Daydreaming about packing it all in and starting fresh somewhere new? You’re not alone, but as anyone who’s actually done it will tell you, there’s a big difference between somewhere being nice to visit and somewhere actually wanting you to stay. A country can have all the fjords, beaches and tax breaks in the world, but if you can’t get a job, make a friend or figure out the local bureaucracy, the dream sours fast.
That’s the thinking behind a new study from international insurance provider William Russell, which has ranked the world’s most welcoming countries and cities for expats in 2026. Experts crunched six factors, including real expat experiences, migrant population size, foreign-born employment rates, local attitudes towards immigrants, and safety and visa openness, to work out where newcomers can happily build a life.
Iceland named the world’s most expat-friendly country
The world’s most welcoming country? Iceland, scoring 8.94 out of 10. The land of fire and ice has the highest foreign-born employment rate in the study, with a whopping 84.2 percent of international residents in work – meaning expats aren’t just tolerated, they’re properly woven into the economy. Luxembourg took second place (more than half its residents were born abroad, the highest share in the world), while New Zealand rounded out the podium.
The rest of the top 10 is mostly a parade of wealthy nations like Australia, Switzerland and Ireland, with one glorious outlier: Colombia, in seventh, proving you don’t need a huge international community to make newcomers feel at home. Expats there rate their experience second-best on the planet, according to InterNations data used in the study.
Zürich tops the list of best cities for expats
The city ranking, meanwhile, is where things get juicy. Zürich was crowned the world’s most welcoming city, combining sky-high safety with famously low levels of, er, being insulted in the street. Yes, the study genuinely measured residents’ worries about being insulted.
Singapore and Tokyo tied for second, which is a proper plot twist, given Japan finished dead last in the country ranking. The takeaway? Even where national integration is tricky, big cities can roll out the welcome mat all by themselves. Elsewhere in the top 10, Copenhagen came in at fourth – this is, after all, a city so keen on newcomers it’s actively recruiting burnt-out workers to move there.
London scored a measly 3.08 out of 10, with higher-than-average social friction and weaker safety scores dragging it down. Paris (3.16) barely did better and New York (1.88) did considerably worse. Apparently the world’s biggest, busiest cities are brilliant for almost everything except making you feel welcome.
The 10 most welcoming countries for expats in 2026
- Iceland
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Switzerland
- Ireland
- Colombia
- Czech Republic
- Portugal
- Austria
The 10 most welcoming cities for expats in 2026
- Zürich, Switzerland
- Singapore (tie)
- Tokyo, Japan (tie)
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Munich, Germany
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Dubai, UAE
- Warsaw, Poland
- Seoul, South Korea
- Hong Kong
Planning your own great escape? Start with the best cities in the world, according to .
ICYMI: The world’s happiest cities in 2026, according to locals.
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