Moving to Monaco: residence permit, visa D, citizenship

Monaco is a state in its own right, neither France nor a member of the EU, so the French titre de séjour, ANEF, OFII and CPAM do not apply here, and we don’t carry them over. We at Vibe South of France are not lawyers. Everything below comes from the Monaco government portals (MonServicePublic, MonEntreprise), the social security funds’ website, the Journal de Monaco and the IMSEE statistics office, and each point names its source; we read the pages on 25 October 2026. You can talk through your own case in the “Vibe South of France” community chat on Telegram - Monaco, Nice, Menton and the whole South of France, where there are 700+ members. The page answers the question without the chat.

How to move to Monaco: the steps in brief

Do you need a visa for Monaco?

Monaco has no visa of its own, and the principality is not part of Schengen. The Embassy of Monaco (a page on the gouv.mc domain) puts it this way: nationals of countries outside the EEA need a Schengen visa for the country through which they enter Europe, and after that “a visit to the Principality can be made with no additional formalities”. If your country does need a Schengen visa, in practice that country is most often France: the nearest big airport is in Nice.

A visit and a move are two different things. A Schengen visa is not enough to live there, and the portal says so plainly: “You must have a visa in order to apply for a residence permit”. Nationals of countries outside the EEA need a long-stay visa, type D, and they apply for it at the French consulate nearest to their last place of residence. If you have already lived in France for more than a year, no visa is required: your residency is transferred (transfer of residency) through the French Embassy in Monaco.

The Monaco portal does not single out citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Belarus: there is one rule for everyone “outside the EEA”. We have not opened official sources on how to apply for a visa D in your particular country, how long it takes or what it costs, so we give no timescales or fees. The general rules for French visas are on our page France visa, but the Monaco case is not covered there.

How to get a Monaco residence permit: three conditions

A Monaco residence card takes three things: housing for everyone who will live with you, sufficient funds and a good character (a criminal record certificate), as MonServicePublic sets out (“How to apply for a residence permit”, page updated 25 September 2026). Each condition is proved in its own way:

On top of that you need a passport with the visa, a birth certificate no more than three months old and a signed declaration on honour. Documents that are not in French, English or Italian must be translated by a sworn translator; teleservice specifies a translator attached to the Court of Appeal of Monaco or of France.

How to apply and how long it takes

1. The application: online at teleservice.gouv.mc (files up to 5 MB, PDF or JPG) or on paper at the Section des Résidents, 9 rue Suffren-Reymond, Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00.
2. An interview in person; bring the originals.
3. A second visit to collect the card. It is handed over only to the holder, in person, at the police.

The portal does not say how long you wait. The law firm CMS (publication of 10 May 2024) estimates that a first card arrives after about six months on average, and that is practice, not a rule. If you leave Monaco, you hand the card back.

Types of card and what they cost

The portal calls the cards temporaire, ordinaire and privilégiée. Once you have applied, you may be given a temporary card for a year, “with no particular length-of-residency requirement”, that is, with no minimum period of residence. The portal’s monservicepublic.gouv.mc page “La carte de séjour” gives these periods: temporaire - 1 year, with no residence requirement; ordinaire - 3 years, after 3 years of living in Monaco; privilégiée - 10 years, after 10 years (in special cases the requirement is cut to a year); the spouse of a Monegasque national gets a 5-year card after a year of residence. The press (Monaco Tribune, 2026) describes the levels in other words; we stick to the portal’s names.

The fees follow Ministerial Decree 2020-814 (the renewal page was updated on 30 September 2026), and the price of the first card comes from the application page. One useful detail: with a residence card, a national of a country outside the EEA holding a valid passport travels around Schengen without a short-stay visa C. The card also lets you, if you wish, switch on a digital identity with an electronic signature for the principality’s online services (MonServicePublic, “La Carte de séjour”, updated 28 October 2024).

How long you need to live in Monaco

The card is for people who live in Monaco more than three months a year or settle there. How many months you have to spend in the principality for the card to be renewed, we did not find on the official pages. What we did find is that different papers have different thresholds, and they are easy to mix up.

According to the same CMS, a residence card on its own does not prove tax residence abroad.

