If you could pack up and move your whole life, where would you go?

(Bulgaria’s a steal at €512k btw). However, I only know about this cos I’m constantly seeing ads for it on Russian-owned livejournal so there’s possibly a bit of a queue.

my wife has irish citizenship but it's pretty white over there, no?

Much less so than it used to be.

cool we should visit sometime

maybe her mom knows someone! (her mom used to live in the same apartment building as my friend, so I got to know her ... she is hilarious ... I have many stories about N's mom, but not for this thread)

Bulgaria is nice, I've traveled around there a but, but it's absolutely hemorrhaging population, especially in rural areas

would Europe let us Americans in? Seriously, as an American, with no significant ancestral ties to any country in Europe, could I actually become a citizen of a European country?

Many countries will allow freelancers/self-employed people to move there. Germany has a self-employed visa, Sweden has one...it's a bureaucratic pain in the ass, and expensive, but it can absolutely be done. About a month ago, I talked to an immigration lawyer about moving to Sweden. He told me that their menu of services, to prepare and process your application, costs between $6-15K. You have to be able to prove that you have enough money to live in the country for two years (about $30K) and show a viable business plan (which they help you prepare), and the application process — from submitting your forms to getting a thumbs-up or thumbs-down — takes about a year. If you get approved, you get a long-term residency permit, and once you've lived in the country for five years without breaking any laws or whatever, you can apply for citizenship.

can I do this for England?

I'm only half joking when I ask, why would you want to? With so many other options available...

appreciate the summary info about the logistics of this

if you don't want to be a citizen and you're employable there are plenty of options in europe. not necessarily easy/good options, especially if you have a family.

because the English appreciate their big bottomed birds? idk

i'm going to try to move from a red state to a blue state in the next 5 years which feels daunting enough.

apologies if discussed upthread, but many of the usual bug out locations when this topic comes up (e.g. NZ and canada) make immigration difficult to impossible for people (or families) with disabilities or other health conditions.

colorado would be a big improvement and feels approachable. i don't exactly love it but probably denver. the western slope is beautiful but overall more conservative than where i am currently, even though it's in a liberal state. it would be more difficult being out there i think, unless i want to go the recluse route.

Colorado is my pragmatic answer, but "another planet" if we're talking ideal situations.

if you don't want to be a citizen and you're employable there are plenty of options in europe. not necessarily easy/good options, especially if you have a family.

I recently read that Estonia is actively seeking expats. They have what's called a "digital nomad visa". I've seen pictures of Estonia; it's pretty. A guy I know, originally from NYC, lives on an island there now.

*immigrants

(xp) I imagine it's fine if you don't mind Putin breathing down your neck.

Southern California, at least until it runs out of water.

I like the Estonian PM.. but it's a pretty tiny country, like 1.5 million or something

I have an American born-and-raised friend with Estonian citizenship because a grand or great grandparent grew up there; her two children (also born in the US) also have it but her husband does not. They’re apparently pretty open based on family lineage due to having so few people.

This family’s lived there on sabbaticals and fullbrights for extended periods on two occasions now but he actually got deported last month due to some visa screw up. So they’re not just taking everyone and I don’t think it’s trivial for him to actually get citizenship there despite being married to one but long term residency might be easier.

I’d be a brain in a vat thinking it’s seeing Husker Du at Goofy’s Upper Deck…forever.

Was very disappointed to find out that I would have qualified for Canadian citizenship via my grandmother (native, so my dad would have been automatically eligible) if I had applied before 2009.

I'd like to say a medium-sized island in the finland archipelago but as a californian I would probably wimp out on the brutal winders, oh well

last i checked, my own best chance for eu citizenship would involve (somehow) accessing a mess of birth & marriage certs going back a century, getting them professionally translated into italiano, explaining the part about the bigamy and aliases, and accidentally dropping generous bribes on a lot of desks

It would have been cool to early gotten some nice land around Taylorsville lake area, somewhat in driving distance to Louisville for work before the money hit town. It's really nice there and will be getting completely transformed into a big money house place especially with the new Ford electric plant.

I like to think I could hang with a place with more winter, but I don't know that it is reality unless I got a snow blower.

Welcome to Portugal, the new expat haven. Californians, please go home

Just found about United States. Had no idea. Unfollowing now

— Alex Peter (@LolOverruled) July 5, 2022

xp some family friends actually packed up and moved over to that exact city in Portugal. went to visit them in February and it looked like Portugal's version of the French Riviera.

I have no idea what the Austrian immigration options are but I've really enjoyed the time I've spent in Vienna. Good walking city with lots of public transportation.

New Zealand