Amy Radcliff

I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
appreciated.

If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
again, any help gratefully recieved.

Luigi Donatello Asero

"amy radcliff" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...
    > I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    > problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    > that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    > website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
    > appreciated.
    > If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    > in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    > in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    > again, any help gratefully recieved.


May I ask you first of all why you would like to move to Europe from the
States?

--
Luigi Donatello Asero
(sono italiano ma vivo in Svezia)
(я итальянец но я живу в Швеции )
(我是 意大利人 , 但是 我 住 在 瑞典)
(minä olen Italian kansalainen, mutta minä asun Ruotsissa)
https://www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com/

John Bermont

amy radcliff wrote:
    >
    > I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    > problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    > that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    > website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
    > appreciated.
    >
    > If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    > in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    > in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    > again, any help gratefully recieved.
    >

I've done this a few times. See a discussion of issues you will face in
my chapter "Living in Europe: Travel to the Max as an Expatriate" at
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap22/living.htm

--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------
This email powered by Thunderbird. Learn more at:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

S Viemeister

amy radcliff wrote:
    >
    > I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    > problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    > that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    > website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
    > appreciated.
    >
    > If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    > in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    > in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    > again, any help gratefully recieved.

If you are a US citizen, you will be required to file a tax return with the
IRS, as well as paying local taxes - but there is a large exemption, about
$80,000.
It can be just as difficult for an American to emigrate to a European
country as it is for a European to move to the US - unless, of course, you
can claim citizenship in a European country.

Nick Zentena

amy radcliff <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >
    > I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    > problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    > that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    > website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
    > appreciated.
    >
    > If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    > in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    > in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    > again, any help gratefully recieved.


Residency will depend on how you're moving. If you aren't working you'll
have to show income or enough assets. For example I think the UK requires
25K Pounds per yer in income. Italy is a similar amount. If you have a EU
passport it's much easier.

Taxes depend on the tax treaty between the US and the country you
move to. Unless you're moving to a tax haven expect to pay taxes on
worldwide income in the country you're living in. If you don't feel up to
reading International tax treaties then paying a tax lawyer for a hour of
thier time will be a good thing. Just make sure they deal with international
issues.

For Italy try this site:

http://expattalk.com/groupee/forums

Many of the issues will be similar within the EU.


Nick
--
---------------------------------------
"Digital the new ice fishing"
---------------------------------------

Chris Jones

    > I've done this a few times. See a discussion of issues you will face in
    > my chapter "Living in Europe: Travel to the Max as an Expatriate" at
    > http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap22/living.htm

Interesting read, to see how European things are viewed from "the other
side". However, I'm wondering how long ago this was written? Some things,
such as "Because credit cards are expensive, few Europeans use them" are
simply no longer true.

Mxsmanic

amy radcliff writes:

    > I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    > problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    > that emerge.

You need a job and a visa, both of which are extremely difficult to
obtain.

The fastest way to obtain the right to live in Europe is to marry a
European national. Once you have the right to live there, you have
the right to work there, although having the right to work doesn't
guarantee that you'll ever find a job (you still need useful skills,
including language skills, and the job market in most European
countries is very weak).

The most efficient way to obtain a job is to join a large
multinational in the States and negotiate a transfer. This will cover
both visa and work-permit issues, and from there you can sometimes
negotiate a permanent position abroad. However, this option is
usually available only for highly-skilled jobs or management, and a
lack of language ability is often a deal-breaker for some companies.
And if you move from a foreign-service status to a local employee
status (for permanent employment abroad), you can expect a huge drop
in income, too.

    > Could anyone recommend a place to get started?

There are books on the topic. Search Amazon.com for "working abroad"
or similar terms and dozens of titles will show up.

    > If it matters, employment is not a huge problem ...

If you are independently wealthy, all you need is permission to stay,
which greatly simplifies things. In some countries, you can get
permission to stay just by proving that you don't have to work.
Marrying a local will also give you permission to stay.

    > I'm more interested in questions of residency status ...

In most cases what you would want is permanent residency status,
although it is called different things in different jurisdictions. It
usually requires a lot of time and effort to obtain.

    > ... tax issues (do I pay taxes there or in the States, for instance) ...

The USA is one of the few countries in the world that taxes its
citizens even when they live abroad, so you probably will have to pay
taxes both in the USA and in the country in which you're living.
There are some provisions to help diminish double taxation and allow
for lower incomes, but you still have to file returns in most cases.

    > ... qualifying for health care ...

Generally if you are a legal resident you qualify for something, in
countries with national health care systems. Working is a better
guarantee of qualifying for health care. Health-care systems are
often very different from the United States, for better or for worse.
The usual pattern is more universal and less expensive health care,
but longer waits, fewer personal choices, and somewhat lower
standards.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

EvelynVogtGamble

Luigi Donatello Asero wrote:

    > "amy radcliff" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
    > news:[email protected]...
    >
    >>I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    >>problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    >>that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    >>website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
    >>appreciated.
    >>If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    >>in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    >>in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    >>again, any help gratefully recieved.
    >
    >
    >
    > May I ask you first of all why you would like to move to Europe from the
    > States?

You have to ASK?????? (I've been sorely tempted, too, in
view of our current government - but at my age there are too
many potential problems.)

