Guides
The whole move, country by country
No more 40 open tabs. Each guide turns relocating into a clear, ordered plan — visas, taxes, healthcare, banking and real budgets, written from primary sources and verified for 2026. Instant PDF.
The Complete Move-Abroad Bundle 2026
All 22 country guides — every visa route, tax rule and real budget, in one download.
$79
$418
Moving to Portugal 2026
The American's guide to the D7 & D8 visas, taxes, and the real cost of living.
- ✓D7 (retiree) vs D8 (digital nomad) — side by side
- ✓The US-tax reality other guides skip (NHR is closed)
- ✓Real budgets for Lisbon, Porto & the Algarve
- ✓31 pages · document checklist + 90-day timeline
Moving to Mexico 2026
Temporary & Permanent Residency, taxes, IMSS healthcare, and what it really costs.
- ✓Residente Temporal income & savings thresholds
- ✓The remote-worker reality (no nomad visa — here's the route)
- ✓Budgets for CDMX, Mérida, Playa del Carmen & more
Moving to Spain 2026
Non-Lucrative vs Digital Nomad Visa, the Beckham Law, healthcare & costs.
- ✓NLV (retiree) vs Digital Nomad Visa — who qualifies
- ✓Beckham Law 24% flat tax + the wealth-tax trap
- ✓Budgets for Madrid, Valencia, Málaga & Barcelona
Moving to Costa Rica 2026
Pensionado, Rentista & the Digital Nomad Visa, CAJA healthcare, and territorial tax.
- ✓Pensionado vs Rentista vs Nomad — pick your route
- ✓Territorial tax: why foreign income isn't taxed
- ✓Budgets for the Central Valley, Tamarindo & beyond
Moving to Thailand 2026
Retirement visa, the new DTV nomad visa, the 2024 tax change, healthcare & costs.
- ✓O-A retirement visa vs the 5-year DTV
- ✓The 2024 foreign-income remittance tax — explained
- ✓Budgets for Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Phuket
Moving to Albania 2026
Live a year visa-free, residence permits, low-cost living, healthcare & taxes.
- ✓The 1-year visa-free rule Americans don't know
- ✓Residence & digital-nomad permits explained
- ✓Budgets for Tirana, Sarandë & the Riviera
Moving to Belize 2026
The QRP retirement program, buying property freehold, and what it actually costs.
- ✓QRP: age 40+ since the 2023 Act — most guides still say 45
- ✓Freehold property — no alien landholding licence
- ✓English-speaking, USD-pegged — 41 pages, toolkit included
Moving to the Philippines 2026
The SRRV retirement visa with current numbers, the 40% condo rule, and real costs.
- ✓The $10,000 SRRV tier is gone — the real 2026 deposits
- ✓You can own the condo, never the land under it
- ✓Budgets for Dumaguete, Cebu & Baguio — 39 pages, toolkit included
Moving to Italy 2026
The 7% flat tax for retirees, the rewritten citizenship-by-descent rules, and what Italy really costs.
- ✓7% flat tax on ALL foreign income — in towns up to 30,000 (raised Apr 2026)
- ✓Jure sanguinis after the Tajani Decree — now at the EU Court of Justice
- ✓42 pages — the deepest guide in the series
Moving to Colombia 2026
The M-11 Pensionado, the pension exemption most guides underplay, and the no-treaty trap.
- ✓Pension income exempt to ~$13,400/month — your Social Security isn't taxed
- ✓No US–Colombia tax treaty — what that actually costs you
- ✓Medellín is the expensive one; the numbers that prove it
Moving to Panama 2026
The Pensionado with no age limit, the statutory discounts nobody else has, and the land trap that costs people everything.
- ✓The retirement visa has NO minimum age — a lifetime pension is the test
- ✓Law 6: 50% off entertainment, 25% off airfares, 20% off doctors
- ✓Titled land vs Rights of Possession — the mistake that loses the lot
Moving to Peru 2026
The lowest income bar in the series, residency that never expires, and the domicile rule that may keep your first year outside Peruvian tax.
- ✓$1,000/mo — the lowest residency bar we cover
- ✓Residency with no expiry; citizenship at three years
- ✓Domicile, not residence — the year-one tax question
Moving to Argentina 2026
An income bar set in pesos and read in dollars, citizenship eligibility at two years, and worldwide taxation to 35% with no treaty.
- ✓The bar is 5 × SMVM — $1,300 or $2,000, depending
- ✓Citizenship eligibility after just two years
- ✓Level 1 safety, and worldwide tax to 35%
Moving to France 2026
The best tax treaty an American retiree can have, the self-employment trap that finally does not apply, and the 2026 healthcare charge France has not yet priced.
