Working from Liechtenstein as a United States resident

At a glance

Rule coverage

What the rules say about Liechtenstein

The rules below are the ones most likely to shape a stay in Liechtenstein, in plain words and with the source behind each one. Your own report tells you which of them apply to you.

1. Significant issueResidency routes

   EEA membership does not give the right to live in Liechtenstein, only 72 new permits a year exist for the whole EEA

   Liechtenstein holds a permanent derogation on free movement of persons under the Sectoral Adaptations to Annexes V and VIII of the EEA Agreement, EEA Joint Committee Decision No 191/1999. It need only issue 56 new residence permits a year to economically active EEA nationals and 16 to economically non-active ones, 72 total for every EEA national combined. Half of each tranche, roughly 28 work and 8 non-work permits, is allocated by a twice-yearly lottery entered for a CHF 100 preliminary fee and a CHF 500 final draw fee, with the autumn round's application window typically running through August. The other half is granted by government decision. This is a hard numeric ceiling, not a processing queue, being qualified and having a job offer does not guarantee a permit.

2. Significant issueTax residency

   A continuous stay of more than six months triggers full liability retroactive to day one

   Art. 2(1)(c) SteG defines habitual abode (gewoehnlicher Aufenthalt) as always, and from the outset, a continuous stay of more than six months, with short interruptions disregarded. Once that line is crossed, unlimited tax liability under Art. 6(1) SteG applies retroactively to the first day of the stay, not from month six onward. This is a continuous-stay test, not an aggregate count across a rolling window, so the exact day count that crosses six months depends on which calendar months the stay spans.

3. Significant issuePersonal income tax

   No tax treaty at all covers nine of the sixteen roster nationalities

   Liechtenstein only began building a modern treaty network after 2009 and has roughly 23 comprehensive double tax agreements in force, against Denmark's 80. Spain, Portugal, France, Poland, Brazil, Indonesia, the United States, Canada and Australia have no treaty with Liechtenstein at all, not even a signed-but-not-ratified one, so there is no Article 15 relief, no Article 4 tie-breaker and no mutual agreement procedure for double taxation disputes. France additionally has only a tax information exchange agreement, which gives no relief. Relief for all of these runs solely through Liechtenstein's unilateral Art. 22 SteG credit or exemption, and whatever the other side allows unilaterally.

4. Significant issueImmigration and visa

   No digital nomad visa exists, and none is announced

   Liechtenstein has no digital nomad visa, no investor route and no passive-income entitlement for a long remote-work stay. Third-country nationals have no obligation-based route into the country at all, and processing for the very small discretionary allocation that does exist runs months to over a year. A remote worker without EEA or Swiss nationality, and without a qualifying employment relationship or a lump-sum tax deal already agreed, has no legal route past the 90-day Schengen ceiling.

5. Significant issuePermanent residency and citizenship

   Renouncing your existing nationality is mandatory in every naturalisation route, dual citizenship is not permitted

   Sections 5, 5a and 6 of the BueG all require renunciation of the applicant's existing nationality, or proof that renunciation would be legally ineffective under that nationality's own law, as a condition of naturalisation. Dual nationality exists in Liechtenstein only where it was acquired automatically at birth, never through naturalisation as an adult. Renunciation is mandatory on every ordinary route, and the single exception is BueG Section 5a Abs. 1a, under which the conditions of Abs. 1 as a whole, the renunciation requirement at Bst. c included, fall away where the government confirms that naturalisation is in the special interest of the country because of extraordinary services already rendered and still expected. That waiver is exceptional and not something to plan around, not proof that no exception exists at all.

6. Significant issueMoving your company

   Running your foreign company from a Liechtenstein home office can make that company Liechtenstein tax resident, and the treaty desert makes it worse

   Art. 44(1) SteG makes a company resident on either its registered seat or its place of effective management, defined in Art. 2(1)(d) as the location of the centre of top entrepreneurial management. Relocating yourself to Liechtenstein while continuing to run your foreign company from a Vaduz home office risks making that company Liechtenstein tax resident, which at 12.5 percent is generally a good outcome on the Liechtenstein side, but becomes a genuine problem if the departure state also claims residence and there is no treaty tie-breaker to resolve the conflict. With no treaty at all covering nine of the sixteen roster nationalities, this dual-residence risk is materially higher here than in a country with a dense treaty network.

What tends to surprise people here

• Only 72 new residence permits exist per year for the whole EEA, half by lottery
• No tax treaty at all covers nine of the sixteen roster nationalities
• Renouncing your existing nationality is mandatory in every naturalisation route

Tax treaty between United States and Liechtenstein