Rules change. We keep the receipts.
Every verification pass, correction and edition update across every country file — dated, versioned, and public. Including the times we were wrong: corrections are recorded, never silently overwritten.
Compare-audit closure merged: healthcare 79 (LE 81.5, Eurostat 2024 demo_mlexpec — lowest of the five; calibrated on the set's LE line) · attitude_foreign 7 (Ease of Settling In 43/46, Expat Insider 2025 — deep-bottom, honestly shown) · environment 75 (Yale EPI 74.5 rank 3 — HIGHEST of the five; air subscore 66.9 split noted) · tourism_gdp_pct 11.0 (WTTC total-contribution basis, derived). DECISION applied: accessibility REMOVED from compare/fit set-wide (award ≠ lived accessibility); Access City facts kept as §6 note (Berlin winner 2013 + four recognitions). Bureaucracy scoring PENDING (composite Expat Essentials ranks paywalled — chat honestly declined to guess; Admin-Topics re-base planned).
Life Fit closure (Code calibrated chat's delivery against the core four at merge): lgbt 69 (Rainbow % direct; 2026 re-pin flagged) · digital_gov 94 (EGDI×100) · nature 100 (39.3%/30 capped) · safety 82 (GPI 2026 linear between ES/GR anchors — overriding chat's 2025-based band 80) · animal_welfare 80 (core milestone basis, NOT the WAP grade map) · air 57 ◐ (WHO-multiple; exact PM2.5 pin pending) · cost_of_living 58 (core-anchor calibration). healthcare + attitude_foreign stay null pending two pins (Eurostat 2024 LE; Expat Insider 2025 exact rank). Route: §81a statutory chain → processing_weeks [7,19] on Blue Card + Fachkraft (min=1+3+3 wks, max=+3-month recognition window; both ends in law) + fee_note — Germany enters /route on legal targets, labelled as such.
Cihan's surface audit: family card gains the partner-recognition line (married/registered only, same-sex 2017 — consistency with the core four); honest absences promoted to a machine-readable absences: map so /visas shows VERIFIED-absence copy instead of the generic 'nothing verified yet' dashed card (which mis-implied a data gap). Expenses: rent_m2_national closed at €9.00/m² (ImmoScout24 WohnBarometer Q1 2026).
Phase-1 supplement merged: student (§16b — Sperrkonto €11,904/2026, work allowance CORRECTED to 140/280 days or ~20h/wk per the 1 Mar 2024 reform, 18-month post-study permit, 2025 remonstration discontinuation) + research (§18d, Aufnahmevereinbarung-gated, privileged family) visas[] entries — the four-country matrix standard now holds. Livelihood block added (flat app schema distilled from chat's researched detail): min wage hourly-honesty, mean-vs-median wage split + foreigner gap, pension Bruttorente-vs-Zahlbetrag definitions kept separate, EU-SILC poverty line, dual-definition unemployment. §2.7 + §3.6 body sections updated.
Talent Visa (Z.15) route timing: processing_weeks [13,18] → now in /route. Statutory 90-day (+30) single-permit decision (Immigration Code Art.79Γ, Law 5275/2026); labour-market test waived so it escapes the employment quota (unlike the general Work Visa E.4, correctly held out).
Route-timing pass: two new statutory route timings ingested — EU Blue Card processing_weeks [4,5] (recognised-employer 30-day decision, Law 5038/2023) + Family Reunification [13,18] (general 90+30-day permit decision, Law 5275/2026). Both now appear in /route. Work Visa held out (biennial quota, like Italy's Decreto Flussi); DNV/FIP 90-day statutory already reflected in existing ranges.
tourism_gdp_pct re-based 12.7 → 19.4 (Code browser-verified: WTTC total contribution 2024 = 19.4% / $48.8bn, ranks Greece 2nd of 42 panel economies). The old 12.7 was the SETE-INSETE DIRECT figure (13%), which mixed bases with the compare column's WTTC-total series (ES/PT/IT/DE). Both figures kept in the note; compare column now single-basis.
Decreto Flussi work visa REMOVED from /route (processing_weeks dropped): our own quota-exclusion rule says a click-day LOTTERY cannot carry a clean ETA (the earlier [9,26] was a soft estimate ignoring the quota wait). The ≤30-day nulla osta legal max is kept in the note but only starts after a quota slot is won. Italy's route-ready work lanes are now the high-skill/statutory ones (Investor, ISV); employed-work is honestly 'no clean ETA'.
Italia Startup Visa (ISV) added as a first-class visas[] entry (was only in the startup_visa summary block) → now in /route + /compare. processing_weeks [4,5] on the statutory 30-day ISV Committee nulla osta (DL 179/2012 art.25(2); MAECI Decree 30 Jun 2017); 30-day countdown restarts on clarification requests; consular + 8-day permesso stages excluded; 650/yr sub-quota noted.
Route-timing pass: Investor Visa note records the STATUTORY 30-day Committee nulla osta term (Art. 26-bis); processing_weeks [6,12] kept as the realistic end-to-end (only the committee stage is legally fixed — the circulating '3–6 months' is not sent as a clean ETA). Blue Card stays verified:false (contested 30 vs 90 days) → correctly excluded from /route. ISV startup held (official source term unconfirmed).
tourism_gdp_pct filled: 10.8% (WTTC total contribution 2024, derived from ~US$248.3BN ÷ GDP — same basis as PT/ES). Part of the five-country compare-audit closure.
High-qualification work-route timings: HQA processing_weeks [9,13] → now in /route (consular 60-day statutory, IEFP-exempt Art.90-B; AIMA 1–3yr reality caveated). D3 + EU Blue Card timings equally clean but stay verified:false (contested/single-source salary pegs, never-merge rule) → out of /route until the peg is primary-confirmed; timing documented in their notes.
StartUP Visa added as a first-class visas[] entry (was only in the startup_visa summary block) → now in /route + /compare. processing_weeks [14,15] on the two statutory stages: IAPMEI certification 30 working days (Despacho Normativo 4/2018 art.6(9)) + consular residence visa 60 days (Act 102/2017 art.60(2)(c)); AIMA permit stage (90 wd legal / 1–3yr real) caveated in the note. IAPMEI incubator acceptance is the gate.
High-qualification work-route timings: EU Blue Card processing_weeks [3,4] (UGE 20-business-day + positive silence, Ley 14/2013 arts.71/71bis — same track as HQP; 90-day Directive ceiling noted as a practice caveat) + Autónomo [12,13] (general regime 3-month + NEGATIVE silence — explicitly NOT the UGE/Emprendedor fast-track). Both now in /route.
