Everyone has decided they intend to move to Europe (it’s always Europe) (see I no longer read “I moved abroad” stories)
How do you move to Europe?
The first step is getting a visa. Americans are limited to a maximum stay duration of 90 days within any 180-day period (in most countries).
To optimize your success in obtaining a long stay visa:
- Be a pre-existing dual citizen of the US and a European country.
- Have a right of descent ancestry privilege in countries such as Ireland, Italy and a few others.
- Be young, move abroad, fall in love, and marry someone. (And be female as 90% of those in the stories who fell into this category were young, attractive, educated American women)
- Be young, earn an entire college degree abroad (in selected countries) and possibly receive an extended visa if you find work after graduating.
That’s 2/3ds of the folks who move to Europe.
If you don’t qualify in those groups, then here are the remaining 1/3d:
- Have a skill, often highly educated, that is in demand in Europe and work to get a job offer and an employer to sponsor you.
- Join the U.S. military and get an overseas assignment (10-20% of Americans living abroad are on military assignments)
- Be a freelance writer, content creator, or marketing person who works remotely and use a Digital Nomad visa for temporary but longer term (1-2 year) residency.
- Make a large financial investment into a local economy in those countries that sell residency visas in exchange for large investments (increasingly these must be made into businesses, while a few still permit real estate). Costs can run from $100k to US $10 Millon.
If you are a less skilled worker, or older, your chances of getting a visa are slim to none – unless you qualify in the first 3 groups, above – or have wealth to purchase an investment visa.
Can you move somewhere else?
Perhaps 20+ countries, especially in the Americas, are fairly welcoming to U.S. retirees. Some countries, such as France, will provide up to 1-year residency visas to Americans including retirees – if you quailfy.
Young adults (under age 30) can get a temporary working visa in countries such as Australia and New Zealand; these visas are not available to older adults, and in fact, both countries largely prohibit the immigration of persons over age 50 or 55.
Reality Check
Most people, not having prior immigration privileges, will find obtaining a residency visa difficult. Citizenship (if you don’t have prior or right of descent options) usually requires moving to the country, living and working on a series of residency and work visas, for 5 to 10 years before being able to apply for citizenship.
An estimated 2%-3% of Americans live abroad at any given time. An estimated 0.7% to 1.3% of Americans retire abroad – and half of those generally had prior pre-existing dual citizenship, right of descent privileges, or prior permanent residency (and were effectively “moving back home” for retirement).
Many Americans who worked abroad (say in Canada) for years, on a work visa, choose to retire where their home is now – rather than return to the U.S. The percent of Americans who retire abroad, despite the bullshit news reporting on this subject, is nearly zero percent!
Meanwhile, more media bullshit from CNN: The best countries for American expats in 2025 | CNN. This is likely a public relations planted story by emigration consultant Arielle Tucker; how she obtained residency in Switzerland is not explained but based on the statistics, probably via marriage or a special immigration right.
The CNN story also mangles the details:
Recently, headlines have swirled around the news of several US celebrities moving out of the United States, including Richard Gere, who has publicly discussed his upcoming move to Spain, where his wife is from, and Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, who have reportedly moved to England’s Cotswolds region.
Richard Gere had long ago announced moving to Spain – his wife is a Spanish citizen. Portia de Rossi is an Australian citizen and may have a “Right of Abode” in the UK, based upon when she was born in Australia. They already owned a home in the UK before the election. But’s lets attribute their moves to the election result?
Like I said, travel and move abroad “journalism” is largely bullshit. CNN just reinforced that assertion, again.