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?

[Rugles]

Human beings thrive in cold climates. Necessity is the mother of invention.

[pageoneresults]

I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years. One of the best times of me life. If I didn't have commitments here, I'd be in the PI right now enjoying my semi retirement years.

[walkman]

For Americans taxes are identical, minus state taxes maybe, no matter where you go.

Personally I have heard good things about Costa Rica, New Zealand and Canada but taxes might be high on the last two ones

[caribguy]

I dealt with it by moving some place warm as soon as I finished college.

Right there with ya. I find that looking out of my office window to see palm trees and sailboats makes me a lot happier to work compared to seeing a dark grey sky and snow most of the time.

[vik_c]

I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years. One of the best times of me life. If I didn't have commitments here, I'd be in the PI right now enjoying my semi retirement years.

Where in Philippines did you live? I read a lot about it online. Manila seems more like Mumbai. What did you like most about Philippines?

[Ujang]

Welcome to Malaysia.

>scenic beauty
Pulau Pangkor, Pulau Tioman, Langkawi... just name it.

>pleasant weather (no extreme climates)
The one and only season; hot or rain.

>low cost of living
Food: Fish USD2/Kg (+-), Meat USD2.5/Kg (+-), Vegetable just so cheap.
Property: Average USD160000 / Bungalow Unit (Urban), USD97000 (Rural)
Transport: Gas USD0.58 / Litter, public transport everywhere.

>low or average taxes
No income-tax for 10 yrs (if you setup your own company at Cyberjaya)

>fast internet access
Still at 10mbps in most urban area (Kuala Lumpur / Cyberjaya / Klang etc..), 4mbps elsewhere.

>political stability
No nuke, politic stable. Very hard to see riots/protest. Maybe once every 4-5 years.

>easy entry for immigrants
Not so sure.

>a stable currency
Floating currency (Ringgit Malaysia). Catching up with USD. Almost every 3-6 month RM up around 0.3 per 1USD

>business friendly atmosphere
Foreigner / External investor are always welcome.

>access to free or low-cost healthcare
GH exist in most state & district

[fearlessrick]

OK, I just have to respond to this and recommend upstate New York, anything West of Albany. I personally live in Rochester, on the North shore of Lake Ontario. South of me is the Finger Lakes region which many believe to be one of the most beautiful places in the world, plus there are numerous vineyards which produce some of the best wines on the planet.

Cost of living is very reasonable, except property taxes in the bigger cities. A nice three-bedroom home here can be found for under $150,000, often well under that, as low as $85,000 in some of the suburbs. Taxes run about $4000 a year on a $100,000 home, less in rural areas (depends on the school district). The city itself is a rat-hole with pretty good-sized slums and high crime rate, but if you live in the 'burbs, you never have to venture there.

The weather is OK, though the winters can be a bit harsh and cold, but summers are outstanding, as are Srping and Fall. No earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires, etc. An occasional snowstorm of over a foot (once or twice a year) is usually about the most severe weather event.

Great fishing and hunting if that's your thing, ski resorts nearby in winter. Beer is cheap. A case of Labatt's goes for about $20, though the real deal this summer is $4.49 for a six pack of 16 ouncers.

I grew up here, and, to be honest, hated the place, always complaining that it was too boring. Now older, boring is GOOD. Nice, quiet nights on the patio, a vodka tonic, baseball on the tube... another day in paradise.

Hey, the US isn't for everybody, but it does have advantages. Plus, home prices are way down and going lower. The general economic downturn, which should be prolonged by another 3-5 years thanks to our inept politicians, hasn't had much effect on online business.

The one drawback to NY is the tax structure. The people inAlbany want to tax everything, but as any businessman knows, there are ways around them, legal ones, i.e., deductions, etc.

Other options in the US are anywhere south of Maryland, like the Carolinas or Florida, but there are drawbacks. Carolinas are full of uneducated hicks and Florida is home to many scam artists and criminals, plus they have weather, social and economic issues about which I won't go into detail.