Route-timing pass: the Entrepreneur/Startup Visa (Emprendedores, Ley 14/2013 art. 70) added as a first-class visas[] entry — previously only in the startup_visa summary block, so it never reached /route or /compare. processing_weeks [3,4] on the UGE-CE statutory 20-business-day term + positive silence (art. 76.1). This closes the 'startup route missing from /route' gap. Arraigo + larga duración carry the general 3-month resolution + NEGATIVE silence legally, but stay OUT of /route (in-country regularisation, not an arrival route) — noted, not simulated.
Blue Card 2026 threshold RESOLVED at merge (Code, primary source): make-it-in-germany.com official portal confirms €50,700 standard / €45,934.20 shortage-young-professional-IT for 2026; the €48,300/€43,759.80 pair identified as the stale 2025 level and quarantined. Verified extras folded in: ≥6-month contract rule, young-professionals tier, first-year job-change notification. Soft ◐ processing_weeks ranges stripped at merge (house rule: only verified ranges feed the route simulator) — processing notes retained in text; ranges return when verified per-office.
Talent Visa (Law 5275/2026) promoted from §2.8 catalogue-table mention to a full visas[] entry + §2.4b: 12-month talent-entry, no job offer, ranked-institution advanced-degree gate (≥2 lists, within 5 years), permits job-seeking + founding; bridge-not-endpoint (convert before expiry) with the year counting toward settlement. Distinguished from Tech Visa / DNV / Blue Card.
Family entry gains the partner-recognition line (same-sex marriage since Feb 2024 under Law 5089/2024; registered cohabitation pact required for unmarried partners), matching the discovery-index family-card layer.
Settlement gap closed: added long-term resident status (επί μακρόν διαμένων / EU LTR) as Greece's settlement pathway (frontmatter entry + §2.5b); the 7-year 'exceptional reasons' permit named as the arraigo-analogue; 12-month EU-absence disappearance rule documented. Citizenship kept at the file's 7-year figure.
Character matcher tags on regions[] (the culture-and-landscape axis of the /fit matcher — 'Life around you'): tags derived from each region's own documented note plus unambiguous heritage/geography facts (Prado triangle, Pompeii, Alhambra, Meteora — named landmarks, not judgments). DELIBERATE DESIGN, mirroring the climate decision verbatim: culture is a MATCHER, never a 0–100 score — a single 'culture quality' number would smuggle in a value judgment between countries. Nobody is ranked; preferences are matched.
New Life Fit indicator 'Nature & protected land': the §9.5 EEA protected-area share (already sourced) scored transparently against the EU's own 30%-by-2030 biodiversity target (pct/30, capped at 100 — the benchmark is the EU's, not ours). Fills the landing demo's 'Nature & quiet' promise with a real, sourced number.
Region-level climate tags (Mediterranean coasts/islands, continental Thessaly/Epirus) + hard-line fields: healthcare_access 'work_linked' (EFKA-gated ESY — the set's hardest access for non-workers, cheap private as consolation) and work_route_quota 'quota' (biennial, by job type). ALSO: ss_agreement_turkey 'NONE' — Greece is absent from SGK's official agreement list (checked directly): Turkish contribution years don't totalize; the /fit hard line now flags it. And english_epi (EF EPI 2025: 592, #20/123) with a §4.2 line.
Driving-exchange machine layer: test_required — §4.4's honest worst-outcome finding now feeds the /fit hard line; Greece is flagged with the full-test warning and the evidence-not-proof caveat.
Pets-and-parents hard-line layer: pet_quarantine 'none' (rabies-free since 2014; bilingual-certificate and cargo-routing catches named); parents_welcome 'conditional' with the Golden Visa's unique both-spouses'-parents day-one door named.
Family-from-day-one machine layer (new /fit hard line): Greece = joint — FIP/DNV +20%/+15% pricing and the Golden Visa's three-generation file; €150-per-dependent e-paravolo named.
Two ⚠️ CLOSED from the ministry's own document checklists (migration.gov.gr residence-permit catalogue): (1) family-reunification income floor = the sponsor's income equal to ANNUAL minimum-wage earnings, +20% spouse, +15% per child, via the latest tax clearance, with several permit categories exempt (item 5.1.1) — entry verified, income_month set to the €920 minimum wage; (2) research verified via item 3.3.1 (Art. 61): hosting agreement per Art. 60, organisation's financial-responsibility declaration, private-org approval, insurance, €16 card + e-paravolo — the document prints the resource floor as '€900 annually', almost certainly a slip for monthly; both readings shown rather than silently correcting a primary source. Also an edition-consistency fix: livelihood minimum wage updated €880 → €920 (in force since Apr 2026 — the file's own cost section already said so; the two figures now agree).
Full visa-catalogue pass (chat delivery — the FOURTH and final country of the set): (1) three new entries — EU Blue Card (✅ 1.6× average gross = €39,888/yr 2026, quota-exempt, 3-yr permit; 2024's ~€32k flagged stale), Family Reunification (⚠️ mechanics verified but the 2026 income floor NOT isolated — door shown without an unconfirmed number), Research (⚠️ Directive 2016/801); (2) the Golden Visa's verified 8–10-month end-to-end range recorded as processing_weeks [35,43] — it joins the route simulator with its existing papers; Law 5275/2026's backdating end (permit runs from issuance) noted; (3) Work Visa updated to the Law 5275/2026 regime — 3-yr permit, 6-month minimum contract, €200 employer authorisation, EFKA-before-filing, biennial quota — with documents; (4) every visa now carries a fee_note (consular ~€180 named; e-paravolo €1,016 + €150/dependent stated per route); (5) §2.8 catalogue table — Tech/Talent/Specialized/freelance adjacents, settlement absence, EU-LTR, and the Turkish ace: the €60 on-arrival Island Visa Express for 12 Aegean islands (renewed through Apr 2027) — plus the §2.5/2.6 duplicate-numbering fix. FIP's €2,000 "conflict" in the delivery confirmed as the stale superseded figure our file already excluded.
Family entry gains the partner-recognition line (registered unione civile required — cohabitation alone insufficient; same-sex via civil union), matching the discovery-index family-card layer. From the file's existing verified partner data.
Settlement gap closed: added the EU long-term residence permit (permesso UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo) as Italy's settlement pathway (frontmatter entry + §2.6b); noted plainly that Italy has NO standing arraigo-equivalent (sanatorie are one-offs). Disappearance rule documented.
