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🇺🇸 United States visa and residence routes
The hardest mainstream destination on this list: no nomad visa, lotteries and high capital bars. Know that going in.
The lowest published bar starts from €5,000 a month in income, or from €100,000 in savings or capital. Documented routes cover employer-sponsored and investment. Naturalisation becomes possible after roughly 5 years of qualifying residence.
How United States compares
It is one of the more expensive destinations we cover, at roughly €3,000 a month for one person. English is widely enough spoken that daily life and work rarely require the local language.
Who these routes are built for
Based on the routes currently included in our database for United States, these options suit investors with capital to commit.
They are a poor fit for remote workers, who have no dedicated route here; retirees, since no passive-income route is published.
What the bar means in practice
The lowest income requirement, €5,000 a month on the H-1B Specialty Occupation, sits against living costs of about €3,000 a month. That is roughly 1.7 times typical single-person living costs, leaving a real but not generous margin. If that is out of reach, the nearest lower bar in Americas is 🇲🇽 Mexico, which starts at €3,900 a month.
Routes at a glance
| Route | Built for | Financial bar | Processing | Leads to residency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H-1B Specialty Occupation | Employer-sponsored | €5,000/mo | 6–12 mo | Yes |
| E-2 Treaty Investor | Investment | €100,000 saved | 3–6 mo | No |
| O-1 Extraordinary Ability | Employer-sponsored | €8,000/mo | 2–4 mo | Yes |
| EB-5 Investor Green Card | Investment | €740,000 saved | 24+ mo | Yes |
The financial bar is the main money test for that route — a monthly income floor, or the savings to show where no income floor applies. Figures are for a single applicant; most programmes scale upward for a partner or children.
Which of these would actually take you?
This page lists the routes currently included in our database for United States. The free 3-minute check compares those rules against your own passport, income, savings, age and family, and stamps each route clear, stretch or blocked — with the reason.
No account, no card, results in 3 minutes.
Routes in our database, in detail
H-1B Specialty Occupation
Employer-sponsored and lottery-capped (~1-in-4 odds most years). A job offer alone is not enough.
E-2 Treaty Investor
Treaty-country citizens investing ~$100k+ in a real US business; renewable indefinitely but no green card by itself.
O-1 Extraordinary Ability
For people with a documented record at the top of their field — press, awards, judging roles, top-percentile pay (we use high income as a rough proxy here).
Worth knowing: Requires documented extraordinary ability evidence; income alone is not sufficient.
EB-5 Investor Green Card
$800k into a qualifying project buys a direct green-card track. Slow and capital-intensive.
Before you rely on any of this
Visa and residence requirements on this page are compiled from the linked official sources and current as of 2026-08-07. Cost of living, English, healthcare and cross-country comparison indicators are ExpatSuccess estimates, not government figures. Governments change immigration rules without notice and consulates apply them with discretion, so confirm on the linked official portal before making decisions or spending money. This page is research, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.
Other Americas destinations
🇲🇽 Mexico · 🇨🇷 Costa Rica · 🇵🇦 Panama · 🇧🇷 Brazil · 🇦🇷 Argentina · 🇺🇾 Uruguay · 🇨🇴 Colombia · 🇪🇨 Ecuador