Retirement Visa Without a Pension: Which Routes Accept Savings in 2026?

Can you get a retirement visa without a pension?

Yes. A retirement visa without a pension is available on several routes that accept savings, a bank deposit or investment income. In the Mirabello Golden Retirement Index, the Philippines SRRV takes a refundable deposit, Mexico and the UAE accept savings as an alternative to income, and several Golden routes accept income other than a pension.

A golden retirement visa is a residence permit, not citizenship, with no investment required. A golden visa, by contrast, is residence granted for an investment, usually property, a fund or a government contribution. Savings fit the golden retirement standard provided the money stays yours: money locked in a local bank counts against a route, and above US$50,000 it cannot be Golden.

Which retirement visas accept savings or a deposit instead of income?

Four retirement routes accept capital instead of a monthly income: the Philippines SRRV, with a refundable deposit of US$30,000 at age 50 or over without a pension; Mexico's permanent residency, with an average savings balance; the UAE retirement permit, with an AED 1,000,000 deposit or property; and Panama's Rentista Retirado, with interest from a fixed-term deposit.

The Philippines SRRV is the most accessible deposit route: the Philippine Retirement Authority sets the deposit by age and pension, and the visa is permanent residence with multiple entry and no obligation to stay in the country.

Mexico accepts savings as a full alternative to its pension test, set at 45,850 days of the UMA reference unit in the 2025 visa guidelines published in the Diario Oficial. The route is Partial only because foreign pension and investment income are taxed once you are tax-resident in Mexico. Our guide to Mexico permanent residency requirements by consulate covers the documents.

The UAE offers capital as an alternative to its income test of AED 240,000 a year, and under Article 52 of Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022 property or a deposit alone is enough. The permit runs for five years, but it is void after more than 180 consecutive days outside the UAE, which keeps the route at Partial.

Panama's Rentista Retirado requires the B/. 850 to come exclusively from interest on a fixed-term deposit held for at least five years, according to the Servicio Nacional de Migración requirements sheet. Withdrawing the deposit loses the route's incentives.

When does a deposit stop a retirement visa from being Golden?

A deposit stops a retirement visa from being Golden when the money must stay locked in the country and exceeds US$50,000. Because the golden standard means no investment, the Mirabello Golden Retirement Index caps such a route at Partial: Panama's Rentista Retirado scores 77 out of 100 yet stays Partial, while the Philippines SRRV deposit sits below the line.

Panama's deposit must be large enough to yield B/. 850 a month at the bank's rate, which our scoring puts at about US$230,000. The SRRV deposits for applicants aged 50 or over, US$15,000 with a qualifying pension and US$30,000 without, sit well below the line. In Mexico and the UAE, capital is an alternative rather than a requirement, so the locked-capital line does not apply to them.

Two routes often discussed by retirees with capital, Malaysia's MM2H and Curaçao's pensioner route, are rated not golden, at 51.6 and 73.1, because the capital they require is linked to the permit, which a no-investment standard excludes.

Which retirement visas accept rent, dividends or interest instead of a pension?

Several Golden routes test income without requiring it to be a pension. Guatemala accepts a rentier's income on the same US$1,250 a month as a pension, Uruguay sets no fixed minimum for rentiers, Cyprus Category F lists dividends, fixed deposit interest and rents, and Thailand's LTR accepts pension and passive income of US$80,000 a year.

In Cyprus, Category F income must come from abroad, be secured and be at your full and free disposal, and the Migration Department lists fixed deposit interest among the accepted sources. Category F is a permit for third-country nationals; EU citizens rely on free movement instead. In Uruguay, the official procedure asks for a notarial certificate of your status, the type of income, the nominal monthly amount and how it reaches Uruguay, and sufficiency is assessed case by case.

Mauritius requires US$2,000 to reach a Mauritian bank within 60 days of issue, then the yearly or monthly transfers for the life of the permit, and failing to evidence the first transfer leads to cancellation. Thailand's LTR, under BOI Announcement Por. 3/2568, requires you to be 50 or over and retired. The Dominican Republic asks for a five-year income record and, at each annual renewal, proof that the income was received and spent in the country. Portugal's D7 also accepts passive income but scores 46.5 and is not golden: foreign income is taxed once you are tax-resident, and its presence rule is strict.

Which golden retirement visas still require a pension?

Three Golden routes still require a pension: Panama's Pensionado, which asks for a lifetime pension of at least B/. 1,000 a month; Bahrain's Golden Residency for retirees, which lists only a retirement pension as qualifying income; and Paraguay's pensioner route, which rests on a pension certificate. Savings alone will not open them.

