Hey all, I'm a freelancer and have spend quite a bit of time researching places where they allow freelancers to live long term on a visa or offer long term residency so I wanted to offer up what I know and perhaps it can help everyone.
I've mostly been looking around Europe since that's where I want to have a base and anchor down long term. For me, one big advantage about getting long term residency in EU countries is that you're much more free to move about the Schengen area, without worrying about the 90 days in and 90 days out rule. The drawback though is that in almost all these situations, the government will collect taxes from your income. But in inexpensive countries, it might not be much.
From what I know, Germany, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Netherlands are places that have a pathway to stay long term as an independent or remote worker. There's plenty of information on the Germany artist/freelance visa, because it's so dang popular, but little on the rest (I'd much live elsewhere than Germany imho). And the degree of difficulty and requirements differ depending on the conditions of the country.
So here are some links to :
Bulgaria (I heard it was pretty easy)
http://www.justlanded.com/english/Bulgar...nce-permit
http://www.lawbg.info/visas.html
Germany, Spain, Bulgaria
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/how-to-ge...cy-permit/
France, Germany
http://thesavvybackpacker.com/long-term-travel-europe/
Czech Republic (not hard, I heard)
http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/prag...e-licence/
http://www.wandertooth.com/zivnostensky-...ue-not-eu/
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-29000-...#pid556454
The Netherlands (a bit complicated it seems)
http://www.expatica.com/nl/visas-and-per...08431.html
Romania (a bit trickier)
http://www.wanderingearl.com/how-i-obtai...n-country/
Poland (more of a loophole than actual legal status, but should also work)
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-31412.html
Spain (couldn't find much about it, but apparently there's a way)
http://comoconsultingspain.com/services/
A good site for general information on how different European countries handle freelance workers:
http://ec.europa.eu/immigration/tab2Redirect.do
I hope this is helpful for everyone who has the dream to live long term in another country. If you have any experiences with this or know anything about how it works in various counties, please do share. I'm hoping this thread can be a definitive resource for everyone.
cheers!
I've mostly been looking around Europe since that's where I want to have a base and anchor down long term. For me, one big advantage about getting long term residency in EU countries is that you're much more free to move about the Schengen area, without worrying about the 90 days in and 90 days out rule. The drawback though is that in almost all these situations, the government will collect taxes from your income. But in inexpensive countries, it might not be much.
From what I know, Germany, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Netherlands are places that have a pathway to stay long term as an independent or remote worker. There's plenty of information on the Germany artist/freelance visa, because it's so dang popular, but little on the rest (I'd much live elsewhere than Germany imho). And the degree of difficulty and requirements differ depending on the conditions of the country.
So here are some links to :
Bulgaria (I heard it was pretty easy)
http://www.justlanded.com/english/Bulgar...nce-permit
http://www.lawbg.info/visas.html
Germany, Spain, Bulgaria
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/how-to-ge...cy-permit/
France, Germany
http://thesavvybackpacker.com/long-term-travel-europe/
Czech Republic (not hard, I heard)
http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/prag...e-licence/
http://www.wandertooth.com/zivnostensky-...ue-not-eu/
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-29000-...#pid556454
The Netherlands (a bit complicated it seems)
http://www.expatica.com/nl/visas-and-per...08431.html
Romania (a bit trickier)
http://www.wanderingearl.com/how-i-obtai...n-country/
Poland (more of a loophole than actual legal status, but should also work)
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-31412.html
Spain (couldn't find much about it, but apparently there's a way)
http://comoconsultingspain.com/services/
A good site for general information on how different European countries handle freelance workers:
http://ec.europa.eu/immigration/tab2Redirect.do
I hope this is helpful for everyone who has the dream to live long term in another country. If you have any experiences with this or know anything about how it works in various counties, please do share. I'm hoping this thread can be a definitive resource for everyone.
cheers!