Transcription
I spent over $100,000 on three Plan B countries, on three Plan B strategies. Which one of these was actually worth it? This is on top of all the other passport citizenship programs, golden visa programs that I've done in the past. You might have considered one of these programs. I'm going to take you through why I did them. Was it a company formation? Was it a donation? What did I do? I spent a hundred thousand collectively on all of these three.
Now, the first one is Thailand, the Thai Elite Visa. Back in 2020, I actually got stuck in Thailand, in Phuket, during the whole situation around the world. I couldn't leave Thailand, so I was there for 6 months, and I thought, "Well, Thailand's pretty nice." I was getting a bit tired of Thailand after 6 months. I didn't really want to stay there forever, but I thought, "Let me get an Elite Visa." It's a very straightforward process. A lot of my clients are interested in it. So, I spent a little bit over $20,000 on this particular program. Very easy program to apply for. Very easy program to get accepted for, unless you have a terrible, terrible citizenship. For most people, it's going to be easy to apply. You can do it online pretty much everything. At the time, after the whole situation calmed down around the world, I just had to go to an embassy. I think at the time I had to go to the embassy in Budapest, if I'm not mistaken, and then just get my Thai Elite Visa, fly to Thailand, and then be able to stay in Thailand for 5, 10 years, 20 years, if I wanted to keep extending it.
If you want to go somewhere for better weather, a little bit more day-to-day freedom. Obviously, Thailand has a king. It's not a place where you're going to get citizenship. Most likely, you have to be careful with the locals as well. Locals tend to get favored over foreigners, but wealthy foreigners get treated well. Careful with gold diggers, scams, and so on. But overall, Thailand is a pretty good place for somebody from the West that is tired of the West, that is tired of the US, of Canada, of the EU, tired of the bad weather. They want to go somewhere to enjoy their life a little bit more. I specifically like it. I love the fresh fruits. I love overall the beaches, the nature. It fitted me.
After I got the Elite Visa, I actually went to Thailand only a couple of times during that whole period. I ended up not living in Thailand. It just didn't fit me personally. I wouldn't say that I wasted the money. I just say that I didn't really take advantage of what this visa provided. The Elite Visa allows you to live in Thailand as long as you like, and I didn't really take advantage of that opportunity. I let it expire, and I didn't go and renew it, which looking at the future, I don't really see myself living in Thailand long-term. But for everybody that's looking for a country to have as a Plan B, not necessarily for a citizenship, but just to have long-term stay privileges in case they need it, this works out pretty well.
The next program that I applied for was Romania residency. Now, Romania, back when I applied for it, was not part of the Schengen area, and I was thinking back then, a couple years ago, that I would get a pre-Schengen residency, and ideally permanent residency, and then when Romania joins the Schengen area, then I would have a golden visa essentially. Romania planned to launch a golden visa. That proposal was canceled, so they will not have a golden visa, but they have multiple investment pathways that you can follow to actually get residency. So, for example, what I did was I opened a company, and I invested into that company. That company pays taxes. You need to renew that company. You need to get a bank account. Obviously, you need to run the business itself. It doesn't have to have a significant investment. We're not talking about millions of dollars. We're talking about a couple tens of thousands of dollars. That company can have real estate investments. It can be a fund, for example. It can have employees in Romania, although depending on the type of visa that you want to apply for, if it's like a one-year permit, and you have a really strong passport, you don't necessarily need it. If you're an EU citizen, obviously, you can just move to Romania and live in Romania as much as you like, or register as a resident in Romania. For me, I was a US citizen looking for a Schengen residency permit. Romania likes when US citizens invest in Romania, and for me, it made a lot of sense to open a company, put some money in there, get a bank account, and run that business.
I did not end up renewing that business because I ended up getting another golden visa in Europe, as well as multiple other residency permits in Europe. Although, a lot of people criticize the EU, they criticize the policies, they criticize obviously, the illegal immigration, the regulations, and all of that. I see it valuable for me personally, from a lifestyle perspective, and also because I like some of the cultures within the EU, mainly the ones a little bit to the east, not really to the west. For me, it's important to have residency in the EU. And also, if you do get an EU passport, it's solid for visa-free travel around the world. You can go to the US visa-free. So, for people that want to have an EU pathway, it makes a lot of sense, and for me, at the time, it made a lot of sense. I ended up not renewing it. I ended up taking the money out of the company, and it's not a program that I recommend to everyone. That is why we do one-on-one consultations. Maybe Romania is the perfect place for you, but maybe another, for example, Spanish digital nomad visa, Greek golden visa, Hungary golden visa, although with the new president, let's see what happens. But maybe another one fits you better.
And the next program that me and a couple of my clients actually did, that I ended up not promoting anymore and not telling clients to go there anymore because of the speed of implementation was Barbados. Now, Barbados is a very interesting tax residency program. Barbados is not seen by major countries as a total tax haven where there's no taxes. There are taxes, corporate taxes, income taxes. They are low. Tax residency is relatively straightforward. Opening a company is relatively straightforward. Getting actual residency, the right to live in Barbados, is straightforward. The problem is that it's slow. It is very slow, to the point where I had a client who got angry about how slow it was, and then we ended up shifting to another country to get permanent residency in that other country. I love Barbados. It's a beautiful place. It's a great place to have tax residency. It's a good place to have some banking. It's a good place to have as a Plan B, for example, for a Canadian. Canada has great ties to Barbados, and you can use it as the first country out of Canada. But the problem is that the processing is just too slow, too bureaucratic, and also lawyers on the island tend to be quite slow in the processing. Now, for this program in particular, although it cost me thousands of dollars, I ended up not pursuing in the end, not continuing to renew, just because it was too slow for my particular preference at the time.
Do you have a program that you tried or you were thinking about trying, but you ended up not pulling the trigger or it was just terrible or you ended up canceling it? Let me know down in the comments. And obviously, if you want to have your perfect Plan B residency from somebody that has tested all these programs, has multiple passports, multiple golden visas, multiple investment visas all over the world, click the link in the description, book a one-on-one call with me. And if you want to see the countries that my clients, the wealthiest people that I work with and the wealthiest people in the world in general, are choosing, check out this video right here. You're going to get a lot of inspiration, a lot of options that you should consider. Check them out right here.