Post: #1

Sup fellas,

I have spent the past 4 months grinding and building up a couple online businesses that have been fruitful.

I now have the steady income and flexibility to work from anywhere and am planning on adopting the location independent lifestyle. Instead of fleeing from place to place every 90 days (the most common length of a entry visa) I would rather have a more permanent multi-year visa for one specific country.

I have been researching like crazy but can't seem to figure out the appropriate visa I would need. It seems like most visas apply to finding a full-time job in the country you are moving to. But since my source of income is online I am confused as to how to take up residency in a new country.

The countries I am considering:
-Russia
-Colombia
-Ukraine
-Spain

Any other suggestions are welcome. And I would love to hear from other people who have successfully implemented this lifestyle.

Furthermore, I am curious about how income tax works if you are living in another country.

Thanks!

Post: #2

As an aside, is it safe to assume you've had extended stays in these countries? My plan after leaving the US in June is to first use 90-day tourist visas to make sure I like the country I'm considering (Poland), after briefly visiting many. I figure no point doing the work for a more permanent visa if it turns out I don't like it.

Post: #3

(05-21-2015 03:41 PM)262 Wrote:  As an aside, is it safe to assume you've had extended stays in these countries? My plan after leaving the US in June is to first use 90-day tourist visas to make sure I like the country I'm considering (Poland), after briefly visiting many. I figure no point doing the work for a more permanent visa if it turns out I don't like it.

That's a very fair point. But I was also considering getting something more permanent for the purposes of income tax benefits.

That's what I was considering having malta as a base and then going from place to place every few months or so.

Post: #4

Avoid Russia. It's very anti American now. Ukraine is a whole norther story.Pipeline on vk and check out ukrgo. Which is like Craigslist there.

Post: #5

(05-21-2015 05:35 PM)Virtus Wrote:  Avoid Russia. It's very anti American now. Ukraine is a whole norther story.Pipeline on vk and check out ukrgo. Which is like Craigslist there.

Do you have recent experience on-the-ground in Russia? I have a couple buddies that just got back from there, and said it was great.

Post: #6

You'll definitely want to consult a tax accountant. But if you are American, no matter where in the world you make money, you'll owe good ol' Uncle Sam his Income Taxes. That is unless you earn money working in a country that has a treaty with the US which will avoid double taxation of income. But then again, you earn online... so, definitely get professional advice.

Post: #7

(05-21-2015 05:13 PM)gandt Wrote:  That's a very fair point. But I was also considering getting something more permanent for the purposes of income tax benefits.

That's what I was considering having malta as a base and then going from place to place every few months or so.

Depending on how much you make, including your online businesses, the US may not tax you much (if at all). This blog post was relevant to me as an early retiree, so it may be relevant to you:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/0...etirement/

TL;DR: He runs his numbers through TurboTax and finds that because of his low investment income (which his family lives well on through careful spending), his taxes are basically zero.

I'm also planning to "relocate" to Texas to avoid state income taxes, by getting a mail-scanning/forwarding service with an address there (which I figure I'll need anyway for passport renewals, etc.). For this and other details, I've got a journal detailing my in-progress relocation at: /thread-47239-...20051.html

Of course, if you do, or plan to make, quite a bit of money with your online businesses, then yeah, it may pay to look abroad, but I'm not familiar with much there. I know Estonia just started doing eResidency, though as I understand, that only allows you to do business in Estonia, not stay there.

Also not sure how FATCA applies ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Acc...liance_Act ), though as I understand, it basically enforces the odd notion that Americans should pay taxes to the US, even if their assets are held abroad (apparently the only other country that does anything close is Eritrea).

Post: #8

No country has a "let me stay as long as I want without any conditions" visa. Your choices, if you are not planning to incorporate in the country in question (and even then an actual resident visa for yourself is a completely separate question) are Working Holiday visas (if you are not American), study visas or investment visas.

But there are also plenty of places where visa runs are no problem and very convenient so I am not sure why you want to exclude those.

Post: #9

I'm a digital nomad.

Enter on a tourist visa. Yes, you'll be working on-line, but don't tell that to the guy at immigration. Just say you're there for a holiday. They'll never know otherwise.