Character matcher tags on regions[] (the culture-and-landscape axis of the /fit matcher — 'Life around you'): tags derived from each region's own documented note plus unambiguous heritage/geography facts (Prado triangle, Pompeii, Alhambra, Meteora — named landmarks, not judgments). DELIBERATE DESIGN, mirroring the climate decision verbatim: culture is a MATCHER, never a 0–100 score — a single 'culture quality' number would smuggle in a value judgment between countries. Nobody is ranked; preferences are matched.
New Life Fit indicator 'Nature & protected land': the §9.5 EEA protected-area share (already sourced) scored transparently against the EU's own 30%-by-2030 biodiversity target (pct/30, capped at 100 — the benchmark is the EU's, not ours). Fills the landing demo's 'Nature & quiet' promise with a real, sourced number.
Region-level climate tags (north continental, centre-south Mediterranean, Abruzzo both) + hard-line fields: healthcare_access 'buy_in' (€2,000/yr SSN floor, calendar-year trap) and work_route_quota 'LOTTERY' — the Decreto Flussi click-day reality now feeds the /fit hard line 'my route can't hang on a quota'. ALSO: ss_agreement_turkey 'BILATERAL' (in force 1 Aug 2015 — the set's only agreement covering health; SGK list checked directly) and english_epi (EF EPI 2025: 513, #59/123 — the set's weakest) with a §4.2 line.
Driving-exchange machine layer: no_test — §4.4's 2023 mutual-recognition facts (6-year window, pre-residence licence, 18 Jul 2028 expiry) made machine-readable.
Pets-and-parents hard-line layer: pet_quarantine 'none' with the mainland-entry geography catch; parents_welcome 'conditional' (the set's most restrictive ascendant wording, from the reunification scope already documented).
Family-from-day-one machine layer (new /fit hard line): Italy = CONDITIONAL — the honest reading of facts already in this file: per-adult income practice on the ERV (couples €38–40k), registered-civil-union-only partner recognition (Law 76/2016), and no day-one family door on the work routes (ricongiungimento after ≥1 yr + idoneità alloggiativa). The hard line 'my family must get residence together' now flags Italy with this explanation.
Research-route primary isolation attempted and honestly logged: esteri.it's research-visa pages return 404 (site restructure), vistoperitalia.esteri.it unreachable, Normattiva and Gazzetta Ufficiale block automated reading. The entry stays unverified with the attempt dated — a documented dead end beats silence.
Full visa-catalogue pass (chat delivery, Spain-pattern): (1) the Task-6 ⚠️ permesso fee total is CLOSED from official Poste figures — €116–176 by permit duration — and every fee_note now states it; (2) three new entries: EU Blue Card (⚠️ contested 3-way salary threshold — all figures shown, verified:false quarantine), Family Reunification (assegno-sociale peg €7,101/yr, idoneità alloggiativa, verified), Research (Directive 2016/801, ◐ → shown unverified); (3) Decreto Flussi employed work gains its verified 60–180+-day end-to-end range (processing_weeks [9,26]) + documents, joining the route simulator; autonomo gains documents (stays off-route: no verified range); (4) §2.9 catalogue table — job-seeker ABSENCE (post-study permit only), no arraigo-equivalent (sanatorie + protezione speciale), working-holiday Türkiye N/A, Schengen C with the Turkish-nationals note, jure sanguinis 2025 restriction + €600 court fee. Editorial decisions vs the delivery, documented: DNV income kept verified (the "conflict" is the legal floor €24,789 vs consular practice ~€28,000 — both already stated with the caveat travelling); student means kept verified (the "outlier" €10,179.85 IS the MUR figure for a.y. 2026/27–27/28, already sourced — the delivery's €6,947 was the 2025/26 edition); ISV quota question (our sourced "inside the 650/yr quota" vs the delivery's "outside") kept per Task-6 sourcing.
Family entry gains the partner-recognition line (união de facto at 2 years; same-sex since 2010), matching the discovery-index family-card layer. From the file's existing verified partner data.
Settlement gap closed: added Autorização de Residência Permanente / EU LTR as Portugal's settlement pathway (frontmatter entry + §2.5b); AIMA backlog flagged as the real-world constraint; absence caps (24/30 months) and the 12-month EU-LTR reset documented. Citizenship figures kept consistent with Organic Law 1/2026.
Character matcher tags on regions[] (the culture-and-landscape axis of the /fit matcher — 'Life around you'): tags derived from each region's own documented note plus unambiguous heritage/geography facts (Prado triangle, Pompeii, Alhambra, Meteora — named landmarks, not judgments). DELIBERATE DESIGN, mirroring the climate decision verbatim: culture is a MATCHER, never a 0–100 score — a single 'culture quality' number would smuggle in a value judgment between countries. Nobody is ranked; preferences are matched.
New Life Fit indicator 'Nature & protected land': the §9.5 EEA protected-area share (already sourced) scored transparently against the EU's own 30%-by-2030 biodiversity target (pct/30, capped at 100 — the benchmark is the EU's, not ours). Fills the landing demo's 'Nature & quiet' promise with a real, sourced number.
Region-level climate tags (Atlantic north/centre, Mediterranean south, subtropical Madeira, oceanic Azores) + hard-line fields: healthcare_access 'OPEN' (SNS for all legal residents — the set's best access) and work_route_quota 'none'. ALSO: ss_agreement_turkey 'convention' (ASGS 1977 — SGK list checked directly) and english_epi (EF EPI 2025: 612, #6/123 — the set's best English) with a §4.2 line.
Driving-exchange machine layer: none_needed — §4.4's OECD-list reality (indefinite validity, optional test-free exchange) made machine-readable.
Pets-and-parents hard-line layer: pet_quarantine 'none' (explicitly documented DGAV no-quarantine rule + island entry points + inspection fees); parents_welcome 'yes' — D6/D7 ascendant scope, the set's most parent-open wording.
Family-from-day-one machine layer (new /fit hard line): Portugal = joint — D7/D8/D2/GV same-application family with +50%/+30% steps; the 22 Apr 2026 in-country narrowing noted as not affecting day-one consular filing.
Job-seeker ⚠️ CLOSED from the primary source: vistos.mne.gov.pt's own page states the route is now the SKILLED Job Seeker Visa (Art. 57-A, Foreigners' Law) and is NOT YET AVAILABLE at consular offices, pending the article's implementing regulation. The 2022 general job-seeker window is no longer offered. Entry flipped to verified (the STATUS is what's verified — the door is real but closed at the counter); conditions will be catalogued when consulates open it.