How much money you need in the bank, and opening a bank account

The portal gives no official sum for a Monaco residence card: you need a reference from a Monaco bank, and the bank issuing it decides what is enough (“depends on the banking establishment in Monaco providing the reference”). The figure of “from €500,000” comes from the press (Monaco Tribune, 21 January 2026, citing a TV Monaco report). Employees usually don’t need a bank reference: instead they submit a document from the employment service, that is a promise of employment, a hiring application or a work permit with a payslip.

We found no official rules for opening an account, neither general ones nor for citizens of particular countries; there is only the press. Monaco Tribune (14 October 2025) writes that there are no legal restrictions on opening an account and each bank sets its own conditions, while retail banks usually ask for no minimum deposit. They ask for an identity document, proof of address no more than three months old and, for people moving there, proof of an application for the card. The bank may ask for a list of assets, a tax return and the origin of the funds, and the review takes from a week to one or two months.

That makes a closed loop: the card needs a bank reference, and the account needs a card application. As we read it, you break the loop by doing both at once: apply for the card and choose a bank. That is our inference, not a rule, so ask the bank which proof of application it will accept.

Working in Monaco as an employee

If you are hired in Monaco, the work permit (permis de travail) is requested by the employer. According to the MonEntreprise portal, the order is this: the employer files the vacancy with the Service de l’Emploi, within 4 full days the service sends candidates with priority, and each of them needs a reasoned answer. If none is chosen, the employer puts forward their own candidate and files the hiring application (DAE). The employee receives the permis de travail and registration numbers with the CCSS (health insurance) and CAR (pension) funds. The residence card itself gives no right to work: “Aucun étranger ne peut occuper un emploi privé à Monaco s’il n’est titulaire d’un permis de travail” (Law No. 629, Article 1, Légimonaco), and if you change employer or occupation, the permit has to be requested again.

The order of priority in hiring is set by Law No. 629 on hiring (Article 5, Légimonaco), and the MonEntreprise portal gives the same list:

1. Monegasques;
2. spouses of Monegasques and their children, whether natural or adopted;
3. partners of Monegasques under a cohabitation agreement (contrat de vie commune);
4. parents of a Monegasque child;
5. Monaco residents;
6. residents of the neighbouring communes of Cap-d’Ail, La Turbie, Beausoleil and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin who have already worked in Monaco.

As the law firm CMS summarises it (16 July 2026), a non-EEA candidate who lives neither in Monaco nor in France needs a previous working relationship with that employer. The Service de l’Emploi sees people by appointment only.

81.5% of Monaco’s private-sector employees live in France (IMSEE, end of 2025).

IMSEE, Employment Observatory 2025.

Working in Monaco and living in Monaco are not the same thing. 7,317 employees worked remotely, and they are required to live in Monaco, France or, since June 2024, Italy. The “live in France, work in Monaco” arrangement needs French papers of its own, and we don’t cover it on this page.

Healthcare in Monaco: CCSS, CAMTI and CHPG

Health insurance in Monaco is arranged through the social security funds (Caisses Sociales de Monaco), not the French CPAM: employees are insured by the CCSS, the self-employed by the CAMTI. An employee’s rights open after 120 hours of work in a calendar month or 200 hours in a quarter: “de 120 heures de travail ou assimilées au cours du mois civil ou des trente jours précédents”, that is, in the calendar month or the previous 30 days.

An employee’s family is covered too, but on a residence condition. A husband or wife must “habituellement résider en Principauté ou dans les Alpes-Maritimes” (usually live in the principality or in the Alpes-Maritimes) and have no job and no rights of their own. Children are covered up to 21, or up to 26 while studying at a school in the principality, if the head of the family lives in Monaco; the children must also live in Monaco or the Alpes-Maritimes. So a family can live in Menton, for example, and keep Monaco insurance.

Reimbursement is 80%, or 100% with an exemption from the co-payment (ticket modérateur). It is calculated on a tariff (the fund’s own, an authorised one or the French one, depending on the doctor and where you are treated), not on what the doctor charged, and a doctor without an agreement with the fund has no obligations on fees. You show your insurance card to the doctor, the dentist and at the pharmacy, and there is also a digital card in your online account. The fund receives visitors at 11 rue Louis Notari, Mon-Fri 8:30-12:00 and 13:30-17:00.