Just one last thought: Leaving one's home country often sounds like a good idea, but weighing the relative advantages of what you already know and are familiar with makes sense too.

[creative craig]

I am from the UK and moved to South Africa with my South African wife and have now been here 4 years - yep the place has it's problems but I dont plan on leaving anytime soon :)

The one biggest issue I had was internet speed and bandwidth costs! Recently a company has just released uncapped access at twice my old speed for 40% less which I signed up with today :)

[anand84]

If you are really serious about it, you could also look at Chile..They seem to be really aggressively attracting entrepreneurs

[techcrunch.com...]


Edit: I'm really amazed at some of the folks out here who seem to have traveled the world in what is otherwise a work-at-home profession. I'm just wondering if migrating with the family is possible given things like the child's education,etc. I'm still unmarried, so those problems are sometime away, But was curious... Probably that's an important factor to consider to when deciding on the country..

[edited by: anand84 at 4:28 pm (utc) on Aug 25, 2010]

[pageoneresults]

Where in Philippines did you live? I read a lot about it online. Manila seems more like Mumbai. What did you like most about Philippines?

I was on the island of Luzon residing in the vicinity of Clark Air Base and Angeles City.

What did I like most? The people, the culture, the weather, yada, yada, yada.

What I really liked most were my trips to Baguio.

It's been a long time since I've been there and I know things have changed. It would probably be at the top of my list for retirement considerations.

[wolfadeus]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Thailand yet; Budapest is also really cheap right now, due to their currency issues - good for buying real estate right now.

[vik_c]

If you are really serious about it, you could also look at Chile..They seem to be really aggressively attracting entrepreneurs

Read [corfo.cl ] [.pdf]

Their terms and conditions include the requirement to contract 20 or more employees in Chile at the end of 3 years. There is hardly any country on earth that would refuse you permanent residence if you agreed to create that many jobs. A grant of $40,000 is hardly anything. In India you get $2.5 million in subsidy if you set up a cold storage costing $5 million. NZ regularly gives between $1 mn and $2 mn grants to major Indian movie producers who shoot their movies there.

[zeus]

Hmm nice places are mentioned here, but I could not live there, Canada is ok, but I would miss Sports, football, soccer,...., places where I would like to live is north FL maybe Jacksonville, Toronto, Valencia Spain,

[ascensions]

Wish I was in Wales right now... :(

[LifeinAsia]

Jacksonville has (or at least had when I lived there) issues with love bugs and horrendous smells from the pulp/paper mills. And it's far enough north for you to develop a southern drawl (which may be a plus or minus).

[httpwebwitch]

Canada:

# good infrastructure - check.
# scenic beauty - check.
# low cost of living - that's all relative... but living here is easily affordable
# pleasant weather (no extreme climates) ha ha ha ha ha ha Canadian winters are horrid.
# low or average taxes - sorry. we are taxed up the wahoo from all directions at once.
# fast internet access - check.
# political stability (no dictators and preferably non-nuclear) - check.
# easy entry for immigrants - check.
# friendly people (no racism) - check.
# a stable currency - check.
# little or no red tape - check.
# business friendly atmosphere - check.
# access to free or low-cost healthcare - check.

Plus, the Waterloo Region (Ontario) is a technology center with excellent talent pool coming from several world-reknowned Universities and Colleges

[Rugles]

I personally live in Rochester,

All that raving about Rochester and not one word about the Dinosaur BBQ. ;-)
Best BBQ joint outside of Texas.

[wheel]

We have an international webmaster forum here, and what we end up talking about is.....Rochester NY?

[maximillianos]

Myself (English speaking) have always fancied Belize as a nice destination to retire while young. If I could learn Spanish, Costa Rica would be high on my list as well.

I've been to Costa Rica and found the people to be very pleasant, and the weather also pleasant.

I have never been to Belize. Just read about it.

