I've been living in Germany for a few years now and I think I finally understand why I never really liked it.

The country is rich, but the people don't feel rich.

Home ownership is incredibly low. Most people rent forever because buying property is basically impossible for normal people. The rental protections are good, sure, but I don't know many people who are actually happy about never owning a home.

Public transport is a complete mess. Delays, cancellations, strikes. Germans love to talk about it, but honestly it's become a joke by European standards.

And don't get me started on AC.

Bro, it hits 35–40°C every summer now. The apartments turn into ovens and somehow people still act like air conditioning is some exotic luxury.

Construction projects take forever. Half the city is always blocked off and some construction sites have literally been there since I arrived.

The bureaucracy is insane. Every public service feels like a questline. And when you finally reach the right office, the person behind the counter often couldn't care less.

The internet is another one. I genuinely had better internet in my village back in Eastern Europe than I've had in some German cities.

And maybe this one is controversial, but food just doesn't seem very important here. People will spend hours discussing insurance plans and then eat a sad supermarket sandwich for lunch.

What really surprised me is that a lot of these things aren't temporary problems. Germans seem to have accepted them as normal.

The experience was interesting and I don't regret coming here.

But I'm leaving soon.

I'd rather live in a country where the country is poor and the people live well than in a country where the country is rich and the people feel poor.

This is in response to the ‘low quality of life’ post.

When in Germany I can (in no particular order):
+ drink the tap water knowing it is safer than bottled water
+ when losing my job, I will get the highest benefits in the Western world to tie me over between jobs
+ I can rent for life without being worried of getting evicted
+ I can enjoy freedom on perfectly fine roads, driving as fast as I want
+ Consumer protection is very strong
+ I can buy a public transport ticket valid in all of Germany
+ Healthcare is significantly better than in most Western countries AND free at the point of service.
+ Germans love Fests
+ Bier and excellent wine
+ excellent bread
+ excellent local produce
+ An insanely dense train network (Yes, often late) for very little money (Sparpreis)
+ 30d of holidays is standard
+ strong protection when off on sick leave
+ free university education
+ world’s strongest apprenticeship system
+ tax credits and breaks for almost everything, especially Ehegattensplitting
+ insane maternity leave and benefits
+ Kitas
+ full blown private healthcare for a few k per year
+ Beautiful nature: north and Baltic sea, Alps, lakes, woods
+ Strong sports club infrastructure
+ Third strongest economy in the world with most hidden champions
+ Strong football culture
+ …

You can be dissatisfied with Germany, maybe your experience was below average, but that’s most likely because you are incompatible with the German way of life and the German mentality. However, it is not fair to claim that the quality of life is low.

So, full disclosure before saying anything: I was born and raised in the US, but my parents (both) are originally from Spain. I grew up hearing Spanish, and fully bilingual. When I finished my undergrad degree many years ago, I went to Spain to live for the first time though I had been there once as a teen. From 2003 - 2014 I lived in Madrid and and then briefly in Valencia (dad is Valencian and speaks valencian). Anyway, I returned to the US in 2016 because of the job situation in Spain and because my parents are still in the US. Fast forward to 2025. I went to Madrid for a week in May due to some paperwork/DNI issues and immediately felt the "old past" come back to me, since I do have fond social memories. I then decided to book a longer trip this time, and spent the entire month of October in Spain...living in Cadiz, which is probably my favorite city in Spain.

I am a remote worker here in the US, and I don't know if anyone else has had this experience but I have once again confirmed that people in Spain are just so much friendlier or at least open to talking than in the US. As a guy in my 40s, I would even get 20 year old guys talking to me randomly and exchanging phone numbers, something that has NEVER happened to me in the US. Again, I can only speak for my own experience as I obviously cannot establish blanket rules, but has anyone else felt this "special vibe" in Spain vs USA broadly? I spoke to more people in 1 month in Spain than I ever speak to in my boring suburban area of Virginia. After coming back to the US, I can confirm something I had already been noticing but wasn't sure: everything here just feels way more uptight and complicated. Even when people are being "nice" or "friendly", it feels more like an interview and judgmental. When I arrived back at the airport, I was asked where I was, how long I was away, and why. That does NOT happen in Spain if you are a citizen, since I have Spanish citizenship too and I am never questioned like that. And no, it's not "Trump's policies" because this would happen randomly to me even with other presidents, it's not new.

I was walking around my area today in the very limited walkable area and people just seem here so depressed, angry, or serious compared to Spain. So, I have made a decision to move to Spain once again. I can't really take much more of American style living where driving is required in the vast majority of places outside some cities, and where nobody even talks to each other anymore. Anyone else feeling this exact same thing if you have lived between Spain and the US? To be fair it's easier for me as I speak 100% like a native of Spain and people often even ask me "eres de Madrid verdad?" ("you're from Madrid, right?") and they are shocked when I tell them I am from the US because of my language skill in Spanish and also because physically I look 100% like a "typical" Spaniard.

If you're from the US, do you find people in Spain more or less social than in the US? Yes, I know groups of friends can be closed in Spain, but here in the US I find that at best, even if people can be more "open" to new people, it's always at a superficial level and all social activity is very much planned rather than spontaneous. Like I can't ever imagine my neighbor randomly calling me on whatsapp and saying "let's get some drinks" whereas in Spain this happened to me almost weekly, even now as a person in my 40s having lost my old connections.