Full visa-catalogue pass (chat delivery, Spain/Italy pattern): (1) SEVEN new entries — D1 employed (⚠️ dedicated pass pending), D3 highly-qualified (⚠️ tier-dependent ~€2,300), HQA (✅ the IAS-pegged route: 3× IAS = €1,612/mo), EU Blue Card (⚠️ single-source ~€1,750, D3-conflation flagged), Family Reunification D6 (✅ €920 RMMG peg, 22-Apr-2026 in-country restriction, [9,26]w — joins the route simulator with papers), Job-Seeker (⚠️ EXISTS unlike Italy's absence — 2022 route, conditions await a dedicated pass), Research (⚠️ Directive 2016/801); (2) D2 gains documents (business plan gate, €11,040 subsistence, NIF/bank prerequisites) + fee_note; student gains fee_note; (3) §2.9 catalogue table — the three-peg highly-qualified cluster warning, Manifestação de Interesse ABOLISHED (arraigo-equivalent CLOSED, guides online are stale), EU long-term counts from card issuance, working-holiday Türkiye N/A, Schengen C with the Turkish-nationals note, AIMA 18–24-month card-delay reality. Editorial decision vs the delivery, documented: consular fee kept at €110 — the delivery cited €90 for most D visas, but MNE's official fees page (checked directly, Jul 2026) states the national-visa fee is a flat €110; €90 is the Schengen C fee. StartUP block's €11,040 (12× IAS) kept over the delivery's vaguer "~€6,200 (varies)".
Family entry gains the partner-recognition line (marriage + pareja de hecho, same-sex since 2005), matching the layer every discovery-index family card now carries. From the file's existing verified partner data — no new research.
Settlement scope completed: added time-based long-term residence (larga duración + larga duración-UE) as the second settlement pathway beside arraigo (frontmatter entry + §2.6b), per the updated settlement definition. Disappearance rule (12-month EU absence) and the silencio-positivo quirk documented.
Character matcher tags on regions[] (the culture-and-landscape axis of the /fit matcher — 'Life around you'): tags derived from each region's own documented note plus unambiguous heritage/geography facts (Prado triangle, Pompeii, Alhambra, Meteora — named landmarks, not judgments). DELIBERATE DESIGN, mirroring the climate decision verbatim: culture is a MATCHER, never a 0–100 score — a single 'culture quality' number would smuggle in a value judgment between countries. Nobody is ranked; preferences are matched.
New Life Fit indicator 'Nature & protected land': the §9.5 EEA protected-area share (already sourced) scored transparently against the EU's own 30%-by-2030 biodiversity target (pct/30, capped at 100 — the benchmark is the EU's, not ours). Fills the landing demo's 'Nature & quiet' promise with a real, sourced number; 'Nightlife & culture' had no index meeting our bar and leaves the demo instead.
Region-level climate tags (the matcher one level deeper: /fit now names WHERE your climate lives — Galicia for Atlantic, Madrid continental, the south Mediterranean) + two hard-line fields from §4.1/§2.5 facts: healthcare_access 'buy_in' (Convenio Especial terms) and work_route_quota 'none' (catalogue-based labour test, no cap). ALSO in this pass: ss_agreement_turkey 'convention' (ASGS 1977, pensions totalize, no health — SGK list checked directly) and english_epi (EF EPI 2025: 540, #36/123) with a §4.2 line; both feed the new compare rows and the /fit social-security hard line.
Driving-exchange machine layer (new /fit hard line 'I won't sit a driving test again'): no_test — the §4.4 canje facts (6-month window, DGT-to-Türkiye verification buffer, C/D excepted) made machine-readable.
Pets-and-parents hard-line layer: pet_quarantine 'none' (EU chain — 3-month wait served at home; 5-per-traveller cap named) and parents_welcome 'conditional' (65+ dependent parents rule already in §2) made machine-readable for the two new /fit hard lines. Spain also FINALLY gets its frontmatter pets block (§5.1 facts: EU sequence, lifetime-titer trap, 5-day/5-pet rule) — the anchor country's /pets card is no longer the only silent one.
Family-from-day-one machine layer (new /fit hard line): Spain = joint — NLV/DNV/student take the family in one consular filing with stated income steps; the employed-work exception (reunification after ~1 yr) named in the note. No new facts — §2 content made machine-readable for the dealbreaker.
Research route strengthened from the statute itself (Ley 14/2013 arts. 72–75, BOE consolidated text): the convenio de acogida's five minimum statutory elements, the invitation-letter equivalence, the two modalities (investigación UE vs nacional), and the 3-year permit → 2-year renewal → PR-at-5 arc now stated with the primary source.
Family Reunification's verified 5–9-month timeline (already in the file as prose) recorded as processing_weeks [22, 39], so the route simulator can now plan it alongside NLV, DNV, Student and HQP. No new facts — an integration fix: verified timeline data should never stay prose-only.
Documents layer extended to the catalogue's new routes (Autónomo, HQP, Family Reunification, Research) from the docs/fees delivery — endorsed-plan gate, salary-band proof, EX-02 + habitability report, hosting agreement — with the common Type-D core stated once per visa. Fees made visible where users browse: fee_note now renders on /visas cards and the country page's visa cards (it previously surfaced only in /route's Papers).
Full visa catalogue integrated (chat's Spain catalogue + docs/fees files): five routes join the machine layer — Autónomo (100% IPREM + endorsed plan), HQP (2026 salary bands, 20-day silence-approval), Family Reunification (150% IPREM + habitability report, child protection to 26), Job-Seeker (quarantined verified: false — threshold genuinely contested 100% vs 400% IPREM, both shown; from-abroad route restricted 2026), Research (Directive 2016/801). New §2.9 covers the rest honestly: au pair/language/volunteering as student-visa grounds (not separate classes), the short working-holiday list (Türkiye absent), the Schengen-C short-stay door (€90, EES live, ETIAS late 2026), the closed 2026 amnesty, and the government-fee rule of thumb (tasas 790-052/038/012). Feeds the new /visas discovery page.
Visa government fees on the routes (livelihood module, final piece): fee_note per visa — nationality-varying consular fees stated as varying, fixed totals as fixed (GR €1,016; PT ARI's €6,045 card), Italy's component stack honestly ⚠ pending an official total. Renders in /route's Papers section.
Livelihood-reality machine layer: minimum/average wage, average pension, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold in euros (national statistics offices; vintages stated), and unemployment (Eurostat, reference period stated) — feeding the /costs livelihood card and the compare unemployment row. Definitional caveats travel with the numbers; ⚠️ fields (none seeded) stay in the research file.