Your big problems are:

1. Reliable internet.

2. Depending on what you do, working remotely and bouncing around can be tough.

I'm in software development, and I can't code unless my head is "the game".

Getting my head "in the game" can be tough in some random hotel room, especially on a laptop.

But that's coding work, which is mentally intense.

If you're doing 'light' stuff it shouldn't be so much of a problem.

Post: #10

(05-22-2015 01:11 AM)dogthom Wrote:  I'm a digital nomad.

Enter on a tourist visa. Yes, you'll be working on-line, but don't tell that to the guy at immigration. Just say you're there for a holiday. They'll never know otherwise.

Your big problems are:

1. Reliable internet.

2. Depending on what you do, working remotely and bouncing around can be tough.

I'm in software development, and I can't code unless my head is "the game".

Getting my head "in the game" can be tough in some random hotel room, especially on a laptop.

But that's coding work, which is mentally intense.

If you're doing 'light' stuff it shouldn't be so much of a problem.

I agree with the tourist visa. As long as you are not doing business in that country. Most digital nomads do tourist visas. Unless they are opening a business in that country.

Post: #11

I actually have done just that and now have residency in an EU country (I'm American with an online biz). If I were you I'd pick a schengen zone country because that essentially takes your 1 country to 22 giving you much more flexibility. I would strongly advise against a tourist visa because that's temporary, and hard to trsnsition from a tourist visa to something more permanent. I don't want to have to worry about going through that whole ordeal again (it's far from being a quick process) , and tourist visas in the country I selected were also harder to come by than a work visa or business owners visa. As far as taxes go get an accountant but until you know exactly which route you'll take this is kind of pointless consider.

Post: #12

(05-22-2015 03:34 AM)ElJefe1 Wrote:  I actually have done just that and now have residency in an EU country (I'm American with an online biz). If I were you I'd pick a schengen zone country because that essentially takes your 1 country to 22 giving you much more flexibility. I would strongly advise against a tourist visa because that's temporary, and hard to trsnsition from a tourist visa to something more permanent. I don't want to have to worry about going through that whole ordeal again (it's far from being a quick process) , and tourist visas in the country I selected were also harder to come by than a work visa or business owners visa. As far as taxes go get an accountant but until you know exactly which route you'll take this is kind of pointless consider.

Thanks for the info.

How did you go about seeking residency? From what I have read it is not as simple as just moving there and applying for residency. Did you start off with a work visa?

Post: #13

(05-21-2015 05:35 PM)Virtus Wrote:  Avoid Russia. It's very anti American now. Ukraine is a whole norther story.Pipeline on vk and check out ukrgo. Which is like Craigslist there.

I mean there has always been that undertone of anti-america geo-politically but every time I have gone there I have had nothing but great experiences and people were super receptive.

If you go there acting as an american douche, then yes of course they will be anti-american.

Is there something specific that made you say that it's very anti-american now? Did you mean in terms of people's receptiveness or the states receptiveness to allow americans in?

Post: #14

(05-22-2015 09:51 AM)gandt Wrote:  

(05-21-2015 05:35 PM)Virtus Wrote:  Avoid Russia. It's very anti American now. Ukraine is a whole norther story.Pipeline on vk and check out ukrgo. Which is like Craigslist there.

I mean there has always been that undertone of anti-america geo-politically but every time I have gone there I have had nothing but great experiences and people were super receptive.

If you go there acting as an american douche, then yes of course they will be anti-american.

Is there something specific that made you say that it's very anti-american now? Did you mean in terms of people's receptiveness or the states receptiveness to allow americans in?

I've been "on the ground" here for over 1.5 years now. Russia (Moscow anyway) is fine. Come on over.

I can give you some info on taxes in a PM if you want, but basically if you're making less than $90k or so and spending less than 30 days on US soil per year, you won't pay anything. Of course you'll still need to file some forms.

