- Rules and costs of moving abroad for 72 countries and 78 cities, collected in September and October 2026: permits, remote work, naturalization and conscription; tax, health insurance, rent and inflation; international schools and school-leaving certificates; climate and the tech scene.
- Every fact comes with its condition: which permit, which status, how many years of residence. A fee quoted without its condition is wrong for most readers.
- A source and a confidence mark per row where I could record them: 19 of 25 files carry a source or URL column, 12 of 25 the
confidencecolumn.verifiedmeans a primary source plus a second one,partialmeans one source or some fields from secondary sources,estimatemeans inferred. Treat estimates as leads to check. - Open under CC BY 4.0, as CSV. The two largest tables are 505 insurance quotes and 380 UK entry requirements (5 universities for each of 76 certificate systems); the school tables cover 150 international schools in 12 cities, the event table 130 cities with 588 IT events.
What is in here
One section per dataset below, with its files and the line to cite it.
| Dataset | One row is | Files |
|---|---|---|
| Permits and work | ||
| Remote work legality by country | a country | 1 |
| Naturalization rules and passport strength | a country | 2 |
| Conscription and naturalized citizens | a country | 1 |
| Money | ||
| Legal cost of earning abroad: digital nomad or local business | a country and income mode | 2 |
| Health insurance for expats | a country | 2 |
| Renting as a foreigner | a city | 1 |
| Inflation and exchange rates, 2022 to 2025 | a country | 1 |
| Schools | ||
| International schools: Cambridge and IB fees by stage | a school | 5 |
| School-leaving certificates: recognition, retakes and UK top-5 entry | a certificate system | 5 |
| City life | ||
| City climate, air, seismic risk and connectivity | a city | 3 |
| IT events and meetups | a country | 2 |
Table 1. The datasets on this page, by theme.
Remote work legality by country
Can a foreigner with a residence permit legally work remotely for a foreign employer or foreign clients? For each of 72 countries: the permit used, what the law says, whether local clients are allowed, whether registration is needed, the risk for the employer and the penalties. Every verdict of no rests on an official page or a norm; where I found no official answer, the field says unknown.
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Remote Work Legality by Country (72 countries, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#remote-work-legality-2026
Naturalization rules and passport strength
Years to permanent residence and to citizenship, whether time on each permit type counts toward naturalization, physical-presence and language rules, dual citizenship, fast tracks, and how minor children are included. A second table measures passport strength: the number of visa-free destinations, the rank in the Henley Passport Index, and access to the Schengen area, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, the UAE and Turkey.
citizenship.csv: 72 rows, one row is a country.
passport.csv: 72 rows, one row is a passport.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Naturalization Rules and Passport Strength (72 countries, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#citizenship-and-passport-strength-2026
Conscription and naturalized citizens
Whether the country has conscription, at what ages and for how long, whether it applies to women, to naturalized citizens and to citizens living abroad, and whether service can be bought out or replaced.
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Conscription Rules and Naturalized Citizens (72 countries, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#conscription-rules-2026
Legal cost of earning abroad: digital nomad or local business
The yearly legal cost of earning money abroad for a self-employed person with foreign clients, in 17 countries: tax, mandatory contributions and health insurance. Two modes are compared. A digital nomad has no local business. A local business is a sole proprietorship or company registered in the country. For each mode: the permit it relies on, income thresholds, renewal, whether the time counts toward permanent residence, and the effective tax rate. A second table gives personal income tax basics for 72 countries.
income_modes.csv: 34 rows, one row is a country and income mode.
taxes.csv: 72 rows, one row is a country.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Legal Cost of Living Abroad: Digital Nomad vs Local Business (17 countries, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#legal-cost-nomad-vs-local-business-2026
Health insurance for expats
Whether a residence permit requires health insurance, what the policy must cover, when foreigners can join the public system and at what cost, and what cover costs at four levels: the minimum a visa accepts, a typical private plan, a premium plan whose network includes the best private hospitals of the city, and the public system. Prices are yearly, in USD, for a sample household of one adult and two children under 18. The four levels are filled for 17 of the 72 countries. 505 quotes for 46 countries, one per person and plan, carry the insurer, age band, price and URL.
insurance.csv: 72 rows, one row is a country.
insurance_quotes.csv: 505 rows, one row is a quote.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Health Insurance for Expats: requirements, public access and prices (72 countries, 505 quotes, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#expat-health-insurance-2026
Renting as a foreigner
For 78 cities: the deposit and the total paid upfront in months of rent, agent fees, the income and documents a landlord asks for, how hard it is to rent without local payslips, how tight the market is and how long a search takes, rent control and the minimum lease, and rent growth from 2022 to 2025 in local currency and in US dollars. Prices from Numbeo, a crowd-sourced cost-of-living database, are excluded under its licence.
