Daydreaming about moving abroad

[calf]

Originally Posted by direwolf

I've always daydreamed about moving to Hawaii. I've spent a lot of time there over the years, and I've always been really drawn to it.

Ditto. Whenever we go there, the question always comes up why we work so hard to visit for a week every so often, when we could potentially just downsize, do a low stress job to keep the lights on, and just enjoy living there.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by calf

Ditto. Whenever we go there, the question always comes up why we work so hard to visit for a week every so often, when we could potentially just downsize, do a low stress job to keep the lights on, and just enjoy living there.

The reality is you'd probably get bored or feel isolated...lots of people who move to an island do. It doesn't matter where you move to, after a while the excitement fades, and it's about what you do as part of your daily routine that probably makes or breaks it.

But I also think that moving somewhere doesn't mean it has to be permanent. A couple of years in Hawaii or Spain or Thailand or whatever, is still a great adventure.

[Fuzz]

I'm not sure I could live somewhere without seasons. 12 months of summer may sound nice, but I think I'd long for a change by month 8.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by _Q_

I moved "abroad" almost 3 years ago. By abroad I mean the US.

Lately I've been day dreaming about moving back to Canada. Or moving somewhere completely different like Abu Dhabi.

That counts. The US is as different a place as any.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Regarding House Hunters International:

I have a friend who was on the show. They basically recreated their "moving experience" for the show, but were already living in the country and had a place. They pretended like they were interested in two other places, but picked the place they already moved into before. Maybe all episodes aren't like that, but there is some phony business going on for sure.

That makes sense. Searching for houses and the negotiation involved wouldn't necessarily fit the filming time frame. This doesn't bother me or affect my enjoyment of the show. Especially the international ones, I'm just curious to look inside some houses there.

As for moving overseas, I lived in Hungary for a year back in my younger days. I wanted to work / live overseas and have grown up in the cold war era so all those iron curtain countries interested me. I found an opportunity to go to Hungary and it seemed like a smaller culture shock than some of the other options (Romania being one of them).

[GGG]

Originally Posted by calf

Ditto. Whenever we go there, the question always comes up why we work so hard to visit for a week every so often, when we could potentially just downsize, do a low stress job to keep the lights on, and just enjoy living there.

I think a lot of it is a vacation is an entirely different experience. You gotten rid of the daily stressors of work and have planned to do exactly what you want to do. I wonder if you could recreate a lot of this feeling exactly where you are or if proximity to your stressors would dampen the experience.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by GGG

I think a lot of it is a vacation is an entirely different experience. You gotten rid of the daily stressors of work and have planned to do exactly what you want to do. I wonder if you could recreate a lot of this feeling exactly where you are or if proximity to your stressors would dampen the experience.

Yeah, as much as I love my vacations, I don't think I'd want to live there. I spoke with one of the crew on the catamaran in Barbados once. She was a Canadian woman who decided to move to there in her 40s because she loved it so much. She was happy, but she said she spent the first few years doing hard labour at a plant nursery out in the hot sun, before she got the boat job which didn't look easy either. I decided I would just continue to vacation there, as my preferred way of enjoying the island was relaxing on the boat or under a tree on the beach, with a cold drink in hand.

[FlamingHomer]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I'm not sure I could live somewhere without seasons. 12 months of summer may sound nice, but I think I'd long for a change by month 8.

We have summer all year long and I don't miss any other season except hockey.

[Muta]

When people say 'move' to a country, are you just staying there temporarily? Unless you have citizenship or atleast a working visa, aren't you supposed to come back every six months as a Canadian citizen?

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I'm not sure I could live somewhere without seasons. 12 months of summer may sound nice, but I think I'd long for a change by month 8.

I lived in Louisiana for a year after spending most of my life in Calgary. One of the driving factors for me to move (among other things) to Washington DC was the weather. I absolutely hated living somewhere that was hot year round. DC has 4 distinct seasons.... Just the way I like it.

[cDnStealth]

I "moved" to Baltimore, MD 2 months ago for work. Technically, it's relatively short term but the company here wants me to stay permanently and I have a 3 year visa. One of the great things so far is that the location is amazing. Most weekends I head to Washington and once the weather cools down a bit I am planning to go to New York and Boston. Lots of things to see and do here and it's all close by.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Muta

When people say 'move' to a country, are you just staying there temporarily? Unless you have citizenship or atleast a working visa, aren't you supposed to come back every six months as a Canadian citizen?

I had a work visa when I lived in Hungary. Due to the timing and type of work I was doing, it was relatively simple to get.

