Not all visa programs lead to citizenship, and most people don't find that out until they're years into living somewhere and realize they've been on visa type that never converts to permanent status or passport. This matters more now than it did 5 years ago. When political situation was more stable, living on renewable visa indefinitely seemed fine. Now, having only American passport and no pathway to second citizenship means remaining tethered to country you left specifically because it was becoming unlivable. The visa that gets you into country and the visa that gets you to citizenship aren't always same thing. Some visa programs are explicitly temporary with no pathway forward. Others lead to permanent residency but not citizenship. Others have citizenship pathway but requirements you might not meet. Timeline to citizenship varies wildly by country: some countries offer citizenship after 3 years, others require 10+ years of continuous residence. That difference matters when you're trying to establish actual belonging somewhere instead of perpetually temporary status. Language requirements, financial thresholds, integration tests, criminal background standards, renunciation requirements - these create barriers between "allowed to live here indefinitely" and "actually belong here with passport proving it." Not all countries allow dual citizenship. This means choosing visa program in country that requires you renounce American citizenship to become citizen there locks you into either staying American or becoming stateless during transition. These aren't details to figure out later. These are strategic decisions to make before choosing where to relocate. Because years of your life spent establishing residency in place that won't ultimately give you citizenship is time you could have spent in place that would. If your goal is truly disconnecting from America - not just living abroad while remaining American citizen - then citizenship pathway needs to be primary factor in choosing destination, not afterthought you consider once you're already settled somewhere. The countries with fastest citizenship timelines, most straightforward requirements, and dual citizenship allowance should rank higher in your decision matrix than countries that seem appealing but will keep you on temporary visa indefinitely. This is difference between strategic relocation and reactive relocation. Reactive is: get out now, figure out details later. Strategic is: get out to place that ultimately gives you new citizenship, not just temporary refuge. Right now you might think temporary refuge is enough. But watch American politics accelerate in concerning directions and ask yourself if you want to remain permanently tethered to that through passport that won't renew itself if you're truly committed to staying abroad. Citizenship isn't just symbolic. It's: voting rights in country you actually live in, unrestricted ability to work and own property, access to social services and benefits, inability to be deported, passing citizenship to your children, second passport that lets you travel and work in countries Americans increasingly can't access. Link in bio for people who want pathway to actual belonging, not just extended vacation. Does your target country offer citizenship or just indefinite visa? ๐๐บ๐ธ
@nomadveronicaTranscript
If I was moving abroad for the first time all over again, here's what I would do differently. I would focus on a path to citizenship. Now, you might know that I have lived in three different countries on three different continents over the last five years. Because when we left, we didn't have a long-term plan. We left sort of under duress. We left during COVID times. It was November of that first COVID year. COVID had shut everything down. In March, we left in November. So during that time, very few countries were letting Americans in and we just picked from the list of countries that were allowing American passport holders to enter. And we had a nice life. We lived there for a year and it was lovely. And then the next country we lived was based on an ancestry visa. We lived in Japan for two and a half years. But Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship. So I started living in these countries without the thought that I want to have belonging somewhere. I want to have a passport. I want to have an exit, a real exit strategy from the United States that isn't just visas abroad. I want to be able to actually disconnect from the United States if I so choose. And that requires a passport. So I have now lived abroad for over five years. And I don't have a passport to another country because it wasn't an initial thought in my move abroad process. I didn't consider what is the wait time? What are the requirements? Does the country even allow you to have a second passport? And now I feel like I've burned a bunch of years and I haven't gotten towards the goal of getting a new citizenship. So if I were to do it all over again, I would heavily consider choosing countries that have a faster path to a passport so that I could feel like I at least have accomplished that and and I have a way to disconnect from the United States if it is becomes absolutely necessary to do so. So if that helps you, don't be choosing a country that doesn't have a path to citizenship or a visa program that doesn't have a path to citizenship because that's something that you're going to realize as you live abroad that you're going to want. You're going to want that absolute certainty that you belong somewhere else and that you aren't trapped and beholden to the United States forever.
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