I’m going to be blunt–and hopefully also helpful
If you’ve reached the “I can’t take this anymore” stage with life in the US, I hope this article gives you some ideas and options on what you can do. This article is usurping the one I had planned to publish today. I woke up angry and upset, and determined to offer help in the best way I could — advice on how to leave, since we did that in 2017.
Yesterday, Roe V Wade fell at the feet of the Republican/Trump-stacked Supreme Court. They’ve already got a very scary laundry list of issues to tackle next (marriage equality, access to contraception, sex outside of marriage, and “separate but equal” racial segregation). It’s not looking good. If you aren’t a conservative, straight, white, male, or his obedient, submissive wife, or you just don’t want to live in a theocracy, you should be worried.
There’s not much people can do, anyway, but too many people are still in denial about the severity of what just happened. Even yesterday, another liberal told me that losing marriage equality won’t happen, that they “won’t take it that far.” This is the Supreme Court. There’s nothing to stop them. So, YES. It will happen. They WILL take it that far. Farther.
I’m not going to be an Umair Haque here. I like his doom-and-gloom-but-accurate articles, but he offers no real solutions. The rest of my article, I hope, does offer you some solutions.
Where to go?
To one of my social media “It’s time to leave” comments yesterday, someone said they’d have no idea where to go. Where to go is an excellent question. It depends on a lot of things. Do you want to be near a beach? Do you prefer city life? Are you into mountain climbing and hiking? Do you want to explore Europe? How willing are you to learn another language?
I suggest you do like we did: make a list of what you want for your life then research countries that meet the most items. Here was our list:
- Temperate climate
- Cost of living
- Quality and cost of healthcare
- Stable, liberal government
- Member of the EU to make travel easier
- Quality, variety, and cost of food
- Cleanliness of the cities
- Safe and with a low crime rate
- Ease of learning the language
- Friendliness and welcoming attitude of locals to expats
- Solid infrastructure (highways, trains, metros, modern airports)
- Easy access to the rest of Europe
- Easy access to a natural body of water
- No quarantine requirement for arriving pets
- A good variety of cultural events (festivals, ballet, opera)
Once you have your list, you can start looking for the country that best matches it and seems appealing. Here are some of the more popular countries for Americans:
Spain
I love Spain, and for me it’s perfect. It met every one of our “must” items. But I was able to retire here. Spain isn’t a good choice if you still want to work, at least for now. Spain is working on a Digital Nomad Visa, but it isn’t expected to be ready until the end of 2022. If you are retired, though, consider this amazing country. I’ve already written about it extensively, so I’m not going to repeat all that here.
Many people can live in Spain quite comfortably on just their Social Security. If you also have investments and savings, you can live like kings. Don’t let people who don’t actually know anything scare you about Spain’s “wealth tax” rates. You pretty much have to be “yacht wealthy” for it to apply, and with sliding scale and exemptions, even then it’s not that bad.
Here’s a very rough example. Say I had €2,000,000 in assets and I live in the Valencia Autonomous Community. Subtract that region’s €600,000 exemption and the two property exemptions (€300,000 each). That leaves taxable assets of €800,000. The sliding scale is hard to calculate here so let’s just pretend the average is .75%. That means on my 2 million Euros I’d pay €6000 in taxes. Also remember that property tax here is low. We pay €700/year for a house that would be taxed at €12,000/year in Texas. Then there’s healthcare. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average person pays $5460 out of pocket for medicare. Double that for couples. We pay €1908/year each for NHS coverage here. Even though we pay more in taxes, our NET cost to live here is absolutely less.
Bali
Bali has jumped on the Digital Nomad Visa bandwagon:
The planned digital nomad visa will be valid for five years. It will allow remote workers to live in the country tax-free, as long as their income derives from businesses based outside of Indonesia.
The special permit is designed to be a simple solution for foreigners wanting to work in the Asian country.
According to articles, Bali is an incredibly wonderful place to live and work, and there are many expatriates from all over the world living there. Many have opened businesses and made a living. Now, the Digital Nomad Visa will allow those with jobs based in other countries (including the US) to also live there.
