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Does owning a house in Sweden, France or Finland give you residency?
Short answer: no. Buying a house in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, France or Italy does not give you a right to live there. Whether you can stay depends on your citizenship and, for longer stays, on a visa or residence permit that has nothing to do with the house.
EU and EEA citizens
If you are a citizen of an EU or EEA country (or Switzerland), you can live in another EU/EEA country under free-movement rules. For stays longer than three months you usually need to be working, studying or self-employed, or have sufficient resources and health insurance, and you may need to register with the local authorities. Owning a house helps in practice, but it is not the legal basis.
Non-EU citizens: the 90/180-day rule
Citizens of many non-EU countries, including the UK and the US, can visit the Schengen area without a visa for short stays: up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The period is rolling. On any day you are in the Schengen area, count back 180 days; you may not have spent more than 90 of them in the Schengen area. The European Commission offers an official short-stay calculator.
Important: the 90 days are for the whole Schengen area together, not per country. Days in Sweden, France and Italy all count towards the same total. Norway, although not in the EU, is part of the Schengen area. Some EU countries are not, or not fully: check the current list before you travel.
What if I want to stay longer?
You need a long-stay visa or residence permit from the country concerned, for example for work, family, study, or, in some countries, for people with sufficient passive income or retirement income (France's long-stay visitor visa and Italy's elective residence visa are examples). Requirements change; check the immigration authority of the country concerned:
- Sweden: Migrationsverket
- Norway: UDI
- Finland: Migri
- Denmark: SIRI / New to Denmark
- France: France-Visas
- Italy: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal
Several countries have closed or restricted property-based "golden visa" routes in recent years. None of the countries we list houses in offers a residence permit for buying a house.
What this means for buying
- If you are a non-EU citizen, plan your house as a holiday home you can use for up to 90 days in 180, unless you get a residence permit.
- In Denmark, the right to buy itself is linked to residence: see the Denmark guide.
- In Norway, some houses come with a duty to live there (boplikt), which a non-resident cannot meet: see the Norway guide.
- Consider who looks after the house while you are away, especially in winter.
More in our guide to buying a house in Europe as a foreigner.