Many things are mixed up in this thread.... I am no expert either, but this is what I know (and I come back on topic in the end, don't worry):
- You have a country of birth. Basically, you can always go back there or other nations can send you back there if they have seen enough of you... This is why they (THEY) always want to know your country (even city sometimes) of birth.
- You have citizenship. Standard issue is citizen of the nation you are born in but you can subscribe to more of these clubs, getting a passport of each one. They don't like that but there's not much they can do besides empty threats. Their problem is that they would end up fighting each other instead of getting your wallet.
- You have domicile. This is where you live, have an address etc. When you emigrate you leave and when you immigrate, you come. The
funny thing is that they can't handle people that emigrate but never immigrate elsewhere. This is good to remember: they can't handle this, there's no forms that apply. There's many words describing your status when you do this,
Gypsy being just one.
We emigrated from
Holland and never immigrated anywhere. We're "lost", they don't know what to do about it. But law in
Holland says that when you emigrate and have no
income from
work, you don't pay tax. When you immigrate, that country would be interested in your tax contributions. Some are not, the tax havens, but life is expensive in Monaco and that apartment is just out of reach so never immigrating makes sense. That is, if you are not an US citizen, in which case you are ...
The domicile thing can be taken away from you when you don't spend enough time in their club, don't own a good enough house or whatever they can come up with. Basically, they want your wallet and if you're not spending, they are not interested anymore.
For cruisers, there are many "clubs" that have good deals for "pensionado's". You can get their brochures and select the one you really like. Some have
cheap "green card" schemes, others throw in some passports etc. They love to get some of that hard earned pension!
Panama is in favor at the moment.
Venezuela has some trouble lately, it won't be long before they give away passports (down to $500 now I heard).
Curacao also lowered the contribution fee's I heard (must buy house etc. but only 5% tax)
You must understand that it's all about
money and that you're always okay when you like the nation you're born in or have it's
membership card (passport). The tricky thing is when you want to hold on to that "green card" like domicile scheme because they make the rules for that, can change them and actualle enforce them.
cheers,
Nick.