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You hear about them all the time. They are the 1 in 100,000 travelers who write books that turn into movies. They write blogs with fascinating photos and stories. They inspire you. They quit their job, sell all of their stuff, and hit the road for “X” amount of months, living off of their savings, perhaps finding under-the-table jobs at random locations.
Enter reality: the other 99,999.
Unfortunately this philosophy, in today’s world, only gets them so far, and sooner or later they’re broke and sleeping on someone’s couch until they can “get back on their feet.” They’ve spent so much time out of the work force that employers prefer to hire the younger candidate that doesn’t have the 1 year gap in his/her résumé.
The 5 flag system
“The way to break free of nationality, according to Schultz’s pamphlet, was to follow a three-flag system. The three flags consist of having a second passport, a safe location for your assets in another country, and a legal address in a tax haven. To these, Hill added a fourth and fifth flag: an additional country as a business base and a number of what he called ‘playground countries’ in which to spend leisure time.”
The (five flag) theory proposes that you arrange for each of the following to be in a separate country:
- Passport and Citizenship - in a country that does not tax money earned outside the country
- Legal Residence - in a tax haven
- Business Base - where you earn your money, ideally somewhere with low Corporate tax rates
- Asset Haven - where you keep your money, ideally somewhere with low taxation of savings interest and capital gains
- Playgrounds - where you spend your money, ideally somewhere with low consumption tax and VAT
- Wikipedia/perpetual_traveler
Globalization is making it more and more common for children to have as many as 2-3 passports. However you are most likely among the unfortunate who aren’t privy to such benefits, and as straight-forward as the above steps to “perpetual tourism” are, actually accomplishing them isn’t quite as easily done, and most of us don’t have the financial resources to buy a shortcut into this reality. Heck, most of us are lucky to have enough money to travel abroad during our yearly vacation.
Before a country grants you a passport and citizenship and call you one of their own, you’re obliged to meet the requirements. Marriage is always an option, however there are other, more creative, less legally binding, ways to skirt “the system”.
For example, you can became a citizen…
- of Ireland if you have an Irish grandparent.(1)(2)
- of France if you’ve lived and paid taxes for five consecutive years.(3)(4)
- of Brazil if you’ve lived and paid taxes for four consecutive years.(5)(6)
Most countries, in fact, require having both officialy lived and paid taxes for “X” amount of years before you qualify for citizenship. This means that finding employment, and/or opening a business, in your chosen country is an important first step.
With this in mind, c14ism reorders these flags to make them more achievable:
The c14ism 5 flag system:
1. Enter your target country
Obtaining a long-term visa (anything above a simple tourist visa) is the first step to our 5 flag process. This is generally accomplished by:
- Transferring offices from your current employer in your home country to offices in the target country - This is the ideal because the company handles all of the administrative paperwork and helps you obtain legal residence and setting up a bank account, etc.
- Obtaining work from a company in the target country - If you are qualified enough, or networked enough, to convince an employer to go through the trouble to hire you, a foreigner, over the 1,000s of other qualified candidates being in the employer’s front door, then congratulations.
- Becoming a student - If you can’t convince a company to come to you, then you’ll have to go to the company. A few semesters abroad as a student may allow you to hold a part-time job, but your employment is severely regulated, you’ll have to handle all of the administrative paperwork yourself, and convince an employer to hire you, a foreigner, over the 1,000s of other qualified candidates that already have right to work.
- Becoming an au-pair - This option as similar to becoming a student, however you’ll have a host family to house you and assist you with the administrative paperwork.
- Opening a business - If you have the financial resources, network, and know-how to set up a business, then this is the preferred option. However assuming you don’t, then this flag is best tackled after you’ve established flags 1,2, and 3, know more about the target ‘system’, and have found your approprate market niche. It is also advisable to have opened a business before applying for a passport and citizenship, as being a business owner in the target country, even if it isn’t very prosperous, only adds weight to your citizenship application.
Flag 1 will prove to be the most difficult to obtain. However once overcome, flag 2 generally occurs naturally and quickly.
To attack flag 1, learn How to obtain a foreign work visa.
2. Obtain legal residence & setting up a safe location for your assets
Obtaining a foreign work visa, or opening your own business, in a foreign country includes both setting up a legal residence and having a safe location for assets. Your employer (if you’ve found work) or your school (if you’ve enrolled at a university) will provide you with the paperwork you need to open a bank account and begin apartment hunting.
Goal now is to get on your feet and become self-supporting. Once you are self-supporting then, barring any problems such as changes in immigration procedures and market fluctuation, you can continue in this state indefinitely as you live and pay taxes for “X” amount of years when you will qualify for citizenship.
With flag 2 accomplished, now you can start saving and doing market researching for prospective business ideas.
Be careful though, as foreign immigration laws may change between when you entered the country and when you qualify for naturalization. Additionally, those laws may change even from year to year when you’re required to renew your work visa.
If you’re living in France, refer to
How to navigate the French immigration process and
How to renew an expired French work permit for more information.
3. Open a business
The only difference between a miserable job in your home country and a miserable job in your target country is that your boss complains about the same things, just in a different language. And if you want to get out of the indefinite state of making ends meet, then becoming an entrepreneur may be for you. In fact, the very fact that you’ve survived this far in the 5 flag process gives testimony to your propensity for taking risks, so why not?
Your goal being to obtain your second passport, then the time to open your business is before you apply for citizenship. No right-minded country would sabotage it’s future by requiring entrepreneurs to be citizens of that country, and owning a business justifies your reason for continuing to live in the target country and proves that you are contributing to the financial well-being of the country. No right-minded country would refuse citizenship to a person who has met all of the requirements of naturalization and also contributes to their well-being.
4. Obtain a second passport and citizenship
With flags 1-4 all lined up, your second passport is pretty much already in your back pocket. Now you can Be Jason Bourne.
Furthermore, many countries have reciprocal work exchange agreements with other countries, so by choosing your target country wisely, you’ll have even more countries at your disposal.
For example, having a European passport significantly reduces employment barriers to all other member EU countries. Having a British passport not only opens up the EU, but also Australia and Canada. The list goes on and is progressively getting more enticing.
5. Maintain a number of “playground countries”
So here you are, a far cry way from those free spirited perpetual tourists that you read about in the opening paragraph of this investigative report who are right now rummaging through their mom’s refrigerator.
Lesson to learn from this process:
Where there is no vision, you’ll either perish or end up on your mom’s couch.
To avoid mom’s couch, it’s better to sacrifice the short-term to benefit in the long-term.
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