Hi, I’ve been traveling for about 15 years and a lot of US Americans are justifiably upset to be living in their country right now.
If you have a remote job that pays over $500 USD a month, there are dozens of other countries you can be living in. If you make closer to $1000 USD a month remotely, the world is wide open.
If you don’t have a remote job yet, teaching English on or offline pays at least $1600 a month for 25 hours of work a week.
You can use the extra time and money to figure out how to get closer to your dream job, dream country or chill out and watch movies or play video games.
You can also access health care, education or other basic civil amenities that may be unaffordable or inaccessible in the US, if those are a concern.
Plane tickets Sep. 2025 from the US:
Canada: $16 Colombia: $46 Panama $96 Ireland, Germany, Norway, Italy: $147-149 Japan: $209 Thailand: $221 Vietnam: $267 Taiwan; $272
Stay out of the US 11 out of 12 months(calendar year, not tax year) and you don’t pay federal income tax that year.
Let me know if you have any questions.
If you think you can live in Canada for $500us a month you are going to have a bad time.
Canada definitely adheres to the second sentence of the post.
Most countries for 500, closer to 1000 for the remainder.
Although about $1000 including housing, utilities, Wi-Fi, food, finally having healthcare and other civil amenities for the same price or cheaper than just housing in the US is a pretty good deal.
It’s not the first country I’d recommend, but if you are dead set on Canada, there are certainly worse situations.
Even in smaller Urban areas in Canada, a two bedroom apartment is going for $1500 to $2,500 per month. Add $200 for utilities and $500 for food. Then transportation, clothing, medication and you are up to about $2,000 for one person to cover the basics.
Those are Canadian dollars, so take off a third to change it to American.
Looks like there are a few good places around Canada with utilities and amenities included.
Rooms for $411-700 USD:
66 Private houses/apartments for $276(whaaat)-$750 USD:
Yup, in the middle of nowhere or in French speaking places. Also, be prepared to spend 8 months under snow, 4 of them so deep you basically can’t go anywhere.
These houses and apartments are in Canada, yes, but Edmonton and Calgary are some of the largest cities in the country.
Canada itself is sparsely populated, but their major population centers are not the “middle of nowhere”.
As for your weather concerns, Canada is not going to be a tropical getaway, but for the many people here asking about Canada for whatever reason, there is available and affordable housing in the frozen north.
I’m one of them now, I didn’t realize there were so many cheap apartments available across the country.
Thanks to everyone who suggested looking into Canada.
Calgary and Edmonton used to be cheaper but the person you are replying to is correct. Cost of living in those two cities is sky rocketing. Source: living in Alberta right now. Even places like grande prairie waaaaay up north are expensive. Maybe you could afford renting a place on some desolate badland prairie town sure, but you will be literally hundreds of kilometers from anything of note.
I am aware of the terrible unaffordable housing situation and inequity in Canada, and I’m supplying those Airbnb prices and screenshots to show that even in countries suffering from housing crises, since many people seem interested in Canada in this thread, a traveler can live for under a thousand dollars USD per month.
Those urban apartments priced between 500 to 800 USD above, and these in edmonton I’ve added below, include utilities, Wi-Fi, and some have a washer, dryer, full kitchen, other amenities, and are available currently.
There’s no doubt that the housing situation in Canada is dire, but the overall situation doesn’t negate the currently available Canadian apartments at affordable prices on Airbnb.
If for whatever reason someone is dedicated to living in Canada over the other ~196 countries, they can do so using booking apps for under a thousand USD a month.
If you save up $150k, then you can more or less sustain a lifestyle of $500/month from a relatively stable 4% rate of return investment.
You got that right, that’s exactly what I recommend.
Teach English in a low cost of living country(or several), save your paychecks for a few years, stop working unless you want to.
Thailand even has a 10 year duration retirement visa where you qualify for it by being over 50 and having ~$100k deposited in a Thai bank, or ~$50k in the bank with ~$40k yearly income https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/content/80939-non-%E2%80%93-immigrant-visa-%E2%80%9Co-x%E2%80%9D-(long-stay-10-years)?page=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e5&menu=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e6
Love the dream, hence my username. But listen to the sceptical Sunday episode of the Jordan harbinger show about digital nomadism. Especially about the industry selling the dream, which makes me very suspicious of OP.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, I upvoted your comment, but I’m kind of relieved that you’re suspicious of me if you trust Harbinger, a millionaire pickup artist life coach.
