Andorra · Visa required
Emigrating to Andorra
Andorra lies between France and Spain, pays with the euro, and still isn't an EU member. As a tourist you may spend ninety days a year there; living there is only possible with a residence permit from the Servei d'Immigració, and it depends on a reason and on a yearly quota. A permanent contract with an Andorran employer, a business of your own with a deposit of 50,000 euros, a partner who already lives there, remote work, or passive residence: since February 2026 that last one takes an investment of a million euros. There's no retirement route. The 2023 tax treaty leaves your AOW and your pension with the Netherlands, but there's no AOW treaty, so whoever goes alone gets the AOW for married people. And no CAK: you fall under the CASS, Andorra's social security, or you take out a policy of your own.
€ 399 one-off · 42 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- A residence permit with quotas: employed work, a business of your own, family reunification, remote work or passive residence
- The clock
- After arrival the medical check and the registration with the comú; within six months your car on Andorran plates and your driving licence exchanged; Catalan A1 at the first renewal
- Note
- No retirement route and no AOW treaty, so a single person gets the AOW for married people; but a tax treaty that leaves everything with the Netherlands; no CAK
Last updated: 26 October 2026
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Five phases, from the quotas to your registration with the comú
This journey turns on one question: on what ground may you stay, and is there room this year? Every year Andorra issues a fixed number of permits per route. For employed work you need a permanent contract, for a business of your own an investment approval and a deposit of 50,000 euros, for family reunification a partner who has lived there for three months, and for passive residence a million euros in Andorran assets. After arrival come the medical check, the registration with the comú and, within six months, your car and your driving licence. On top of that there's what the brochure doesn't mention: the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and your pension, and without an AOW treaty a single person gets the amount for married people.
- Orientation
Ninety days as a tourist, five routes with quotas, and an AOW without a treaty
In this phase you learn how living in Andorra works, and what it does to your income and your healthcare. As a tourist you may stay ninety days a year. Whoever wants to live there chooses a route: work, a business of your own, family reunification, remote work or passive residence. Every route has a yearly quota, and there's no retirement route: since 2026 passive residence takes an investment of a million euros. There's no AOW treaty, so a single person gets about 30 percent less AOW. The 2023 tax treaty leaves your AOW and your pension with the Netherlands. And you choose one of the seven parishes, each with its own comú.Read more
- Your visa
Choosing a route, a place in the quota, and the application to Immigració
In this phase you arrange your residence permit. For employed work your employer first applies for a place in the quota, with your permanent contract and your diploma or a year of experience. For a business of your own you reserve a place, apply for the investment approval, set up a company in which you hold more than a third, and deposit 50,000 euros with the AFA, which you don't get back. Family reunification is possible as soon as your partner has lived there for three months. Your criminal record certificate is at most three months old, your certificates get an apostille, and a sworn translation into Catalan may be requested. At the first renewal of a work permit you show Catalan at level A1.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
Everything taxed in the Netherlands, the AOW for married people if you go alone, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list for closing down in the Netherlands. Your AOW goes along, but without an AOW treaty a single person gets the amount for married people, and child benefit, the allowances and unemployment benefit stop. The tax treaty lets the Netherlands tax your AOW, your occupational pension, your annuity and an ABP pension; Andorra taxes them too, at 10 percent at most, and credits what you paid in the Netherlands. You no longer get a tax credit. There's no CAK: whoever works falls under the CASS, whoever lives passively or works remotely takes out a policy of their own. And whoever leaves before the AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
By road, household goods free, and the car on Andorran plates within six months
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet, all by road. Things you've had for at least six months come in free of duties if you file the declaration within a year of settling and don't sell them for a year. A resident may not drive a car with foreign plates: within six months of your permit you put it on Andorran plates, if it's at most six years old and meets the Euro standard; otherwise you sell it here. Your dog or cat travels on the EU pet passport, without a blood test, not for the way back either.Read more
- Arrival in Andorra
The check and the comú, then the CASS, the bank, the licence and the home
In this phase you arrange your permit, your healthcare, your driving licence and your home after arrival. You report to Immigració for the medical check and get your permit the next day; after that you register with the comú of your parish. If you work, you're insured with the CASS and choose a preferred doctor. You exchange your Dutch driving licence within six months, without an exam. Renting is for at least five years, with a deposit of at most two months. And as a foreigner you can buy at most one house or two flats, with a permit and a tax of 6 to 10 percent.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the journey to Andorra, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 2.1 of your plan
Choose your route: work, self-employed, partner, passive or nomad
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
In this step you choose the route that suits you. Choose your route in your plan too: then you only see the steps that belong to your route.
| Route | For whom | The threshold | 2026 quota | How long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work | whoever has a permanent contract with a company in Andorra | a state diploma or 365 days of experience in the occupation | 900 | 1 year, then 3 times 2 years, then 10 |
| Self-employed | whoever sets up a business in Andorra | a company with more than 34 percent, and 50,000 euros you don't get back | 200 | 1 year, then 3 times 2 years, then 10 |
| Partner | whoever joins a partner who has lived there for three months | the family income: the minimum wage, plus 100 percent per adult and 70 percent per child | within the partner's quota | at most 1 year, then 3 times 2 years, then 10 |
| Passive | whoever lives on their own assets and doesn't work | invest one million euros, pay 50,000 euros, income over 56,000 euros a year | 163 | 2 years, then 2, then 3, then 10 |
| Nomad | whoever works over the internet for clients outside Andorra | a favourable decision from the Ministry of Economy | 100 | 2 years, then 2, then 3, then 10 |
Three things people often don't know:
- The quotas run out, and the Dutch aren't at the front. Every decree gives priority to Spaniards, French and Portuguese, then to EU citizens. Applications are handled in order of arrival. The previous quota for passive residence was exhausted; the new one of March 2026 is deliberately smaller.