- ✓The treaty: US pensions taxed only by the US, not France
- ✓No 15.3% self-employment tax — totalization since 1988
- ✓The new PUMa charge, legislated and still unpriced
Moving to Malaysia 2026
The MM2H tier the agents do not quote, the tax condition that catches untaxed US pension income, and Penang at a third of US costs.
- ✓A $32,000 MM2H deposit tier — not $150,000
- ✓Penang $1,380/mo, and Level 1 — the top safety rating
- ✓"Subject to tax" — the condition nobody quotes
Moving to Uruguay 2026
The totalization agreement almost nobody mentions, the 12% that catches investment income, and a safety advisory blunter than Uruguay's reputation.
- ✓No 15.3% self-employment tax — totalization since 2018
- ✓Foreign investment income taxed at 12%, on gross
- ✓Montevideo $2,550 — mid-table for South America
Moving to Brazil 2026
Worldwide taxation at 27.5% from $900 a month with no treaty, three Level 4 zones inside ordinary life, and the remittance condition that breaks renewals.
- ✓27.5% starts at $900/mo — and there is no treaty
- ✓No 15.3% self-employment tax — totalization since 2018
- ✓Rio $2,240, and the R$6,000 error everyone reprints
Moving to Ireland 2026
The only country here that costs more than America, the lump sum nobody will quote you, and the sentence about investment income that disqualifies people.
- ✓Stamp 0: €50,000/yr each, plus an unpublished lump sum
- ✓"Investment sums are not normally measured"
- ✓Dublin $5,490 — 24% above a mid-size US city
Moving to Vietnam 2026
There is no retirement visa, the golden visa everyone quotes cannot be found at source, and the cheapest country here is the one with the least secure way to stay.
- ✓No retirement visa — and what actually works instead
- ✓The "golden visa" resolution with no government source
- ✓Hanoi $1,290 — the cheapest city in the series
Moving to the Dominican Republic 2026
The retirement programme that is a tax statute, the consular step half the internet forgets, and the renewal condition buried in Article 8.
- ✓Pensionado $1,500/mo — no minimum age, written into Article 4
- ✓Level 2 countrywide — no Level 3 or Level 4 areas at all
- ✓Article 8: your pension has to land in a Dominican account
Moving to Ecuador 2026
The lowest income bar of any real retirement visa, the tax myth half the internet repeats, and the 90-day rule that quietly disqualifies people.
- ✓Jubilado: $1,446/mo — an average Social Security check clears it
- ✓Cuenca $1,500/mo all-in — 66% below a mid-size US city
- ✓Ecuador is NOT territorial-tax, whatever the visa agencies tell you
Moving to Greece 2026
The 7% flat tax for retirees, FIP & Digital Nomad visas, the Med life — and what it really costs.
- ✓The 7% flat-tax rule almost nobody knows
- ✓FIP retiree visa vs Digital Nomad vs Golden Visa
- ✓Budgets for Athens, Thessaloniki & the islands
With a record
Moving abroad with a criminal record
An arrest, a DUI or a felony doesn't end the conversation, but every country reads your record and applies its own legal test. These guides quote the actual rules from government sources. The honest path only; not legal advice.
Moving Abroad With a Criminal Record 2026
What your FBI record shows, how to fix it first, and the legal test five countries actually apply.
- ✓Read and fix your FBI record before a consulate does
- ✓Apostille, translation and validity windows
- ✓Canada, Portugal, Ecuador, Mexico & Thailand — the real test
Moving to Mexico With a Criminal Record 2026
Mexico's security test, the visa form's record question, and the money rules at 7 US consulates.
- ✓Article 43's security test, word by word
- ✓2026 solvency figures at 7 consulates
- ✓What INM can cancel after you land
Moving to Ecuador With a Criminal Record 2026
A record triggers an interview, not an automatic no — and the October 2025 law reform.
- ✓How the record interview works
- ✓The 180-day certificate window
- ✓What the 2025 reform changed
Moving to Portugal With a Criminal Record 2026
The one-year rule, the FBI check, and every stage Portugal looks at your record again.
- ✓Article 52(3) — punishable, not sentenced
- ✓Checked at visa, permit, renewal & PR
- ✓FBI record under 90 days, federal apostille
Moving to Colombia With a Criminal Record 2026
The record certificate, the visa study with no appeal, and Colombia's border test.
- ✓Which visas ask for your record, how far back
- ✓The 3-month document clock
- ✓“Intentional crimes” at the border
Canada With a DUI 2026
Why a DUI since Dec 18, 2018 never ages out — and the honest way back in.
- ✓Pre-2018 vs post-2018 decision table
- ✓Criminal rehabilitation, step by step
- ✓Temporary resident permits & moving for good
More countries on the way. Not sure where to start? Browse the cost-of-living data first, then grab the guide that matches your plan.
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