No. of Recommendations: 7
You don’t need a lawyer to get residency in another country and I never even entertained such an idea, even early on when I had done very little reading.
You also don’t need a consultant. They to lure people into their net and make money on providing the same info written even more clearly on every government residency application website.
Sometimes agency/consultants claim to have special info and can “connect you with” this or that banker, but it is nonsense. You can connect any banker yourself just as quickly, and in fact most banks want your business.
You can contact the banks directly when you get to that part, but the general protocol is to meet them in person.
Another is about the safety of the "investment". I would probably be looking at holding it in local stocks or government bonds
It varies between European countries but if residency can be obtained via a bank “attestation letter” such as in Monaco (essentially the bank stating you have enough equity to satisfy the residency) then you can hold Berkshire or whatever else you are holding and you don’t need to buy any local equities.
You just allow the local bank to act as a stock broker and then only for whatever minimum equity amount is required for residency. What you are investing in can remain exactly the same as what you hold right now, and you will just have an extra broker which you an perhaps use for the stocks that you plan to almost never change (such as an index fund or Berkshire).
To get such an attestation letter the usual procedure is to visit the bank directly as part of your residency application.
I should have mentioned that renting an apartment is also one of the standard requirements if you are not buying a property. They can normally leased for one year and renewed each year, which is a good approach if you are tiptoeing in. You don’t want a 3 year lease and then leave after say 9 months.
If the country allows a bank attestation letter instead of needing you to buy a property, then I highly recommend to use that path, ie. to not buy a property and instead rent. Your rights when renting are strong in most of Europe and it is as good as owning a property in the practical sense (as you are unlikely moving for renovation projects), without the huge transaction costs and even larger opportunity cost on the capital if you change your mind and want to return to the US.
Go to the government website *directly* (rather than second hand info) where the residency requirements are explained.
There will be an English language version. You don’t need a lawyer or a consultant.
Also I recommend to try to increase you trust level quite a bit based on your wording in your post. I empathize that you want to be careful, but the locals on the whole will try to help you, Europe has been around for a while, and you will find the English language is normally used when reading government instructions intwnded for an international audience such as resident application procedures.
Be brave, trusting, but vigilant.. the opposite is overcautious, wanting a lawyer, and careless.
You’ll then be surprised how fast momentum start to takes hold as you make sense of application procedure, and the idea of needing a consultant a lawyer will even start to look bizarre.
- Manlobbi