- No retirement route. A retiree can only apply for passive residence. Since 13 February 2026 that costs an investment of one million euros, for property more than 800,000 euros per home, plus 50,000 euros you don't get back and 3,000 euros in fees. With an AOW and an average pension you won't reach that.
- The payment is gone. The 50,000 euros with the AFA, for your own business and for passive residence, was until February 2026 a deposit you got back on leaving. Since Llei 2/2026 it's a definitive contribution. You only get it back if the first permit is refused.
If you don't know yet, you see the steps of all routes in your plan.
What this step rests on
- Govern d'Andorra — residència i treball: the first permit for employed work
- Govern d'Andorra — the reservation of a permit for your own business
- Govern d'Andorra — family reunification: the first permit
- Govern d'Andorra — residence without work: the first permit
- Govern d'Andorra — the permit for digital nomads
- Govern d'Andorra — the Immigració fees
- Decret 388/2026, article 2 — the priority: first Spain, France and Portugal, then the EU
- Decret 74/2026 — 163 places for passive residence, with the same priority
- Llei 2/2026, articles 5 and 10 — the payment of 50,000 euros you don't get back, and the investment of one million
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Andorra.
This is step 2.1 of 42. The other 41 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 42 steps for AndorraWhat you get for € 399
All 42 steps to Andorra, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Andorra
€ 399
one-off · 42 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
- Destination changes? Within 30 days I switch your plan to another country free of charge
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What will your move to Andorra cost? Work it out →
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Andorra: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Andorra change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Andorra? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Andorra starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Andorra
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Learning Catalan for Andorra: A1 at your first renewal, A2 at the second, and who is still exempt until 2029Catalan is the only official language of Andorra. Whoever lives there on a work permit shows the Govern's Catalan A1 diploma at the first renewal, and A2 at the second. Without that diploma the renewal is refused. For the self-employed, passive residents and nomads there is no requirement yet, but the Govern must set one before 30 May 2029. Whoever wants to become Andorran needs B1.
- The residence routes to Andorra: work, your own business, your partner, passive residence or remote workAndorra is not an EU country. As a tourist you may stay at most 90 days in any 365 days, without working. Living there is only possible with a residence permit from the Servei d'Immigració, which issues a fixed number of permits each year. There are five routes: employment, your own business, your partner, passive residence and remote work. There is no retirement route: since February 2026 passive residence requires an investment of one million euros.
- Your own business in Andorra: the reserva, the investment approval and the 50,000 euros you do not get backAs a self-employed person you live in Andorra with the residence and work permit for your own account. You first reserve a place with Immigració. Then, within six months, you obtain approval for your foreign investment, set up an Andorran company in which you hold more than 34 percent, and deposit 50,000 euros with the AFA. Since February 2026 you no longer get that amount back. In 2026 there are 200 places.
- Working in Andorra: a permanent contract, a place in the quota, and what you pay to the CASS and in taxWorking in Andorra is only possible with a residence and work permit. For that you need a permanent contract with a company in Andorra, and a diploma or 365 days of experience in your occupation. There are about 900 places a year. You pay 6.5 percent of your wage to the CASS and income tax of 10 percent, with 24,000 euros tax-free. At the first renewal you show Catalan at level A1.
- AOW, pension and tax in Andorra: the Netherlands keeps taxing, and without a social security agreement less AOW for whoever goes aloneThe Netherlands and Andorra have had a tax treaty since 2025. Because of it the Netherlands continues to tax your AOW, your company pension and your annuity. Andorra also taxes them as a resident, at 10 percent with 24,000 euros tax-free, but credits the Dutch tax. There is no social security agreement: a single person gets the AOW for married people, about 30 percent less. You no longer get a tax credit.
- Household goods to Andorra: free of import duties if you have owned them for six months, with a declaration within a yearIf you move to Andorra, your used household goods enter the country free of import duties and charges. The conditions: you have owned the goods for at least six months, you lived outside Andorra for at least twelve months, you declare them within twelve months of settling, and you do not sell or let them for twelve months. Your car and your pet count too. Cash from 10,000 euros must be declared.
All 15 articles about Andorra
- Your pet to Andorra: the EU passport is enough, no blood test, and into the RAC within two months
- Car and driving licence in Andorra: Andorran plates within six months, a car of at most six years old, and exchanging without a test
- Banking and paying in Andorra: the euro, an account with an Andorran bank and the 10,000 euro cash limit
- The first weeks in Andorra: the examination, your residence card, the comú within three months and the deadlines that then start running
- Buying a home in Andorra: a permit in advance, at most one house or two flats, and 6 percent extra for the first three years
- Renting in Andorra: a lease of at least five years, a deposit of at most two months, and what else your lease arranges
- Registration in Andorra: the examination, your residence card, registration with the comú, the NRT, and no Dutch embassy
- School in Andorra: three free school systems, compulsory Andorran studies, and registering through the ministry
- Health care in Andorra: no CAK, the CASS for whoever works, your own policy for whoever does not, and one hospital
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Andorra: 42 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.