Getting Paid to Relocate

Ireland will help fund the renovation of vacant or derelict homes on its 30 remote offshore islands. Derelict properties qualify for up to €84,000; vacant-but-livable homes up to €60,000. You need to already own (or be buying) a qualifying property built before 2007 that's been vacant 2+ years.

Dozens of Italian towns — concentrated in Sicily, Abruzzo, and Puglia — sell abandoned homes for a symbolic €1 to buyers who commit to renovating within a set timeframe (often 3 years) and post a refundable good-faith deposit. Sambuca, Mussomeli, Gangi, and Santo Stefano di Sessanio are among the most active.

The Extremadura region pays remote workers to relocate: €8,000 (or €10,000 for women and applicants under 30) for settling in a town under 5,000 residents, with an optional third-year top-up. You'll need proof of remote income and, for non-EU citizens, Spain's Digital Nomad Visa.

This IEFP program pays people — including, since its 2024 expansion, foreign citizens and remote workers — to relocate permanently to Portugal's rural interior (Lisbon and Porto don't qualify). Base support is about €2,633, plus a 20% bump per family member and moving-cost coverage. Runs through Dec 31, 2026.

Expanded in January 2026, this program pays individuals and households €10,000 to permanently relocate to specific depopulating regions in northern Greece — Drama, Florina, Kilkis, Serres, Pella, and Kastoria. (Widely-shared stories about the island of Antikythera paying families to move have been formally denied by local authorities as of 2026 — there's no active application process for that one.)