Best Countries to immigrate to for webmasters

[vik_c]

I'm thinking, one should immigrate to a country with

(not in any particular order)

good infrastructure

scenic beauty

low cost of living

pleasant weather (no extreme climates)

low or average taxes

fast internet access

political stability (no dictators and preferably non-nuclear)

easy entry for immigrants

friendly people (no racism)

a stable currency

little or no red tape

business friendly atmosphere

access to free or low-cost healthcare

Any ideas?

[wyweb]

Any ideas?

Actually I do have a few. I've always fancied Mexico. Several reasons, main one being proximity to family. I could see myself jumping back and forth across the border at will.

good infrastructure
Better than most. Fairly stable.

scenic beauty
The beaches are second to none.

low cost of living
Absolutely. This is another primary factor in why I want to go.

pleasant weather (no extreme climates)
Inland can be brutally hot. It's dry heat though. Very little humidity. The coast is balmy, termperate. Very nice.

low or average taxes
I'm not sure

fast internet access
I've heard Mexico rivals anyone in major metro areas. Deeper in, where I want to go, this could well be a problem.

political stability (no dictators and preferably non-nuclear)
Does Mexico have nukes? They've never made any noise about it if they do.

easy entry for immigrants
It's easy for them to come up here. I'm sure it's be easy for me to go down there.

friendly people (no racism)
Learn the language (I already know Spanish). Don't make waves. Keep a low profile and you'll get along anywhere.

a stable currency
The peso is as stable as the dollar right now. Maybe even more so.

little or no red tape
Immigration? What kind of red tape are we talking about? Where are you at anyway?

business friendly atmosphere
Money fosters a friendly business atmosphere. Many US companies have farmed out production to Mexican factories. If your business is mass production of green widgets, Mexico is probably for you.

access to free or low-cost healthcare
Couldn't say. Where I'm going I could probably trade a pig for a tetnus shot though. Drink bottled water and cook your own meals and you should be okay.

[LifeinAsia]

political stability (no dictators and preferably non-nuclear)
Does Mexico have nukes? They've never made any noise about it if they do.

Um, what about the drug cartels?

[Rugles]

Except for the weather part... you were describing Canada. Although out in BC they have a more moderate climate except that the cost of living skyrockets in the large cities like Vancouver and Victoria.

But anyways, put Canada on your list as a potential spot because it does meet many of your requirements.

[vik_c]

Except for the weather part... you were describing Canada.

Canada takes self employed people only if they're accomplished or recognized at the national level in art and culture. Beats me why! If you're an entrepreneur you need to have $1 million before they'll even look at you. Odd since only 5% of Canadians are millionaires. You can also start a regional business and invest about $200,000 but you'll have to create jobs and agree to settle in parts where - 15 c temperature is probably seen as a warm day :) If Canada made its immigration easier, it seems a lovely country to settle in.

I've always fancied Mexico

Mexico is probably a better choice for Americans. I'm in India. Besides, it doesn't seem like a very peaceful country. I don't know personally anyone from here who's ever settled there.

[Rugles]

but you'll have to create jobs and agree to settle in parts where

false! who told you that, once you get approved to enter the country you can live anywhere you like

But you are correct, you need to bring in cash, 200 grand is about what I read the last time I looked. Its really hard to get in if you do not have any assets unless your skill is in high demand.

We are very immigrant friendly in a first world kinda way. We have a higher percentage of people who are immigrants than even the USA.

Its 33 c here today and humid.

[vik_c]

Its really hard to get in if you do not have any assets unless your skill is in high demand.

If I'm self employed and can bring $100,000 to $200,000, shouldn't it be ok? Why should I be expected to create jobs?

false! who told you that, once you get approved to enter the country you can live anywhere you like

See 'British Columbia PNP Business Immigration Stream' I quote and summarise:

Make a personal investment of at least $200,000 CAD to establish or to purchase and expand an eligible business anywhere in BC outside of the Vancouver metropolitan area or the Abbotsford metropolitan area.
Create at least one new job in the business for a Canadian or permanent resident.
Demonstrate that they have a personal net worth of at least $400,000 CAD obtained from legal sources

That $200,000 has to be invested in business. You can only invest a small part in property. It's as good as spent if you can't recover it. Hiring one person for a year is like another $50,000. Now add personal resettlement costs to that!

See [welcomebc.ca ]

You can't settle anywhere you like, at least for some time, there are similar restrictions with regional immigration of Nova Scotia, Quebec etc. Parts of Canada (the easiest ones to get permission for) make North Pole look like Florida when it comes to weather :)

If immigrating to BC, Canada were easy, there would be so many self employed IT professionals from other countries who would get in. They wouldn't affect the local job market and would contribute to the economy.

[MarkFilipak]

New Zealand.

