I just returned from a business trip and vacation to Europe, and it is really making me want to move abroad. I was in the south of France, an island in Portugal, and then Paris, and I fell in love with the vibe. The men over there were fantastic too. Everyone was so kind and respectful and not acting like a fool like every time you go out in public in the US. People had common sense. It was so cheap and affordable too (besides Paris). The food was delicious and fresh. Where I live is kind of dreadful in comparison, especially with what is going on in the US right now. I've been in the same state my entire life and I'm ready for a change. I'm pretty much estranged from my family in the US because they hate homos, and all my friends from college moved away, so I really don't have any ties here and I'm ready to move. I've thought this through for years, and I have a bunch of family that I know and have stayed with previously in Europe, so it's not just an impulsive decision after a nice little glamorized vacation. My ex didn't want to move abroad though, so I stayed for that cheating bastard. It just seems so difficult to live over there legally with so many hoops to jump through.

 

Spoiler

It was also kind of embarrassing to say out loud that I'm from the US, I could feel the judgement and it frequently opened a can of worms about the orange demon 

 

My company has locations all over the world, and I applied to a position in the south of France, but it has been like a month and I haven't heard anything back yet so I don't want to get my hopes up. If I don't get this position, I'll keep applying to different ones. I've found a few in Portugal that look enticing, and I have a search that gets emailed to me every day for job openings all over Europe, Oceania, Asia, and South America. I'd pretty much go anywhere at this point as long as it is safe, I can communicate, and I can support myself financially.

 

I'm also looking at other companies, but I feel like it would be easier to get a position with my current company because I've been there for years and they know how much of a hard worker I am. I feel like they would be more likely to sponsor me for a visa than a random other company taking a chance on me? When I was in France for business, someone at my company sought me out and met with me about my goals and made it seem like I could move for work, but it is just taking forever with not much communication.

 

I have a lot of extended family in different countries in Europe and I looked into getting citizenship from them, but for the countries they are in, and the countries that I have heritage, I'd only qualify if my parents were citizens of that country. I'm also kind of talking to a guy that I met in Portugal that lives in Ireland, but he's a student abroad from South America so he doesn't have citizenship yet either. And he is kind of toxic/dramatic and insecure and wants to argue with me which is stressing me out, but he was the best bottom I've ever been with 

 

My lease just ended on my house (thank god because I am no longer living with my cheating ex) and I've been holding off on signing another year lease somewhere else so I don't get locked in and will be ready to move abroad when I finally get a chance to do so. I'm literally doing a month to month rental on a place I found on an app made for accommodations for travel nurses 

 

So, does anyone have any tips on getting a citizenship or a visa that allows you to live/work in Europe or elsewhere? I'd prefer Europe/Oceania because of the language barriers I'd face in other countries, but I'm open to more than just those locations.

 

Should I go on the explore/passport mode on dating apps and fish for men that way 

 

Does anyone with EU citizenship need a husband  I'm a great cook, nice, fit, handsome, and have a great .... 

 

 

 

Aww I can only offer American citizenship 

 

I would say save a lot of money, enough to survive for 6 months while you find a job and become stable. Make friends with locals who can help you. Find Facebook groups they're very very helpful.

 

also where in the US are you from? Your experience will vary from a city in a small town to a metropolis like NYC or LA

Edited July 20, 20251 yr by Supernatural94

This is kinda how my mindset's been after visiting Europe again over a month ago. Not anytime soon but sometime in the future. Budapest is the best city I've ever been to and I really didn't wanna leave. Amazing food, people, culture, nightlife, natural beauty. Realistically though, I don't speak any Hungarian and it's one of the hardest languages in the world so that probably won't work long-term. Half of my family is from/lives in Europe. My cousins were born here but are now spread across Europe. I spoke to an immigration lawyer about my specific lineage and they told me I'm technically a citizen by birth via my dad so once I move back to my home state I'm gonna schedule a meeting at the consulate and try and apply for dual citizenship. That way at the very least I have access to the EU and have international options. As much as I love this country, the politics are so corrupt and rotted that I genuinely don't think will be fixed in my lifetime 

 

I'd research each country your relatives live in and find out their qualifications for dual citizenship. You'll need a parent/grandparent's information for this but I'd also set up a meeting with pro-bono immigration lawyers for each country to get a better answer on where you stand or if you qualify for citizenship based off lineage alone.

