This article describes how to provide a realistic framework for your vision of a life abroad. These three decisions are not the entire picture. They don’t deal with your total vision but form a foundation to build on.
You have a feeling that a better life is out there? You are intrigued by articles about “Homes for a Dollar in Italy”, and “Living in a Tropical Paradise Without Income Taxes”. Articles you would have typically ignored. You begin to seek out publications that have indexes of the best places to live in the world. You read about countries with lower taxation, cost of living and inexpensive, excellent healthcare, a clean environment and investment opportunities not available to you now.
You may feel an emerging hope for a better life, but the realities of your day-to-day experiences suppress it. You experience competing mindsets. Make the best of what you have, dealing daily with the best of worst of your life today. It’s familiar, challenging but you believe, doable.
Or feed your emerging mindset that there may be a better life for you and those dear to you elsewhere. Exciting, potentially deeply rewarding, challenging, risky and time consuming.
Your thoughts about whether your life would be better abroad are persistent. You are not alone. Increasing numbers of Americans, Europeans and Canadians and many others hear that same call. Whether because of anxiety about job stress, retirement, social or political dissent, climate change or other reasons, you hope there is something better (perhaps much better) out there. You are bitten by the persistent mosquito that has been buzzing around in your head.
This series of articles focuses on the process of exploring living abroad, Scratching the itch from the relocation mosquito bite. This process is borne of our lived personal experience, not a checklist from a “Best Places to Retire”, or “Counties with the Lowest Cost of Living” article.
Frequently, the same things that keep you from exploring a life abroad are the same things that keep that dream alive. The first article in this series, “Putting the Mosquito to Rest”, addressed an approach to creating a vison of your best life, placing that vison in the context of moving abroad and determining if your vision compels you to act rather than simply daydream.
This requires your candid look at the things in your life that you can or wish to leave behind and those that you must have in your new vision of life. If you have not read the first article, “Putting the Mosquito to Rest”, focusing on creating that vision of your best life, I suggest you take a quick look because what follows will make more sense in that context.
Having created a compelling vison of your best life and having “virtually surveyed” a few countries in this context, you are ready to make this vision more real by understanding the major decisions you face. In our experience, a multitude of issues, opportunities and tasks flow from these foundational decisions.
Key Decisions
What Does it Mean to Move Abroad?
Your vision is one thing. It could just be a compelling daydream. Or, it could have become a project you pursue actively. But making it more real and realistic relies on exploring your foundational options in three areas. These are presented in the order we pursued them. But as we progressed to making our vision reality adding new information as we went, we changed or solidified decisions as all three came together.
Options for your life Abroad:
Nomadic- You may begin by living in several countries, sampling life in each, while exploring a more permanent choice. Many countries do not require any visas for stays of 60-90 days. Others use simple online form for temporary stays of up to a year. Still others offer special “digital nomad” visas that allow you to live and work in a country without special work permits.
Permanent Residency (PR)- this means that you are looking for a new home country. Permanent residency comes in different varieties. Some countries allow you to get an immediate permanent residency visa in a single step because you qualify in a particular class, like retiree, or investor. Other countries will issue a temporary visa for a couple of years and then enable you to have true permanent residency. Each category of PR visas has its own privileges and restrictions.
Frequently retiree visas do not allow you to work in a country (except perhaps online not engaging in commerce with that country’s citizens/businesses). Another distinction involves the time you must spend in a country when getting a visa. Some countries require only a brief stay every one or two years to keep a visa valid. Others require largely continuous residency.Citizenship- In some instances, you can apply directly for citizenship because of ancestry or family connections to a country. A few countries offer citizenship by investment, but these programs are becoming rarer and more expensive. Most naturalization processes require years of residency with an appropriate permanent visa to qualify to apply for citizenship. Be aware that some PR visas don’t permit citizenship. So, if a second passport is your goal, be aware of PR visa restrictions.
Very few countries prohibit dual or multiple citizenships. The US and Canada are not among them. PR visas usually enable you to purchase property, have bank and brokerage accounts in a country, and exercise most civil rights except voting. International travel is a privilege of a passport that comes with citizenship in one or more countries and not a residency visa.
These are presented as discrete options, but they are really a mix and match menu frequently evolving as your life, needs and desires change.
A Sustainable Livelihood (or retirement)
As you can tell from the prior discussion, how you make a living in a new country depends on visa requirements and restrictions.
If you have a remote work position (or business) this question may simply be one of comparing the visa privileges with your position requirements. You may want to work in a country for an employer there. Still, others may choose to work for a US, European or firm domiciled internationally and have an assignment based in your chosen country. Taxation can be a key issue. Friends report changing from an income tax rate above 35% to almost zero and enjoying a lower cost of living as well.
For internet solopreneurs, working from your chosen country may in fact be the easiest of all choices. It may or may not require a work permit. Some so-called nomadic visas include a work permit or inherently allow certain work. If you are a solopreneur or make a living through some variation, taxation regulations can be very favorable to you in many countries. Some countries like the U.S. offer significant exemptions for income earned abroad. Research taxation on international income in both your home country and those you are exploring.
Retirees may find the question of livelihood abroad easier if they have a form of social security, pension, or investment income. Many times, these income sources are not taxed in a home country or your chosen country of residence. Some retiree visas come with incentives reducing the cost of living. One country offers a legally mandated 25% discount on air and other transportation, and discounts on medicine, medical care, restaurants and entertainment. These are country specific, vary widely and are worth considering.
There is an abundance of options for your livelihood abroad. Explore these opportunities as you look for the just right country to live your best life.
Which Countries Fit You Best?
It is time for you to see yourself living your best life abroad. Choose a few countries that appeal to you and create fact sheets that match the country’s characteristics with your vision. Sound information on healthcare, education, economy, security and public safety and environmental quality is readily available to you. So too are insights into investment opportunities and finances. Put together a one pager on a handful of countries and evaluate them against your vision.
If you have two or three countries that appear to fit well with your vision of your best life, use Google Earth, YouTube videos, and other sources to put together virtual tours.
Make it a virtual adventure investigating not just the issues discussed as key decisions above, but also the culture, languages spoken, environment and places that you would put on your bucket list to explore in person. The decision is not just about the three key decisions, they’re the framework. It is also about fit. Tangible and intangible characteristics, that would make a country or locale compelling to you. Language, a welcoming environment for expats, cultural fit, financial stability and sustainability may be some of these.
Putting It All Together
Creating the Vision of Your Best Life “Putting the Mosquito to Rest”.
Making the decision to make it a project you work toward and not just a daydream.
Deciding which type of living abroad fits best you. Nomadic, temporary or permanent.
Exploring a sustainable livelihood or retirement.
Survey countries that interest you using the characteristics you value (described in your best life vison).
Once you have done this, you are ready to focus on one or two target countries that are worth your time exploring in depth. Exciting steps in this process await you if you are still scratching that mosquito bite- moving you toward moving abroad.