The world’s wealthiest families are no longer simply moving capital across borders – they are moving optionality, according to a new Henley & Partners report. That’s why investors should care.
World map in the kitchen (Image: Miquel Pareira, Unsplash)
When entrepreneurs, investors, and family offices reassess where to live, bank, invest, and pass wealth to the next generation, they are also making a judgment on fiscal policy, regulatory reliability, geopolitical risk, and long-term capital protection.
The 2026 Henley Private Wealth Migration Report marks a shift in how wealth movement is analysed. Instead of focusing only on where millionaires are moving, the report introduces a Global Wealth Mobility Framework that evaluates jurisdictions across 12 weighted dimensions, including tax treatment, rule of law, quality of life, investor migration pathways, family inclusion, geopolitical stability, and capital mobility.
Capital Is Becoming More Mobile Than Policy Assumes
Henley & Partners says it received applications from 86 nationalities across 47 investment migration programs in the first five months of 2026 alone. More than 28 percent of applicants already live outside their country of nationality, reinforcing a central point of the report: high-net-worth families are increasingly structuring their lives across jurisdictions rather than tying themselves to a single state.
«For much of the past century, governments could largely treat their wealthiest residents as a relatively fixed asset – rooted by businesses, family ties, and limited international mobility. That assumption is becoming increasingly outdated », says Jürg Steffen, CEO at Henley & Partners. The implication is clear: countries are now competing not only for capital, but for entrepreneurs, founders, and investors who generate taxable income, jobs, and innovation.
Singapore Sets the Benchmark
Among the standout destinations, Singapore remains one of the most compelling wealth hubs, with a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 79.5 out of 100. Its appeal is grounded in political stability, institutional depth, strong capital markets, and sustained demand from internationally mobile wealth across Asia – a combination that continues to strengthen its role as a regional headquarters for private capital.
New Zealand also ranks among the leading jurisdictions, with a score of 75.8. Renewed interest follows reforms to its Active Investor Plus Visa Program. At the same time, its broader appeal rests on the rule of law, geopolitical distance, lifestyle quality, and long-term family-planning appeal – attributes that have become more valuable as geopolitical risk premiums rise.
Europe’s Winners Are Selective
Italy, Greece, and Switzerland stand out as European beneficiaries of the latest wealth mobility cycle. Italy’s flat-tax regime for new residents, favourable inheritance tax framework, and access to the EU market are supporting Milan’s rise as a family office and financial centre.
Greece, meanwhile, is benefiting from changes elsewhere in Europe’s investment migration landscape, including Spain’s golden visa closure and Portugal’s withdrawal of its real estate-linked investment route.
Switzerland’s Defensive Appeal Strengthens
Switzerland’s score of 70.8 reflects a more defensive investment logic. In a world of rising geopolitical uncertainty, the country’s long-standing reputation for stability, capital preservation, and wealth protection is attracting families less interested in tax arbitrage alone than in resilience, legal predictability, and balance sheet security.
The report identifies Germany, Norway, the UK, South Korea, and France as «Competitive Jurisdictions Under Pressure». These are not failing economies; rather, they are mature markets where tax reforms, fiscal uncertainty, regulatory changes, or competitiveness concerns are prompting affluent residents to examine external residence and citizenship options.
UK’s Retention Problem
The UK is the clearest warning signal. Applications from individuals with a UK address increased by 15 percent between 2024 and 2025, while foreign nationals accounted for 53 percent of all applications originating from UK addresses so far in 2026. British citizens now represent almost half of all UK-address applicants processed by Henley & Partners, up from just 8 percent in 2018.
The abolition of the UK’s non-dom tax regime, inheritance tax changes, the closure of the Tier 1 Investor Visa, and broader fiscal uncertainty have weakened both the country’s attraction and retention proposition. For mobile capital, the UK remains important – but the marginal incentive to remain exposed to its tax and policy direction is being reassessed.
American Paradox: Wealth Creation Is Not the Same as Mobility Competitiveness
The US presents a different case. With a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 62.3, it remains the world’s dominant wealth creation engine but has also become Henley & Partners’ largest single source market for residence and citizenship planning globally. Applications from US nationals doubled in 2025 and remain elevated in 2026.
The American trend underscores a key distinction: a country can be exceptional at creating wealth while becoming less attractive as the sole jurisdictional anchor for wealthy families. Citizenship-based taxation, fiscal complexity, and lengthy immigration processing times are encouraging affluent Americans to diversify access, even if their capital remains heavily invested in US markets.
UAE Shows Resilience – and Hedging
The UAE tells the opposite story. Despite regional tensions, it achieved a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 85.3, reflecting its strengths in tax competitiveness, investor access, family inclusion, safety, connectivity, and long–term residence pathways.
Yet Henley & Partners also recorded a 41 percent increase in enquiries from UAE-based individuals between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, alongside a 29 percent rise in applications for alternative residence or citizenship.
Optionality, Not Exodus
The Gulf data should not be read as capital flight. Much of the UAE–based demand is coming from expatriate entrepreneurs, investors, and globally mobile families using the Emirates as a base while adding contingency layers elsewhere. As Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, puts it: «The UAE story in 2026 is one of diversification and optionality, not an exodus.»
The report’s policy message is blunt: wealthy individuals and families respond quickly when tax treatment, legal certainty, or residence pathways deteriorate. When one jurisdiction closes an attractive route or increases policy friction, demand does not disappear – it relocates to more competitive markets.
The Bottom Line
For investors, the global wealth mobility race is becoming a macro signal. Jurisdictions that combine predictable taxation, strong institutions, capital mobility, family security, and credible long–term access are gaining strategic relevance.
Those who assume wealthy residents are captive risk learning the opposite: in 2026, private capital is not just mobile – it is actively building a portfolio of places to call home.
