We retired abroad five years ago from the states and had no family connections. After extensive research into communities that had a high number of “retirement demographics” such as exceptional healthcare, walkability without needing cars, affordable housing, quality food ingredients for cooking, clean water and air, and abundant cultural offerings such as live music such as a symphony orchestra, to name just a few, we visited each place for two weeks. During those visits we met with immigration attorneys, tax professionals, and household goods shippers, as well as expats who were established in those locations and had a positive experience in integrating into the culture, not into “neocolonialism” seen in so many well known expat enclaves. We picked the winner and returned to the states to begin the temporary visa process, which involved collecting the required documents, having them apostilled, getting FBI background checks, and sending them to the attorney’s U.S. office, which handled mailing them overseas. We got our temporary visas at the consulate in the U.S. before we moved. The rest of the process was continued abroad. We not have permanent residency and can apply for citizenship if we choose, but we are unlikely to pursue this because it requires a rather large financial commitment that we would rather not commit to. We are very happy here and have no reason to return to the U.S. other than to visit family, and they have visited us. Our financial resources will remain in the U.S.
You sound like you did robust research, and it paid off! I like your comment about looking for communities where there is a pathway to integrate into local culture, not simple settle into an expat enclave. Everything from adjusting to different service experiences, to learning the language is harder if you settle into a little bubble of people just like yourself.
Well put, and that’s the part that so often gets left out. I still have all the charts and maps I made decades ago and about where I wanted to move to, and I laugh about how I had to cross most of them out because I simply couldn’t reasonably get residency there. In that way, EU+ citizenship is one of the best due to all the choices one has (weather, language, culture, etc).
It's funny, our "first choice", really a wild swing based on an excellent vacation experience, was quickly dropped from the list when we did deeper research into the requirements for residency, and the constraints once you had it. Really not feasible for folks who still want to work. It was good to learn before we made any further commitments to the process.
I really liked this, Kathy, and I love the patterns in the photos! 😍 I hope you’ll find a good use for them.
We retired abroad five years ago from the states and had no family connections. After extensive research into communities that had a high number of “retirement demographics” such as exceptional healthcare, walkability without needing cars, affordable housing, quality food ingredients for cooking, clean water and air, and abundant cultural offerings such as live music such as a symphony orchestra, to name just a few, we visited each place for two weeks. During those visits we met with immigration attorneys, tax professionals, and household goods shippers, as well as expats who were established in those locations and had a positive experience in integrating into the culture, not into “neocolonialism” seen in so many well known expat enclaves. We picked the winner and returned to the states to begin the temporary visa process, which involved collecting the required documents, having them apostilled, getting FBI background checks, and sending them to the attorney’s U.S. office, which handled mailing them overseas. We got our temporary visas at the consulate in the U.S. before we moved. The rest of the process was continued abroad. We not have permanent residency and can apply for citizenship if we choose, but we are unlikely to pursue this because it requires a rather large financial commitment that we would rather not commit to. We are very happy here and have no reason to return to the U.S. other than to visit family, and they have visited us. Our financial resources will remain in the U.S.
You sound like you did robust research, and it paid off! I like your comment about looking for communities where there is a pathway to integrate into local culture, not simple settle into an expat enclave. Everything from adjusting to different service experiences, to learning the language is harder if you settle into a little bubble of people just like yourself.
Well put, and that’s the part that so often gets left out. I still have all the charts and maps I made decades ago and about where I wanted to move to, and I laugh about how I had to cross most of them out because I simply couldn’t reasonably get residency there. In that way, EU+ citizenship is one of the best due to all the choices one has (weather, language, culture, etc).
It's funny, our "first choice", really a wild swing based on an excellent vacation experience, was quickly dropped from the list when we did deeper research into the requirements for residency, and the constraints once you had it. Really not feasible for folks who still want to work. It was good to learn before we made any further commitments to the process.