The Wonderful World of Visas

If you don’t like America so much, why don’t you just leave?

My first answer is actually closer to why don’t we fix what is broken, not throw it away, but to stay a little more on topic, I’ll go with my other usual answer: how?

Changing one’s country of residence is not an easy matter. As it is, countries around the globe are having immigration crises. And typically, when one wants to immigrate, they always want to go to countries with social safety nets, healthcare, and other benefits, which makes immigration even more difficult and potentially competitive.

There are several types of visas. The tourist visa is for being, well, a tourist. Most countries have a tourist or visitor visa. The United States allows visitors to stay for up to six months. The Schengen tourist visa (which applies to non-EU individuals) allows visitors to stay up to ninety days within a one hundred and eighty day period in the entire Schengen Area (most of the EU). Japan’s tourist visa allows visitors to stay for up to ninety days consecutively and up to one hundred and eighty days in a year period. Work is not allowed on a tourist visa.

The new hotness is the digital nomad visa. This type of visa allows a person to not only visit a country, but legally work remotely while there. There are currently approximately forty four countries that offer digital nomad visas*. Some offer a path to residency, but this is a separate process from the digital nomad visa and typically relies on many years of continuous legal residency. Digital nomad visas require a few things: making a certain amount of income and having employment that allows you to work from anywhere. With the Work From Home Age coming to an end, these types of employment opportunities are drying up rapidly. Not only that, but not all digital nomad visas are created equally. Japan's new digital nomad visa is a glorified tourist visa, where one doesn't have to take a random flight to South Korea to stay for one hundred and eighty days without violating the ninety consecutive days rule. Spanish digital nomads can rent apartments and open bank accounts; Japanese digital nomads cannot, and that is a huge barrier to future residency requirements.

So, what else is there? There are the obvious two types: citizenship by birthplace (jus soli) and citizenship by descent (jus sanguinis). Most countries actually don’t have citizenship by birthplace. For example, France, New Zealand, and Australia don’t. The United States is one of only thirty three countries that does. If you are of African descent, there is African Descent in the Diaspora (Right of Abode) visas for Ghana and Sierra Leone. There’s also citizenship by marriage. I watched a YouTube series about repairing an akiya house (Japanese abandoned house) and wondered how the host was allowed to purchase the house – his wife is Japanese. I also read an interesting article about a young black woman who moved to Iceland and her experience living abroad – her husband is Icelandic (I can't find the original article, but here's another one about the same woman). Different countries have different requirements for this path to residency.

You’re likely born in the United States if you’re reading this. And maybe not married to someone who has citizenship in another country. So, what else is there?

There are Jewish specific paths to citizenship for those with Jewish ancestors forced to flee specifically Germany or Austria during the Holocaust, or paths for descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews. Dust off those family trees.

There’s the French Foreign Legion if you’re a male under forty years of age, meet other physical and medical requirements, sign a contract for five years of service, and maybe change your name.

There are student visas that may allow a person to stay in a country to attend school for the duration of their education and for six months to five years afterwards, depending on the country. For those seeking a Masters or PhD, there may be English programs in other countries to look into. However, many countries do not count time spent on a student visa towards residency requirements, so there is that to consider.

There’s the work visa, the typical visa we think of for moving to a new country. It’s easier to obtain one if a person can be employed in a field with a shortage and if they have experience. There are some interesting surprises here – doctors are not accepted for work visas in Japan because while you would think there’s always a need for doctors, government policy indicates a need for doctors to be able to speak fluent (read: native) Japanese to communicate with patients. Many countries don’t consider therapy or counseling to be a real profession (looking at you, Israel). Even software development, considered fairly prestigious and transferable, is not an open door to wherever you want to go. Inter-company transfers through international companies that operate in the United States can be a successful route to a work visa.

Young individuals have some interesting visa choices. They can be an Au Pair who helps with childcare and housework in exchange for room and board. It allows one to live in countries like Germany, Australia, Canada, Italy, and so on. There’s also working holiday visas. New Zealand has a working holiday visa for those eighteen to thirty years old. This visa allows a person to travel and work in New Zealand for up to twelve months. However, the work is typically in the tourism industry, and the hours can be longer than advertised. Be aware.

If you happen to own your own business and speak Dutch, there’s a Dutch American Friendship Treaty permit. Dat moet leuk zijn.

If you’re super famous or talented, there are often visas just for you. If you are, I’m not sure how or why you are reading this.

If you’re super wealthy, there are golden visas for you. They typically require more than €250.000 ($277,000) in investments, assets, cash, or donations. One of those investments may be a property in the country of desired residency.

So, traveling abroad is fun. Staying abroad is challenging. I hope this was an educational five minutes about the types of visas and residency that exist around the world and why opportunities may not be aplenty.

Additional Note:

Svalbard, Norway does not require a visa to live or work. It's in the arctic circle, so it's a bit chilly, and a visa may be required to enter and exit the Schengen area (which Norway is part of).

*Countries that offer digital nomad visas:

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Aruba

Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Bermuda

Brazil

Cabo Verde

Cayman Islands

Colombia

Costa Rica

Croatia

Curaçao

Cyprus

Czechia

Dominica

Dubai

Ecuador

Estonia

Georgia

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Indonesia

Japan

Latvia

Malta

Mauritius

Mexico

Montserrat

North Macedonia

Norway

Panama

Portugal

Romania

Saint Lucia

Seychelles

Spain

Taiwan

Thailand

Uruguay