Cost-card gaps closed FROM ALREADY-CONSUMED research (Cihan's audit instinct proved right): Thessaloniki 1-bed €400–650 (Spitogatos/investropa 2026, verified in the expenses waves but never linked to this block) and the private-insurance single band €30–100/mo. Deliberately still open, not invented: Thessaloniki's all-in total (deriving it from Athens −15–25% would be arithmetic on verified numbers) and Larissa's 1-bed rent.
Integration audit: §3.9 states the no-penalty 3.09% reality, the 2026 VAT/CGT suspension window and the deliberately different residence-sequencing calculus in the body — previously only in the expenses fine print. No new facts.
Three closures from primary sources read directly (browser pass): attitude_foreign FILLED for the first time — Ease of Settling In 14th of 46 (score 71) from InterNations' own full-ranking infographic; Greece scores second-best of the four on the new common basis. FRA honesty note: Greece is NOT in the 2022 African-descent survey's 13 countries — no comparable figure exists, so the file says so instead of guessing. child_wellbeing narrative added (UNICEF Report Card 19; Greece leads Europe on immunisation ~99% yet has the four's worst air quality).
Student financial threshold CLOSED with a primary source — and the "contested" spread turns out to be three different figures talking past each other: €400/month is the statutory floor (JMD 41712/2014, FEK 2285 B'), €650–700 is consular practice (what posts prefer to see), and €3,500 is the FIP threshold (JMD 225679/2024) — a different permit that had muddied the water. Entry flips to verified with processing_weeks: [2, 8] mirroring its long-verified processing note; the Task 6 document checklist that was waiting in quarantine now renders on /route, exactly as designed. §2.5 income row rewritten from spread to source.
Investor + student document checklists (Task 6 final tour): Golden Visa (8 items) — the PoA-remote reality (only biometrics in person), own-funds rule (no mortgage on the threshold), tiered title-deed proof and the Airbnb prohibition; student (8 items) keeping the contested financial threshold as an honest ⚠️ spread, per the house rule. The student entry stays verified: false until its threshold closes, so it remains quarantined from /route — the documents wait in the file and will render the moment it verifies.
Route document checklists (Task 6): documents layer on the FIP (9 items) and DNV (8 items) for /route's Papers section. Greece-verified windows: criminal record, health certificate and family civil-status documents at 90 days planning freshness. The traps stated plainly: accommodation proof required at the CONSULAR stage (before you've moved); the bilingual Greek/English translation requirement at the in-country permit stage — prepare bilingual from the start; the FIP savings alternative at the safe ~€126,000 figure, not the contested floor; and the DNV's written undertaking not to take Greek work. Mirrors §2 and Laws 4825/2021, 5275/2026, 5038/2023 art. 163.
'Living Here' dimensions (§6e): climate matcher; religion (constitutionally prevailing Orthodoxy — the one established church); safety (women 1.8 lowest EU with under-reporting caveat, EPI 69 net-zero-track yet worst air); politics (ND centre-right, migration flashpoint); place (20 UNESCO/zero natural, ~35% protected, tourism 12.7%, AGREEMENTS mechanism, Antikythera myth-checked). Climate off the Life Fit engine.
Visa government fees on the routes (livelihood module, final piece): fee_note per visa — nationality-varying consular fees stated as varying, fixed totals as fixed (GR €1,016; PT ARI's €6,045 card), Italy's component stack honestly ⚠ pending an official total. Renders in /route's Papers section.
Livelihood-reality machine layer: minimum/average wage, average pension, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold in euros (national statistics offices; vintages stated), and unemployment (Eurostat, reference period stated) — feeding the /costs livelihood card and the compare unemployment row. Definitional caveats travel with the numbers; ⚠️ fields (none seeded) stay in the research file.
Integration audit: §3.9 brings the buyer's 2%-vs-9% residence trap, prezzo-valore and the LTV split into the body from the expenses research, where it had lived only in the Notebook's fine print. No new facts — the same verified figures, now where a §3 reader meets them.
Three closures from primary sources read directly (browser pass): attitude_foreign re-based to Ease of Settling In — 24th of 46 (score 49, was 20) from InterNations' own full-ranking infographic; the biggest single correction of the switch, and an honest one — Italy's settling-in experience is notably warmer than its bottom-10 overall rank, which mixes in work/finance/admin measured elsewhere. FRA figures from the report PDF (Figs. 8–9): 44%/33% among African-descent respondents — highest of our three surveyed, at the EU-13 average. child_wellbeing narrative added (UNICEF Report Card 19; Italy one of only two countries where child overweight fell substantially).
Investor + student document checklists (Task 6 final tour): Investor Visa (9 items) — the structural point stated up front: apply → approve → invest, so no capital is risked before the Nulla Osta, and the source-of-funds file is the item most likely to trigger the 30-day supplementary clock. Student (7 items) with the a.y. 2026/27 threshold and the Universitaly/CIMEA sequence. Criminal-record windows stay at Italy's own 180 days.
Route document checklists (Task 6): documents layer on the ERV (10 items) and DNV (11 items) for /route's Papers section. Italy-verified validity windows: criminal record and family civil-status certificates carry 180 days — Italy's own 6-month rule, not Spain's 90 (verified per-country, never copied). The rejection causes stated plainly: unregistered leases and hospitality letters (ERV accommodation), missing Schengen wording or a 6-month term on insurance, employment income on a passive-income file, and the CIMEA/Dichiarazione di Valore bottleneck on the DNV. Mirrors §2 and the consular sources; no Nulla Osta on the DNV noted as the route's simplifier.
'Living Here' dimensions (§6e): climate matcher; religion (no Islam intesa noted); safety (femicide defined 2025, EPI 71); politics (Meloni right, restrictive); place (61 UNESCO world #1, 21.7% protected plateaued, shortage NUMBERS/Flussi, €1-house ~€48.5k all-in). Climate off the Life Fit engine.
Visa government fees on the routes (livelihood module, final piece): fee_note per visa — nationality-varying consular fees stated as varying, fixed totals as fixed (GR €1,016; PT ARI's €6,045 card), Italy's component stack honestly ⚠ pending an official total. Renders in /route's Papers section.
Livelihood-reality machine layer: minimum/average wage, average pension, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold in euros (national statistics offices; vintages stated), and unemployment (Eurostat, reference period stated) — feeding the /costs livelihood card and the compare unemployment row. Definitional caveats travel with the numbers; ⚠️ fields (none seeded) stay in the research file.
Integration audit: §3.9 surfaces the DL 97/2026 flat 7.5% non-resident IMT, the resident scale, Selo, the under-35 exemption and the LTV split in the body — previously only in the expenses layer. No new facts; the residence-first sequencing advice now sits where a buyer reads about money.
