anyone here ever expatriated?

[BigDick]

I'm going to come off as a pompous D!(% but. . . .

If you don't like it in the U.S. don't even bother maintaining your citizenship by expatriating, just go and get citizenship wherever you end up. This isn't directed at anyone on the site here, JMHO, sorry if I sound too bigoted about this, but being in the military has made me a lot more patriotic and opinionated on these types of subjects.

[MaximPhil]

Terminology is confusing. To me ( I have been wrong) expat refers to people living and WORKING away from their home country for more than a couple of weeks but not permanently. To leave as in your case on your sailboat is to go cruising and not the same thing at all. If you intend to abandon your home country for another you are emigarting. If you are travelling for an extended period of time (years ) you are just a Lucky Bastard
Phil

[XSokieSPECIAL]

There's that damned echo again.

[MaximPhil]

Internet Interuptus had to reconnect and try again hence the second post.
I will try and delete
Phil

[Montreux_Blue]

There's that damned echo again.

It's not nice to make fun of peoples stuttering problems.

[CatatonicBug]

My mom married a guy in the UK, and now officially has a dual citizenship. There are a few countries that allow that. She maintains her Social Security number here, and also benefits from free medical care there. It took 4 years, and a bunch of paperwork, and I think she had to take a test of some kind, but now she can skip a bunch of the mess that non-citizens have to go through when going across the pond.

[crazy steve]

There's a variety of reasons for doing this, and it certainly doesn't have to be a comment on US politics. I know a large handful of people who have done this, all for legitimate reasons IMO. One married a foreign gal, she didn't like it here, he moved with her back to her home. Some just wanted a change of climate. More than a few did it for financial reasons, as a small retirement income here can be large elsewhere. None of them that I know gave up their citizenship or had any wish to do so.

Now, nearly all of these were retired/disabled. If you try to get work overseas, it can be very, very tough unless you have some sort of 'specialty' that's in demand or are planning on opening a business with local partners. By and large, if you go to a country where english is a primary language, living expenses will be the same or higher.

Everyone I know who's done this says you have to expect to give up certain things, make damn sure you know how things 'work' locally, and remember that you're a guest. One common thread is they all pretty much left most of their possessions here, as shipping/import duties ruled out dragging too much stuff with you.

'78E original owner

[fredintoon]

- - - - wonderin if anyone here ever expatriated and how did that work for you?? - - - -

Hi Redbone,
I emigrated back in 1969 and that worked out OK.
I even got used to driving on the wrong side of the road.
But to expatriate is different? Move to another country but keep your original citizenship?
We used to call those guys "remittance men"

[Larrym]

A Long and Strange Trip it's Been

Terminology is confusing. To me ( I have been wrong) expat refers to people living and WORKING away from their home country for more than a couple of weeks but not permanently. To leave as in your case on your sailboat is to go cruising and not the same thing at all. If you intend to abandon your home country for another you are emigarting. If you are travelling for an extended period of time (years ) you are just a Lucky Bastard
Phil

The terminology is not only confusing but when I tried to get clear info on how it works in order to know what to do, things went downhill fast. There's clear routes to take if one is going to work for a company in another country: Just depends that country's rules for doing so. If you want to emigrate that's doable but some countries don't take kindly to outlanders taking jobs which could go to natural born citizens.

I spent 4 years prepping a classic, limited edition sailing vessel for extended cruising: not an over-nighter, not a weekend, nor a full week, but capable for being "away" for months at a time. (In total comfort!) Problem is that when I wanted to "do" the country to my north, the plan called for months/miles of travel where I'd stop for extended periods to actually experience what the places had to offer
as opposed to doing a whistle-stop/point-to-point passage-making with my eye on the clock. The idea was to take my time getting to a place where I would "winter-over" and then continue rambling when the good weather returns.

Totally not do-able after 9/11. According to the rules for "visitors" in Canada I could only be in the country 6 months and then I'd have to leave, go back to the US, and then I could return. (After being processed at each border by the appropriate country's aggressive customs agents..) That meant that I would be able to go halfway to my destination before I had to turn around and head back in order to meet the rules. Perfectly acceptable if I was a tourist on a short vacation who wanted to fly somewhere, have fun, the fly back to get back to work. But for someone who is retired and doesn't have to get back and punch the clock? Kinda screwey. Definiteley both the foreign/domestic countries making rules which would keep people like me on a short tether.

For those who know, you can be an american citizen and be out of the country for years. I believe it was 2, before you have to go back and check back in. I could handle that. But If you're going to go somewhere and get more out of it that the "tour bus" experience, you have to take your time. That's where the expatriation process comes in.

In order to do what I wanted to do, which is to actually enjoy the freedom that I've worked for and earned, in the way I want to, I'd have to expatriate myself from the US: Choose the workable option of being "voluntarily absent from home and country". Then I could go to that country to the north or south of me and not have to look over my shoulder or hear the "must-return-by-this-date-time" clock ticking in my ears. Totally ironic but true.

This being said it's all a moot point for me as far as expatriating myself in order to travel the world by sailboat. 9/11 changed that forever. Unfortunately/ironically, my very first trip north was scheduled the week after that date.

50 caliber machine guns on zodiacs scooting around my boat is not within my own personal comfort zone.

I'm still eying the expatriate process but for different reasons. In the meantime I'm content to tear up and down this country's roads on a superbike. Really does relieve the frustration ....mostly.

[redbone]

wow....that didn't take long. i figured when i posted that message i would either get notta or a bombardment. the latter holding true.

i got to hand it to everyone on here, every time i ask a question about anything i always get the info i'm lookin for.
thanks again,
redbone

[DGXSER]

wonderin if anyone here ever expatriated and how did that work for you??

I think that happened to me once, the doctor told me to go home and get lots of bedrest and drink this liquid stuff.

[thebottle]

I love to travel so I have definitely thought about it. If you are SERIOUSLY thinking about it and don't have dependents like a wife or children then I say do it. Because if not, then what is the worst that can happen? You gain some experience, that is the worst that can come of it.

[fredintoon]

- - - then what is the worst that can happen? You gain some experience, that is the worst that can come of it.

Hi bottle,
depends where you go and who you meet up with.
The worst that can come of it is having your throat slit in a back alley someplace.

[xs11jack]

To me,

the idea of leaving the USA until things get better(who's definition of "better" do we use?), is leaving the work of making the USA "better" to others. When you come down to the basics of our country, we have an imperfect but the best workable system of society there is. (is that a participle thing there at the end of this?) You can't run, come back when things are fixed, and continue to whine. You ain't going to have a lot of listener or friends for that matter. Yes, there are alot of things need fixing that one person can't do, but look at what obama is doing for the vast right wing conspiracy, now we are getting things done, just wait for this fall's elections. I have no arguement with anyone that just wants to go somewhere else and experience different things, but I do loose respect for the runner.
Ole Jack

[LoHo]

I have always thought of expatriation as being the emigrating to another country for some real or imagined reason that somehow hampers going back; moving to Canada to avoid the draft, or moving to France to avoid racism in the US, that sort of thing. I always thought of immigrants/emigrants being primarily looking for a greater opportunity.
I guess taking ones pension and moving to Baja because it's nice there and the money goes further is something else, perhaps a retirement vacation. I'll bet that most who do that wind up buried in the US when all is said and done, and that they return freely to visit.
I have thought about where I'd live if not in the US, and Australia sounds promising, with Mexico in the race. Canada sounds too cold for too long, although the fishing might make up for it.
There are only a handful of countries that people are willing to risk their lives to get in to, and I live in one of those now. That says something....