allows a small business with a modest capital investment. The UAE has self-employment and free-zone routes. Georgia used to be very simple for the self-employed, but a new work permit system started in March 2026, so check the current rules before you plan around it.

4. Passive income or savings

Pensions, rental income, dividends or a large enough savings pot. Portugal’s D7, Spain’s non-lucrative visa and Mexico’s temporary residence are designed for this. Be aware that Spain’s non-lucrative visa does not allow anyone in the family to work in Spain. Mexico’s savings threshold is high.

Many families combine routes, for example one partner with a remote job and some savings as a buffer. For a full walk-through of visa types, see our guide to visas for moving abroad with a family.

Planning your own move? Get our free 120-task family relocation checklist and cost planner, so you can see every step before you start. Get the free checklist

Which countries should your family investigate first?

If you have read the four routes above, you already know roughly where your money will come from. Here is how that turns into a short list, before you read a single country section in full.

Your household	Start with	Then look at	What to check first
One adult has a local job offer	The UAE, the Netherlands, Canada	Mauritius on an Occupation Permit	What happens to the whole family’s status if that job ends
Your income is remote, from a foreign employer or your own clients	Portugal on the D8, Spain on the digital nomad visa, Mauritius on the Premium Visa	Georgia for a trial year, Mexico, the UAE’s remote work visa	Whether your employer will allow it in writing, and where you will pay tax
You live on savings, a pension or other passive income	Portugal on the D7, Spain on the non-lucrative visa, Mexico	Georgia	On Spain’s non-lucrative visa, nobody in the family may work
Both adults need to work	The Netherlands; the UAE with a work permit for each of you; Canada if the main job is higher-skilled	Portugal or Spain, if both of you have remote income that fits the visa	The exact permit the second adult will hold, and what it allows on day one

That last row is the one most guides skip, and it is the one that decides more family moves than any other. We have moved five times, and every time one of us arrived with a contract and the other arrived with a laptop and a plan. The country that looked easiest on paper was never the one where the visa was quick. It was the one where the second adult had something real to do by the third month. So the question we ask now, before we ask whether we can get in, is: what will the other one of us be doing on a Tuesday in March?

Three things then move your shortlist up or down:

• Your passports. An EU passport makes Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands a question of registering, not applying, and opens the French overseas departments too. A multi-passport family should run the list once for each passport; the quiz does this automatically against your strongest one. If you are on a single non-EU passport, the income thresholds and waiting times in the country sections are the ones that apply to you.
• How many of you there are. Almost every income threshold grows with the family. Portugal’s D8 adds an amount for each family member, Spain’s digital nomad visa adds 75% for a partner and 25% for each child, Mauritius adds US$500 a month per child. A figure that works for a couple can fall short for a family of five, so do the maths for your actual household before you fall for a place.
• What your children need from school. A teenager two years from exams needs a school that continues the curriculum they are on, which narrows you to the countries with a real international school choice: the UAE, the Netherlands, Canada, Portugal around Lisbon and Porto. A child under five changes the question entirely. Spain’s free state schooling from three, Portugal’s state nurseries and the Netherlands’ early independence all start to matter, and so does childcare before school age. Now that we move with a small child, childcare has gone from the bottom of our list to the top, and it should probably be higher on yours than you think.

None of this gives you one easiest country, because there is no such thing. It gives you three or four to read properly, which is what the sections below are for.

Below, each country follows the same pattern: which income route makes it easiest, what works well for families, and what is honestly harder.

Portugal: easiest for remote workers and families with passive income

Easiest if you finance life by: a remote job (D8) or passive income (D7).

Portugal is still the most popular choice for relocating families, for good reasons. The D7 visa for passive income asks for roughly €920 a month for the main applicant in 2026, plus about half that for a partner and about 30% for each child. The D8 for remote workers asks for about four times the minimum wage, roughly €3,680 a month, plus more for each family member. State schools are free and healthcare is good. International schools cluster around Lisbon, Cascais and Porto, and popular ones have waiting lists.