Post: #15

I started a business in that country though we plan to sale and target US customers (visa for business purposes, and still it was a pain in the ass though much easier than a tourist visa to attain and more importantly more permanent. Now I have the ability to go anywhere I want in the EU and for as long as I want so long as I maintain my business and a residence. In my mind with the lifestyle I lead that is priceless... As far as taxes go I'd get a professional accountant to handle that (its the cost of doing business), what Presidentcarter refers to is applicable for someone with a gig, however as a business owner that $90k threshold he refers to most likely has zero to do with you.

Post: #16

The DR may be an option for you to consider.

It's similar to Colombia in terms of girls and cost, and there are no visa restrictions. When you leave, you just pay a nominal overstay fee of $100-200. And if you want to avoid that, they give residency to any American who hasn't been convicted of serious crimes.

Post: #17

You can also easily get 1 year business visa to Cambodia - just pay few $
With little hassle you can get 1 year business visa to Thailand
You can stay pretty much how long you want in Vietnam, just pay for renewal to an agency

Post: #18

Can we hear more about how you made stable online businesses in 4 months? What industry and sort of work did you get into? Roughly how much are you reeling in as well?

Thank you!

Post: #19

(06-27-2015 01:40 PM)browser Wrote:  Can we hear more about how you made stable online businesses in 4 months? What industry and sort of work did you get into? Roughly how much are you reeling in as well?

Thank you!

I'm curious about this as well. I'm not necessarily trying to copy the same industry/business, but how it was done in ONLY 4 months.

Post: #20

(06-27-2015 04:43 PM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

(06-27-2015 01:40 PM)browser Wrote:  Can we hear more about how you made stable online businesses in 4 months? What industry and sort of work did you get into? Roughly how much are you reeling in as well?

Thank you!

I'm curious about this as well. I'm not necessarily trying to copy the same industry/business, but how it was done in ONLY 4 months.

Alright, alright... I am going to try and post some kind of datasheet that will outline what exactly I did. Will start compiling this in the coming days.

Post: #21

(05-23-2015 10:10 PM)JJH Wrote:  With little hassle you can get 1 year business visa to Thailand

Is this still working with little hassle? It seems like these fake business visas wont last long these days.

Post: #22

(05-21-2015 03:02 PM)gandt Wrote:  Furthermore, I am curious about how income tax works if you are living in another country.

The U.S. makes it's citizens pay worldwide income tax especially if you're self-employed. Doesn't matter where you live. You better start learning about legal ways to offshore if you want to decrease your tax burden.

Post: #23

(06-28-2015 11:48 AM)travolta Wrote:  

(05-21-2015 03:02 PM)gandt Wrote:  Furthermore, I am curious about how income tax works if you are living in another country.

The U.S. makes it's citizens pay worldwide income tax especially if you're self-employed. Doesn't matter where you live. You better start learning about legal ways to offshore if you want to decrease your tax burden.

Actually I discussed all of this with a international tax lawyer and yes you are right, for US citizens you always need to pay a bit of federal tax to the US government no matter where you live (unless you give up your American citizenship completely).

However, when it comes to legitimately incorporating overseas and taking advantage of foreign tax benefits the strategy is two pronged:

1) You must incorporate in another country. This process is fairly easy.

2) You must give up residency in your home country and declare residency in another.

Step #1 is practically useless unless you move forward with Step #2 as well. The reason is because your local government (in most cases) is going to look at your foreign corporation as a local corporation given then you are primarily spending most your time in your home country.

The logic being, you are carrying out that majority of business operations in our country so we are going to tax you are a corporation in our company.

SOOOO... The way to avoid this is by declaring residency in another country. Then you can take advantage of the 0% income tax in step 1 and also save massive amounts on personal income tax in step two.

If you have businesses making $1,000,000/annually it's almost ridiculous not to move abroad given that you could be paying as much as 40% plus in taxes each year. I would say it would make sense if you are even making 200k+

Post: #24

as someone in the same boat, I suggest spending 1-2 months per city. you can do this by renting space in co-working offices. housing may be a bit more expensive as a result of the shorter stays.

Post: #25

Which languages do you speak, and what makes you interested in the countries you have listed?

Do you know your family history? Have you checked out any possibilities of obtaining citizenship more easily because of your ancestry?

What are your hobbies and interests? What about your goals?

It's difficult to give advice without knowing what you're trying to achieve by moving to those countries.