Living abroad or being a nomad is not a dream.
Buses are not dreams, neither are trains and neither are airplanes.
It’s a simple matter of getting a passport, buying a ticket and then living in a different country with a low cost-of-living. if you don’t already have a remote job, a job teaching English is guaranteed for fluent English speakers.
Traveling abroad makes financial sense by the publicly available numbers and information.
I mean. Visas tho?
Basically a non-issue for most countries.
Americans, for example, can travel to 180 countries visa-free or visa on arrival.
Most other countries have a similar deal.
If you are going to a country you need a visa for, the visa office usually provides an online form to fill out.
You fill out where you want to travel to, the date you arrive, pay the fee and then the visa office of that country emails you the visa in a couple days.
The last Visa I had to get was for india. it took me less than 5 minutes to fill out online, and 24 hours later I had a 5-year multiple entry visa for 6 months each entry.
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“…if you don’t apply for a visa you’re still governed by one…”
No, that is incorrect.
A visa is a discrete permit that is required for citizens of some countries to enter other countries.
If you do not require a visa for a country, then you are not required to follow the non-existent limits of that non-existent visa.
Regardless of visa policy, travelers are often subject to visitation limits depending on the country they visit, which is a completely separate policy than the specific immigration permit known as a visa.
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That’s like saying the difference between needing a driver’s license and not needing a driver’s license is semantics.
On one hand, you require a legal permit.
On the other hand, you don’t require a legal permit.
Those are entirely opposite, discrete policies and situations, especially regarding travel.
Yeah the episode is more about the guest who is a life long insider in the industry. Not specifically suspicious if you don’t offer paid advice as all the other shills.
I see where you’re coming from.
Be careful with Harbinger then, his whole career is based on being paid to give advice.
https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/422896/Jordan-Harbinger
Super slick youtube presentation though, and I like long-form conversations as an interview medium.
Good to know, good advice. Thanks
Sure thing, have a good one
Something clicked in my head last week and I realized my remote job pays well enough for me and my partner both to live comfortably nearly anywhere in the world. Digital Nomad Visas are often cheap, have few requirements, and are becoming very commonplace for countries to offer.
The biggest problem for me is it would mean abandoning the mutual aid projects I’ve been working with and leaving the communities I’ve become more a part of over recent years.
Nice, congrats.
You’re right, digital nomad visas are easy to get after the minimum income requirement if you’re going to live permanently in a single country.
There are also tons of countries you can travel to for three to six months without any visas.
What kind of mutual aid projects? There is no end to volunteer projects to enrich local communities abroad.
Building housing, a couple hours at a school, music lessons.
Stay out of the US 11 out of 12 months(calendar year, not tax year) and you don’t pay federal income tax that year.
Sorry? Can you provide a source please. This is contrary to the tax advice I’ve been given.
You get a foreign tax credit for local taxes you pay and can deduct that from your federal tax burden, but that isn’t the same as your statement
Sure, this is the official IRS explanation of the FEIE:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-earned-income-exclusion
This is the official language of the physical presence test I’m referring to in your quote.
“You meet the physical presence test if you are physically present in a foreign country or countries 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months including some part of the year at issue. The 330 qualifying days do not have to be consecutive.”
Plainly, it doesn’t matter if you were absent from the United States between January 1st and December 31st to qualify, it only matters that you were not present in the United States for 330 of 365 consecutive days that include the current tax year.
You could have been in the US until april, and then outside the US from May until the following april, and that’s fine to claim the FEIE and exclude a variable amount of your earned income tax as determined each year by the IRS (currently at $126,500 annually).
By tax year you were only out of the country for 270 days, but out of 365 calendar days, you were out of the country for 335 days from May to April, and that’s what counts for the physical presence test.
You’re right that this is very different than a foreign tax credit or double tax exclusion based on foreign taxes paid; form 2555, the FEIE, is a completely separate IRS process excluding foreign earned income tax based solely on your physical presence outside of the US.
