Comment by hc-taway | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hc-taway | Hacker News Reader

Been looking for a country where I can seek permanent residence status (and maybe, later, citizenship) with my family without having to give up my 1099 (contractor) US remote job and find something local (no, I'm not trying to dodge taxes, and I'd fully expect to pay normal taxes on that income for wherever I ended up). Coming from the US (all of us are native-born citizens).

It's been tricky. I get why there's not some kind of policy or program in place, since that's a pretty niche circumstance, but I don't see how it wouldn't be a good thing for whichever country I'd end up in. I don't make SV-bucks but I make more than I'd easily be able to in, say, Canada, and I'd be spending that money and paying taxes in the new country (I'm not at a level of income where I'd get double-taxed by the US, though I'd have to file there). At the same time, having to job-hunt and probably take a pay cut to find a job before we even move would suck, since I already have a job I like, that's fully remote.

Anyone got any helpful info on that situation, that I may not have come across elsewhere?

If you're interested in the EU, there are treaties like the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty that allow you to get on the path towards permanent residence for a modest investment, assuming you're already self-employed.

https://expatlaw.nl/dutch-american-friendship-treaty

If I was going to move out of the US, I'd take a long hard look at that one.

Checkout the Taiwan Gold card! 4-1 visa with very few restrictions.

https://taiwangoldcard.com/

FYI my understanding is US citizens are exempt from US taxes as long as you spend 330 days of the year outside the US.

You still have to file a tax return, you just don't pay anything.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/fore...

> you just don't pay anything.

(if you earn under 100k USD/yr)

Limit's higher for families. You still have to file, though.

If you’re making Software Engineer money, I understand that the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) is almost always going to be better than the Foreign Earned Income Exemption (FEIE) which is hard to revoke as your income increases.

You'll still owe Social Security. Still, a very large savings if your host country is low tax.

If you are American citizen, just be aware of FBAR and FACTA. You can reduce your US taxes, but not really, because then you have to pay local taxes. Also, your tax reporting requirements go up.

I have exactly the same solution. Job I like, fully remote, place I want to move to (with family) and seek permanent residence status outside the US, don't want to cheat taxes. I'd love some info on how to make this happen.

I only mentioned the tax thing because for some reason when I've brought this up other places people thought I was trying to avoid paying taxes. So I figured I'd head that off at the beginning.

I just want to move somewhere with a decent social system (esp. healthcare, though none of us are or expect to be sick in the near future—I'm also not trying to cheat a healthcare system in some fashion) and good schools, and use my certainly-except-in-a-handful-of-expensive-cities above-median income to pay taxes and support the local economy like anyone else. 95% of why I want to do this is so my kids can grow up somewhere with saner government and a generally saner society. None of why I want to do it is to cheat anyone. I'd just rather not also have to change jobs (and probably take a pay cut, and likely end up back in an office, too) to do it. :-/

Most countries have money based visas. Everybody that can proof that they earn enough mone for them and their family can get a visa in switzerland for example. Its not exactly a lot either.

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