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Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

lesswrong.com

171–180 of 309 posts

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't act like you don't need a lot of money in Europe.

Well, you don't need a lot of money. The exception would normally be medical needs but those are generally covered if you're in the system. You may want things that cost a lot of money, but this is a different problem, with more than one solution. (I'm not advocating curtailed wants or frugality. My life is pretty comfy and I like it that way.)

Not every place in EU has tax-funded universal healthcare. It's the minority actually. Most countries require you to pay health insurance - and that's certainly not cheap if you're a software engineer as it's based on your income - e.g. 13.5% of my pre-tax (25%) income where I live; that makes it more expensive (absolutely - without income adjustment) than the most expensive premium US health insurance plan for me, without any of the perks. And where is universal healthcare there are also enormous taxes (>50%).

Real estate is much more expensive in major European cities compared to US major cities (income-adjusted), and is taxed a lot on top of income taxes. And rural real estate is much cheaper in the US both absolutely and income-adjusted.

Vehicles and fuel are more expensive here too + again major taxes. Traveling by public transport is reality only in major German and French metropolitan areas, you need a car everywhere else as soon as you need to cross the city border at least semi-regularly.

And yet not even coronavirus tests are free here, as opposed to many places in the US.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#172
post #141
post #96

Our two children are 4 and 6, and they both hold four citizenships. My wife is US American, I am German, my dad is Croatian and we've been living in Switzerland for almost 15 years. When the kids were born, they both had US and German citizenship jus sanguinis. German passports arrived almost instantaneously. The US passports required us to visit the US embassy multiple times and fill out plenty of paper work. Them g…

I hope the kids won't mind having to declare/pay US taxes :)

What you get for your US tax money is absolutely not worth having that passport if you have another good passport. I would give that one up (and likely will once I get my second).

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes, but I sure as hell don’t want my taxes any higher. A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near…

>I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... I don't mean to be rude but please look at that above link and understand how poor you as a citizen of USA are. It's frustrating to come from a country thats ~3X as wealthy as the USA in terms of median wealth (i'm Australian) an…

Australia's tax burden is 27.8% of GDP

USA's tax burden is 27.1% of GDP

Not an enormous difference.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#174
post #32

I left the US pre-pandemic for a country that eradicated Covid, and couldn't agree more with the author's decision to leave. Particularly if you're in your 20s and fully remote, I'd highly encourage you to look into Australia or New Zealand's working holiday visa. For fans of E.Asia, the Taiwan gold card [1][2] may be of interest. [1]: https://notebook.wesleyac.com/taiwan/ [2]: https://notebook.wesleyac.com/taiwan-go…

How do you find the timezone change if you work remotely for an American company?

Working into the evening is a thing and evening meetings (American time) generally go unattended.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#175
post #85
post #31

The mention of Puerto Rico giving citizenship after 1 year is funny. I thought it was part of the US! I wonder what the conditions are for PR citizenship!

Spain offers an easier pathway to citizenship for citizens of Ibero-American countries (basically Latin America) and that includes Puerto Rico. The idea is that, if you're an American, you could get PR citizenship status with one year and then Spain would give you citizenship with only two years. You might consider the PR citizenship to not actually be a "citizenship" but merely a residency status (like how you might…

PR citizenship is a thing (ie, a document) that PR will give you after one year, or sooner if you are indeed a Puerto Rican or if you have Puerto Rican parents. But the document will not work in conjunction with the Spain 2-year path to citizenship.

To be clear, the PR document says it's possible (for a mainland American), but Spain does not recognize it unless you're Puerto Rican.

Source: I tried it and went through the process. I'm from mainland US, lived in PR and now live in Spain.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, by law, return is required for any income over $0.50, no taxes till world wide $12000(US+NonUS) or $107000 Foreign/NonUS income, but still, IRS expects a return filed. In practice, yes, not much problem.

There are advantages to filing even when it's not required. Oddly enough, the US government still paid me $1200 + $600 of COVID economic relief (auto-deposited to my US bank account) even though I haven't lived in the US for many years. I didn't think I'd be eligible, but apparently I am (just in case, I haven't spent the money yet). It's weird that they gave the money so freely.

Not a professional, but as long as your 2018 or 2019 return falls in eligibility box, you got money, & its good.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#177
post #96

Our two children are 4 and 6, and they both hold four citizenships. My wife is US American, I am German, my dad is Croatian and we've been living in Switzerland for almost 15 years. When the kids were born, they both had US and German citizenship jus sanguinis. German passports arrived almost instantaneously. The US passports required us to visit the US embassy multiple times and fill out plenty of paper work. Them g…

> It took several years and a good lawyer to get passed the beaucracy. Ultimately I received the Croatian passport and so did our children about half a year later. Yeah, it is always advisable to get a Croatian lawyer when applying for Croatian citizenship, for example, even if you know exactly what you are doing. Croatian law allows for loose arbitrary interpretations of the law by government servants in the bureauc…

My guess is that OP’s issue is that only one parent was Croatian so citizenship wasn’t automatic but something to apply for.

Other than gathering all the paperwork, any idea what it’s like if both parents are Croatian? I understand citizenship is automatic not something that needs to be applied for?

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#178

I would prefer exclusive citizenship requirements... cut mercenaries like Jacobson off like the gangrenous appendages they are.

While it seems obvious that you are not interested, What downside do you see about people with higher mobility and choice?

Disloyalty and parasitism. With no hard ties to the community, they treat it like a disposable. Look at how quickly they trashed San Francisco. Looks like Austin is next. I pray for them.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#179
post #172
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope the kids won't mind having to declare/pay US taxes :)

What you get for your US tax money is absolutely not worth having that passport if you have another good passport. I would give that one up (and likely will once I get my second).

Plenty of expats have gotten more US stimulus cheques than they’ve paid in US taxes.

But it doesn’t make up for the dozens of hours of paperwork and careful tip-toeing on investments and other garbage.

Just an FYI: one hiccup I heard of giving up your US citizenship is that banks didn’t recognize you could be born in USA but not a US citizen.

Re: Second Citizenships, Residencies, and/or Temporary Relocation

#180

I left the US pre-pandemic for a country that eradicated Covid, and couldn't agree more with the author's decision to leave. Particularly if you're in your 20s and fully remote, I'd highly encourage you to look into Australia or New Zealand's working holiday visa. For fans of E.Asia, the Taiwan gold card [1][2] may be of interest. [1]: https://notebook.wesleyac.com/taiwan/ [2]: https://notebook.wesleyac.com/taiwan-go…

I also have a gold card. I encourage every high | special skilled person to apply for it. the process is pretty straightforward. Taiwan needs foreigners. And for an afrikan guy like me who lived in the US before, it's a blessing. only downside to Taiwan is the language. But it's highly developed, cheap for most things and nature all around. I right by the beach and my rent is way less than I would've paid in the US
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