Look into the blue card for automatic residency for the entirety of the EU. There's a website where you'll need details because some countries have different financial requirements you'll need to meet in order to qualify. It's basically having work experience, a degree, and working particularly in a needed field and you apply and hope to get it but from what I've read it's not the hardest thing to get and is way more accessible than a green card in the US

 

For most accessible ways to get citizenship not by marriage, you only have a few options now, which are Luxembourg, Germany, and Belgium. Both from start to finish give citizenship within about 5 years and have the fastest citizenship processing times. By law and in practice in both places they must respond to citizenship applications within at most 6 months. Countries like France often take over a year and sometimes 2 years and so the total time spent processing the citizenship application + with bureaucracy and whatnot will end up being 7-8(+) years. Spain is also an option if you qualify for the fast-track which you have to be a national of certain countries, otherwise it's ten years. Portugal is in the process of changing their laws to bare minimum seven years for people from Lusophone countries and for everyone else it's like Spain: 10 years. Germany recently changed their nationality law and not only do they allow naturalised citizens to have dual citizenship now but they reduced the residency from like 7-8 years to three. There are some other countries like Holland for example where it's about five but you have to renounce your citizenship (doesn't apply if you get Dutch citizenship via marriage). 

 

tl;dr: look into the blue card for an accessible pathway to residency into the EU in general. For citizenship, your fastest options are pretty much just Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium (3~5 years start to finish) unless you are a) willing to wait close to a decade before all is said and done and/or b) you are willing to renounce US citizenship in the process 

35 minutes ago, Supernatural94 said:

Aww I can only offer American citizenship 

 

I would say save a lot of money, enough to survive for 6 months while you find a job and become stable. Make friends with locals who can help you. Find Facebook groups they're very very helpful.

 

also where in the US are you from? Your experience will vary from a city in a small town to a metropolis like NYC or LA

I have a good amount of money saved up! It's just the getting over there part and being allowed to stay longer than the tourist visa that I'm having a hard time with. It seems like it's hard to find work if you're not a citizen and a lot of places don't want to deal with sponsoring you for a visa

 

I'm in a pretty big city on the east coast of the US, (VA) but it is suburban sprawl hell and and a tourist destination that is dead in the off season. I'm burnt out on the few natural parks nearby. I kind of want to move to a bigger city if I'm stuck in the US like NY or Cali where there is always something to do, good food, and a lot of culture

7 minutes ago, YouSmellLikeHospital said:

I have a good amount of money saved up! It's just the getting over there part and being allowed to stay longer than the tourist visa that I'm having a hard time with. It seems like it's hard to find work if you're not a citizen and a lot of places don't want to deal with sponsoring you for a visa

 

I'm in a pretty big city on the east coast of the US, (VA) but it is suburban sprawl hell and and a tourist destination that is dead in the off season. I'm burnt out on the few natural parks nearby. I kind of want to move to a bigger city if I'm stuck in the US like NY or Cali where there is always something to do, good food, and a lot of culture

Just move to Europe if you can.  Best and safest way is to find a job before you move.

21 minutes ago, bad guy said:

This is kinda how my mindset's been after visiting Europe again over a month ago. Not anytime soon but sometime in the future. Budapest is the best city I've ever been to and I really didn't wanna leave. Amazing food, people, culture, nightlife, natural beauty. Realistically though, I don't speak any Hungarian and it's one of the hardest languages in the world so that probably won't work long-term. Half of my family is from/lives in Europe. My cousins were born here but are now spread across Europe. I spoke to an immigration lawyer about my specific lineage and they told me I'm technically a citizen by birth via my dad so once I move back to my home state I'm gonna schedule a meeting at the consulate and try and apply for dual citizenship. That way at the very least I have access to the EU and have international options. As much as I love this country, the politics are so corrupt and rotted that I genuinely don't think will be fixed in my lifetime 

 

I'd research each country your relatives live in and find out their qualifications for dual citizenship. You'll need a parent/grandparent's information for this but I'd also set up a meeting with pro-bono immigration lawyers for each country to get a better answer on where you stand or if you qualify for citizenship based off lineage alone.

Yeah, I was in Marseille and for all the faults people say it has, it was so beautiful and had so much culture and soul. Those mountains are stunning. I'd live there in a heartbeat. Then I went to Madeira and it was even better. For such a small island there was so much to do, it was cheap af, endless nature, beautiful people who were the nicest I've ever experienced in my life, even in the non-tourist areas. I'm in love  

 

I took some French, German, and Spanish in school so I can understand some vocab but I'm rusty and couldn't hold a conversation. But at least the places I went to, pretty much everyone spoke English and there weren't any issues with communication. When I visited my family in Sweden, everyone spoke English too except the young kids that weren't taught it in school yet. I'd still learn the native language for wherever I'd move to though.

