How To Realize Your Goal Of Living In Different Countries. Living The Dream!

Living in different countries, the cold hard truth.

Realizing your goal of living in different countries does take some planning. Deciding to just pick up, leave and migrate from country to country isn’t something to be taken lightly. The above being said, despite the current situation at the time of this writing, it is very possible to make your goal of living in different countries come true and faster than you may think. 

The most important consideration you will need to figure out is money. The cold heart truth of realizing your dream of living in different countries is going to come down to money. 

How much and how you will get this money? You may need to plan at least a year in advance in order to make your dream of living in your different countries become reality. The next thing you need to consider are visas and possible travel restrictions. 

This all depends of course on which country you are from and the passport you carry. Since I am from the United States, this post will be directed towards other Americans as well as Western Europeans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. 

Most of our passports give us similar visa allowances as well as travel restrictions. 

However, in order to plan your trip and which countries you would like to live in, you will need to check with individual countries’ embassies that are represented in your home country first. 

They usually have sections on visas and travel, so it’s one of the first places you will need to go to find out which countries are open to you to live in as well as how long you can live there. 

You will also need to plan for any other types of documentation you will have to carry with you or prepare for, such as medical insurance, inoculations and pre-booked ongoing flights, etc.

How do I get started on realizing my goal of living in different countries?

First, as I’ve mentioned above, money is a big factor in realizing your goal of living in different countries. 

So, if you have a good job and you’re able to save money every month, then save even more money every month. 

How much money you will need will depend on two or three factors. 

1. First, how long you want to travel and how many countries you want to live in.
2. The second is, the quality of life you expect to have while living in different countries.

If you plan on backpacking for example and living out of hostels in different countries, then your budgets are going to be much lower than if you were to say, rent out Airbnb’s or staying in hotels while living in different countries. 

If you want to earn while living in different countries you can either find a job with a company that has offices in different countries and try to get a posting in one of their foreign offices. 

You can also orientate your revenue streams to where you can earn money online. You can earn money online through various means. I will not go through them since they are too numerous and would require a much deeper post. 

However, if you have a particular skill and you can take that skill and work online, you might be able to do it remotely. You can even keep the job you currently have and make arrangements to do your job from the road, all online. 

If not then you will need to develop some income streams through various online ventures like freelancing, writing, coding and web design, internet marketing maybe even start a YouTube channel. You can also do a combination of all the above. 

Everyone has their own path and skills in regards to making money and the sooner you can identify your own particular skill set and how you can best do them online, the better. 

Besides, more and more companies are open to the idea of remote working, especially nowadays with the current pandemic situation in the world. 

This has opened up a lot of possibilities for those who happen to be thinking about working remotely or traveling, but were afraid to lose their job, etc. 

Now companies are starting to encourage their employees, especially valuable ones, to work online. 

As long as you finish projects, meet deadlines and most of your work can be done via the internet, then why not. 

If you are a particularly valuable employee and your employer can trust and count on you, then I’m sure you can make some kind of arrangements to earn money while living in different countries. 

Bring it up to your boss. If your current position doesn’t allow that, maybe another one would. 

Employers always look for ways to keep valuable employees on staff, even if they have to create a new position to do so.

Last but not least of course, is the more traditional way those who have wanted to experience living in different countries have gone about earning money abroad and that is teaching, teaching English in particular. 

For this you would need to get a minimum of what’s called a TEFL certificate. 

There are only two respected courses that I would only recommend you taking and getting certified in. The first is the Cambridge, CELTA certificate and the second is the Oxford/Trinity TESOL certificate. 

Those are the only two I would recommend and they are the most widely accepted certificates in the English teaching world. 

If you are a school teacher, that is in the traditional sense, another way of being able to work while living in different countries would be to get a job through the international school system’s networks. 

There are plenty of opportunities to work in international schools in many countries in the world. 

The schools are set up primarily to mimic the curriculum and standards of those from the United States, Canada, the UK even many Western European countries like Germany or France have international schools throughout the world. 

These schools attempt to provide the same educational environment as they would in their home countries. 

The schools are normally attended by the children of diplomats and other expats who work for international corporations with foreign offices. 

You may be able to get a job with an international school. They are quite well paid and provide all kinds of perks.

Do I need visas for living in different countries?

If you are from Western country that I have listed above, in most cases, if you only plan on living in different countries for two to three months, then you can literally go from one country to another without a visa, except for tourism which is normally issued at the airport upon arrival. 

Technically the stamp in your passport represents a tourist visa. However, some countries do require you to apply for a visa in advance, even a tourist visa. 

Some of those visas also limit you to only 30 to 60 days, which you may be able to extend once you’re in the country.

If you would like to live in a country longer than two or three months, then you would need to apply for a more temporary residence visa.

Temporary residency visas vary from country to country and have their own requirements, so you would need to check with the country or countries’ embassies that you are interested in living in for a period of time to check out their visa lengths and requirements.

How to make living in different countries a reality.

As you can see, you can make living in different countries a reality. It all boils down to two things: 

Your current passport and which country you are a citizen of. This will determine which countries you can live in as well as how long you can live in each. 

If you want to extend your stay of living in different countries you will also need to learn about what temporary residency visas are available for the particular country you’re interested in living in. 

The second but probably the most important factor in realizing your dream of living in different countries is money. 

You will either need to save up enough money to afford traveling and living in different countries or you will have to find a way to earn money while living in different countries. 

This will need to be done by working remotely for a company or a series of companies either as an employee or as a freelancer and your field or fields that you’re skilled in. 

You can also develop various online ventures like internet marketing, coding and website development etc. and earn money while living in different countries that way. 

If you choose the above two methods, you can avoid sticky issues like work permits and work visas, etc. as well as taxes in those countries. 

The other option of course is to work in the country or countries you plan on living in. I have also gone over a few ways you can do that as well. 

Hopefully when the current situation subsides and borders begin to open once again, you too will be able to realize your dream of living in different countries. It’s a lot easier than you think, but it does require sufficient planning and resources to make it a reality.