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Renting as a Foreigner: deposits, upfront cost, barriers and rent growth (78 cities, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#rent-market-entry-2026
Inflation and exchange rates, 2022 to 2025
For 72 countries: consumer price inflation from 2022 to 2025, the cumulative three-year figure, the latest monthly figure, the exchange-rate regime, and the change of the local currency against the US dollar with its effect on the cost of living measured in dollars.
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). Inflation and Exchange Rates 2022–2025 (72 countries) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#inflation-and-fx-2022-2025
International schools: Cambridge and IB fees by stage
For 150 schools in 12 cities: yearly tuition per child at ages 11 and 15, one-time fees and extras, curriculum (Cambridge, the International Baccalaureate (IB) or other), the stages each school covers, the language of instruction, accreditations and a quality tier. The two fee tables list all 150 schools; intl_schools.csv describes 128 of them with the curriculum group, the language of instruction and the accreditations, 22 tier-2 schools appear only in the fee tables, and one more school only in intl_schools.csv. The list of schools comes from the official Cambridge and IB school finders; the Cambridge finder listing is published here as one more table.
school_fees_by_stage.csv: 150 rows, one row is a school.
school_stages.csv: 150 rows, one row is a school.
intl_schools.csv: 129 rows, one row is a school.
intl_schools_by_city.csv: 12 rows, one row is a city.
cambridge_finder_centres.csv: 138 rows, one row is a Cambridge centre.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). International Schools: Cambridge and IB fees by stage (12 cities, 150 schools, 2026/27) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#international-schools-fees-2026
School-leaving certificates: recognition, retakes and UK top-5 entry
For 72 countries and 4 reference systems such as the UK A Level and the IB Diploma: how easily the certificate opens a bachelor’s degree in the UK, the US and Germany; whether failed exams can be retaken and external candidates admitted; and the entry requirements of Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, LSE and UCL for each system, with URLs. Companion tables: the language of schooling and PISA 2025 scores by country.
diploma_recognition.csv: 76 rows, one row is a certificate system.
final_exam_retakes.csv: 76 rows, one row is a certificate system.
uk_top5_requirements.csv: 380 rows, one row is a system and university.
school_quality.csv: 72 rows, one row is a country.
local_language.csv: 72 rows, one row is a country.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). School-Leaving Certificates: recognition, retakes and UK top-5 entry requirements (76 systems, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#school-leaving-certificates-2026
City climate, air, seismic risk and connectivity
For 78 cities: winter and summer temperatures, hours of sunshine, rain days, the distance to the sea and its temperature in August; fine-particle air pollution (PM2.5) and the smog season; the seismic hazard class; walking and cycling infrastructure and green space; non-stop destinations from the airport, offices of 14 tracked big-tech companies, and the level of English measured by the EF English Proficiency Index.
climate.csv: 78 rows, one row is a city.
env.csv: 78 rows, one row is a city.
city_gravity.csv: 78 rows, one row is a city.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). City Climate, Air, Seismic Risk and Connectivity (78 cities, 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#city-climate-environment-2026
IT events and meetups
For 130 cities and 72 countries, snapshot of October 2026: the number of tech, marketing and product events at three levels (flagship, regional, local), active meetup groups, the language of events, the nearest flagship conference, and a score of the local scene from 0 to 1. 588 events in total: 341 with a level (149 flagship, 105 regional, 87 local) and 247 without; 522 of the 588 pass the relevance rule of the dataset.
events.csv: 72 rows, one row is a country.
events_cities.csv: 130 rows, one row is a city.
Also on Kaggle · Hugging Face
Cite this dataset: Atamanova, M. (2026). IT Events, Conferences and Meetups (130 cities, 588 events, snapshot October 2026) [Data set]. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/#it-events-and-meetups-2026
How it was built
I collected every table with AI research sessions (Claude) from official sources: laws, ministries, migration authorities, insurers, schools and universities. Where no official page exists, I used secondary sources and marked the row partial. A second pass and my own review checked the result.
The list of countries was built for one relocation decision. It leans towards destinations popular with remote workers and families. I researched 17 of the 72 countries in the most depth.
A row I could only infer is marked estimate. To check a row, open its source URL; 15 of 25 files carry a checked_at or collected_at date to compare with the source, the other files date from the snapshot window, September and October 2026. The practical rule: decide on rows marked verified, use estimate rows as leads. Five files have no verified row (passport.csv, income_modes.csv, insurance.csv, diploma_recognition.csv, final_exam_retakes.csv); there a partial row with a source is the best this snapshot offers.
Limitations
This is a snapshot from September and October 2026. Rules and prices change, and the tables will stay as published. So check the source of a row before you rely on it. Fields such as remote_allowed record my reading of the law; for a decision, check it with a lawyer.
Cite this
Atamanova, M. (2026). Relocation by the Numbers: 72 countries, 2026 [Data set]. mariascales.com. https://mariascales.com/research/relocation/data/