Want to leave the US? Maybe urgently? Learn about the challenges you face so you can make a good plan.

You can’t just move to another country. Your US passport makes it easy to travel and stay for a short time as a tourist, but then you have to leave that country, possibly for months.

To stay, you have to prove to the local government that you:

  • Won’t be a burden on their taxpayers and systems
  • Will contribute to the country with your skills or money

How will you meet those requirements? Here are some typical beliefs and their hurdles.

I’ll get a job there!

Sometimes that works. But the following pieces have to fall into place:

  • You have the degree that the job requires. Many countries love degrees and certifications. And it has to be a version of the degree that’s recognized locally, not just in the US.
  • You find a job that no local could fill. In the EU, this means that no one in the many countries of the EU could fill the job as well as you.
  • You speak the local language well enough and can prove it, or you’ve found a unicorn job where you can speak only English.
  • Your employer is willing to do a lot of paperwork to hire you when it would be easier for them to hire a local.
  • You’re willing to accept a salary that is probably lower, maybe a lot lower, than you could make in the US.
  • The job is so good that you’ll happily stick with it for a long time, which you’ll have to do, because for probably the first several years, your permission to stay in the country depends on you being employed. If you quit your unicorn job, will you be able to quickly find another?

Still want to try? Immigration authorities often list the types of jobs they’re trying to fill. Check the government sites for the “critical skills list” or similar terms. You’ll have the best chance if you can fill one of those jobs.

I have a remote job–I’ll use that!

If you’re a W-2 employee, your employer will probably say “No way” to you working from another country. It would make them liable for paying into that country’s version of Social Security as well other paperwork and legal risks.

You also couldn’t stay in most countries for more than the length of a tourist visa, unless you apply for a visa that allows remote work for one employer. Those are relatively few and often don’t lead to long-term residency (it might be a “digital nomad” visa, for example).

Visa authorities could see you as high risk: You depend on one distant employer who, according to US law, could fire you at any time.

Forget visas, I’ll just keep moving while I work

If you plan to be fully nomadic while being a W-2 employee, your employer has to be fine with you violating the rules of tourist visas, which typically ban work and could put them at legal risk. Also, some employers have data privacy rules that are picky about the servers you use.

Possible fix: Go 1099

If you can convince your employer to make you a part-time 1099 contractor, and you get additional clients, you’ll become self-employed, which opens up better visas. It also makes you, not your employer, responsible for local bureaucratic requirements. Learn more.

I have an online business

If you’re self-employed as a 1099 or LLC with multiple clients, you might qualify for self-employment or business visas. This could work if:

  • You consistently make the income that the visa requires
  • Your business has a future: you might need to submit a business plan, for example, or a record of past performance
  • You can get private health insurance in the country (immigrants often can’t use the public system until they’ve been in the country for a while and have paid into the system)
  • You have a place to live in the country or can afford one
  • Your US criminal records check will come up clean

You might have to apply from the US, not your target country. It could take months, but it could work. Learn more.

Your income matters. The more money you make, the more visas you can qualify for and the pickier you can be about your target country.

Forget visas, I’ll be a cool “digital nomad”

As a self-employed person, you could move from country to country, quietly but probably illegally working on tourist visas.

At some point, you’ll likely get tired of living in short-term apartments with crappy desk chairs and no friends, and you’ll want to settle down. For that, you’ll need a residence visa and the income or savings to qualify for it.

My great-grandfather was born there

Some countries will give citizenship to the descendants of former citizens. Usually the relationship has to be close, such as a parent or grandparent. In a few cases, you just need to be part of that country’s diaspora. There’s an infamous amount of sluggish paperwork involved, but it can work. Learn more.

I’ll impress them with my pile of money

This is both the most difficult and the simplest way. Most difficult because you have to amass the money, but simplest because once you have it, you can choose from many visas. You also won’t need to work ever again.

You might need less money than you think. Learn more.


Image: Somewhere in Jujuy Province, Argentina