 

My grandpa and grandma are the only people from their families who came to the US, so I have a ton of family over there still. I don't think either one of them have their original citizenship though. I know my grandma gave up her Swedish citizenship to become a US citizen because at the time she couldn't have dual citizenship, and she has dementia now so she's not in a state to get it back. My dad would have to first get it from her, and then I would have to get it from him, but Sweden has some weird citizenship laws when I looked into it. I'm not sure if my grandpa still has his Greek citizenship but he's also old af and sick and my dad would have to get it first too. It seems easier than Sweden though. I tried sending my dad some resources about it but he's ignorant and not helpful because he doesn't want to deal with it or for me to leave  I'd also have to do mandatory service in the Greek army 

 

That is awesome though for you, I had similar thinking of getting citizenship in one EU country so that the whole EU is accessable to live and work in. Good luck and I hope everything goes according to plan!!

24 minutes ago, dinorhino said:

Look into the blue card for automatic residency for the entirety of the EU. There's a website where you'll need details because some countries have different financial requirements you'll need to meet in order to qualify. It's basically having work experience, a degree, and working particularly in a needed field and you apply and hope to get it but from what I've read it's not the hardest thing to get and is way more accessible than a green card in the US

 

For most accessible ways to get citizenship not by marriage, you only have a few options now, which are Luxembourg, Germany, and Belgium. Both from start to finish give citizenship within about 5 years and have the fastest citizenship processing times. By law and in practice in both places they must respond to citizenship applications within at most 6 months. Countries like France often take over a year and sometimes 2 years and so the total time spent processing the citizenship application + with bureaucracy and whatnot will end up being 7-8(+) years. Spain is also an option if you qualify for the fast-track which you have to be a national of certain countries, otherwise it's ten years. Portugal is in the process of changing their laws to bare minimum seven years for people from Lusophone countries and for everyone else it's like Spain: 10 years. Germany recently changed their nationality law and not only do they allow naturalised citizens to have dual citizenship now but they reduced the residency from like 7-8 years to three. There are some other countries like Holland for example where it's about five but you have to renounce your citizenship (doesn't apply if you get Dutch citizenship via marriage). 

 

tl;dr: look into the blue card for an accessible pathway to residency into the EU in general. For citizenship, your fastest options are pretty much just Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium (3~5 years start to finish) unless you are a) willing to wait close to a decade before all is said and done and/or b) you are willing to renounce US citizenship in the process 

Thank you!! I'm going to look into the blue card and also the countries you recommended with the quicker processing. I was looking at Portugal and saw where there is a visa aimed at retirees but to qualify you can be any age I think and just have to prove you have passive income coming in monthly. Now I just need to set up OnlyFans or something lmao 

 

I'd prefer to keep dual citizenship but if it comes down to it I would consider renouncing my current citizenship to qualify for another country.

24 minutes ago, Archetype said:

Just move to Europe if you can.  Best and safest way is to find a job before you move.

I'm going to claim squatter's rights. They would have to (and will) drag me out of there 

23 minutes ago, YouSmellLikeHospital said:

Yeah, I was in Marseille and for all the faults people say it has, it was so beautiful and had so much culture and soul. Those mountains are stunning. I'd live there in a heartbeat. Then I went to Madeira and it was even better. For such a small island there was so much to do, it was cheap af, endless nature, beautiful people who were the nicest I've ever experienced in my life, even in the non-tourist areas. I'm in love  

 

I took some French, German, and Spanish in school so I can understand some vocab but I'm rusty and couldn't hold a conversation. But at least the places I went to, pretty much everyone spoke English and there weren't any issues with communication. When I visited my family in Sweden, everyone spoke English too except the young kids that weren't taught it in school yet. I'd still learn the native language for wherever I'd move to though.

 

My grandpa and grandma are the only people from their families who came to the US, so I have a ton of family over there still. I don't think either one of them have their original citizenship though. I know my grandma gave up her Swedish citizenship to become a US citizen because at the time she couldn't have dual citizenship, and she has dementia now so she's not in a state to get it back. My dad would have to first get it from her, and then I would have to get it from him, but Sweden has some weird citizenship laws when I looked into it. I'm not sure if my grandpa still has his Greek citizenship but he's also old af and sick and my dad would have to get it first too. It seems easier than Sweden though. I tried sending my dad some resources about it but he's ignorant and not helpful because he doesn't want to deal with it or for me to leave  I'd also have to do mandatory service in the Greek army 

 

That is awesome though for you, I had similar thinking of getting citizenship in one EU country so that the whole EU is accessable to live and work in. Good luck and I hope everything goes according to plan!!