Three closures from primary sources read directly (browser pass): attitude_foreign re-based to Ease of Settling In — 16th of 46 (score 67), confirmed from InterNations' own full-ranking infographic (the third-party 16/46 quote held). FRA figures from the report PDF (Figs. 8–9): 26%/16% among African-descent respondents — the lowest of our three surveyed, well below the EU-13 average and improved since 2016 — the strongest verified openness signal in the set. child_wellbeing narrative added (UNICEF Report Card 19; Portugal highest of the four overall but weak on skills).
Investor + student document checklists (Task 6 final tour): Golden Visa (8 items) — the fund-era reality stated plainly (property no longer qualifies; €500k CMVM fund dominant; in-country AIMA filing via PoA; the 7-days/year presence advantage acknowledged as a tracked commitment); D4 student (7 items) at the €920/mo minimum-wage peg. Criminal-record windows at Portugal's 90 days.
Route document checklists (Task 6): documents layer on the D7 (10 items) and D8 (11 items) for /route's Papers section. Portugal-verified windows: criminal record 90 days at submission. The two Portuguese prerequisites stated up front — NIF and bank account must exist BEFORE filing (both remote-obtainable). Rejection causes named: passive-vs-active income confusion between D7 and D8 (the most common refusal), the parked-savings expectation (€11,040 single), short-term bookings as accommodation proof, travel-only insurance — and the D8's headline trap, the income threshold tested at the appointment date, not the application date. Mirrors §2 and the MNE/AIMA sources.
'Living Here' dimensions (§6e): climate matcher (mildest of four); religion; safety (femicide structurally undefined — permanent narrative; EPI 67 lowest despite cleanest air); politics (Chega surge, Lei 61/2025 restrictive turn); place (17 UNESCO, 34.8% protected, MOST tourism-dependent 21.3%, subsidies mechanism, Emprego Interior MAIS). Climate off the Life Fit engine.
Visa government fees on the routes (livelihood module, final piece): fee_note per visa — nationality-varying consular fees stated as varying, fixed totals as fixed (GR €1,016; PT ARI's €6,045 card), Italy's component stack honestly ⚠ pending an official total. Renders in /route's Papers section.
Livelihood-reality machine layer: minimum/average wage, average pension, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold in euros (national statistics offices; vintages stated), and unemployment (Eurostat, reference period stated) — feeding the /costs livelihood card and the compare unemployment row. Definitional caveats travel with the numbers; ⚠️ fields (none seeded) stay in the research file.
Integration audit (Cihan's review): §3.9 surfaces the purchase/transfer-tax reality in the body — regional ITP with Galicia's 8/6/4 rural ladder and the honest cross-set contrast — previously this lived only in the expenses layer's fine print. No new facts; the verified expenses research now reads organically where a buyer would look for it.
Three closures from primary sources read directly (browser pass): attitude_foreign re-based to the Ease of Settling In sub-index — 13th of 46 (score 73), from InterNations' own 2025 full-ranking infographic; all four countries now sit on the same basis, ending the mixed-basis problem flagged in Task 5. FRA figures pulled from the report PDF itself (Being Black in the EU, Figs. 8–9): 37% (5-yr) / 23% (12-mo) racial discrimination among African-descent respondents vs EU-13 45%/34%. child_wellbeing added as an unscored narrative (UNICEF Report Card 19) — wellbeing, not safety; the four cluster too closely for an honest ranking.
Student-visa document checklist (Task 6 final tour): 9 items on the student entry — the 2025-tightened rules stated plainly (medical certificate mandatory for ALL student stays since 20 May 2025; passport ≥1 year under RD 1155/2024; stamped original bank statements, screenshots rejected; federal-level criminal check). The investor slot deliberately carries NO checklist: the Golden Visa was terminated 3 Apr 2025 (LO 1/2025) and the entry already says so — an absence explained, not a gap.
Route document checklists (Task 6 pilot, structure LOCKED): documents machine layer on the NLV and DNV — every item with its conservative validity window at submission (criminal record & medical: 90 days), the catch that gets files rejected (stamped bank statements, no-copay wording, IHR-2005 phrasing), and government-only official_url. Mirrors §2 key-documents rows + the official consular sources; the single most common refusal cause across sources is a document that was valid when obtained but expired by submission.
'Living Here' dimensions (§6e) filled with verified data: climate as a MATCHER (not a Life Fit score); religion (factual); full safety picture (women 2.0/100k, workers, environment EPI 74/rank 14 — highest of four); politics (PSOE centre-left, Vox regional); place & opportunity (50 UNESCO, 28.1% protected, tourism ~16%, shortage LIST, aldeas-for-sale). Climate removed from Life Fit engine.
Content pass (chat tasks 1–4): in-country audit — DNV marked abolished_2026 (Law 5275/2026 closed the tourist-entry route in February — the set's sharpest contrast with Spain's open UGE); startup honesty section added (§2.6) — Greece has NO founder visa: the €250k route is an investment class and the 2026 Tech Visa is employees-only; partner recognition registered — σύμφωνο συμβίωσης, same-sex included, plus foreign same-sex marriages since the 2024 equality law; DNV clarifier — the one country whose legal name is literally "Digital Nomad Visa".
Pet-wizard machine layer: pets block mirroring §5.1 (mainland BIPs, accompanied-vs-cargo distinction, bilingual EN/EL certificate, rabies-free-since-2014 context). No new facts.
Safety raw enriched from the GPI 2026 report PDF: score 1.828, 29th of 33 regionally, and the honest mechanism — rank rose two places while the score slipped (+0.010), improvement relative to others, not absolute. Edition-alignment note: Greece's WJP 2025 / GPI 2026 figures were the reference the other three files were re-based to; both "editions differ" flags on the comparison screen now clear.
Cost-calculator machine layer: costs block from the verified cost data (Athens full ranges; Thessaloniki and Larissa carry notes rather than invented totals; insurance range deliberately ⚠️ unsourced).
Route-simulator machine layer: processing_weeks for FIP and DNV (both 4–13 weeks) + timeline block (AFM/bank gateway, EFKA insurance reality, full driving test). Student visa deliberately carries no timing data while its threshold stays ⚠️; school window left empty pending education verification. No new facts.