According to search results (we did not open the hospital’s website), the CHPG is the principality’s only public hospital, with adult and children’s emergency departments, and it has a page of 2026 tariffs for people without social insurance or with private insurance. We have not seen the prices themselves. The funds’ website has no section for a resident who does not work: its sections are for employees, the self-employed, the unemployed, pensioners and people with disabilities. We found no official text on how a person living on private income, or a pensioner with a foreign pension, is insured.

School in Monaco: enrolment and deadlines

Schooling is compulsory from 6 to 16 for Monegasques and for children who live in Monaco (Law No. 1.334 of 12 July 2007). The state school is set by your district: “the school your child will attend depends on the geographical area in which you live”. If you want a different school, a request for an exemption goes to the DENJS by 1 May, and while you wait for the answer the child is enrolled at the school for your district.

Enrolment in primary school for the 2026-2027 school year ran from 5 January to 13 March 2026, online through MonGuichet.mc or on paper. The documents: the form, a birth certificate, the vaccination record, a photo, school reports and a certificate of leaving the previous school. A resident needs a valid carte de séjour, and if it is more than six months old, a certificat de résidence. According to Monaco Tribune (6 January 2026), the Collège Charles III took applications from 1 May to 19 June, and the lycées from 12 January to 19 June. We have not yet seen dates for 2027-2028; take this year’s round, January to March, as a guide.

Whether the state school is free, the official page does not say outright, so neither do we. There is an international school, ISM, teaching the IB programme and independent of the government: according to search results, it has more than 850 pupils aged 3 to 18. We found no Russian schools in Monaco.

Driving licence: 185 days and one year to exchange

Only official residents who live in Monaco at least 185 days a year can exchange a licence. The status is granted on the 186th day: “Official resident status is granted on the 186th day after a user’s arrival in the Principality”. From that moment you have a year. Miss it, and the foreign licence stops being valid: you then need to enrol at a Monaco driving school, take at least 3 hours of lessons and pass a driving skills check; you don’t sit the theory test or the full exam again. A licence that Monaco does not recognise cannot be exchanged: with one of those you take the theory and practical tests through a driving school.

For the exchange you need the original licence, a certificate from the issuing country that the licence has not been withdrawn or suspended (no more than three months old), your residence permit and a photo. A licence issued outside the EU is translated into French by a sworn translator, and a medical certificate is needed only after 70 and for some categories. There is a fee, but the page gives no amount.

How to get Monaco citizenship: 10 years’ residence, 10 or 20 years through marriage

Monaco grants citizenship by naturalisation after 10 years of ordinary residence in the principality, counted from the age of 18 (“has been ordinarily resident in Monaco for at least ten years after reaching the age of eighteen”, MonServicePublic, page updated 30 April 2026). The decision is at the Prince’s discretion, and the Prince can make an exception to the period. What counts is your ties to the Monegasque community and your integration into the life of the principality. The ordinance is signed only once the applicant has given up their previous citizenship and been released from military obligations in their country of origin; their children under 18 receive citizenship as well.

Can you get Monaco citizenship through marriage?

Citizenship through marriage is granted by declaration. Law No. 1.512 of 3 December 2021 replaced the word “dix” (ten) with “vingt” (twenty) in Law No. 1.155: marriages contracted on or after 1 July 2022 need 20 years of marriage, and for earlier ones the period stays at 10 years. The couple must live together, and the Monegasque spouse must keep their citizenship. Retellings sometimes claim “it used to be 5 years”, but by the text of the law the previous period was 10.

The official page offers no route “by investment”, though we found no direct official sentence saying “there is no such route”: this is our reading of the law. Being born in Monaco gives nothing either, except for a child of unknown parents. Nor does a residence card shorten the road to a passport: the 10 years are counted from residence.

The 2024 figures are from Monaco Tribune (7 March 2025); we have not opened an official table.

For Ukrainians: temporary protection in Monaco

The Monaco government introduced a temporary protection scheme. The conditions on the official page: Ukrainian citizenship, residence in Ukraine before 24 February 2022, proven family or friendship ties with a Monaco resident, and accommodation in the principality. You register with the Directorate of Public Security by email at dsp-ukraine@gouv.mc; the residency office’s phone number is +377 93 15 30 15. This protection does not confer refugee status under the 1951 Convention, and the page refers people who do not qualify to the emergency guide of the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture.

The page was updated on 5 March 2023. Whether the scheme still applies in 2026 we have not confirmed, as we found no newer official page, so write to that address before you travel. Ukrainian international passports for people living in Monaco are handled by the consular section in Paris and the consulate general in Lyon; the details are on our page Ukrainians in France.