[smallcompany]

New Zealand

On my list to visit in December. Heard good stuff about it.

Also:
[en.wikipedia.org...]

Canada

Vancouver! Victoria is more a retirement scene. Island is beautiful anyway. The whole BC and parts of Alberta (Banff, Jasper) are something you can go around all your life.

[werty]

I have heard the following are easy to immigrate to:
Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The big issue with any of those is the higher cost of living. I think finding everything you want with a low cost of living is going to be quite difficult.

You might want to check out the Philippines, as there are parts that are milder climate, and the cost of living is low.


I like Canada because it is an easy move for me and easy to come home from, but immigration seems quite difficult, and cost of living is comparable to US. Also the weather can also be as terrible as Chicago.

I am interested to see if you ever find the perfect place because it is basically what I am looking for myself.

Where else in the world can you get a climate like San Fran (as the low temp) or San Diego (as the high temp), with all of these other features? Because that is where I want to move.

[HuskyPup]

I'm really amazed at some of the folks out here who seem to have traveled the world in what is otherwise a work-at-home profession. I'm just wondering if migrating with the family is possible given things like the child's education,etc.

I never worried about anything until I had children and then a different mindset comes in and it's very unlikely you'll notice much difference however your partner will!

They're the one who'll most likely have to take the brunt of any day to day problems however kids will love it, it's like a continual holiday for them and the biggest advantage you'll have is speaking English.

No matter where you go you'll find people who can help and know the answers to any problems and, in my experience, schools are always very accommodating knowing how families can move about these days, it wasn't always that simple.

Of all the countries we have lived and worked I suppose Southern India was the most difficult for my children, they really didn't like the very hectic city life and obviously could not comprehend the extremes of wealth and poverty, otherwise everything else was fine and they made friends then with whom they are in still regular contact.

[charlier]

How about some opinions on Ireland and Canary Islands. I vacationed in Ireland once and loved the place and I understand they are business friendly with low corporate taxes and they especially like businesses with a slant toward publishing. This is just the impression I have from reading about the place. Anyone have first hand experience?

Don't know a lot about the Canary Islands either except the weather is supposed to beautiful all year round and a great place to holiday.

[merijnvw]

First country for me to think about was the Czech Republic, or similar countries in Eastern/central europe.

[mailorder]

Vancouver! Victoria is more a retirement scene. Island is beautiful anyway. The whole BC and parts of Alberta (Banff, Jasper) are something you can go around all your life.

We live in Kent UK but my brother in law lives in Sooke on the Island, we visit regularly and love it. Quite often fly to Calgary and take a couple of weeks to drive to Vancouver.

My wife would have me on the Island tomorrow if we could maintain our standard of living.

[Alcoholico]

Costa Rica has everything in your list, it's in the middle of everywhere and so peaceful that they don't even have an army, the cost of living has increased a bit in the last years still it's low compared to the States, Canada or Western Europe.

[walkman]

No offense to the person that suggested it but you need to strike Malaysia from the list. Along with Indonesia, Dubai and the likes. Everything is perfect--until you get arrested for kissing in public, for having a beer or from violating some local norm that resembles life some 1500 years ago. "But everyone does it!" means nothing when YOU get arrested
[cnn.com...]

[english.aljazeera.net...]

[cdkrg]

I am in Costa Rica right now, it has the climate, stability and fastenough (4mbps) internet but I'm moving back to Brazil because I enjoy it there more than anywhere I've lived (11 countries).

[andysood]

It is wonderful here in NZ. Do we need more webmasters? Well we would prefer it remained a secret place so not many people find about it.

If you are considering to migrate, don't consider NZ for our sake. But if you still did, well then you sure will enjoy it here.

[freejung]

Costa Rica. It checks most, perhaps all of your boxes.

I've lived there, it's a wonderful country. Stable democracy, no military, universal health care, business friendly (it's known as the Switzerland of Latin America), decent infrastructure, moderate cost of living, fantastic weather, very nice and agreeable people.