Residency living aboard?

[rowingdude]

Let us say perhaps that I sailed to a distant land and sought residency/citizenship, could I live on my boat for that, or would I still be forced to buy/rent a house somewhere and go that route?

[StuM]

In most countries that I am aware of it wuldn't be a problem. (Lot's of working expats live aboard here, myself included) BUT it's not easy to get residency, let alone citizenship in most countries unless you've got a job with a work permit/working visa for it.

[Alan Mighty]

Several economies 'sell' residency and a few 'sell' citizenship. Those economies generally do not use the word 'sell', preferring other forms of wording such as 'investor visa,' 'golden visa', and the like.

None of the residency/citizenship schemes known to me disbar you from living aboard.

Take the example of the Hellenic Republic (Greece). For a real estate investment of Euro 250K (plus a clean criminal record/police check, compulsory medical insurance, and some transaction fees) you get permanent residency plus a card that gives you free travel throughout the EU/Schengen zone. Nothing to stop you living aboard (other than other local regulations and costs, including costs to import your boat into the EU should she not be a EU boat). No compulsion to live in the real estate you purchased (so you could conceivably use that real estate to gain a return on investment by rent and use that income stream to pay for your marina fees and living costs). And you can apply for citizenship and a EU passport after 7 years.

Several Asian and Pacific economies have schemes that give you short-term residency (usually 5 years, renewable and in some cases leading after 10 years to permanent residency and even citizenship) for much less than what Greece wants. And few that will do it for several times what Greece wants (e.g. Australia wants $A5M for a golden visa, but it also sells the less expensive subclass 891 investor visa). A tiny number will sell you a passport for several times what Greece demands. None of those economies stop you living on board (although you'll find it difficult to live aboard in Sydney Harbour, for example, and for land-locked economies with no lake or river in which to float a boat, you'd be simply out of luck unless you're into a land yacht).

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Several economies 'sell' residency ...

Canada:
The Start-up Visa Program is a general Investor Visa option that allows you to immigrate to Canada by starting a business anywhere in the country.
The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) gives every province and territory of Canada the power to invite applicants to come and live in their borders if they have the right skills and work experience.
The federal Immigrant Investor Program is closed.

USA:
To qualify as an immigrant investor, a foreign national must invest, without borrowing, the following minimum qualifying capital dollar amounts in a qualifying commercial enterprise:
$1,000,000 (U.S.); or
$500,000 (U.S.) in a high-unemployment or rural area, considered a targeted employment area.
The EB-5 visa gives permanent U.S. residency to those investing into government-approved projects across the United States of America.
Every fiscal year (October 1st – September 30th), approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified applicants under the provisions of U.S. immigration law. Individuals who are nonconditional U.S. Green Card holders for at least five years can apply for naturalization.

[Simi 60]

Why??????

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Why??????

Why live aboard?

That's easy!

Here's just one reason: the radon gas level in the air above the ocean is much lower than above any soil or rock.

Radon gas is the second biggest cause of lung cancer (after cigarette smoking, to include both primary smoking and passive smoking. Note however that lung cancer cases among the small number of people use coal briquettes for domestic cooking and heating is about as high as it gets, but the number of people with that habit has declined massively for obvious reasons).

Radon is emitted from most soils and rocks. If you're a land lubber and your land is underlaid by granite bedrock, or if you live near a hot spring, or if you live near a uranium ore body, then you've only a few choices - one of which is run a CRT monitor for your TV and computing, because the CRT will attract some of the radon away from your inhalation stream.

Living on the ocean is about the best you can get. Radon levels as low as 0.1 bq/cubic m.

Why move to a different territory or economy?

One good reason is to get away from radon-rich bedrock and soil, nicht wahr?

[rowingdude]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Why??????

I am dissatisfied with the State of the Union.

[tomfl]

While the rules vary from place to place there are a few general rules and two general classes. If you are retired and get something like Social Security and have Medicare (or similar retirement and health insurance) a lot of third world countries will let you live there for as long as you want almost anywhere you want; they just want to make sure you will not be a welfare burden. The more developed countries generally want you to have significant assets to live there long term. There are web sites that spell out in detail rules for each country.

[rowingdude]

The issue isn't the money, it's whether or not a boat (at a marina slip) counts as a legal residence worldwide.

[cj88]

To qualify for permanent residency or citizenship it is normally based on time living in the country rather than what "building" you have been living in.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

I am dissatisfied with the State of the Union.

Then renounce your citizenship.
You won't be the first

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertw...t-change-that/




Oppressive taxation works for some countries
https://www.investopedia.com/article...hip-retire.asp

[conachair]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

The issue isn't the money, it's whether or not a boat (at a marina slip) counts as a legal residence worldwide.

Worldwide? Countries tend to make up their own laws and rules.

A boatyard/marina address is accepted for 5 year temporary residence in Portugal, in a couple of offices in the Algarve if you are from the UK anyway. Simple and takes a couple of hours.

[longjonsilver]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Then renounce your citizenship.
You won't be the first

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertw...t-change-that/

You can join me in being a former American. Get some legal advice, get your IRS forms all up to date. Be a citizen of another country. Go in and do it. There a few other hurdles like money - it costs a lot to renounce now, they keep on raising the fees. Over a certain net worth you pay more. They keep on changing the rules. Sound familiar?

From the above article:

Curiously, both the IRS and FBI track Americans who renounce.

So i am free to tell you that i renounced because THEY already know. The consular officials were very polite and even friendly, but they kept trying to get me to say why i was renouncing. Hey, i'm not dumb. What good would some sort of grandstanding pronouncement do, other than get me on ANOTHER list? So i just told them that Jesus says you can't serve two masters, they just kind of rolled their eyes and probably thot "some religious nut". So be it.

jon

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by cj88

To qualify for permanent residency or citizenship it is normally based on time living in the country rather than what "building" you have been living in.

Yes.

Originally Posted by tomfl

. . . The more developed countries generally want you to have significant assets to live there long term.. .

Not usually.




Speaking of "more developed countries", i.e. not Mexico or Central America, eligibility for permanent residency does not generally have anything to do with your assets, unless you are using one of the investment-based immigration schemes like in Cyprus, Greece or Malta. These investment-based schemes generally require millions of investment, so account for a quite small proportion of immigrants. "More developed countries" are interested in income, not assets, and want you to have lived in the country with a proper temporary residence permit for a certain number of years before they consider you for permanent residency. There are different reasons for issuing those, but the most common are for marriage, family reunion, or work. I have a residency permit in one EU country as a "highly qualified specialist", for example, and it wasn't easy to get. Many "more developed" countries want you to have a good job with a salary above a certain minimum -- maybe not surprisingly much like the U.S. does. Some "more developed" countries may welcome retirees with a decent retirement income -- like Spain -- but others, especially those with generous social services, are not that interested in having old people with potentially expensive problems which they might end up paying for.


In any case, probably ALL countries are interested in whether or not you have a place to live, and most "more developed countries" require you to register your residential address, so they can find you. Whether a boat will work for that or not depends on the country. I guess it will be a problem in many places, so the OP needs to check carefully before he makes any plans to do this in any particular country.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

The issue isn't the money, it's whether or not a boat (at a marina slip) counts as a legal residence worldwide.

There is almost nothing that is "worldwide." Every country has its own laws. There are some conventions that will apply in most countries, but even then there are ALWAYS exceptions.


So, while it is the case that MOST countries will allow you to be a resident and live aboard a boat, I have no doubt that there are some that will not. You need to look into the specific laws of the specific country that you want to live in. There simply is no one, single answer to a question like this.