Is there income tax in Monaco?

Monaco has no income tax for Monegasques or for residents; French nationals pay it in France, under the 1963 Franco-Monegasque convention (MonServicePublic, 27 August 2026). The exemption applies to people who genuinely live and work in the principality, and it does not cancel other countries’ tax rules. “There is no wealth tax, annual property tax or council tax”. Monaco’s list of agreements contains no double taxation treaties with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Belarus.

Where to go: Monaco’s offices

We checked the addresses, hours and phone numbers against the official pages on 25 October 2026; check them again before you go. The Service de l’Emploi does not see anyone without an appointment.

• Section des Résidents (residence card, carte de séjour)9 rue Suffren-Reymond, Monaco · Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00 · tel. +377 93 15 30 15

  This is where you hand in a paper application for the card (or apply online at teleservice.gouv.mc), and where you come for the interview with your originals. The office is part of the Directorate of Public Security (Direction de la Sûreté Publique).

  Official site - Section des Résidents (residence card, carte de séjour) →

• Service de l'Emploi (employment service)17 rue Princesse Florestine, Monaco · Mon-Fri by appointment only · tel. +377 98 98 88 14 · emploi@gouv.mc

  The employer files the vacancy and the hiring application here; the employee gets the work permit (permis de travail) and registration numbers with the CCSS and CAR funds. No visits without an appointment.

  Official site - Service de l'Emploi (employment service) →

• Caisses Sociales de Monaco (CCSS, CAMTI, CAR)11 rue Louis Notari, Monaco · Mon-Fri 8:30-12:00 and 13:30-17:00 · tel. +377 93 15 43 43

  Health insurance: employees are covered by the CCSS, the self-employed by the CAMTI. Reimbursement is 80% of the fund’s tariff, or 100% with an exemption from the co-payment.

  Official site - Caisses Sociales de Monaco (CCSS, CAMTI, CAR) →

• Direction des Services Fiscaux (tax department)Le Panorama, 57 rue Grimaldi, Monaco · Mon-Fri 9:30-17:00 · tel. +377 98 98 81 21

  Monaco levies no income tax on Monegasques or on residents; French nationals pay it in France (1963 convention). From 2 July 2026 the Division des Droits de Régie receives visitors at a different address: Terrasses de Fontvieille, 24/26 rue du Gabian.

  Official site - Direction des Services Fiscaux (tax department) →

The embassies and consulates responsible for Monaco are listed in our guide to Monaco.

What we didn’t find

So that you don’t look for something here that isn’t here:

• the procedure, timescales and fees for a visa D by country (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus);
• an official threshold for funds: the bank sets it;
• how a resident who does not work is insured, and the CHPG’s prices;
• official confirmation that state school is free;
• how to get a criminal record certificate in Monaco itself, and how to register a car;
• the rules for seasonal workers, domestic staff and yacht crews;
• whether the protection for Ukrainians still applies in 2026;
• official rent statistics: the IMSEE housing report has none.

Our chat and Monaco

Vibe South of France is a Russian-speaking community on Telegram with 700+ members: Monaco, Nice, Menton and the whole South of France. We have little data of our own on moving to Monaco yet, and we say so plainly. Monaco has come up in 13 chat messages since May 2025, none of them a practical question, and we have not held a meet-up in Monaco, or anywhere on the Côte d’Azur for that matter. How many members live in Monaco itself we haven’t counted.

On the other hand, almost half of the people who work in the principality live in Nice, Menton and Beausoleil (27%, 12.4% and 9.7% according to IMSEE, 2025), and there we are easier to find. In the chat you can ask who has already been through the interview at the Section des Résidents, which bank accepted proof of an application and how long the card really took. Tell us you’re in Monaco or planning to go, and our people will find you.

“Vibe South of France” community chat on Telegram - Monaco, Nice, Menton and the whole South of France

See also

• Russians in Monaco: a guide for our people
• Monaco taxes 2026
• Monaco salary and jobs 2026
• Monaco healthcare, schools and housing: CCSS, CHPG, school enrolment
• Nice: a guide for our people
• Menton: a guide for our people
• Côte d’Azur
• Moving to the South of France: documents step by step
• France visa
• Ukrainians in France