    >

Frank F. Matthews

Nick Zentena wrote:

    > amy radcliff <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >>I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    >>problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    >>that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    >>website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc? Any help
    >>appreciated.
    >>If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    >>in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    >>in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    >>again, any help gratefully recieved.
    >
    >
    >
    > Residency will depend on how you're moving. If you aren't working you'll
    > have to show income or enough assets. For example I think the UK requires
    > 25K Pounds per yer in income. Italy is a similar amount. If you have a EU
    > passport it's much easier.
    >

I wonder how the figure it if you have little income but have
substantial liquid assets from which you remove significant spending money.

    > Taxes depend on the tax treaty between the US and the country you
    > move to. Unless you're moving to a tax haven expect to pay taxes on
    > worldwide income in the country you're living in. If you don't feel up to
    > reading International tax treaties then paying a tax lawyer for a hour of
    > thier time will be a good thing. Just make sure they deal with international
    > issues.
    >
    > For Italy try this site:
    >
    > http://expattalk.com/groupee/forums
    >
    > Many of the issues will be similar within the EU.
    >
    >
    > Nick

Mxsmanic

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:

    > You have to ASK?????? (I've been sorely tempted, too, in
    > view of our current government - but at my age there are too
    > many potential problems.)

If you have the financial means to retire, Europe can be an attractive
place to do it.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Iceman

"If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
again, any help gratefully recieved."

As for taxes, you need to look up something called the "double taxation
treaty" with the country or countries that you are considering.
Basically, if you are outside the US for 330 days out of a 365 day
period, you can exempt the first $80,000 of your income during that
365-day period from US taxes. (You don't have to spend 330 days in the
country you are living in, just any country besides the US.) Then the
double taxation treaty determines how much of your income is taxed in
your new country of residence (usually 10% or 20%). The end result is
usually that you wind up paying far less in taxes as an American
expatriate in Europe than you would if you were still in the US.

You need to check with the immigration department of the country in
order to see what the deal is with work visas or residence visas. In
general European countries have been making legal immigration more
difficult, but if you have special skills (e.g. information technology,
health care professional) you might be able to get a work visa. In the
case of Japan, you can go there for three months on a tourist visa,
look for a job, and then get a work visa. I don't know if European
countries allow that or not, but it makes things a lot easier.

Italy and Ireland have a provision for citizenship based on ancestry
(Germany used to but no longer does since they were getting flooded by
people from Eastern Europe who were like 1/8 German) - I think you need
a grandparent born in one of those countries. If you can get dual
nationality with Ireland or Italy, you can live and work anywhere in
the European Union.

Ellie C

Mxsmanic wrote:

    > amy radcliff writes:
    >
    >
    >>I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    >>problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    >>that emerge.
    >
    >
    > You need a job and a visa, both of which are extremely difficult to
    > obtain.
    >

More specifically, you need to show that you can support yourself. My
husband and I retired to France 2 years ago and we don't have jobs. But
we had to show that we would be able to support ourselve, which in our
case was showing that we had an income. At the time when we were
applying for our long-stay visas, the financial requirement was that a
couple had to show that they either had an income equal to about 12,000
euros per year, or that much in the bank. These long stay visas then
become the basis for a Carte de Sejour which each year checks the same
financial information.

You're best off choosing a country first and then finding out the
residency requirements for that country. We got all of our initial
information from the website for the French consulate.

As for health care, we are covered by the French health care system,
which I have found to be very good and much more easily available than
what I experienced in the US. Our first year in the system was expensive
(although not by US standards) because our payment was based on our
previous year's income, which was large since we both were still
working. It will go down considerably now that we have filed French tax
returns and have proof of a very modest income.

Jens Arne Maennig

amy radcliff wrote:

    > I am seriously considering moving to Europe (from the States). The
    > problem is of course the details--its overwhelming all the questions
    > that emerge. Could anyone recommend a place to get started? A
    > website devoted to Americans emigating, a book, etc?

ISBN 0809229897 could be helpful to do it the easiest way.

    > If it matters, employment is not a huge problem...I'm more interested
    > in questions of residency status, tax issues (do I pay taxes there or
    > in the States, for instance), qualifying for health care, and so on...
    > again, any help gratefully recieved.

Why not simply find somebody who cares for you? This will work in any
European country. If you don't like this option, you would have to be a
bit more specific. Any country you would prefer? Any knowledge of
certain languages?

I hear they are desperately looking for foreign workers in Molvania...

Jens

Ajh

Chris Jones wrote:
    > > I've done this a few times. See a discussion of issues you will face in
    > > my chapter "Living in Europe: Travel to the Max as an Expatriate" at
    > > http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap22/living.htm
    > Interesting read, to see how European things are viewed from "the other
    > side". However, I'm wondering how long ago this was written? Some things,
    > such as "Because credit cards are expensive, few Europeans use them" are
    > simply no longer true.

I like this bit:

"At home, room doors are normally kept closed within the house. Rooms
which are not used much are not heated because of the high cost of gas
and oil"

Huh? I may turn down the rad in the spare room but the door is
generally open. And I'd question all the stuff on phones and faxes
being more expensive than America - that stuff is dirt cheap nowadays -
and the ubiquity (or otherwise) of pulse dialling.

Stuff like this needs to be datestamped and taken with a pinch of salt
if it is over a year old.

Magda

On 19 Sep 2005 06:22:39 -0700, in rec.travel.europe, "AJH" <[email protected]> arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :

...
... I like this bit:
...
... "At home, room doors are normally kept closed within the house. Rooms
... which are not used much are not heated because of the high cost of gas
... and oil"
...
... Huh? I may turn down the rad in the spare room but the door is
... generally open.

If the door is open the other radiators in the house are heating a room that is not being
used - the average temperature is lower than it would be if the door to the spare room was
closed.