The-hanz

Hi,

I was wondering if its possible to move and live permanently in the USA if you are completely self sufficient i.e. won the lottery or been left enough money to purchase a property, car etc and have enough left to live comfortably?

I have looked through several pages of several forums but cannot see any info on this.

Cheers

SultanOfSwing

Probably not, if you aren't going to be paying any taxes into the system. For a lottery winner, I think there's an investment visa that you can get if you are going to invest $500,000.00 or so into a business that will employ a certain amount of local people. No route to permanent residence, though.

Having said that, I bet enough money could buy one's way in.

Nutmegger

Isn't that the EB5 program? I believe it is possible to attain permanent residence, if the project in which one invests does well enough. OP, search for posts about EB5 in the US Immigration and Visas section of the forum.

SultanOfSwing

Oh, OK.

The-hanz

Thanks for your replies.

I was thinking of it more like being a permanent tourist. Owning a house, car, pool and being on permanent vacation. Spending the money on food, gas, furniture and luxuries. Having top notch health insurance and contributing to the tax system in those ways. I didn't have any plans on investing any money in anything.

Jerseygirl

No...sorry.

JSL8610

Then I suspect there's probably a good reason you haven't been able to find any info on doing this...

Nutmegger

Sorry -- the US doesn't offer a hanging out having a good time visa, though many wish it did!

SanDiegogirl

There is no visa which allows you to move to the US and "just" live permanently.

You need to have a work visa, investment visa, spouse/immediate relative visa to become a permanent legal resident.

You CAN apply for a B2 visa which allows multi-entry into the US for longer periods than 3 months (which is what the Visa Waiver program gives you), but nothing, apart from the visas mentioned above, give you permanent residency.

lansbury

If someone won the lottery, they would undoubtedly need to invest the winnings in some way. Such investment might open the visa door.

Noorah101

No, there's no visa like that. If you have the money, you need to invest it, and that is the way you become your green card. THEN you can live permanently in the USA and spend your money any way you want.

Rene

tuxedocat

What about finding a business to sponsor you for a work visa? I believe my dad did this for his gf, he had her on his payroll when he was married to the wife before her. They are married now but I believe he did end up sponsor her on some kind of work visa. She leaves out prepositions and has no subject/verb agreement but was an editor.

Bob

In the land of litigation and world wide tax...this would be the last place on earth you'd want to live permanently if you were minted and that self sufficient.

The-hanz

You've obviously never lived in the UK then :-)

srefre

I would say that cuts both ways!


In my opinion, I would agree with Bob that the risk of litigation in the US and the reach of the IRS is much greater than the litigation risk in the UK and the reach or HMRC.

In theory the UK may have higher tax, but at that level of wealth, it's not uncommon to see offshore avoidance schemes bring the amount paid down to very low levels (e.g. 1% in the case of Jimmy Carr).