[vik_c]

New Zealand.

I was waiting for someone to mention that :) I've really found only three countries so far - Canada, NZ and Mauritius. Most of what I've read about NZ makes it seem a very attractive option. Their Long Term Business Visa >> Entrepreneur policy seems realistic. It doesn't require any min net worth nor any job creation. They have everything I've mentioned. I think the cost of living is much higher than India though especially when it comes to food.

From the response to this thread, apparently not many webmasters have considered migrating!

[caribguy]

From the response to this thread, apparently not many webmasters have considered migrating!

Hah, we don't want more competition :)

[deejay]

New Zealand

Absolutely not! Last place you want to come to. Why, when I was a girl there were 20 sheep for every person in New Zealand. Ah, those were the days I tell you. These days there's barely 10 and that's still dropping! Outrageous! By the time my baby girl is in school we'll be in single digits and then where will we be?! Fewer sheep, more people... Crammed in like sardines, that's where.

Next thing you know we'll have people outside Auckland living in apartment buildings. Vertical housing - ridiculous! Bad enough we've got 'townhouses' now.. *harumph*.. used to be it wasn't legal to build on less than a 1/4 acre section... now they build two places on it. *grumble* I hear sometimes even three.. *shudder*

....

In all seriousness, yes, probably a somewhat higher cost of living than many places, but the standard of living achieved for that beats the heck out of probably most places.

Come on over, the weather's fine.

[vivalasvegas]

Quebec has a pretty permissive immigration policy. You don't have to apply as an Entrepreneur. The only drawback - you must learn a bit of French (unless you already speak French). Of course, if you don't like Quebec you can move to any Canadian city once you have a resident status.

[Mr Bo Jangles]

There is only one answer that ticks all the boxes, in spades - AUSTRALIA

(New Zealand? You're kidding right? - they're coming over here to Australia in droves - can't keep the buggers out!)


thank you

[Old_Honky]

Just a small pedantic point:
You don't immigrate to anywhere, you emigrate. When you have emigrated the host country can describe you as an immigrant. That is unless of course the American usage of the word has changed from the Queen's English.

I hear North Korea is a good place to live - almost a zero crime rate. I'm surprised no one is considering the UK it is a great place to live and we still have plenty of room.

[Rugles]

vik_c, that is only one way to get into the country. Go through the Federal Government, forget about the Provincal way if you an't meet the criteria. Once you are in, you can go anywhere you want.

See below.

[cic.gc.ca...]

[piatkow]

I'm surprised no one is considering the UK it is a great place to live and we still have plenty of room.

No good if you are looking for contracts, all the big players look offshore these days.

[StoutFiles]

You left off the #1 option...no legal problems. So many sites can steal content and basically get away with it on the grounds that they're in a country that won't punish them.

I personally wouldn't do this but if we're talking webmasters in general, many would take advantage of this if given the chance.

[LifeinAsia]

In mangled Amurican English, we use "emigrate FROM somewhere" and "immigrate TO somewhere." Since members here are from many different countries, talking about immigrating to a certain country makes grammatical sense.

North Korea has no Internet to speak of, so it's not going to be a very good location for webmasters. And don't get me started on "high potential as an emerging market."

South Korea, however, has one of the highest adoption rates for high-speed Internet. Yeah, the language barrier can be an issue (although Korean is surprisingly easy to learn, at least the basics). Unless the laws have changed, about $50,000 investment can get you a business visa, and once that money is put into a company, you can take it out to pay yourself wages. Just forget about locating in or near Seoul- that $50K investment probably won't even get you a deposit on a 1-room apartment these days.

[edited by: LifeinAsia at 3:58 pm (utc) on Aug 6, 2010]

[lawman]

Just a small pedantic point:
You don't immigrate to anywhere, you emigrate. When you have emigrated the host country can describe you as an immigrant. That is unless of course the American usage of the word has changed from the Queen's English.

You "emigrate" from and "immigrate" to. Not the Queen's English; the USA version. :)

[HuskyPup]

Over the years this has been discussed several times in the AdSense forum with no firm conclusion!

I did live on the Gold Coast in Australia for a while, that was excellent, and I must admit I've always fancied New Zealand but never got there.

Lived in Italy for a couple of years on the Apuanian Riveria, fantastic food and lovely people however quite expensive these days.

I've always fancied trying north west Spain, the Galicia region, or maybe Portugal. Property can be bought at much lower prices than they used to be in Spain. Abu Dhabi is much nicer than Dubai if you fancy a modern city.

The UK has quite a few advantages but does not match your non-nuclear request. One of my favourite places is the coastal city of Xiamen in China but can be a bit wet in the season!