And it’s cool! Ha, I’ve been using it ever since I left the states.
So long terms capital gains isn’t excluded right?
And there is a 130k/yr cap on feie
So if someone builds up their nest egg they will still owe federal income tax on it if it’s capital gains or over 130k/yr
Thank you for citing the source! I really appreciate that
You’re welcome!
Right, the FEIE specifically excludes earned income, not unearned income, where capital or investment gains would be grouped under.
The exemption was 126,500 last year, but it’s a variable rate as determined by the IRS each year, going up a thousand or so annually.
There are more strategies that are worth remarking on
- Setup a loan-out corporation for your work in your market of choice (such as the us)
- Setup a friendly-holding corporation to own or license ip to the loan-out where you live, or in a friendly tax location (i.e. vietnam)
This lets you convert pay per hour work into long term capital gains, or dividends, maximize 401k, do the mega-back-door, and get payouts in a Non-Convertible-Currency (such as VND)… your imagination is the limit.
Sorry, I’m not following. Is this exempting income earned in a foreign country, or American income while you are elsewhere? My job is remote and I could easily do it from anywhere but I’m paid in the U.S.
It doesn’t matter where you are paid, only where you physically are.
So - yes. According to the irs, if your job is remote, even if you are paid in the US to a US bank by a US company, as long as you are physically outside of the United States for 330 days out of 365 days, you do not pay federal income taxes on your first earned $126,500 (probably a slightly higher number next year as the rate is adjusted annually).
Thank you, that’s very interesting.
Sure thing! I saved a lot faster using that tip than I otherwise would have.
What’s the departure airport that gets you those prices?
Various airports.
If you aren’t near a particular departure airport, add on $30(common)-$100(rare) to transfer to that airport.
For example, in September 2025, the dates those prices above are from, a flight from New York to Georgia is $19, $22 to Florida, $27 to Texas, $31 to ohio, and $55 to LA.
Are these prices missing a zero?
Haha, no. I get similar questions every time I share flight prices with Americans, though.
I think the relative geographic isolation of the US lends itself to viewing travel as less attainable than it is.
Please post the actual website you’re getting those prices from…
These prices are from skyscanner.com
As someone who lives in Malaysia full time - make the jump, you will always wonder what took you so long.
Haha, yup! that is almost word for word what I tell people.
Malaysia is very nice, congrats.
I just wanted to drop in and say a quick thank you. My wife and I have been talking about going full nomad for years, but this post made it seem possible to actually pull the trigger. We’re set to head off to Portugal in January, and possibly Morocco after that. We’re both extremely excited. Thanks for the kick in the pants!
tldr: congratulations!
Thank you for reaching out, that’s so great to hear! I saw your message walking home and got an instant spring in my step!
I am buzzing with congratulations for your family.
I lived in Morocco for 3 months, loved it, but I do have to mention Fez as it’s the only place in all my travels I had consistent difficult experiences. I was followed for 10 hours, they have an “honor cutting” thing(cafe owner with cuts on his face explained it), I was called antisemitic slurs(not jewish), very high, labyrinthine alleys, and I literally stopped a mugging(or worse, it was some tourist girl being accosted) outside my Airbnb.
I like Morocco: Marrakesh, fun touristy, Essaouira is an awesome relaxed beach town, I drove around the Sahara for five days with a friend without a hitch, Chefchaouen is an amazing little mountain town with rivers and all blue buildings, so much great stuff in Morocco, and all of those places feel safe, but I feel obligated to post a warning about Fez in particular and exclusive from other Moroccan cities.
That one spot, though, is the only cautionary tale I have from 15 years of travel over 30 countries, literally everywhere else has been a great, safe adventure.
Funny thing about Morocco, and you’ll hear this from everyone who has been there: It has the best orange juice in the world. I heard that from like 10 people, and then I got there, and got orange juice from a street stall and now I agree. Just a cool morocco detail.
Feel free to post about Portugal or your decision if you like sometime, maybe after you feel settled, no obligation at all.
I’m so excited you’re taking this step and I’m so happy the encouragement helped!