What is harder: housing in Lisbon and Porto is expensive and scarce. Residence appointments with the immigration agency (AIMA) can be slow. Two rule changes also matter for long-term plans. Since May 2026, most nationalities need 10 years of residence for citizenship instead of five. And new family reunification rules mean it is better to apply as a whole family from the start, although minor children are exempt from the new two-year waiting rule. Our guide to moving to Portugal with a family covers this in detail.

Spain: easiest for remote workers who want free schooling from age three

Easiest if you finance life by: a remote job (digital nomad visa) or passive income (non-lucrative visa).

Spain offers free state education from age three, strong healthcare and a family-centred daily life. The non-lucrative visa asks for about €28,800 a year for the main applicant and about €7,200 a year for each family member, but nobody on it may work in Spain. The digital nomad visa asks for 200% of the minimum wage, roughly €2,850 a month in 2026, plus 75% for a partner and 25% for each child. A family of four needs roughly €4,600 a month.

What is harder: paperwork is slow and appointments are hard to get. Rules and school systems vary between regions, and some regions teach partly in Catalan, Basque or Galician. Our guide to moving to Spain with kids works through the family-of-four income maths.

Georgia: easiest for a low-cost trial year

Easiest if you finance life by: a remote job or savings.

Citizens of nearly 100 countries, including the EU, UK, US and Canada, can live in Georgia for up to a year without a visa. There is no application and no income threshold. This makes it the easiest place in this guide to try life abroad before committing. Family costs in Tbilisi are well below Western European levels, and international school fees are lower than in most capitals. See our guide to moving to Tbilisi with a family.

What is harder: since January 2026, visitors must have health insurance for their whole stay. Since March 2026, most foreigners need a work permit to work or run a business locally. Whether this applies to people who only work remotely for foreign employers is still unclear. Georgian is hard to learn, and international school places are limited.

The UAE: easiest for families with a local job offer

Easiest if you finance life by: a local job.

Entry is quick, schools are plentiful, most things work in English, and there is no personal income tax. A resident can usually sponsor a spouse and children with a salary of roughly AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 plus housing, although some sources report higher thresholds in some cases, so confirm your own. Remote workers can use the remote work visa, which asks for roughly US$3,500 a month. Read our guide to moving to Dubai with a family.

What is harder: the cost. School fees are a major line in the budget. A partner on a family visa can work, but needs an employer to arrange a work permit first. Residence is tied to a job or visa, and summers are very hot.

Mauritius: easiest for English- and French-speaking island life

Easiest if you finance life by: a remote job or passive income (Premium Visa), or a local job (Occupation Permit).

Mauritius is safe, English and French are widely used, and daily life is outdoors. The Premium Visa is free, lasts one year and can be renewed. It asks for proof of about US$1,500 a month for the main applicant, plus US$500 for each dependent child, with income coming from outside Mauritius. For a local job, the professional Occupation Permit has a minimum salary of MUR 50,000 a month. The rules for partners changed in 2026: most sources now say a partner on a dependant permit needs their own permit to work, so confirm with the Economic Development Board before you rely on it.

What is harder: Premium Visa holders cannot work for Mauritian employers. International school places are limited and fees are significant. It is a small island, far from most families’ home countries. Our guide to moving to Mauritius with a family covers schools, visas and island life in detail.

Considering Africa more widely? See our complete guide to moving to Southern Africa with a family, and our guide to moving to South Africa with a family, one of the region’s most popular family destinations.

Canada: easiest for skilled workers planning to settle

Easiest if you finance life by: a local job offer or skilled permanent residence.

Canada is clear and well organised. Public schools are free and good, cities are family-friendly, and English (or French) makes daily life easy. The 2026–2028 immigration plan keeps permanent residence at about 380,000 a year and puts more weight on skilled economic migrants. It cuts temporary worker numbers sharply.

What is harder: getting in takes preparation and time. Since 2025, a partner can only get an open work permit if the main worker is in a higher-skilled job (or on certain routes to permanent residence), and dependent children can no longer get one. Housing in Toronto and Vancouver is expensive, some provinces have a waiting period for public healthcare, and winters are long. Our guide to moving to Canada with a family explains the routes step by step.

