Moving Offshore – Where Do I Go?

Introduction – This article is written for those who wish to escape big brother and be left alone. There is no perfect place to go. Many of you are from the USA. Others will be from EU countries, Canada and probably not that many other places.

Extradition – This will be important to some of you. This is covered here:

USA and Extradition Treaties

and here

Extradition – A Guide for Expats

Banking – Never ever bank in the new country you are living in. I will explain. Having a bank account with small under $10,000 balances to pay local bills is fine. Never leave your real savings in the same country you live in. This can number one make you a target for lawsuits and crimes. Often the bank clerks works with kidnappers and thieves and point you out for a percentage of what they get from kidnapping, extorting or robbing you. Once they clean your savings out you are broke. Forget the police ever getting your money back. Before you start going negative on leaving bear in mind all you need to do is bank in another country that is safe. Honk Kong is the first choice since there is bank secrecy, anonymous corporations and government bank insurance. You get money out via atm machine or wiring small amounts into a local account. In the USA for instance you stand a much higher chance of having your funds confiscated by a court, or government official from some government agency. The odds of being hurt or damaged financially by a member of the government is far greater than being a victim of a crime in a less developed country. Remember this. Count all the million of people in jail, on probation, parole etc for victimless crimes. In other countries going to jail for victimless crimes is a far more reduced risk. These countries do not just print money when they need it so they pay attention to the economics of running a criminal justice system. A Visa card will work in the atm machines. Just go and pull out cash every few days to meet your needs and not even have a bank account. This makes you even less of a target.

Real Estate – Always put real estate in the name of an anonymous bearer share corporation. Best to use a corporation formed in a country other than the one you live in. Sometimes they look up ownership of real estate and plan kidnappings based on this so always title homes to an anonymous corporation. It is also wise to do same with cars and boats. The key here is to reduce your profile as much as possible. People that go to these countries and try to attract attention with flashy things are crazy. Generally financing real estate will be tough to impossible for most of you. Plan on paying cash.

Working Offshore – Most of you will have immigration status preventing you from being able to work for others in the country. Wages are drastically low anyway, think $200 to $400 a month for blue color jobs. Self employment is very possible. Starting a land based business and hiring yourself is very possible. Many expats are retired. Some have internet businesses. Some live off of savings. Moving offshore to work would require going to the more highly developed first world countries where the cost of living will be similar to the USA and the wages likewise similar.

Guns – A frequent question is can I own a gun. I will speak to this generally and here a link to a database where you can research gun laws by country.

http://www.gunpolicy.org/

The database is not spot on accurate but is somewhat accurate. You can search by country. They give you the price of an AK-47 on black market to give you an idea of black market for guns in that country. Do bear in mind that if you get caught with an illegal unregistered gun it can be unpleasant, expensive or worse. In some places a AK-47 can be under $100 and in others $600. Sometimes the country has laws but they are not enforced. Be careful and try to go to a country that lets you legally own weapons.

Tourists and Guns – Tourists can never own and carry guns. Rare exception is for those on hunting trips in some countries with hunting licenses, guides etc. and this is just for hunting rifles.

Residents and Guns – In some countries residents can own and carry concealed guns. Not that common but it is there. Generally one does need a permanent residency, not a one year residency. The usual drill is to get one year temporary residencies and renew them each year for five years and then qualify for citizenship. Residents do not get passports, citizens do. Not all countries let residents own and carry arms.

Importing Guns – Forget it. It may be possible in some countries if you have a permit to let a gun dealer import one or two guns. This would be with great expense and trouble, not worth it. Sell the gun collection.

Types of Guns - Usually these countries will let you own a semi-auto pistol like a Glock or a Beretta. Some restrict the caliber to 9mm, .38 spec, .380. No .45, or .357, or .44 mag. Centerfire rifles may be hard to get or impossible in some countries. They view these as sniper threats and classify them as assault or military rifles. A 12 ga pump shotgun is usually not a problem, but not always. This author feels that with a 12 ga pump and a 9mm semi-auto pistol one can defend themselves in an urban environment just fine. Ammunition may be limited in some place to fmj for pistols. Varies greatly. The exotic ammo you are used to is not going to be around. High cap magazines are usually allowed. In almost all countries the permission to buy the gun is also permission to carry concealed. Guns are generally two to three times the price in the USA market due to taxes, import fees and licensing costs.

