If you have $200K to drop, you can buy citizenship from St. Kitts and Nevis.

http://stkitts-citizenship.com/

Could also wait a few years and then seek asylum somewhere. I'm sure Canada would love to have an immigration problem. All these Americans going to Canada and taking Canadian jobs. They should go back to where they came from!

Places like Guatemala are likely to be hard to find any job besides english teaching, which will only support a bachelor and not very well.

You want to look into establishing residency in a 1st world country, unless you work remotely or have some other source of income.

It would be cool to do solar in Guatemala, but I would probably cultivate contracting programming work before going. I was a programmer for about 7 years, still do some and am thinking about getting back into it more anyway.

It would be cool to mooch off the Euros though.

For Americans who can get EU citizenship and a job in an EU country it's a clear no brainer. If you're too lazy to learn a foreign language, there's Ireland.

You will need to be able to support yourself, though - claiming the dole isn't an option.

Though the way the US is going you might all* be heading this way in migrant boats as asylum seekers before long anyway.


*Non WASPS of course

why not?

I think here in Ireland that people have to be considered to be 'habitually resident' before they can claim dole. So for non-Irish (and currently UK) EU citizens, that means they have to have 12 months employment in Ireland before they can apply for dole.

Having said that, finding work in Ireland at the moment isn't a problem. Our roller coaster economy is currently on an upswing.

Many in the Uk thought that. If you think things are so bad you're deserting the usa then dont rely on it lasting. If you can only get to Italy then move to a more stable EU country while you can and establish residency at least.

Plus thre's only about 3.5 jobs in Italy.

We have a friend visiting today from Costa Rica. She's American and moved down about 3 years ago with two little kids. She loves it there.

The latter is pretty common. A lot of countries will grant you long-term residency if you can show you don't need to work (have a pension or proof of assets). But FFS don't emigrate to Guatemala. At least go somewhere like Belize, Costa Rica, or Panama. All of those are retirement havens for American expats.

A lot of retired ex-pat Americans doesn't sound like a plus.

Kind of depends, I suppose. If you're like me, (nearing retirement & want to GTFO), but are seeking similar-minded people who speak English, then there are some good options there. Hell, Panama offers an entire program specifically for retirees;
Panama Pensionado Program. Costa Rica has invested a ****ton of money in their infrastructure and health care (disbanding your army will do that; who knew?) but has a slightly higher bar than Panama for their own pensionado program Costa Rican Pensionado Program

To be clear, I'm more likely to land in Europe, due to the wifey's eligibility for an Irish passport, but the options in Central America look REALLY attractive, IMO.

My first thought would not be a mostly American/Euro enclave, but I wouldn't actually settle anywhere without doing a fair amount of travel in the area first so who knows. Our friend in Costa Rica has lived in two different communities. One was full of religious nuts. One family wouldn't let their kids play with her kids because she did not hit her kids. The current one is like new agey people who freak if there is a speck of refined sugar in the house.

I still have a kid in HS and this is wildly speculative. I'm probably more likely to just move back to Northern California but somewhere outside the immediate bay area. I kinda think I would find Central America too hot and humid. I've traveled a bit in kinda tropical Mexico and South Florida and it's ok for a while, but I dunno about all the time.

I've often thought if I wasn't tied to a Bay Area job, South Lake Tahoe would be a cool place to live.

Am I the only one who finds it interesting all of you want to move out of the US to a country that won't let poor people in because the US won't let poor people in?

Guatemala won't let poor people in?

The locations are more interesting when you consider that people are allegedly leaving because of corrupt/cruel/dysfunctional governance. Most of the countries expats move to are governed far worse than what we're enduring under Trump. I guess it's easy to ignore those things when you're so much wealthier than the locals that none of it effects you, and you still have a first-world passport as backup.

Nothing new here... Progressive/liberal folks get fed up with liberal states and the cost of living so they move to conservative states and immediately start bragging to the friends they left behind how much better life is in their new neighborhood.

I've been in Mexico City for a few months and absolutely love it here. I am still able to make a decent living via online poker though, which obviously helps as the salaries here are usually very low. But if you are able to earn money online, then imo it's a similar quality of life to the USA (better even in a few respects) at a much cheaper cost.

Based on recent events, I decided I will never return to live in the USA, and I informed my parents of this. I enjoy traveling and have lived abroad most of the past 7 years anyway, and possibly would not have return, but this was the final nail in the coffin.

Mexico obviously have their own problems, but I feel like at least the people are friendly and compassionate. Certainly they treat a foreigner with middling proficiency in their language far, far better than the vast majority of places in the USA would. Today is their election day, and if all goes well (i.e. voter tampering/bullying is held relatively in check), they will elect AMLO who can hopefully lead the country in a new direction.

I think he's making a general statement related to my post about income requirements for long-term residency visas, and snap-assuming we all advocate open borders. This isn't the thread for that convo, though.
The US has requirements for legal immigration and long-term stays, and so does ROW.

I advocate open borders. Estimates on the effect it would have center around doubling global GDP.

So a vast increase in the number of products bought/discarded and energy consumed?

I'd have thought a redistribution of current global GDP is a better aim.

There's a problem innate with the basic economic system that production, continually increasing production, is necessary for the masses to get to eat. And increasing productivity is obviously a threat to the environment and I've thought about that in the very context of anything like this which may boost productivity. But, in the current system the long drawn out process of development from abject poverty to first world problems like recycling vs. reuse vs. efficiency, is a loooong and destructive process. The bulk of people in the planet need to move not to a consumerist culture, but to a position where they are secure asap. Just think of the effect on population growth alone. Doubling global GDP (and if it happens because of open borders this would mean redistribution) would cause birth rates to fall dramatically.

That's all mostly for argument's sake for me though. I think open borders should be the case because I love freedom.

I think open borders should be the aim because of equality.

Freedom is good too.

An authoritarian socialist position here could be enforced migration.

wat

That doesn't happen, and it doesn't make sense in the context of the post you replied to either.