How to Get Residency in Monaco: Requirements, Costs, and Taxes

To get residency in Monaco, you need to show you can support yourself financially, secure a place to live in the principality, pass a background check, and, if you hold a passport from outside the European Economic Area, obtain a long-stay visa from a French consulate before you apply. Monaco sets no statutory wealth minimum, but banks in practice will not issue the required financial attestation without a deposit of at least €500,000. The permit itself costs €80, and the full process takes roughly six to ten months.

Who Needs a Permit and the Visa Step

Anyone 16 or older who plans to live in Monaco for more than three months in a calendar year must hold a residence permit.¹ Children under 16 don’t get a permit; they receive a travel document linked to a parent’s permit.²

If your passport is from outside the EEA, you cannot start in Monaco. You must first apply for a long-stay visa at a French consulate in your country of residence, because Monaco relies on French diplomatic offices for visa processing. Minors need this visa as well.³

Proving You Can Afford to Live There

Monaco’s statutes name no specific figure. In 2017, the Monégasque Association of Financial Activities (AMAF) set a common guideline: banks expect a minimum deposit of €500,000 from applicants without professional income in the principality. Some private banks set their own floor at €1,000,000 or higher. Once the account is open and funded, the bank issues a financial attestation letter that you include with your application.

There are two alternatives to the large deposit. An employment contract with a Monaco-based employer can serve as proof of means. Self-employment can also work, but any independent professional activity in Monaco requires prior government authorization before you begin operating.¹

Securing Accommodation You Can Prove

You must show you have a home in Monaco sized appropriately for everyone who will live there. Three forms of proof are accepted:¹

A property deed showing you own a Monaco house or apartment, or hold a company that owns one.
A lease of at least 12 months, registered with Monaco’s Department of Tax Services.
A signed certificate of free accommodation from a close relative, spouse, or partner you live with, plus their deed or lease.

Budget realistically. Monthly rents typically run €75 to €190 per square meter, so a modest one-bedroom apartment usually costs €5,000 to €10,000 a month.

Health Insurance and Criminal Records

Comprehensive health insurance covering you in Monaco is mandatory. A private international policy works; so does the principality’s public social security scheme once you’re employed there.

You also need a clean criminal record certificate from every country where you have lived during the past five years, and each certificate must be less than three months old when you file.⁴ All documents must be submitted in French, so plan on apostilling and having sworn translations done before you arrive. Informal translations get rejected.

Assembling the Application File

Alongside the financial attestation, accommodation proof, health insurance, and criminal records, you’ll need:

A current passport for every applicant, including dependents.
The long-stay visa from a French consulate, for non-EEA nationals.³
Civil status documents: birth certificates, marriage or divorce certificates where applicable.
The electricity contract for the Monaco property where you will live.
The completed residency application forms from the Residency Section.
A signed Attestation sur l’Honneur, a sworn declaration confirming your information is accurate.

Submitting the Application

The complete file goes to the Residency Section of the Police Department’s Administrative Police Division at 9 rue Suffren-Reymond in Monaco. You can hand-deliver it or send it by post.¹ Filing in person is worth the trip; staff can flag anything missing on the spot instead of returning the file weeks later.

Once your file is accepted as complete, you’ll get an electronic notification to schedule a personal interview. Officials review the documents, ask about your professional background and family situation, and assess your genuine intention to live in Monaco. After the interview, authorities run security and financial background checks, including verifying the origin of your funds.

Processing times aren’t posted, but EU and EEA applicants generally wait around six to seven months from start to finish, while non-EEA applicants should expect eight to ten. Once approved, you pay the €80 issuance fee and receive your first residence card.¹

What You Actually Get, and Keeping It

Monaco issues three tiers of card. Your first is the Carte de Résident Temporaire, valid one year and renewed annually. After three years of continuous residence, you become eligible for the Carte de Résident Ordinaire, valid for three years. After ten years of genuine, continuous residence, the Carte de Privilège becomes available; it runs for ten years and, in exceptional circumstances, the ten-year requirement can be reduced to as little as one.⁵ Progression is not automatic; at each renewal you have to show you still live in Monaco and remain financially stable.

Living there is taken seriously. Authorities expect at least 183 days per year of physical presence and verify it, including through utility consumption checks on electricity and water. At renewal, you’ll provide an updated electricity bill, your latest rent receipt if you’re a tenant, and continued proof of financial means.⁶ Hosted residents need a Certificate of Accommodation issued by the Monaco Police Department, signed by the host and accompanied by a copy of the host’s identity document. Start renewal before your card expires; an expired permit complicates reapplication significantly.

Two Tax Traps to Understand Before You Move

Monaco levies no personal income tax on residents who genuinely live and conduct their activities in the principality.⁷ Two exceptions matter enough to plan around.

French nationals do not benefit. Under the 1963 bilateral convention between France and Monaco, French citizens who become Monaco residents remain subject to French income tax as though they still lived in France.⁷

American citizens still owe U.S. tax on worldwide income regardless of where they live. You’ll continue filing U.S. returns and reporting global income. The foreign earned income exclusion shelters up to $132,900 of earned income for tax year 2026, but investment income, capital gains, and earnings above the threshold remain fully taxable. FBAR reporting kicks in when your foreign accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any point in the year, and FATCA applies to specified foreign financial assets above higher thresholds.⁸ With the €500,000 Monaco deposit, both obligations trigger from day one.

Bringing a Spouse and Children

A spouse or partner can apply with you or join later. The process mirrors yours: separate application, accommodation proof, civil status documents, and criminal record certificate. If the spouse lacks independent means, you supply your own bank attestation and show the shared home is large enough for the household.

Children under 16 don’t apply for a permit. A parent instead requests a travel document by emailing the Residency Section at resident@gouv.mc or applying by post, submitting the child’s birth certificate, identity document, the parent’s residence permit, a school attendance certificate, and the household’s most recent energy bill.² The travel document is free and valid up to five years. When the child turns 16, they apply for their own permit through the standard process.

Non-EEA family members each need their own French long-stay visa before entering Monaco, minors included.³

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MonServicePublic. How to Apply for a Residence Permit
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MonServicePublic. How to Obtain a Travel Document for a Resident Under 16
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Principality of Monaco Government. Settling in Monaco
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Principality of Monaco Government. Settling in Monaco
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MonServicePublic. The Residence Permit
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MonServicePublic. How to Renew Your Residence Permit
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MonServicePublic. Tax in Monaco
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IRS. U.S. Citizens and Residents Abroad Filing Requirements