Bali is also a wonderful place to retire. It’s a beautiful, tropical paradise with year-round warm weather, but it also has many other amazing plus points to consider. For one, the Balinese people are incredibly warm, helpful and welcoming and almost everybody speaks English.
Bali has excellent hospitals and high-quality medical care available 24-hours a day. Like many countries, Indonesia has both public and private hospitals. It is, however, a strongly Muslim country, so there are many religious-based laws.
Portugal
Portugal was our second choice to Spain, but it didn’t meet all our list items, in spite of having a lower tax rate than Spain. We didn’t choose it in part because we wanted to be on the Mediterranean instead of the Atlantic, we’d rather learn Spanish than Portuguese, and Spain’s train and highway system is better.
Portugal is a beautiful country and has a lot to offer: a warm climate, gorgeous and varied landscapes, miles of beaches (although not as many as Spain), and a relatively low cost of living. The country has a low crime rate, good education and healthcare, and ample tax advantages for residents. Most Portuguese in the bigger cities generally speak very good English, but that’s not the case in the smaller towns, so you’d have to learn some Portuguese.
There are a number of international companies in Portugal who will hire US citizens. Job opportunities in IT, marketing, and other tech/online fields are increasing. In addition, having a remote job likely makes you eligible for the D7 Visa & Residence Permit, a visa aimed at non-EU citizens who already have some form of passive income or a remote job that they can do from Portugal.
Canada
Although too cold for us, we know a number of people who have moved to Canada. Generally speaking, moving to Canada is not difficult. Canada is open to immigrants, including from the US, and offers several visa programs.
Most US citizens (there are a few exemptions) must receive a permit to work in Canada. However, you may apply for a work permit at a port of entry. Note that Canada has high tax rates compared to other countries. Citizens and residents pay many different types of taxes: income tax, property tax, provincial tax, tax on goods and services, and more. Depending on your salary, your tax rate could increase, although of course so would your received benefits. For most people, however, it would be cheaper to live in a metropolitan city in Canada than in the United States. This depends, of course, on the city you’re considering and your income tax bracket.
Canada is safe, peaceful, welcoming, and friendly. Canadian winters can be harsh, however, so bear that in mind when considering heading north across the border.
Mexico
Mexico is home to more American expats than any other country in the world. It has a very laid-back culture, and Mexicans are genuinely friendly. We have friends who moved to Mexico and love their life there. We wanted to have Europe as our “backyard” so Mexico wasn’t even on our potential list, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be perfect for you.
Mexico has a rich history and hundreds of historic locations to explore. Its eastern side is on the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, while its western shores are the colder, stormier Pacific Ocean. Mexico also offers mountains, desert, and tropical forests.
Big cities in Mexico are modern and offer quality metro and subway systems. Outside of the large cities, however, infrastructure still lags. some areas suffer regular power outages and high-speed internet isn’t readily available. Police corruption is still a big problem.
Unfortunately, some parts of Mexico are quite unsafe, so you’d have to be careful where you traveled if you decided to go on a jaunt around the country. Mexico does not have the same infrastructure as most of Europe, so travel might not be as easy as hopping on a train or zooming down the highway.
Costa Rica
We have friends who moved to Costa Rica and love it. It’s a beautiful country that spans east-to-west across Central America. It’s considered the safest country to live in Central America, however, it’s still considered a Third World country because the poor outnumber the middle class and the rich.
An estimated 50,000 Americans live in Costa Rica, according to the U.S. State Department. Many of them are Baby Boomers who retired there to enjoy the country’s tropical beaches, biodiversity, political stability, and cheap health care. Costa Rica has excellent private hospitals and healthcare for a fraction of costs in the US.
Like most countries, Costa Rica offers residency visas for those who can prove external income. It’s difficult to get a job in Costa Rica, so it’s best considered a desirable retirement location. If you can retire there, however, you’ll have a wonderful experience, especially if you love nature, beaches, and a laid-back lifestyle.