Second verification pass. Closed: work visa (labour market test, 1.5x salary benchmark for highly qualified, Talent and Specialized Personnel routes, no click-day), student visa (40-day permit deadline, 20 hrs/week, €150 renewal — financial threshold left deliberately shown as contested), pets (mainland BIPs plus the authorised island airports, and the accompanied-vs-cargo distinction that decides the flight booking; bilingual EN/EL health certificate mandatory; rabies-free since 2014), customs (certificate of repatriation obtained *before* departure; owner present at Piraeus; 6-month vehicle ownership), bureaucracy and first-90-days, RSF 2026 (86th of 180 — last in the EU) and animal welfare (Law 4830/2021 "Argos"). Added dual_citizenship_allowed: true per the updated template. Remaining ⚠️: student financial threshold (genuinely contested across sources), education costs, banking detail, customs deadlines, accessibility and Expat Insider — plus the edition mismatch on WJP and GPI flagged in §6.
Initial version, built on the Spain/Italy/Portugal prototype structure. Confirmed for 2026: Golden Visa tiers €250k/€400k/€800k with the 120 m² single-property rule and the short-term-rental ban (Law 5100/2024); FIP and DNV both at €3,500/month; Law 5275/2026 abolished in-country Digital Nomad applications from 5 February 2026; Law 5246/2025 reformed income-tax brackets to 9–44% from 1 January 2026; the three tax regimes (Art. 5A/5B/5C) all in force; citizenship at 7 years with dual nationality permitted; Türkiye is absent from the Greek driving-licence conversion lists; air quality deteriorated over 30% to 3× the WHO guideline. Open ⚠️: work and student visas, pets, customs and vehicles, education, banking detail, and four Life Fit values (press freedom, animal welfare, accessibility, Expat Insider).
Content pass (chat tasks 1–4): in-country audit — DNV/ERV strictly consular at the consulate of jurisdiction (Investor post-Nulla-Osta step ⚠️ unconfirmed); Italia Startup Visa added (§2.8) — €50k liquid, committee-gated, honestly framed inside the 650/yr quota; partner recognition registered — Law 76/2016 civil unions (incl. same-sex) count, unregistered cohabitation does not; DNV clarifier — the decree literally names both "digital nomads" (freelancers) and "remote workers" (employees) in one visa.
Pet-wizard machine layer: pets block mirroring §5.1 (mainland-only entry for Sicily/Sardinia, ASL registration, Reg 2026/131 re-verify note). No new facts.
Edition alignment, from primary sources: rule of law re-based to WJP 2025 (34/143, score 0.66, down two places) and safety to GPI 2026 (35/163, score 1.712). Two corrections recorded: our previous GPI 2025 figure (33rd) was wrong — the 2026 report implies Italy was 35th in 2025 too, with no rank movement; and the Italian press reports of a "fall from 33rd to 35th" conflict with the IEP's own change column — the primary source governs, and the conflict is flagged inline rather than resolved silently.
Cost-calculator machine layer: costs block mirroring §3.5 (nine city rows, Feb 2026 vintage). Palermo deliberately carries no total-with-rent figure — the file only verifies "≈€940 excluding rent", and we don't do arithmetic on top of verified numbers. Insurance: SSN voluntary floor noted; no private range invented.
Route-simulator machine layer: processing_weeks per visa (ERV 9–13, DNV 4–13, Investor 6–12, student 2–13) + timeline block (8-working-day permesso deadline, licence conversion within 1 year / agreement expiry 2028, January school window). No new facts — mirrors §§2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.2–5.3.
Last open ⚠️ closed. Digital-government indicator migrated to the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) — the data-model decision applied to all countries. Italy: EGDI 0.8356 — 51st of 193 (2024), essentially flat since 2022; but the Online Service Index fell from 0.8659 to 0.7624, confirming with official data what §4.5 observed anecdotally: the digital layer sits on top of processes that haven't kept up. Honest note for Turkish users: Türkiye ranks 27th — above both Italy (51st) and Portugal (49th) — so a move to Italy is a step *down* in digital government. 📅 EGDI 2026 edition expected ~September 2026. File is now fully content-complete for v1.
Second verification pass; all open items closed except one. Resolved: the student-visa "conflict" was two different academic years (€6,947.33 for a.y. 2025/26 → €10,179.85 from a.y. 2026/27); impatriate regime fully specified (50%/60%, €600k cap, 3-year prior non-residence, 4-year stay commitment with clawback); self-employment quota is 650 places/year nationally; education enrolment window and *Dichiarazione di Valore*; Law 82/2025 "Brambilla Law" on animal protection; Access City Award 2026 (Piacenza finalist); Expat Insider 2025: Italy 37th of 46. Remaining ⚠️: digital-government indicator — DESI no longer published as a standalone index, so both Italy and Spain need a single current comparator before launch.
Initial version, built on the Spain prototype structure. Confirmed for 2026: lump-sum flat tax raised to €300,000 (2026 Budget Law, L. 199/2025, from 1 Jan 2026); 7% pensioner flat tax expanded to municipalities up to 30,000 inhabitants (L. 34/2026 art. 26, from 7 Apr 2026); Flussi 2026–2028 quotas of 497,550 with 2026 click days in Jan–Feb; Investor Visa still active (unlike Spain's terminated Golden Visa); Italy–Türkiye driving licence agreement in force to 18 July 2028; SSN voluntary enrolment €2,000 floor. Open ⚠️: student-visa financial threshold (two conflicting 2026 figures), self-employment quota detail, animal-welfare index value, accessibility, DESI, Expat Insider placement.
Content pass (chat tasks 1–4): in-country audit — D-visas consular-first, then the AIMA stage (D2/ARI in-country practice ⚠️ to confirm); StartUP Visa added (§2.7) — incubator-gated, ~€11,040/founder, €325k five-year target; partner recognition de_facto — 2-year união de facto, 2026 evidentiary tightening stated; D8 clarifier — officially the Residence Visa for Remote Work, temporary-stay vs residence variants.
Pet-wizard machine layer: pets block mirroring §5.1 (PEV list incl. island airports, 48-hour written Notice of Arrival, inspection fees). No new facts.
Edition alignment, from primary sources: rule of law re-based to WJP 2025 (29/143, score 0.67) and safety to GPI 2026 (7/163, score 1.427). Correction recorded: the previous GPI 2025 figure (7th) was slightly off — Portugal was 8th in 2025 and rose one place. Notably, Portugal is the only country of the four whose peace score genuinely improved this edition.
Cost-calculator machine layer: costs block mirroring §3.5 (five city rows + the low-salary honesty note, Jan 2026 vintage; insurance €40–100/mo verified band).
Route-simulator machine layer: processing_weeks per visa — honestly using the *practice* figures, not the official ones, where they diverge (D8 26–39 weeks per the AIMA backlog; Golden Visa 52–156) — plus a timeline block (120-day entry window, AIMA stage, atestado's 4-month customs link, licence-optional note). No new facts — mirrors §§2, 4.4, 5.2–5.4.
