Getting your map ready
This may take a little while the first time. That is normal.
Getting things ready…
You can scroll down and read the rest of the page while you wait.
Mobility
Passport residence rights map
Most passport rankings count where you can travel. This map answers a different question: where can you actually live and work. It colors every country by the residence-rights pillar of the Lucky Nomads Passport Index, which rewards free movement, the legal right to settle and work permanently rather than a short tourist stay. Passports rich in free movement, such as European Union and European Economic Area nationalities, rise to the top. Hover a country for its exact score.
Click a jurisdiction for details. Scroll to zoom.
Getting your map ready
This may take a little while the first time. That is normal.
Getting things ready…
You can scroll down and read the rest of the page while you wait.
What the data shows
Ireland leads the Residence rights map at 100 / 100, ahead of Netherlands (93.1 / 100) and Norway (90.8 / 100).
This map colors 199 passports by residence rights, from the strongest in green to the weakest in red.
Chad sits at the bottom of the range at 0 / 100.
Top performers on this map
- #1Ireland100 / 100
- #2Netherlands93.1 / 100
- #3Norway90.8 / 100
- =4Denmark90.7 / 100
- =4Sweden90.7 / 100
Absolute scores and ranks stay in the tables below. Map colors use quintiles within the full pool on this map.
How to read this map
Green marks the top quintile on this composite, red marks the bottom quintile. Hover and the tables keep the absolute score out of 10. Map colors are relative to the full pool.
- Top quintileabout the top 20 % on this map (best side of the metric)
- Second quintilenext 20 %
- Middle quintilemiddle 20 %
- Fourth quintilenext 20 %
- Bottom quintileabout the bottom 20 % (weakest side of the metric)
- Unrankednot ranked
Top 10 highest scores
| Rank | Flag | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ireland | 100 / 100 | |
| 2 | Netherlands | 93.1 / 100 | |
| 3 | Norway | 90.8 / 100 | |
| =4 | Denmark | 90.7 / 100 | |
| =4 | Sweden | 90.7 / 100 | |
| =4 | Iceland | 90.7 / 100 | |
| =4 | Finland | 90.7 / 100 | |
| =8 | Latvia | 90.6 / 100 | |
| =8 | Lithuania | 90.6 / 100 | |
| =10 | Czech Republic | 90.5 / 100 |
Bottom 10 scores
| Rank | Flag | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| =105 | Chad | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Central African Republic | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | South Sudan | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Eritrea | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Somalia | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Afghanistan | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Mali | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Yemen | 0 / 100 | |
| =105 | Papua New Guinea | 0 / 100 |
Methodology
The residence-rights score sums the livability of every destination where a passport grants free movement, then normalizes the result across all passports onto a 0 to 100 scale. Free movement means the right to live and work without a separate permit, as inside the European Union and similar blocs. The map colors countries by quintile within the full pool so the spread stays readable. It is recomputed from our bilateral visa access matrix on a regular cadence.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a residence right here?
Free movement: the legal right to live and work somewhere without applying for a separate permit, as nationals of the European Union enjoy across member states. A short visa-free tourist stay does not count.
Why do European passports dominate this map?
European Union and European Economic Area nationalities grant free movement across dozens of high-livability countries at once, which is exactly what this pillar rewards.
Is this the same as the passport power map?
No. Passport power blends four pillars into one score. This map isolates a single pillar, residence rights, so you can see the right to settle on its own.
Where is the full ranking?
The /passport-index page lists every passport with all four pillar scores, including residence rights, and a per-passport breakdown.
Which passports currently lead the Residence rights map?
As of the latest computed scores, the top of the Residence rights map is Ireland (100 / 100), Netherlands (93.1 / 100), and Norway (90.8 / 100). The full ordered ranking of every passport is on our /passport-index page.
Related maps
Founder, Lucky Nomads · Wealth manager
Researched from official sources, leading global indices and Lucky Nomads' own scoring.