The best country for expats to relocate to has been named

[Hummin]

1 minute ago, World Traveller2 said:

Oman vs. Dubai? Any experience or that of trusted colleagues? Dubai impressed me. The only thing strange was 98% of the visible population and who I dealt with as a tourist, was from Bangladesh and Philippines. Not a problem, I like the people in/from both places.  Is Oman also expat-central, as in 'everyone' from the waiter to the engineer is a foreigner?

I really didn't like Dubai that much, but one of the worlds best international kitchen scene if you can say so. Girls from all over the world, and good party scene. Alcohol expensive, and we had to go to the hole in the wall at Umm Al Quwain back in the days, but long time I haven't been back there now. Just how Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum have treated his daughter and family, as well the safety for any woman in that country, is enough to never put my foot back there.

 

Slavery state on pair with Saudi Arabia

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, World Traveller2 said:

No, I meant is the working pooulation almost entirely non-Omani.

It appears so, companies are forced to employ Omani citizens, who generally appear to have no interest or ability to do the job, then they employ foreigners to 'train' the Omani citizens. The reality is the trainer does the work, and the Omani has coffee with his pals, or calls in sick, or just doesn't turn up.

 

Place is also full of Thai hookers.

Edited December 17, 2021 by BritManToo

[SW Happy]

On 12/14/2021 at 8:22 PM, Jingthing said:

But there are always personal taste factors. I have taken a very long vacation there driving all around the country (but sadly didn't make it as far north as Porto). It was a great vacation (though my car was broken into it) but for some personal temperamental reason, I was super happy to get on the plane getting out of there. Contrast to my first trip to Thailand where I immediately felt -- how can I move here ASAP? 

Please tell what it was/is that you prefer Thailand over Portugal. Genuinely interested as I have place in Spain and Thailand, cannot decide where to settle as like both for different reasons. Maybe I should just keep flitting between both.

[BritManToo]

Just now, SW Happy said:

Please tell what it was/is that you prefer Thailand over Portugal. Genuinely interested as I have place in Spain and Thailand, cannot decide where to settle as like both for different reasons. Maybe I should just keep flitting between both.

Very cheap wine, I used to drink a lot of 'Vino Verde" when I was there.

No girls, and it's cold and deserted in winter.

If you're an alcoholic/druggie, you'd probably prefer it to Thailand.

[World Traveller2]

Is Myanmar still off the list of acceptable places to 'hang your hat'?

[SW Happy]

On 12/15/2021 at 3:10 AM, alyx said:

Try Greece. Easy going. population and inexpensive day to day cost

Greece has always appealed to me. Great climate, Great food beautiful seas, not sure about the women.

[Hummin]

23 minutes ago, World Traveller2 said:

Oman vs. Dubai? Any experience or that of trusted colleagues? Dubai impressed me. The only thing strange was 98% of the visible population and who I dealt with as a tourist, was from Bangladesh and Philippines. Not a problem, I like the people in/from both places.  Is Oman also expat-central, as in 'everyone' from the waiter to the engineer is a foreigner?

Had to digg little bit about the expat workers and migration since I have not spent so much time in Oman like Dubai.

 

Seems like same sponsoring system and trafficking as Dubai. No rights, and in Dubai, you could loose your passport for months even a year or more waiting for a trail, even innocent. Read more about Oman here. Seems like Oman goes under the radar and seems a bit cleaner, unfortunate not the truth

 

 

https://migrants-refugees.va/country-profile/oman/

 

[World Traveller2]

3 minutes ago, SW Happy said:

Greece has always appealed to me. Great climate, Great food beautiful seas, not sure about the women.

I went to Turkey to see classical ruins at less than half the price. Er, I never got the the SW coast where the Greek ones presumably are, but still...

 

What is the advantage of Greece over Turkey?

[Hummin]

16 minutes ago, SW Happy said:

Please tell what it was/is that you prefer Thailand over Portugal. Genuinely interested as I have place in Spain and Thailand, cannot decide where to settle as like both for different reasons. Maybe I should just keep flitting between both.

We have family house in Spain, and it might be the best option for EU citizens in the future together with Portugal.

 

Have no faith in Turkey, or the countries in reach for the Chinese coming future conflicts. That said if EU remains, but I see no reasons yet to worry to much

[SW Happy]

34 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Very cheap wine, I used to drink a lot of 'Vino Verde" when I was there.

No girls, and it's cold and deserted in winter.

If you're an alcoholic/druggie, you'd probably prefer it to Thailand.

Thailand it is then. ????

[cmarshall]

17 hours ago, Tony125 said:

Lets be realistic---by the numbers

Top 10 countries for expats

1. Taiwan--sooner than later going to be some problems if not full scale invasion by China

 

2. Mexico---- drug cartels fighting for control with resorts having guards with machine guns patroling the beaches

3. Costa Rica

 

4. Malaysia    My second home scheme used to reuire $5,000 dollars a month to get visa, now it's $9,000 a month to retire there.

