After Non-Dom: Residency and Citizenship Options for UK Residents in 2026

Since 6 April 2025 the United Kingdom has taxed long-term residents on their worldwide income and gains, with a four-year window for new arrivals during which foreign income and gains are exempt, and has applied inheritance tax on a residence basis, capturing worldwide assets after ten years of UK residence out of the previous twenty. The remittance basis that defined the non-dom regime for two centuries is gone, and a temporary repatriation facility that lets former remittance-basis users bring historic income home at reduced rates runs until April 2028. For internationally mobile families the question since then has not been whether to review their position but where to go, and the answer has concentrated on six destinations. 

At a glance

• The remittance basis ended on 6 April 2025; new UK arrivals get four years of exemption on foreign income and gains, after which worldwide taxation applies. 
• Inheritance tax is now residence-based: worldwide assets fall within scope after ten years of UK residence, and remain in scope for up to ten years after departure depending on length of residence. 
• The temporary repatriation facility allows previously unremitted foreign income and gains to be brought to the UK at 12% in 2025/26 and 2026/27 and 15% in 2027/28. 
• Leaving the UK for tax purposes is governed by the statutory residence test, which counts days, ties and available accommodation; a departure needs to be planned, not just executed.
• Destinations attracting UK leavers: the UAE, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Switzerland, each with a residence program and, in most cases, a regime for new tax residents. 

What exactly changed?

Three things. First, the remittance basis, under which UK residents domiciled abroad paid UK tax on foreign income only when they brought it into the country, was abolished and replaced by a regime based on years of residence: anyone who has been non-resident for ten consecutive years qualifies for four years of exemption on foreign income and gains, after which they are taxed like any other resident. Second, inheritance tax moved from domicile to residence: a person resident in the UK for ten of the last twenty years is within scope on worldwide assets, and remains within scope after leaving for a tail of up to ten years. Third, a transition package was offered, including the temporary repatriation facility and a rebasing of foreign assets for former remittance users. 

The result is that the UK is no longer a jurisdiction in which a wealthy family can live long term while keeping foreign wealth outside its tax net, and for families who had structured their affairs on that basis the choice is between accepting the new position and leaving before the ten-year inheritance-tax threshold, or before the tail becomes long. 

Where are UK residents going, and why?

The pattern in Passport Legacy's UK enquiries in 2026 is consistent: 

• The United Arab Emirates: no personal income tax, no inheritance tax, a ten-year Golden Visa for an AED 2 million investment (roughly £410,000) in property or business, and a large British community. The most common destination for business owners and executives. 
• Italy: a flat annual tax of €200,000 on all foreign-source income for new tax residents, for up to fifteen years, with a further €25,000 per family member, alongside an investor visa from €250,000 in an innovative start-up or €500,000 in an Italian company. The most common destination for families with European lives. 
• Greece: a €100,000 flat annual tax on foreign income for new residents who invest €500,000, alongside the golden visa from €250,000 to €800,000 in property, and citizenship after seven years of residence. • Portugal: the €500,000 fund golden visa, seven days a year of presence, and a narrower tax incentive since the non-habitual resident regime closed in 2024; chosen for the residence base rather than the tax. • Cyprus: permanent residence for a €300,000 investment, a non-domicile regime of its own that exempts dividends and interest from special defence contribution for seventeen years, and a sixty-day tax residence rule. • Switzerland: lump-sum taxation for foreigners who do not work in Switzerland, negotiated canton by canton, with residence through the same route; the choice of families for whom cost is not the constraint. 

Does a British citizen need a second passport?

Usually not for travel: the British passport is among the strongest in the world. What UK families increasingly want is a second nationality as insurance and as a legacy, and the United Kingdom permits dual citizenship without restriction. The European routes above lead to EU citizenship in seven to ten years for those who actually live there. The Caribbean programs grant citizenship in four to nine months without residence, from US$230,000, and are used by UK families as a complement to a European residence rather than as a substitute for it. 

How should a departure be planned?

Leaving the UK is a legal fact determined by the statutory residence test, not by a change of address. The test counts days in the UK, the number of ties (family, accommodation, work, ninety-day presence in prior years, and country ties), and applies split-year treatment in the year of departure only in defined circumstances. A family that leaves in the wrong month, keeps a home available, or spends too many days visiting can find it has not left at all. Passport Legacy works alongside UK tax advisers on the sequence: the destination's residence application first, so that a right of residence exists on the day of departure; the UK exit second, timed to the tax year; and the destination's tax regime election third, within its own deadlines.

Frequently asked questions

Has the UK non-dom regime been abolished?

Yes. The remittance basis ended on 6 April 2025 and was replaced by a four-year foreign income and gains regime for new arrivals. Inheritance tax moved to a residence basis on the same date. 

Which countries offer a flat tax for new residents?

Italy (€200,000 a year on foreign income), Greece (€100,000 a year with a €500,000 investment), and Switzerland (lump-sum taxation by canton) are the principal European regimes; the UAE has no personal income tax. 

Can a British citizen hold another citizenship?

Yes. The United Kingdom permits dual and multiple citizenship without restriction. 

Passport Legacy advises UK residents on residence and citizenship options in Europe, the Gulf and the Caribbean, working with their UK tax advisers on the sequencing of departure. To discuss a specific family's position, contact the team.