If you hold both a pension and savings, they remain worth comparing: Panama's Pensionado scores 90, the highest of any route we rank, Bahrain asks a non-resident retiree for a pension of BHD 4,000 a month, and Paraguay leads to permanent residence at the first expiry. On the SRRV, a qualifying pension halves the deposit at 50 or over, from US$30,000 to US$15,000.

Does drawing down your savings count as retirement income?

Drawing down savings rarely counts as retirement income. Costa Rica's rules state that a bank deposit refunded to you in monthly instalments is not income for the rentista route, Thailand's Board of Investment excludes monthly withdrawals of principal unless they clearly come from retirement accounts, private pensions or provident funds, and Guatemala and Peru ask for permanent income.

If your wealth is capital rather than income, choose a route that takes capital directly, such as the SRRV deposit or Mexico's savings balance, or show the income your capital produces with the record each route asks for: two years of proof in Costa Rica, five in the Dominican Republic. Check before converting capital into an annuity: Costa Rica's texts do not settle whether a private pension or an annuity counts as a lifetime pension.

How is income from savings taxed on these routes?

Income from savings is taxed according to your tax residence, not your permit. Among these routes, Panama, Guatemala and Paraguay tax only local-source income, the UAE and Bahrain levy no personal income tax, Uruguay has taxed residents' foreign interest, dividends and gains at 12% since 1 January 2026, and Mexico taxes the worldwide income of its tax residents.

• Partly taxed. Uruguay leaves foreign social-security pensions untaxed but taxes foreign capital income, including rent, and foreign gains at 12%; new tax residents may opt for an alternative regime, on conditions, under Decreto 188/2026. Peru taxes a tax-domiciled person's foreign rent and bank interest at 8% to 30%. Cyprus exempts dividends from income tax, and non-domiciled residents pay no special defence contribution on them.
• Taxed when brought in. Mauritius taxes foreign income brought into the country, so the transfers its permit requires are taxable, while income left abroad is not. Thailand exempts qualifying foreign income that LTR holders bring in, but only on conditions.
• Worldwide. Mexico taxes its tax residents' foreign pension and investment income, and its tax-residence test turns on where your home is rather than on a count of days.

Your home country may still tax this income under its own law and its tax treaties; the United States, for example, taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live. Our guide to countries that don't tax foreign pensions covers the pension side. This is general information, not tax advice.

How do you choose between a deposit route and an income route?

Choosing between a deposit route and an income route comes down to five questions: how much capital you can lock away, your age, how long you will spend abroad, how often you are willing to renew, and who moves with you. The answers differ sharply, so a route that suits one retiree living on savings can be wrong for another.

• Capital. The SRRV deposit is refundable; Panama's must stay put for at least five years; a UAE deposit held abroad must, as a rule, move to the UAE within 60 days of issue.
• Age. The SRRV starts at 40 and Thailand's LTR at 50; the UAE asks for age 55 or 15 years of service; Mauritius applies age 50 in its guidelines.
• Time abroad. The SRRV sets no presence obligation; the UAE permit is void after more than 180 consecutive days away; Peru's residence is lost after more than 183 consecutive days away within 365 days unless authorised. Our guide to retirement residency without relocating compares presence rules.
• Renewals. The SRRV, Mexico, Uruguay, Guatemala, Cyprus Category F and Peru are permanent from grant; the UAE and Panama's Rentista Retirado renew every five years; the Dominican Republic every year.
• Family. The SRRV deposit covers two dependants; Guatemala adds US$300 a month, the Dominican Republic US$250 a month and Cyprus EUR 4,613 a year for each dependant.

Not sure whether your savings suit a deposit route or an income route? Book a free consultation and a Mirabello specialist will test your capital, income and travel plans against the official requirements. For a first check, Mira, by Mirabello, the AI advisor of Mirabello Immigration Intelligence, reads the same data.

What do some guides get wrong about retiring on savings?

Some guides overstate how freely savings can replace a pension. Five corrections matter in 2026: Costa Rica does not accept a deposit paid back in instalments, Uruguay sets no fixed income floor, Thailand's LTR does not count withdrawals of principal, the UAE needs a deposit or property rather than both, and the lowest SRRV deposits are not open to everyone.

• Costa Rica. The regulation defines a deposit paid back in monthly instalments as not being income, and the route has no savings or net-worth alternative to its income test.
• Uruguay. The official procedure sets no monetary floor, whatever minimum some guides quote.
• Thailand. Withdrawals of principal do not count towards the LTR's US$80,000, and its lower band of US$40,000 a year needs a Thai investment of at least US$250,000, which is an investment, not savings.
• UAE. Article 52 makes property and a deposit alternatives: one is enough.
• Philippines. The far lower deposits some guides quote belong to the SRRV Courtesy category, which is restricted to former Filipino citizens and specific groups such as retired diplomats.