Second verification pass; all open items closed. Filled: D2 (no minimum investment, €5,000 share capital, no quota), D4 student visa (€920/mo, part-time work, counts toward the clock), banking (NIF obtainable remotely — the gentlest sequencing of the three), education (median €12,000/yr international, plus the 15–25% above-tuition reality), pet entry points including Madeira, Terceira and Ponta Delgada — the islands ARE approved, unlike Italy's, customs (*certificado de bagagem*, 4-month *atestado* window) and the ISV vehicle exemption. Life Fit completed: RSF 10th/83.71, WJP 28/142, CPI 56/rank 46, GPI 7th, Expat Insider 17th/46, animal welfare (Lei 8/2017). Two first-draft estimates corrected: rule of law is 28th (behind Spain's 25th, not ahead) and CPI is 56 (not ~63). One item deliberately left unscored: accessibility, where no Portuguese city appears in the Access City Award — recorded as *not recognised*, not *not accessible*.
Initial version, built on the Spain/Italy prototype structure. The headline change of the year: the Nationality Law was rewritten and the citizenship wait doubled from 5 to 10 years (7 for EU/CPLP nationals), promulgated 3 May 2026 and in force from mid-May. Also confirmed for 2026: minimum wage €920 → D7 €920/mo and D8 €3,680/mo; Golden Visa alive but real-estate-free; IFICI (NHR 2.0) operating with pensions excluded; AIMA backlog ~30,000 cases; Türkiye confirmed on the IMT's OECD driving-licence list. Open ⚠️: five Life Fit values, D2 and student visa detail, education, pets/customs specifics.
Content pass (chat tasks 1–4): in-country application audit — the UGE route confirmed as the only tourist-entry income-visa filing in the Latitude set (3-year permit; no-conversion nuance stated); Entrepreneur/Startup Visa added (§2.8) — no minimum capital, the ENISA report is the whole gate; partner recognition encoded de_facto (12 months' documented cohabitation, RD 1155/2024); DNV clarifier — officially the International Teleworking Visa; Beckham applies to employed holders only. New machine fields: in_country_application, startup_visa, partner_recognition, official_name/covers.
Edition alignment, from primary sources: rule of law re-based to WJP 2025 (25/143, score 0.71) and safety to GPI 2026 (27/163, score 1.654). Correction recorded: the previous GPI 2025 figure (25th) was wrong — the 2026 report's change column shows Spain was 31st in 2025 and rose four places; the stale value came from a secondary summary. Honest framing kept: Spain's own peace score barely moved — it climbed because others fell faster.
Cost-calculator machine layer: costs block mirroring the §3.4 table exactly (six city rows with rent + total ranges, Jan 2026 vintage stamp, insurance bands). Open-ended figures stay open-ended (Madrid "€2,500+"), no line items invented.
Route-simulator machine layer added: processing_weeks per visa (NLV 8–16, DNV 4–6, student 4–8) and a structured timeline block (post-arrival steps with the TIE 30-day and canje 6-month deadlines; school-window trap). No new facts — every figure mirrors §§2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.3.
Data model: dual_citizenship_allowed upgraded from a boolean to "treaty_only" with the treaty list (Ibero-American countries, Andorra, Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, France). A plain "no" would wrongly tell a Brazilian or Portuguese user that Spain crosses their hard line — the nuance is load-bearing for exactly the people the filter protects. §2.7 already documented the exceptions; the machine layer now matches it.
Three comparative notes corrected after Portugal's primary-data verification: rule of law (Portugal is 28/142, behind Spain — not ahead), corruption (Portugal 56, not ~63), safety (Portugal is 7th precisely). Two verified enrichments added: animal-welfare chronology (Portugal 2017 → Spain/Italy 2022 → Italy's 2025 penalties) and Portugal's island pet-entry points. Root cause: the notes were drafted before Portugal was verified. New editorial rule adopted: a ⚠️-flagged value must never be quoted into another file — estimates stay quarantined until verified.
Comparative notes merged throughout: italic parentheticals beside the facts they compare (citizenship/renunciation, income thresholds, tax regimes incl. the retiree comparison, healthcare buy-in costs, driving licence terms, Life Fit indicators vs Italy and Portugal). Matches the treatment introduced in the Italy file — the comparison screen will surface these automatically.
Data-model fix applied to all countries: the digital-government indicator migrated from EU DESI (discontinued as a standalone index in 2023) to the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), chosen for its global coverage (193 countries) and biennial cycle. Spain: EGDI 0.9206 — 17th of 193 (2024), OSI 0.9054 (up from 0.8559 in 2022). 📅 EGDI 2026 edition expected ~September 2026 — check at annual review.
Life Fit Index completed: GPI 2025 (25/163), Expat Insider 2025 healthcare #1 & Quality of Life #1, life expectancy 84.0 (top 3 EU), Access City Award record (Zaragoza 2026, La Laguna 2024), air quality (IQAir), animal welfare milestones (2022 Civil Code sentience, 2023 national law). All research ⚠️ resolved — file is content-complete for v1.
Third verification pass; all research gaps closed except five Life Fit Index annual-report values. Filled: work-visa/SEPE shortage-list mechanics, banking, education costs, Galicia wealth tax (50%, Atriga), Spain–Türkiye DTT (2002/2004), vehicle import (Modelo 06, 60 days), EIU (8.13), RSF 2026 (29/180), CPI (55), WJP (25/142), DESI.
Second verification pass: student visa, arraigo reform, Beckham/wealth/solidarity tax, Convenio fees, Türkiye–Spain driving license exchange, customs relief, ILGA Rainbow Map 2026.
Initial version. Built on the closed discovery index (Germany's four rows: work/startup/family/settlement) + fresh 2026 verification of: Chancenkarte/Blue Card structure (threshold conflict flagged), §21 self-employment + EEC-Turkey standstill, family A1/Blue-Card-exemption/Dogan/parents-exceptional-hardship, Niederlassungserlaubnis + 2024 citizenship reform + 3-year-route abolition (30 Oct 2025), Turkish driving-licence test requirement (Anlage 11 FeV), the 1964 social-security treaty (health covered), Merz-government orientation, and the pet/Listenhunde chain incl. the Kangal/Caucasian-Shepherd state-list catch.
Initial version. Confirmed: IPREM frozen at €600/month for 2026; SMI raised to €1,221 × 14 payments (Royal Decree 126/2026, Feb 2026); Golden Visa termination (3 Apr 2025) reflected.
Each entry mirrors a change already applied to its country file — no fact lives only in this ledger. Sections are the living truth; this page is the history.