5. Portugal

 

6. New Zealand +

7. Australia       I am not  living in any country that treats me like a prisoner telling me I can't leave if I want to.

 

8.Ecuador

 

9. Canada  ----high cost of housing

 

10. Vietnam---no long term visa at present  but possibilites for for the future

Costa Rica and Ecuador have pervasive crime problems.  You can find youtube videos about expats leaving Costa Rica.  The reason is always the crime.  I've been to Ecuador, where houses are routinely fortified against crime.

[SW Happy]

Just told my missus what I was reading, she summed it up in 1 word.

Where ever you are happiest.

[KhunLA]

34 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

  You can find youtube videos about expats leaving .... 

... for all kinds of reasons / excuses, except their poor choice or lack of research / preparation before settling in a foreign country.

 

Somehow you rarely hear... "I really F'd up, and didn't .... before picking that place to live in"

Go figure

[connda]

16 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've managed it on 1,000 pounds a month.

That got me a nice house, and an attractive younger woman in my bed every night.

Food, drink, motorcycle, car, kids and pets.

None of which I would have back in the UK.

The guys who insist on demeaning individuals of modest means are pretty much the same ones who needed to inflate their egos by forever telling everyone how well endowed they were in High School. It was juvenile then and it's juvenile now.  "Mine's bigger than yours!"  So what?  And then they reach our age and then need Viagra.  Stay athletic, keep your heart healthy and your 'friend' will have fully functional pneumatics.  There is more to life than money - But I digress.
Fortune is a fickle lady.  One day you're blessed with riches, then next fate intervenes and you're back among the poor (I've first hand experience through two stock market crashes).  Perhaps tomorrow it's back to riches.  In between those cycles you live as best you can with what you have.  "But - Those with he most toys when they die, win?"  Of course.  "Winner!"  Then you die.
Those who consider themselves above the unwashed masses and commoners are a rather despicable bunch of ego-driven losers.  Pathetic actually.  But it seems that by continuing the "Mine's bigger than yours" trope it is the only way they can prop up their own marginal self-esteem.  Actualized people with high levels of self-esteem - be they rich, poor, or in-between - don't need to engage in that behavior in order to find self-worth.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, connda said:

The guys who insist on demeaning individuals of modest means are pretty much the same ones who needed to inflate their egos by forever telling everyone how well endowed they were in High School. It was juvenile then and it's juvenile now.  "Mine's bigger than yours!"  So what?  And then they reach our age and then need Viagra.  Stay athletic, keep your heart healthy and your 'friend' will have fully functional pneumatics.  There is more to life than money - But I digress.
Fortune is a fickle lady.  One day you're blessed with riches, then next fate intervenes and you're back among the poor (I've first hand experience through two stock market crashes).  Perhaps tomorrow it's back to riches.  In between those cycles you live as best you can with what you have.  "But - Those with he most toys when they die, win?"  Of course.  "Winner!"  Then you die.
Those who consider themselves above the unwashed masses and commoners are a rather despicable bunch of ego-driven losers.  Pathetic actually.  But it seems that by continuing the "Mine's bigger than yours" trope it is the only way they can prop up their own marginal self-esteem.  Actualized people with high levels of self-esteem - be they rich, poor, or in-between - don't need to engage in that behavior in order to find self-worth.

Or as I say:

Don't be so smug.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, SW Happy said:

Please tell what it was/is that you prefer Thailand over Portugal. Genuinely interested as I have place in Spain and Thailand, cannot decide where to settle as like both for different reasons. Maybe I should just keep flitting between both.

It wouldn't likely be relevant to you. The sound of European Portuguese annoys me greatly. Similar to how I feel about Vietnamese and German. 

I like Spain and have visited numerous times. However a particular place there didn't call out to me as a place I'd want to live at. I don't qualify for residence in Spain so it's academic for me but if I did I'd be curious about Valencia.

[connda]

17 hours ago, Grecian said:

What's that got to do with your claim there is better than Thailand for a single guy?

 

I will repeat my question to you. where is better?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  If you believe that Thailand is the bomb for single guys over all other places in the world - then it is - for you.
I won't discount that.  If it's true for you, it's true for you.
I've traveled enough to have had great experience throughout the world.
Is Thailand the A-number-1 place for me when I was single.  No.  It was "a" place.  All places have their pros and cons.  The Czeck Republic post-Soviet meltdown.  Now there was a place.  Economies go through cycles and today's suckola places for single guys may be tomorrow's single guy's paradise. So what place is best is a matter of personal preference as well as the cycle of time and circumstance and economics.  It's pretty simple if you can see past an absolutist vision of what is "best." 

So you never studied philosophy or economics?  You should.  Expand your horizons.  You can't help but to see thing is the light of relativity.  <wink> 

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, connda said:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  If you believe that Thailand is the bomb for single guys over all other places in the world - then it is - for you.

I found Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines to all be much the same for single guys.

