Emigration Notes

[I doubt the following post has much useful information.  I think that almost any country will accept someone and their family temporarily if they have money and is willing to work the system.  You may not be able to be a permanent resident, but the only permanent residents are the dead.  The more money you have the more you can work the system and achieve your will.  Therefore, if you want to live in another country or emigrate, I suggest you get as much money as possible and nothing will be refused you].

The following is a collection of notes I have put together on the topic of moving to another country.  It is sourced from experiences of people I know and things I have read, mostly on the Internet.   I know a few people who have been thinking about moving on.  I personally always romanticized the concept of an ex-patriot community, you know, like Paris Between the Wars.  

But on a less pleasant note, it may be that Trump will win a second term and call out the army if anyone dares to protest der Fuhrer's desires in any way.  If that happens, I really dont want to be here.

I need to emphasize that I am not writing from personal experience.  And I suspect from other things in life that until you do something like this you do not really know what is involved.  

I do have a few general suggestions though, that I hope are completely non-controversial.  First, if you have never lived in the target country,  consider visiting that country for 12 weeks or so on a tourist visa and see how you like it.  Second, be leery of things you read on the internet (like this post) because it is very likely you may be reading information that is incomplete or out-of-date.  Third, start the process now because if your experience is like many other people's experience, it will take a long time.

This is in no particular order.

First, archaeologists and prehistorians argue endlessly about how much migration has existed in human history.  Some say a lot, some say very little.  But what is undeniable is that migration has been a part of the known history of the world since we started keeping records and writing things down.  

Second, You will find Internet web sites that imply that it is easy to move to another country.  As far as I can tell, this is obvious nonsense (at least in the general case).  Alternatively, you will find other internet web sites (or friends in the target countries) who will tell you that it is impossible to move to their country, even though we all know people who have done it.  There is some weird psychology here.

A good example of a website with probably helpful information is: https://www.globalcitizensolutions.com/easiest-countries-to-immigrate-to/

You may choose to emigrate through the front door.  But many people I know have used one of the standard exceptions.  Although the rules will change per country, most countries do seem to have some sort of allowance for each of these.  There are three general classes of exception that I am aware of: the marriage exception, the employment exception, and the student/teacher exception.  First, it seems that if you marry a citizen of another country, in general that country will make allowances for you to move there to live with your spouse.  So there you are, no problem!  Just get married.

Second, if you can get a company in another country to want to hire you, and they can get the necessary paperwork done, then that other country will make allowances for you to move there to work.   This opportunity comes and goes, it is very situational, and there are always limits.  But there was a time when people with certain technical skills involving computers and visual effects were permitted to spend years in Canada, the UK, New Zealand and so forth working at very reasonable salaries.  Most of those countries will have a program where, after a certain number of years, you and your family can be naturalized as a citizen.  However, you have to act on this when it happens because this sort of situation and program comes and goes.  Finally, it seems that most countries will make provisions for people to come to study in their country if you can get accepted at an accredited institution.  A variation on that is to be a professor that a university wants to bring over to teach.  

Other than the marriage exception, none of these other approaches guarantee you the right to be a resident or citizen in the long run.  There may be a path to citizenship but there may not be and it always involves work.

Fourth, there are a number of special exceptions to the front door on a country by country basis.  Italy will make allowances for a certain subset of descendants of those who left Italy to apply for and get Italian citizenship.  I know someone who has done this and it wasnt easy and it took him years.  The country of Israel will make allowances for a Jew to return to Israel.  The issue of how a Jew is defined is non trivial in some cases but in most cases it is straightforward.   There are some European countries that have made allowances for Jews who survived the Holocaust to apply for and get citizen ship.  Again, it isnt easy.  Other countries will "do it for the money".  They will let you move there if you make a 500K or whatever investment and there are probably some other rules.  Recently there has been a special "entrepreneurial exception" in some countries, such as the Netherlands.  In this situation, if you are willing to come to the Netherlands and start a new company in a trendy area, they will provide the visas for you to do so.

Another approach which is straightforward and often used is to simply go to that country as a tourist, and return to this country when the time limit is reached.  There are lots of variations on this approach but I have had friends who have lived in Mexico for years on a tourist visa who every six months or so have to come back to the USA to get their visa renewed.  The European Union will let you do this, but you can only spend 3 months out of every year in any EU country but these rules change and need to be verified.

But if you do not qualify for an exception, and do not want to try anything temporary, then you may want to try the front door.  Those countries are looking for people who are going to bring something to their country and not be a burden on their system.  It will be helpful to speak the language. It will be helpful if you are not there to take a job from another person, but bring some unique skills.  An advanced degree is often helpful as is a specific, desirable skill, such as being a medical doctor.  You should not have a criminal record, obviously.  And people do this kind of immigration every day of the week.  But it will probably take a long time, you may very well need an immigration specialist (aka attorney) in the destination country.  It would be helpful to have a high tolerance for bureaucracy.

You should not be surprised if what you read on the internet turns out not to be true, or is incomplete, or was true once, but not really anymore.  That said, I know people who are not particularly rich who have emigrated to a country that is supposed to be difficult to go to, like New Zealand, and boom.  There they are.  Done.  

Remember, the rules matter, they are country specific, they will change over time, and you will probably need a specialist who will need to get paid to help you.  You must have a high tolerance for bureaucracies because you are very likely to need to deal with one in the target country to do this.

One final thing.  If you are thinking of doing this, dont wait for Trump to be president and call out the army.  First come will be first served, avoid the rush.  In these situations, as in so many others in our world, money and knowing people helps.

Addendum 7/15/2024

-- It seems to take 5 years for someone to get a residency visa for the USA to come here to work.  There are some out of pocket costs as well, they are not zero nor are they huge.   

-- It seems that many countries will now permit a visa for a year or so, maybe longer, based on the individual of another country wanting to do remote work.  This is new, it may not turn into permanent residency, but if you have work you can do remotely, it might enable you to spend a year or more in Spain or Croatia or Malta.