[rotten42]

I'm in the process of moving to the US. I married an American girl. Just waiting for my permanent residence. I am fortunate enough that my employer lets me work remotely half of each month. Once down there we are going to start looking at places father south for a vacation home that will transition into a retirement home. We are looking for a place that would be within a 3-3.5 hour flight from Charlotte (Mexico, Carribean, Costa Rica...not really sure ye

I've lived in Calgary all my life and I'm up for a big change in scenery. When I was younger I was really active in the winters but now in my 50's I have come to despise winter.

[FlamingHomer]

Originally Posted by Muta

When people say 'move' to a country, are you just staying there temporarily? Unless you have citizenship or atleast a working visa, aren't you supposed to come back every six months as a Canadian citizen?

That's mostly to retain your healthcare status. We are permanent residents in Panama but still pay Canadian taxes on any income from there. We wouldn't qualify for a healthcare plan again until we are back for at least 6 months.

[Huntingwhale]

I've been wanting to do this for a while now. The company I work for is pretty international with options to work remotely for certain employees in certain roles. For myself it might be difficult to get approved to work that way, but I feel I could make it work if I present to my bosses a workable remote office plan. My girlfriend is also finishing her Masters in her home country and the plan is once she graduates, for her to move to Canada. If acquiring a Visa for her turns out to be a nightmare, I told her I would consider the option to work attempt to work remotely and move to Europe.

I love Canada with all my heart, know I have a good life here and it's also her dream to live here and have a good life. But I've also fallen in love with the European lifestyle, scenery and various cultures. My aunt and uncle left Canada to live abroad 20 years ago, and now live in Germany as German citizens. They've proven to me that it's very possible to do, and to still live a happy life. They absolutely love the lifestyle and I'm finding myself wanting to make the move to Europe more and more as I get older.

I've always felt that one day I'd be living somewhere abroad, just not sure which country. With my company potentially having the option to be flexible where I work and my girlfriend already living in Europe, I have plenty of reasons to pack up and go. It's definitely something I think about almost daily.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by FlamingHomer

That's mostly to retain your healthcare status. We are permanent residents in Panama but still pay Canadian taxes on any income from there. We wouldn't qualify for a healthcare plan again until we are back for at least 6 months.

Was it hard to become permanent residents? I imagine it's a lot easier to move if you don't have work to deal with.

[Swift]

Thanks for the replies so far. Much appreciated!

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Can your wife work in any EU country? We're the opposite, my wife is dual irish/canadian citizenship. I thought I as the tag along spouse could live/work in Ireland and live anywhere in the EU but not necessarily work.

Yep, as per the official EU website - https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...n/index_en.htm

"If you are working in another EU country, as an employee, self-employed or on a posting, your non-EU spouse, dependent children and grandchildren can stay there with you without having to meet any other conditions."

"During their stay in your new country, your non-EU spouse, children and grandchildren should be treated as nationals, notably regarding access to employment, pay and benefits facilitating access to work and enrolment in schools."

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

Really interested in this topic. I have Irish Grandparents so I think I have a path to Irish citizenship (Which I think might be a path to an EU citizenship as well?)

Yep, you can become an Irish citizen through your grandparents. Irish citizenship automatically means you're an EU citizen.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Thanks for the replies so far. Much appreciated!



Yep, as per the official EU website - https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...n/index_en.htm

"If you are working in another EU country, as an employee, self-employed or on a posting, your non-EU spouse, dependent children and grandchildren can stay there with you without having to meet any other conditions."

"During their stay in your new country, your non-EU spouse, children and grandchildren should be treated as nationals, notably regarding access to employment, pay and benefits facilitating access to work and enrolment in schools."



Yep, you can become an Irish citizen through your grandparents. Irish citizenship automatically means you're an EU citizen.

I was more worried about this part:

However, if you are an EU citizen and have never lived in another EU country only national rules will apply.


My wife has an Irish grandparent and did all the paperwork to get Irish citizenship. Took a couple of years, but because she did it prior to our children's birth they could get it as well.

She has never lived anywhere other than Canada, so I'm not sure whether that would effect our ability to live in Europe outside of Ireland.

[Wormius]

Kind of pondering something similar since we got our EU citizenship recently.



I think we may do it in stages, probably downsize quite a bit, so that in 5 years we will buy a small condo here that doesn't require a lot of maintenance and get used to living in more confined spaces with each other.

[FlamingHomer]

Originally Posted by Muta

Was it hard to become permanent residents? I imagine it's a lot easier to move if you don't have work to deal with.

Panama wasn't too bad. It depends on which visa you apply for. There is a new one that came out after we got here called the Friendly Nations Visa. It allows people from a select group of countries (Canada qualifies) to work and live here permanently as long as they work in a sector that also qualifies. Healthcare and retail for example aren't allowed.

They still require police background checks and other types of proof of being a respectable person but the lawyers are very good at herding you through the system.

When we went through immigration the building was full of people and 95% were Venezuelans trying to escape their country.