Whether you plan on moving to Canada, the US, the UK,
Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, becoming an immigrant investor
means spending a lot of money and overcoming an seemingly ongoing array of
bureaucratic hurdles. Before you put yourself through that, you should really
be sure that the prize at the end is worth the immense sacrifice.
There are a few things you should consider doing before you “take
the plunge” into your immigrant investor application. Below I’ve listed some of
the steps that I think are the most important.
- Talk to an immigration lawyer. If you haven’t spoken with a lawyer
yet, you don’t yet know what your full range of immigration options may
be. It may be the case that you can accomplish your goals quicker and with
less financial cost than you would otherwise have thought possible.
Typically, investor immigration strategies should be thought of as a last
resort because of the significant price tags and extreme competitiveness
of those programs. In some cases, you may qualify for permanent residence
through family sponsorship. In other cases, you may qualify for permanent
residence through an economic immigration program such as a skilled worker
program.
- Visit the country you’re planning on moving to. If you’ve
never even visited the country you’re considering moving to, how do you
know you’ll enjoy living there? There’s really no way of knowing what life
in the country will be like until you experience the place for yourself.
Will you be able to stand the weather? Will you be able to communicate
effectively with the people there? Will you have sufficient opportunities
to work or do business there? Will the people of the country be tolerant
of your beliefs or lifestyle? Is the place fun and entertaining? How does
your spouse feel about the place? How do your children feel about the
place? Will you enjoy the food? To get an accurate sense of what the
country is like, you’ll want to travel there on a least a few different
occasions and at different times during the year. You’ll probably want to
explore several cities to find the place that will be the best fit.
- Try to learn at least a bit of the language. For many
immigrants, language barriers are the biggest obstacles to feeling truly
at home in their new country. While it may be difficult to acquire perfect
fluency in the new language, adequate functional fluency is typically
achievable with practice. Even if you are fully retired and don’t need to
work or run a business, you never know when you’ll have to speak to a
doctor, a banker, a taxi driver, or a police officer.
- Have others do some of the exploring for you. If you have
children, you may consider sending them ahead of you to attend school in
the country you’re considering. Many immigrant investor families send
their children over first to attend a semester or two of school or to
pursue a post-secondary degree. If your children like the place, there’s a
greater chance that you’ll also like the place. If your children truly
hate the place, it might not be the best option for relocating your entire
family.
- Talk to a tax lawyer. The tax rules in the other country may
be beneficial or detrimental to you in the long run. Knowing the rules in
advance will help you decide whether relocating to the other country is
financially worth your while.
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