Kat W. Says:
I’m a divorced, middle-class woman. I make a good living, but life has kept me from saving the hundreds of thousands of dollars I would need to first invest in my country of choice and then actually afford the cost of living there.
I have a decent retirement account, and my current house has a good bit of equity built up. My monthly retirement and Social Security estimate is at least twice the cost of living in most countries I’ve researched, so I could support myself quite well for many years through my retirement savings and home sale.
But I cannot afford to invest $300k to $500k in a country to get a visa. Please help.
IL Executive Editor Jennifer Stevens Says:
Hi Kat,
There are many visa options for countries around the world that do not require you to invest large sums of money to get them. The ones you are referring to are visas by investment (often called Golden Visas), which are designed to attract high net worth individuals.
The countries on our beat offer many more affordable options.
One example is Panama’s Pensionado visa: you must draw a pension of at least $1,000 per month to qualify, but you are not required to buy real estate or otherwise invest in Panama to qualify. Read more about visa options in Panama here.
There are many similarly affordable options in various countries on our beat. You can read about them for free on our website.
Simply go to our destinations list, choose the country you wish to learn about and scroll to the bottom to find the Visas and Residency resource page for each one.
The main thing to keep in mind is that investment visas are not the only type, so you do not need a large investment to move overseas.
There will be requirements such as proving your income, securing medical insurance etc., but from what you say these should be surmountable for you (even if frustrating at times, as all dealings with bureaucracy can be).
But that’s why we are here to help.
One of the best ways to explore all of your visa options for the countries on our beat is to join us in Las Vegas this October for our Ultimate Go Overseas Bootcamp. Here, you can meet with experts from every country we recommend to ask questions and get personalized advice on the visa and residency options that best suit you overseas.
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