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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-16-2011, 06:16 AM
I'm looking for options on permanently remaining in Europe. I'm curious about how some of you guys are handling this without returning to the US? What are some good resources on the subject?
After some brief research, I've come up with the following possibilities :
- 1 year tourist visa in a shengen country, but I heard these are rarely renewed
- Start a company : the EE countries I've looked into require the creation of 10 jobs.
- Start a non-profit organization : I've heard of some expats who've had great success at milking the system with this. Needs more investigation.
- Move around : 3 months in the shengen region then escape to serbia/croatia/whatever for another 3 months and repeat. Far from ideal for me.
- Teaching english or other bullshit exchange programs. Not really interested in this, maybe if it occupied less than 8 hours per week of my time.
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-16-2011, 01:33 PM
I think it's not hard if you are a U.S. citizen.
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-22-2011, 04:30 AM
Is it really that easy? I assumed its kind of difficult and expensive...
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-22-2011, 06:26 AM
Actually that's not accurate.
Depends on whether you have independent legal income from a foreign source that can sustain you at a level well above that of the local citizens.
In other words, can you show tht you're "rich" and there to just "spend" and not take a local job.
If so, you're all set.
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-22-2011, 07:50 AM
Well, think what you want I guess. But you're talking to a guy who's done it and has a half dozen friends who have done it, so I don't think it's "Mission Impossible." But we're all entrepreneurs -- probably no easy feat for the salary man.
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-22-2011, 10:29 AM
Well, how did you go about it? I assume there must be some legwork beyond getting on a plane and looking for a job, but I think most of us have no idea even where to begin. Getting a visa for doing any kind of skilled work is not so easy in the US either. Are some countries in Europe easier to work in than others? What advice do you have for anyone daydreaming about this possibility?
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-22-2011, 10:47 AM
I have looked into this as well and it is possible. I was looking into permanent residence in France and in Spain. Basically they look at your net worth and how much passive income you have. France seems to be a bit harder, as their net worth requirements can be anywhere from $250,000 to $1,000,000 depending on which consulate you apply at. For a monthly passive income they want about $1,500 or there about.
Spain is actually quite a bit easier, but again, it requires you to show a bank deposit. It's much less than France. It's about 90,000 Euros. The money has to be deposited in a bank account in Spain. The whole process can be done through an immigration lawyer who will charge you a few thousand euros to do all the work and get the papers pushed through to the right guys who will approve it.
Subutai, how have you done it? Can you post the information here if possible?
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-22-2011, 12:50 PM
While I appreciate ManAbout and Subutai posting specific details, I think the details only serve to highlight Houston's comment: "...difficult and expensive". I'd be surprised if more than 1-5% of the people on this board could afford those sort of dollar figures.
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-23-2011, 09:34 AM
I think Spain is the best option from all those presented. You don`t actually have to invest any money. You just need to deposit the 90,000 Euros in a bank account in Spain and present a bank certificate to them. After the papers are processed and you have established residency, you can withdraw the money and give it back to where ever you got it from. This takes about 3 months. One thing though is that you will be granted status as an Autonomo, which means you are an independent business. You cannot work for anybody else, but you can run your own company. This entails paying taxes and 230 Euros a month which covers social security benefits.
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Long Term Residency in Europe
02-23-2011, 09:00 PM
I knew Asian dudes that were getting married to Polish girls in the UK. This was arranged by a lawyer who would pay the girls next to nothing, total cost around 10k GBP. This was purely a business transaction, not some russian bride scam.
A friend of mine joined the Greek Army a few years back, did two years service (camp stuff) and gained his Euro passport afterwards.