Taxes – Make sure the country does not tax offshore derived income. Most do not. Argentina and Brazil do so even if you are just resident there for six months a year. For this reason they are not in the list of countries.

Cars – Sell the car do not bring it. There are high transportation expenses. Then there will always be import duties which can be say 15% as a low and can go much higher. Then there may not be interchangeability of parts especially smog and safety equipment. Warranties will not transfer. Sell the car before leaving.

Personal Possessions – What most do is fill a twenty or forty foot container with household contents. Do expect each item to be given a value and taxed. Make sure the electricity in the new country is the same as the old country or else the appliances will require converters. Appliances do not always work well with converters. Do bring clothing and lots of it. Books are also something we suggest bringing. IN many countries quality solid wood furniture will be cheaper that it is in the home country. Appliances can vary. In Latin America appliances will be higher priced.

Countries – What we have done is indicated some of the countries we know expats going to or have gone to in the past. It is beyond the scope of our website to build detailed profiles of these countries. We just point out the names of the countries and let you do the research. It is suggest a preliminary visit of about one week in the country is needed to determine if it is worth further exploration. Never move without going there first for a visit.

Belize – Belize is a Caribbean country. They are an offshore tax haven. It is a tourist country. They do not manufacture or export very much. They will give you a residency without much trouble. No need to buy a house or anything last time we checked. Residents can get gun licenses and carry concealed. They restrict to 9mm semi-auto pistols and smaller calibers. They have a coral reef, sailing, fishing, tourist restaurants and not a whole lot else. Culture will be lacking for foreigners. English is official language but many speak Spanish as well. Cost of living in moderately high, real estate is over priced for sure. It is an option for sure if you have plenty of money and want an English speaking country that is warm. They do get hurricanes and damage from them, use caution. The country used to be dangerous a few years ago but has become reasonably safe.

Cuba – A nice country to get away from big brother but then to get the Cuba Big Brother Secret Police. They are not in the habit of giving out residencies. Not really a viable jurisdiction for more than extended vacations.

Venezuela – This used to be workable but no longer. The gangs are allowed to victimize foreigners as a way to get rid of them. No good.

Bolivia – This one works. Try Santa Cruz where the businesses are. Foreigners minding their own business tend to left alone. Country safe enough. Do not think owning guns is an option unless you develop political connections which may not be very hard. Cost of living cheap. Residencies easy. No need to buy a house or anything silly like that. After two years as a resident you can be a citizen. The passport is not good for a lot of countries visa free but it is still a passport. For a fast path to citizenship good choice. Relationship with USA is awful. Them not sharing information with USA is a likely scenario. Bolivia extraditing a citizen to USA is lets say a fairly unlikely occurrence.

Costa Rica – Forget this one. It changed and is not suggested. Too close to USA, cost of living high, government broke, roads in disrepair, crime high. No good reason to go there.

Honduras – Not stable, skip it.

El Salvador – Nice beach country. Cost of living low. Not much culture. Better speak spanish. Food not os great. People friendly. Reasonably safe. Residencies easy. Shopping will be expensive except food and medical cheap. You can do better.

Guatemala – The largest in Central America with almost 15 million people. Lot of infrastructure, universities, malls, good medical, good roads. Residencies easy. Citizenship requires five years as a resident. Guatemala has no MLAT and TIEA with USA. Few expats in Guatemala. Spanish a must. Medical is good.

Ecuador – Weather is warm. Some cities like Quito are very high so exert serious caution if you have any health issues. Many other cities have low to moderate altitudes. It is a moderate cost of living. Taxes on purchases can be high. Cars costing over $40,000 have a 97% tax. There is a tax of 2% on funds leaving the country including credit card purchases and ATM Withdrawals.

Panama – Skip this one. Has changed.

Cambodia – Check this one out. Not for everyone.

Vietnam - Worth checking out. Not for everyone.

Comoros – Not for everyone, worth checking out.

Thailand – We see single men going here and they seem to like it.

Philippines – Has pluses and minuses. Many expats here. Mostly single men. Worth checking out.