The only reason I'm in Thailand is I arrived here first, and quickly acquired baggage.

As many single men seem to do.

 

Accommodation is cheaper in Thailand, booze is cheaper in the other countries. 

[Hummin]

8 minutes ago, connda said:

So you never studied philosophy or economics?  You should.  Expand your horizons.  You can't help but to see thing is the light of relativity.  <wink> 

What you talking about is taking advantage of the economic situation to exploit women! Nice try tho

[The Hammer2021]

Expat?  What does that even mean? Retired? Working? Old? Young? Single? Married?. The countries with the most expats are in the middle east such as UAE

[ramrod711]

On 12/14/2021 at 6:57 PM, spidermike007 said:

I was thinking about relocating to Mexico recently. We just spent some time there in Baja and Baja has three of the cities with some of the highest homicide rates in all of Mexico. The cartels are fighting for territory, America's ridiculous war on drugs is adding fuel to the fire, things do not seem to be getting any better.

 

The food was fantastic, the seafood was sublime, the people are cool, cities are decent, the cost of living higher than I would have thought, but the security situation is out of control. Heavily armed police were everywhere with machine guns, army trucks with 20 soldiers on the back with high caliber machine guns, and it's a very very insecure place at the moment. 

In the last two years, three people have left the gym I go to in Chiang Mai for Mexico. All say they are happy with their decision to do so. I'm happy in Thailand, but if my marriage ends for any reason, I would have a look at Mexico. 

[The Hammer2021]

On 12/14/2021 at 8:51 AM, mfd101 said:

So, Taiwan OK till the pre-invasion bombardment starts. Mexico has 7 of the 10 most-violent cities in the world. Costa Rica good & safe. Malaysia Portugal excellent. NZ boring but safe. Oz nice but expensive (across NSW, not just Sinnee, average house price is AUD 1,100,000). Ecuador mmmm till the next upheaval. Canada nice, chilly & expensive. Veetnaam splendid to visit but crime rates are high ...

 

And then there's Surin. Ah Surin, nice one minute, boring the next, but safe except for the tropical diseases & the burglars.

How does a person 'relocate' to Australia? How does a non EU member emigrate to Portugal? The EU has a closed border policy.

[cmarshall]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

... for all kinds of reasons / excuses, except their poor choice or lack of research / preparation before settling in a foreign country.

 

Somehow you rarely hear... "I really F'd up, and didn't .... before picking that place to live in"

Go figure

The example I have in mind is a well-informed young woman who lived in Costa Rica for ten years while she developing a relocation business, apparently successfully.  There are some people who are very well-informed.  The stupid ones are easy to spot and not worth wasting time on.

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

How does a person 'relocate' to Australia? How does a non EU member emigrate to Portugal? The EU has a closed border policy.

Australia has a retirement visa.

Australia has a merit based system for younger / skilled immigration.

Portugal is open to non EU working and retired expats.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Jingthing

[zzaa09]

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

... for all kinds of reasons / excuses, except their poor choice or lack of research / preparation before settling in a foreign country.

 

Somehow you rarely hear... "I really F'd up, and didn't .... before picking that place to live in"

Go figure

You'll find that, more often than not, these numerous types of folks will be miserable regardless of where they settle * long-time, short-time. These negative attributes especially apply to locales that aren't "the West" or "home", where the usual comparatives and superlatives are engaged. The simple character and traits of being unable to adjust and acclimate naturally is all too commonplace.....lending the blame towards the hosts is most convenient. 

[The Hammer2021]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Very cheap wine, I used to drink a lot of 'Vino Verde" when I was there.

No girls, and it's cold and deserted in winter.

If you're an alcoholic/druggie, you'd probably prefer it to Thailand.

Drug scene better in Europe

[The Hammer2021]

27 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Australia has a retirement visa.

Australia has a merit based system for younger / skilled immigration.

Portugal is open to non EU working and retired expats.

 

 

Sure they have schemes but the schemes are designed to limit and control access not encourage it!!! Australia and the EU have very strict expat/immigration rules.

[Jingthing]

27 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Sure they have schemes but the schemes are designed to limit and control access not encourage it!!! Australia and the EU have very strict expat/immigration rules.

Australia, yes.

Portugal is remarkably open to non EU.

[World Traveller2]

3 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

How does a person 'relocate' to Australia? How does a non EU member emigrate to Portugal? The EU has a closed border policy.

Claim to be a child soldier in Syria or Iraq? I met one in Belgrade.

Edited December 17, 2021 by World Traveller2

[The Hammer2021]

34 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Australia, yes.

Portugal is remarkably open to non EU.

As part of the EU it is obliged to follow EU laws. It's not called fortress Europe for nothing! But I think a million quid can buy you a Portuguese passport..Before the EU The Algarve was a British enclave for expats. Immigrants came from Angola and Mozambique. I used to live there in the 80s...Americans for example often used marriages of convenience to settle as with all of Europe..