The Netherlands: easiest for highly skilled job offers

Easiest if you finance life by: a local job offer, or your own business if you are a US citizen.

Once you are in, daily life with children is very good. Cities are built for cycling, children become independent early, and English is widely spoken. A highly skilled migrant aged 30 or over needs a salary of about €5,940 a month in 2026 (about €4,360 if under 30). Partners of highly skilled migrants can work. US citizens can use the DAFT route with a business investment of at least €4,500, and a spouse can also work.

What is harder: housing. Winning a rental can be harder than winning the visa. International school places are limited in some cities, and costs are high.

Mexico: easiest for families with savings or remote income

Easiest if you finance life by: savings or a remote job.

Mexico offers warm weather, a strong family culture, good private healthcare and housing that is easy to find. Temporary residence is issued through Mexican consulates abroad. In 2026, most consulates ask for a monthly income of roughly US$4,400 over the last six months, or savings of roughly US$75,000 held for a year, plus extra for each dependant.

What is harder: amounts vary between consulates and go up each year. Government fees for residence cards also roughly doubled in January 2026. A temporary resident needs separate permission to work for a Mexican employer. Safety varies a lot by area, so choose your neighbourhood and school carefully.

Which country is easiest for your family?

Start with your income, not the country. Write down how each adult will earn money abroad, then cross off every country whose visa does not fit. Next, look at the ratings that matter most to your family. A family with a teenager may care most about schools. A family with a baby may care most about healthcare and housing. Then test your shortlist. Picture the place on an ordinary rainy Tuesday, not on holiday.

It is normal for this part to feel uncertain. You are not just choosing a country, you are choosing the everyday life your children will remember. Give yourselves time, and let the practical answers narrow things down before your heart makes the final call.

This is the Decide stage of our five-stage approach: Decide, Prepare, Transit, Arrive, Thrive. Our guide to family relocation strategies explains how to move through each stage, and our family relocation budget guide shows what a move really costs.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest country to move to with a family?

For most families, Portugal and Spain, because they have clear visas for remote and passive income, free state schools and good healthcare. For a trial year with no paperwork, Georgia is the simplest. For families with a job offer, the UAE is the fastest.

Which countries let my partner work too?

Partners can generally work in the Netherlands (highly skilled migrant and DAFT routes). In Mauritius, the rules for partners changed in 2026: most sources now say a partner on a dependant permit needs their own permit to work, so confirm with the Economic Development Board before you rely on it. In Canada, it depends on the main worker’s job. In the UAE, a work permit is needed first. On Spain’s non-lucrative visa, nobody can work. Always check the exact permit.

Can we move abroad without a job offer?

Yes. Portugal, Spain, Mauritius, Mexico and the UAE all have routes for remote workers, and Portugal, Spain and Mexico have routes for people living on passive income or savings. You will need to show steady income or savings above each country’s threshold.

How much income do we need as a family of four?

Roughly, from about US$2,500 a month for Mauritius’s Premium Visa, to about €4,600 a month for Spain’s digital nomad visa, to roughly €7,000 or more for Portugal’s D8. Thresholds change each year. Your real cost of living, especially rent and school fees, will usually be higher than the visa minimum.

Which country is cheapest for families?

Of the countries in this guide, Georgia usually has the lowest family costs, followed by Mexico outside the most popular areas. International school fees can change the picture anywhere.

How long does it take to get a family visa?

From no time at all in Georgia to several months in Portugal, Spain and Canada. Allow extra time for document translations, apostilles and appointments.

Moving a family abroad is a big decision, and it is not always easy. But with the right country and the right income route, it is very achievable, and often one of the best things a family ever does together. Start with the money, then choose the place. The 2-minute family destination quiz is a good first step.

Want the whole move in the right order? The Global Relocation System takes your family through all five stages, Decide, Prepare, Transit, Arrive and Thrive, with a master checklist, planning templates and a budget tool. See what is inside the system