Tools to help you decide
No one can make such a complex decision for you. I can recommend Spain all day long but it might not be right for you at all. There are a ton of articles listing the “best places in the world to live” but those all use their own criteria, which might not be yours. For example, they usually recommend Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway at the top, but those places are too cold for me. You might be happier with less developed infrastructure but an awesome beach and great food.
Here are some tools you can use to help you research.
Numbeo
Numbeo is the world’s largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide. It’s my #1 recommendation for helping others do research. You can use it to research one location, or compare two locations, such as where you live now and where you are considering. You get more data if you register, but it’s free.
Here’s a screen shot comparing Gandia Spain, near where we live now, and Austin Texas, near where we used to live. Below this summary box I’ve included is a long list of details, such as cost for housing (rental and purchase), different food products (eggs, milk, meat, cheese, fresh veggies, etc.), transportation costs (bus, taxi, owning a car, etc.), and more, so you can do a thorough comparison.
Teleport
Although I have not used Teleport, this article in Smithsonian Magazine recommends it as a great way to find out where to live based on your lifestyle. Here’s one screen from their comprehensive choices, so you can see the kind of information it uses to help you decide.
Expatica
This article in Expatica includes a lot of great checklist information and tips.
What to do once you decide
Yay, you’ve chosen a new country! Um… what now? Here are some things I recommend:
1) Research the qualifications and paperwork you need
Regardless of where you decide you’d like to move, you’ll need a residency visa. Every country has multiple options with specific requirements for each. Each country has web sites that list the specific requirements and paperwork required to obtain a residence visa. Qualifications include health status, income/savings, work status, and more. Some countries include more strict requirements like age. Years ago Eric and I looked into moving to Australia, but we were “too old” (in our 40s!) so would not be allowed. (Maybe that’s changed since then.) You might find after this step that you need to consider your second choice instead.
2) Go there
This may sound like a “well, duh” point, but we know several people who literally moved sight-unseen to a new country. Take a vacation to the location but don’t do all the vacationy stuff. Instead, go to the local supermarkets, hang out at the local cafes that are away from tourist areas, cook your own food, etc. In other words, try to live like a local as much as you can. The worst that happens is you decide it’s not a place you want to live after all, but you still got a great trip.
3) Join applicable social media groups
This one can be invaluable, because it gives you access to others who have gone before you. On Facebook, there are groups for Americans in Spain as a whole, for expats from all over the world living in Spain, for specific regions or cities, etc. I belong to half a dozen and they are a huge help in everything from filling out paperwork to finding a good dentist. If you’re interested in Spain, I highly recommend American Expatriates in Spain.
Social media groups are also a great place to ask for recommendations if you decide you want to use the services of a relocation specialist. I can recommend some for the Valencia region of Spain, but know nothing about other parts of the country, and certainly not for any other countries at all.
4) Get your current life organized and purge, purge, purge
I wrote about this with respect to our move to Spain. I wrote more about it again as we got closer to our move. I’m not going to repeat it all here, but suffice it to say that the less you move with you, the cheaper the move will be and the freer you’ll feel in your new destination. Multiple people have responded to my posts that they can’t afford to move. Our move was more expensive because we brought four large dogs, Eric’s racing motorcycle and tools, and my pottery studio. We have friends who moved with two suitcases each. Their move wasn’t much more than the cost of their airline tickets. Even the visa application and all the associated paperwork is only around a thousand dollars.
5) Set a date and make it happen
Again, this might seem obvious, but I have multiple friends who are absolutely committed to moving “at some point” but they keep dragging their feet. There’s no particular reason other than a big change like this can feel scary and overwhelming. But as Nike says, Just Do It. Set a date and go for it. Waiting isn’t going to make the paperwork easier. Your tons of stuff isn’t going to grow any smaller. What will happen is that you’ll grow older while still waiting for “the right time” to actually move. Now. Now is the right time.
I chose to leave after the 2016 election. Now, watching the house of cards starting to fall, I am more convinced than ever that I did the right thing. Plus, even after five years I have zero regrets and still feel like I’m living a dream.
I hope I’ve inspired you and helped you realize that you can do it, too. This article is by no means a thorough analysis about uprooting your life and moving to another country. I hope, however, that it has given some of you a place to start.
