Top 10 Most Welcoming Countries and Cities for Expats in 2026: Iceland, Luxembourg, Zurich

Iceland and Luxembourg have topped a new ranking of the world's most hospitable countries for expats in 2026, while Zurich has emerged as the friendliest city to move to. Find out which other countries and cities made the top 10 and how they were rated

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Where to move so that you don’t feel like a stranger in just a few months? This is the question that worries millions of people every year who decide to start a life abroad.

Insurance company William Russell, which specializes in policies for expats and remote workers, has just released its latest ranking of the most hospitable countries for expats in 2026 – and the top came out quite unexpectedly. Instead of large economies, compact, well-organized states are leading, where it is easier to find a job, get health insurance and feel like a part of society, rather than a temporary guest.

We will tell you about the most hospitable countries and cities for expats in 2026 below.

Step-by-step instructions on how to apply for a residence permit or citizenship in the chosen country can be found in the Immigration Guide from Visit World.

What exactly makes a country hospitable?

The authors of the study faced an obvious problem: hospitality is a subjective thing, it cannot be measured by a single number. So the team took six criteria at once – real-life expat experiences, the share of migrants in the population, the employment rate of foreigners, the attitude of locals towards visitors, safety and openness of the visa regime – and combined them into an overall score based on data from InterNations Expat Insider, the OECD, the World Bank, the Global Peace Index and Henley Global.

William Russell Director and co-owner William Cooper formulated the main idea of ​​the study simply: real hospitality begins not at the moment you get a visa, but six to twelve months after moving, when it becomes clear whether you managed to find a job, a doctor and at least a few people with whom you can have coffee on Saturday. According to him, one of the most common mistakes expats make is to think that the popularity of a destination automatically means easy adaptation.

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Top 10 most hospitable countries to move to in 2026

First place in the world and in Europe at the same time was taken by Iceland – 8.94 points out of 10. The employment rate of foreign citizens there reaches 84.2%, and to this are added transparent administrative procedures and a high level of social trust between people. Interestingly, the share of migrants in Iceland is relatively small (about 25%) – lower than in Luxembourg or Austria – but those who move there, apparently, integrate more effectively.

Luxembourg in second place demonstrates the opposite model of success: more than half of its residents came from abroad, so banking services, housing rental and even everyday communication there have long been designed for foreigners, and workplaces are often multilingual. The top 10 looks like this:

- Iceland – 8.94

- Luxembourg – 8.69

- New Zealand – 8.57

- Australia – 8.54

- Switzerland – 8.36

- Ireland – 7.89

- Colombia – 7.71

- Czech Republic – 7.62

- Portugal – 7.47

- Austria – 7.40

New Zealand’s third place is based on another indicator – more than four-fifths of migrants are employed there, and this is one of the highest results in the entire study. The main entry point for most newcomers is Auckland: the most developed infrastructure for expats in the country, although in the global ranking of happy cities it occupies a rather modest place – just under a hundred and a quarter of possible positions.

We previously talked about the countries in Europe where it is easiest to get a work visa and start a career abroad.

But Colombia is the most interesting exception in the entire list. It took seventh place, having only about 6% of the population migrants - that is, without a large established diaspora or developed support networks. This shows that a positive experience of moving does not always depend on how many foreigners already live in the country: sometimes a simple visa regime and a friendly attitude at the everyday level are enough.

The study also contains an opposite example of how easy entry does not guarantee anything. Turkey and South Korea have some of the highest scores in the world for the openness of the visa regime, but in the overall ranking they are closer to the bottom of the list - moving there is easy, but finding a job or feeling social recognition is much more difficult.

Read which country has become the safest according to the Global Peace Index here.

The most hospitable cities for foreigners to move to in 2026

​​For the city ranking, William Russell already relied on other sources – the Happy City Index and Numbeo, assessing the happiness of residents, safety and the level of social friction.

Zurich came first with a safety score of 76.7 and a surprisingly low social tension index. But the second place was shared by two cities, and one of them will surprise you: Tokyo. This seems paradoxical, because Japan itself ended up almost at the very bottom of the list in the overall country ranking – due to a small share of migrants and weaker national integration. But Tokyo, according to researchers, offers a completely different experience at the local level: a high safety score and less social friction than the national average.

- Zurich – 9.06

- Singapore – 8.97

- Tokyo – 8.97

- Copenhagen – 8.72

- Munich – 8.63

- Prague – 7.86

- Dubai – 7.61

- Warsaw – 7.52

- Seoul – 7.44

- Hong Kong – 7.26

It is also indicative what is not in the top: neither London, nor Paris, nor New York – all three cities ended up in the lower part of the rating, with a significantly higher than average level of social friction and weaker safety indicators. The authors of the study explain this by the effect of scale – in dense megacities it is more difficult for people to build a permanent circle of communication, it is easier to get lost in anonymity, and they have to wait longer for basic household services. Smaller cities, on the contrary, often win in hospitality despite their less famous reputation.

The happiest cities in the world in 2026 according to Time Out are here.

Practical tips for those planning to move in 2026

The ranking shows well where to look first, but the move itself consists of dozens of practical steps. Here's what you should pay attention to in advance:

- Take out health insurance before you leave - so that the policy is valid from day one and meets the requirements of the chosen visa or residence permit.

- Set aside a financial buffer for 3-6 months in advance, especially if the job in the new place has not yet been confirmed.

- Find out in advance whether your qualifications are recognized in the new country and how open the local labor market is to foreigners.

- If you are moving with children - research local schools in advance: international or state, admission requirements, queues and tuition fees vary significantly from country to country.

- Check the availability and cost of daycare and childcare if both parents plan to work.

- Find out what protection is provided in case of loss of income or savings during the transition period.

- Understand in advance how basic local procedures are arranged - registering with the health system, opening a bank account - so as not to waste time on this immediately after arrival.

You can learn more about the cheapest countries for expats to live in 2026 by clicking on the link.

Why did there become more relocations in 2026?

2026 generally looks like a year of active relocation.

According to estimates by LiveCareer UK, in the last year alone, about 165 thousand British professionals moved abroad to work remotely - mostly due to the ongoing crisis in the cost of living at home.

Americans are moving in the same direction: approximately 180 thousand US citizens left and settled abroad during 2025, which even affected the overall migration balance of the country.

Against this background, the William Russell rating is read not as an abstract curiosity, but as a practical guide for those who are already thinking about moving - where to look first, and where it is better to prepare in advance for a longer and more difficult adaptation. And judging by the William Russell rating, the most hospitable countries are not always those where it is easiest to move, but those where you can really arrange your life: find a job, rent a house and get health insurance without unnecessary stress. It is at this stage - after arrival, and not before it - that most expats have the greatest difficulties.

In the previous article, we told how much it costs to live in the best EU countries in 2026.

The Immigration Guide from Visit World fills this gap: it describes the procedure for obtaining a temporary or permanent residence permit, and in the future, citizenship, in the format of step-by-step instructions for a specific country. You will receive not only a list of documents, but also practical life hacks for the first months in a new place, information about the authority that issues permits, and the terms of consideration of the application. Regardless of whether you choose Iceland, Luxembourg or any other country from the list - the guide will help you prepare for moving systematically, and not at the last moment.

Order your Immigration Guide from Visit World and receive a complete instruction in PDF format by mail.

Reminder! New economic indicators show which countries were able to increase GDP, and which lost positions due to inflation and slowing growth. Ranking of the richest countries in the world 2026 - at the link.

Photo – generated by Gemini

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Travel guide for 200 countries;

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