My friend just came back from solo traveling in Madeira after our trip ended and said the same. I need to add that to my list.

 

I think Sweden allows dual citizenship now but I'd try and contact the embassy and ask about your specific circumstance, or contact a Swedish immigration lawyer first. I didn't know that about Greece so I guess the small lineage I have from there is not gonna be put to any use 

 

I'm lucky that my dad is a direct immigrant and my grandpa is extremely orderly with documents so I have both their birth certificates. The only hurdle the lawyer said I may have is proof of name, and even though my last name goes back all the way back to when state records started my grandpa only has access to his dad's paperwork (which even that is lucky considering WWI and WWII) so it would take the government time to go through all the records. But that law is changing or has changed so hopefully applying is easy. My only concern is my dad had to give up his citizenship when he got naturalized so not sure if that will affect my chances. I'm moving back to LA in a few months (their consulate is good) so hopefully I can figure it out by the end of the year. Good luck to you too!

Edited July 21, 20251 yr by bad guy

35 minutes ago, bad guy said:

My friend just came back from solo traveling in Madeira after our trip ended and said the same. I need to add that to my list.

 

I think Sweden allows dual citizenship now but I'd try and contact the embassy and ask about your specific circumstance, or contact a Swedish immigration lawyer first. I didn't know that about Greece so I guess the small lineage I have from there is not gonna be put to any use 

 

I'm lucky that my dad is a direct immigrant and my grandpa is extremely orderly with documents so I have both their birth certificates. The only hurdle the lawyer said I may have is proof of name, and even though my last name goes back all the way back to when state records started my grandpa only has access to his dad's paperwork (which even that is lucky considering WWI and WWII) so it would take the government time to go through all the records. But that law is changing or has changed so hopefully applying is easy. My only concern is my dad had to give up his citizenship when he got naturalized so not sure if that will affect my chances. I'm moving back to LA in a few months (their consulate is good) so hopefully I can figure it out by the end of the year. Good luck to you too!

It was my first time solo traveling, and I couldn't have picked a better place for it! There were other solo travelers there and it was easy to make friends. I stayed in downtown Funchal and everything was within an hour or so drive. I rented a car and got to see a lot of the island that I wouldn't have otherwise, and I still only scratched the surface of all the hikes and places to go there. I definitely recommend it and will go back there the first opportunity that I can. You need at least a week if not two or three to fully appreciate it. Everywhere you go, it is stunning and breathtaking. The only thing is it is just crazy and chaotic to drive on their 70 degree angle steep ass narrow roads, but not all of the roads are like that 

 

Yeah Sweden can do dual citizenship now! I'll see if the embassy can help me, the one in DC is amazing. I have family members that had to serve in the Greek army, but you barely had to do anything and it was mundane apparently. I think if you are a non-resident/native the time you have to serve is reduced too. You can also get out of it by never going to Greece until you are 45 and just living somewhere else in the EU with the Greek citizenship 

 

Fingers crossed for you! Your case sounds promising and I hope it all goes according to plan!! Maybe I'll see you in Europe lol

@dinorhino I signed up for the blue card! Just waiting for them to verify my credentials, thank you again 

Also asking.  I don't know what tip I need to take to get out of America 

Good question.

12 hours ago, YouSmellLikeHospital said:

I'm going to claim squatter's rights. They would have to (and will) drag me out of there 

They will tho.  People think the US is hard on illegal immigration, but we're not compared to most other countries, especially those in the EU.  Europeans generally do not like illegal immigration, and you're more likely to have someone snitch on you there because you're not an asylum seeker.  You actually need a plan to legally move and gain residency there or you're going to end up doing poorly paid under the table work.  Find a job first that is will to help you with gaining legal residency and possibly relocation fees, then move.  Every other idea is stupid.

 

I've looked into this extensively and almost moved three times due to job offers in my ideal city, but decided to stay in the US longer because I earn a lot more here for the same work, and the job market here is less risky for my field.  It's going to happen within a few years, but I need my side income to increase enough so it offsets the lower European salary.

Edited July 21, 20251 yr by Archetype

I've actually been considering moving abroad too, but been eyeing opportunities in Asia. Visas aren't terribly difficult to get, but the biggest barrier is the language. 

Perched for advice 

I bet it's easier for white people to move be immigrants in another country.

thought this said illegally 

15 hours ago, KahnumDash said:

thought this said illegally 

fake your death before leaving for extra drama