I’ve had a lot of folks reach out to ask me if I can advise them on how to get out of the US in the last few days. It’s not a thing that one can do well on the fly. But – here are a few things I know. I hop it will be a start for those who are exploring their options.
Getting Out Is Easy
Finding someplace else that will let you stay is where the work is.
The U.N. presently recognizes 195 countries. With a U. S. Passport, you can get on a plane and travel to 116 of them. Another 50 will require you to do a visa form on arrival. 6 more do eTAs, a sort of electronic travel authorization. But every one of these is a tourist entry, generally good for 30-90 days, after which you can be expelled for overstaying your visa.
Permission to live there is another matter. And the process is unique to each country. Some will allow you to travel there on a tourist visa and then apply for residency from within the country. Others (like Portugal) require you to apply from your country of citizenship.
So – step one is finding countries you can viably go to and stay.
What “stay” looks like may vary. If you have safety concerns, and are more worried about getting to someplace safe and then making long term decisions, it may be sufficient to hope a plane to “someplace else” and decide from there. If you’re moving a family and small children, “stay” may look like needing to put kids in school, and having a full plan before you start the process.
Start with a clear picture of what you’re looking for, short and long term. This will allow you to narrow the list to countries that can met your needs.
Understanding Visas
There are, it seems, about a million kinds of visa, and the terminology gets confusing. If you’re looking to make a move, here are some visa basics to understand.
A visa is a document that allows you to enter a country temporarily
Short Stay visas allow you to enter a country for a short visit. Tourist visas are the most common, and in many cases (for a U. S. Citizen) treaties exist to allow that visa to be auto-granted so that the process is transparent. But have no doubt – get on a plane and travel to another country, and you’re there on a visa. If you haven’t done some other intentional thing, it’s a short stay visa and your authorized time has limits.
Long stay visas allow you to enter a country for a more extended but still finite time. For example, when we came to Portugal, we came on a “D7 long stay” visa which allowed us to be in the country for four months – long enough to apply for residence. After that, our presence in the country is based on application for and granting of a resident’s permit.
Work visas generally require you to have a job in the country, sponsored by an employer who pays for your visa. This is generally limited to specialty fields for which there is high demand (IT, medicine, and accounting are frequent job fields on the high need list. Some countries also prioritize tradesmen such as electricians).
You Need Income
You don’t have to be rich – though it certainly opens up options – but you do need to be able to support yourself. Any country that gives you a chance to live there is going to want to know that you are coming to contribute, or can take care of yourself. Just like the US, most non-citizens are not eligible for government benefits and services. (Unlike the US, many countries have different categories and, for example, would not refuse healthcare to someone in need because that’s considered a human right rather than a privilege.) Some options to consider:
- Jobs. If you have a local employer who will sponsor your visa, great!
- Remote work. Many countries now have digital nomad visas that allow you to live there while working elsewhere. You’re contributing to the economy and not competing with locals for scarce jobs, so it’s a win. Be sure to check the limits on these visas – some of them can be renewed, some can’t. Some folks love the adventure of going someplace new every year, while some will prefer a bit of permanence.
- Self-employment is OK. If you can show a few years of business records demonstrating that your business is profitable enough to support you, many countries will allow it.
- Savings may or may not work. It helps – but it’s not income. Countries vary.
- Investments might. Even if yo don’t use it, gains from investments can count as income. That includes your 401K in some circumstances.
- If you aren’t working (see 1 and 2 above), then reliable passive income is going to be a big deal. Pensions, rentals, investment interest, whatever you can put together.
- And of course if you have lots of money, look at Golden Visa options, which allow you to obtain residency by investing in the country – often with real estate purchases or establishing a business. Depending on the country, you’ll need somewhere between $500k and $3m in disposable income.
It’s possible to sell everything, bundle up your savings, fly off to anyplace on a tourist visa, then figure out a digital nomad visa. In that sense, you can do this ‘on the fly’ – but eventually, you’re going to need a plan.
Federal jobs: For the moment, federal jobs still exist overseas. Federal service can be hard to break into, but it is a path to elsewhere. However, such jobs technically take place on US soil – in other words, there are no visas and they give you no ‘in’ to remain in the country. They do however, give you opportunities to network with locals to try to create new possibilities.
Teaching English: There are some great opportunities, especially if you’re young and single, to teach English or work as an Au Pair. There are also a lot that amount to little more than human trafficking. Deal only with established agencies, and research your topic so you know what ‘legit’ looks like.
Ultimately, It’s Work
This isn’t the 1700s. You can’t just get on a ship and go. International borders, passports, visas, regulations – there’s stuff to deal with. You’ll spend some time researching and figuring it all out. And research can feel like not-progress. So here are a few things you can be actively doing while you consider your options.
Get a passport.
So many people ‘intend to’ – but it takes weeks, at best. During the first Trump admin, between COVID and staffing shortages, wait times rose as long as 8-10 months. When you decide you need to get on a plane, will you have that long to wait?
The current wait time as I write is about a month. But there will be a rush of applications that make that longer. And then there will be changes to state department staffing that make it longer still. Don’t decide you need a passport right now – at a time when the wait is a year long.
Downsize
Americans collect a lot of crap. Marie Kondo yourself a little. Scan photos and mementos, making it possible to pack them all into a single USB drive. Convert those books to ebooks. Whatever it is that will allow you to pack your favorites into a carryon. Buy some really good luggage. If you think you might want to leave in a hurry, look around and determine what things you might want to make portable and work on doing that.
Research Countries and Options
Sure, climate, jobs, cost of living. But also:
Do they have a tax treaty with the US? If so, what does that mean to you? In Portugal, it means that I can offset taxes paid to Portugal when I do my US taxes, so I don’t pay it twice. But only if I seek multiple extensions on my US taxes, because Portugal’s tax year is different and I can’t prove what I paid in taxes until August or September. But if I *owe money to the US, while they will let me extend my filing date they may still charge interest on the unpaid amount from April 15. So it benefits to over-withhold and ensure they owe me, not the other way around.
Is there a path to permanent residence, if that’s a goal? Citizenship? (Greece, for example, technically has a path to citizenship but I frequently read that in reality, they rarely grant it unless you have Greek family ties.)
What are the limits of your intended status? Will leaving the country – for example, a holiday to the next country over – negatively impact your status and make you start over?
What happens if you choose to apply for naturalization? Some countries require you to renounce other citizenships – which will change your tax status. Also, news flash: it will cost you at least several thousand dollars to renounce US citizenship should you choose to do so. If you have sufficient assets, it will cost more – the US will charge you an exit tax in addition to the renunciation fee. As one of two countries on earth that taxes expats the same as residents (most other countries figure if you are living elsewhere, you aren’t using their services as much, and should be paying int he country whose services you’re using), the US is determined to collect your money. Oh, and renunciation is a process, not a simple fee-paid service. During COVID, that process sparked a class action lawsuit by individuals who couldn’t renounce without an in person appointment due to embassy policies – and couldn’t make in person appointments due to COVID restrictions.
Take Stock
Uncertainty is scary. There are a lot of things that can happen, and quite a few that seem likely. But they haven’t happened yet. Which means you don’t need to panic and run into oncoming traffic. Big changes always happen better with a plan – so your best move is to make a plan. Have it ready. Identify the things you can do in advance and focus on those, so that your plan is ready to go at a moment’s notice – and then hope that you won’t need it. Connect with your community and plan together. You may find ways to leverage resources differently together than individually. Freaking out might be justified – but it’s rarely the best action plan.
