For years now, Wife and I have been exploring how we might experience living in another country for an extended period. Much of this was motivated my my long, long held desire to repeat the feeling I had as a college student of living in another country...an experience much different than being a tourist, even tourist such as we who get off the beaten path.
We explored the golden visa programs, programs that would allow you to have permanent residency in a country for the price of an investment, often the purchase of a home. It was important if we were going to do this to be in an area we really wanted to live. The Mediterranean was always the place we said we would love to stay if we were going to go someplace for a longer period. Among European Mediterranean destinations, Greece had the most attractive golden visa program.
Covid restrictions put a crimp in our planning. Delayed us. We continued to explore Greece. But ultimately decided that at our age, it was too big a commitment of money, requiring too long a commitment of being in the country. Then we heard about 'digital nomad' visas. These were shorter visas that required significantly less financial commitment. There was one in Portugal that seemed particularly attractive.
We began to research this in earnest. At first it seemed that the cost of health insurance might be an issue. But with the permanent residency, you would be able to get the insurance at an affordable price in Portugal. Through our many contacts we found a number of people who had resettled in Portugal and got referrals to professionals who could help you facilitate attaining the necessary visa and other requirements to attain a temporary residency permit.
We had a meeting with one of those people today. And we found a requirement that (for us) was a deal killer. This particular visa required you to stay in Portugal for 6 consecutive months. That might not seem such a bad thing to most. But I can tell you that in the 27 years I've lived in Albuquerque, there is not a single year (excepting the Covid shutdown year of 2020) that I spent 6 consecutive months in town. And with my Theodora Project, the need to travel to either Ghana or the U.S. was a high probability during any long-term stay. Both Wife and I felt it was a deal killer. We very briefly looked again at a golden visa option in Portugal (which has an inconsequential minimum stay requirement), but the cost is just too much.
So, BOOM, one dream down in flames.
But Wife and I had already thought about alternatives. Plan C so to speak. Plan C is us staying at various places around the world for 2 to 4 months at a time depending on visa requirements. This is opening a bunch of other options. We've loved some of the places we've stayed in Southeast Asia where you can get a house with staff for a very economical cost. And it will open us up to exploring more of the world as we have always wanted to. One thing on our radar already is returning to Cefalu if we could get the same apartment we had which was near perfect for our objective of being in a town near the ocean where you could walk to just about everything.
So a door closes and another opens. In many ways, I think Wife and I are finding this a bit freeing as it does not require the major commitment as a true expat change would require.
2 comments:
I know it's a bit of a disappointment when we see one possibility fade away. But it's terrific that you haven't given up and are considering other options.
since you only really saw yourselves staying in that place for 3-4 months at a time, this new approach feels like is an evolution of the idea rather than a failure.
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