Both Croatia and Albania have stunning scenery but you have to be careful where you locate to for good Net access...all in all there are quite a few places on my list which is getting shorter these days since I don't like anywhere with high humidity:-(

[graeme_p]

@Old_Honky, unless you are being sarcastic, you are definitely not a Daily Mail reader!

The UK fails several of his criteria:low cost, non-nuclear, easy entry, pleasant weather. The UK is easy entry if you are a rich tax dodger (the UK is a tax haven for those with investment income who claim non-domiciled status), but not for a working webmaster.

I also think which part of the UK matters: I love London (grew up there, regard it as my home town), but I loathe Manchester (ugly, rains constantly, high crime, racist).

I also do not like the UK, these days, as a place to bring up kids.

A combination of the above is why the UK is no longer emigrants' favourite destination (I live in a country with a very high emigration rate, and the UK used to the natural place to go). Australia and Canada are the most popular now.

Actually, region matters anywhere bigger than, say, Singapore (now there is a possibility - but too hot and too controlled for my taste).

The other country I have lived in (where I live now) is Sri Lanka, which meets the low cost of living criteria, but fails the good infrastructure ones (especially fast internet access - but at least my broadband is cheap and uncapped).

There are lots of British immigrants in the town I live in, but not webmasters or IT people of similar - mostly rather spivvy types in tourism or construction.

That brings me to one piece of advice to people who do emigrate: avoid living in in area with lots of people from your country of origin, or being drawn into your ethnic community. I have had bad experiences of these communities both ways.

[vik_c]

There is only one answer that ticks all the boxes, in spades - AUSTRALIA

There seem to be a lot of (allegedly racist) attacks on Indians in Australia. The media has so many diverse views on the subjects It's hard to know the real picture sitting thousands of miles away. Besides immigrating to Australia is tougher than to NZ.

The other country I have lived in (where I live now) is Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka isn't stable politically. They may have a democracy but there's a lot of conflict between various factions within the country from what I know.

@LifeinAsia

South Korea is in conflict with North Korea. With USA, Iran and other countries playing a part, this could escalate. Countries like NZ and Canada are relatively apolitical.

[graeme_p]

@HUskyPup, Abu Dhabi, and anywhere else on the southern side of the Persian Gulf, fails several of his criteria (no dictators, no racism, no extreme climates), and I think claiming vulgar modern buildings set in desert are scenic would be pushing it (OK, its a matter of taste).

I think vic is Indian so racism in that region is very likely to be a problem, and I have heard bad things about many places in Eastern Europe (although not the two countries you mention in particular).

[incrediBILL]

If you're making lots of money and can get the immigration papers, the SF Bay Area in the US is by far, hands down, the best place to immigrate :)

Fabulous weather most of the year, wide variety of breath-taking landscapes from mountains to ocean, melting pot of many cultures, huge Indian population as well, including my next door neighbor who makes a mean chicken tikka ;)

Being a work-at-home webmaster is even better so you don't have to deal with the commute which is really ugly.

Other than the occasional earthquake that could squish you like a bug or leave you homeless, overall it's pretty damn good in California.

Besides, worrying about nukes is like worrying about asteroids, they could hit anywhere at any minute and there's nothing you can do about it except enjoy the present and I can't imagine enjoying living it in a nicer place short of maybe Bora Bora.

[phranque]

Fabulous weather most of the year

don't lie - you were freezing your ass off last week.
=8)

[incrediBILL]

don't lie - you were freezing your ass off last week

60F - not freezing, and that was after returning from Nevada at 100F - boiling.

[lawman]

Doesn't Harry Callahan hang out in SF?

[HuskyPup]

I did once consider Cape Verde Islands however since I do actually have to visit customers on a reasonably regular basis I decided against it however for a relatively stay-at-home webmaster it would have been fine.

I notice no one has mentioned any South American countries yet!

[LifeinAsia]

South Korea is in conflict with North Korea. With USA, Iran and other countries playing a part, this could escalate.

It's been that way for over 50 years. Every time NK spouts off with some re-hashed war threats, everyone in SK pretty much yawns.

I'd normally agree with incrediBILL about Cali (other than it failing the low cost of living, low/average taxes, and health care issues). But taxes keep going up (with no end in sight). Anything else I have to say on that line would be way too political, so I'll leave it at that. :)

[caribguy]

I've been living in the Caribbean for about 8 years and it's been very good to me. Island fever is starting to creep up, so I've started to think about other places. Next on my list might be: South of France, Costa Rica, Belize, Panama and I may even end up in Tonga for retirement.

I could settle for Puerto Rico or New Zealand, Singapore and probably Australia (all places that we discussed when a significant other was still in the picture).

Each of those countries has specific advantages and disadvantages, I don't think there's a perfect place. Re: paperwork, think outside of the box and set up a llc somewhere that employs you. Just stay current on your personal income tax and social security payments wherever you are and the authorities will love you ;)