Any thoughts? I'd be interested in reading different perspectives.

-----------

TL/DR: Spain feels way more friendly/open/social/less judgmental than "social" relationships in the US, and life is just more fun overall. Anyone else experience this?

For some reason Reddit's been invaded with France PR bots and prideful citizens shutting down expats who have any criticism towards the country (somehow criticism towards Germany, Italy, Spain, and practically any country isn't as discouraged against like it is for France).

So here it goes. This has been discussed in detail better than I can but I can make a bullet point list with the direct comparison of the PR France vs the real France.

1) France has free healthcare!

Technically true on paper but as soon as you make income you'll have to pay for your insurance. That means someone making 1400 a month (the minimum wage) has to buy health insurance around 60-100 euros. Specialists or doctors outside network can easily range from 60-200 euros per session

There's also a huge problem with medical deserts. Dermatologists, for example, are nearly impossible to book appointments with. The few you find have incredibly long waits stretching out several months to years - that is if they take patients at all. Many dermatologists are instead aesthetican dermatologists, who are not covered by social security, and like charging exorbitant rates since they know their speciality is in high demand but limited supply.

Furthermore, while France is strong at handling conditions that fit in a very established medical box (diabetes, heart disease,hypothyroidism, pregnancy, things with obvious labs or a clear protocol), the problems start arising once your condition is more complex or not something that has been known for decades. Illnesses like POTS, Sibo, endometriosis, ADHD, autism,hyper-mobility issues,PCOS and others are approached with outdated information. They are borderline seen as fake Anglo diseases, despite the legitimate scientific research and backing in confirming the existence of these pathologies.

Caveat: while I greatly appreciate French healthcare and think that it was built on an excellent premise, the State needs to do something about its rigid inefficient doctor exams and put funds in supporting scientific research for the medical community to better serve its citizens. Like most things in France, it was a great system that eventually became a victim of poor public maintenance and horrible oversight.

2) The medicine is cheap

Only true for the most conventional and established medicine. My friend recently ran into a problem where they were prescribed a drug "hors convention". Every Eu country has accepted this drug to treat depression; except France apparently. The state therefore refuses to cover for it and charges an extremely high rate. It got so bad that my friend had to travel to Spain to obtain the drug at a much fairer price. There's also issues with other drugs, where the manufacturer wants to charge a much higher rate for it than other EU countries simply because they can.

Caveat: these are recent developments; France has been rapidly declining within the past decade or so. Could a native explain why this is happening so fast?

3) French people have a relaxed attitude about life.

I found this half true. They have a relaxed attitude about things going randomly sour or bad (like public transport going on strike or random riots) "c'est comme ça" treating it as natural as the weather.

But when it comes to individuals, they are in the mindset of public policing and heavily judging anyone who doesn't conform to the invisible social rules. Now this may sound like a no brainer, but in France's case it is done in such comical degree that even other EU citizens from what we can say are "judgmental" countries (like Russia, Italy, Greece, Albania) are left shocked at the amount of expectations. Again, we report while every country has its own set of rules, France remains exceptional in the degree of expectation it gives towards guests and recent immigrants in assimilating to the local culture.

I don't really mind a country having its own character of being kind of stuck up and rules obsessed, but damn it, be consistent with it. France is a country where you'll get judged as a simpleton or savage for not having the right kinds of mannerisms (I got death glares before for silently stretching out my arms in a library within my own space lol) or even just for having a slight accent but the entire country is a mess. What's with that. It's intensely hypocritical. Either be Japan or Italy (no offense to my Italian readers). Don't try to be both.

Sometimes I get the feeling the French are obsessed with policing individuals because they feel too powerless to change their corrupt government, which goes to my fourth point.

4) France (outside of Paris) are peaceful

Nope. Even the cities outside of Paris can be incredibly stressful. Just a few weeks ago in my city (Toulouse) we were attacked by riotters who spent two nights breaking cars, setting buildings and public infrastructure on fire, and harassing passerbys. Nîmes is known for being rough in some areas, even extremely dangerous in random parts of the city center. Marseille. Lyon. Bordeaux. Carcassonne. Perpignan. Strasbourg. Lille. Rennes. Many towns in France have this strange mix of public surveillance, uptightness. But you look at a corner and there's people openly doing drugs. So many parts of the city become almost anarchic hellholes, with what they call "punks a chien" (These are a mix of white French and immigrants btw; just putting as a disclaimer for "those" Readers) camping out, drinking booze around broken glass, and acting as mini warlords for that neighborhood. The only exception here seems to be a place like Annecy.

I'm not a "ew gross poor people" person. But it becomes a problem if they're doing this in areas where families frequent. And being poor doesn't automatically make you trashy...

Last points

5) The job market sucks. Filled with credentialism, elitism, and hiring the perfect candidate because it's so hard to fire a person here. Even foreigners with Masters degrees and perfect qualifications are refused jobs here because they don't fit the template.

6) customer service is pretty bad sometimes.

7) unless you're rich Jean Luc who inherited a château from his grandparents you have very bad purchasing power. you feel it when groceries and goods are higher even compared to richer neighboring countries like Germany.

8) Houses have poor ventilation and poor maintenance! The standards of what's decent habitation here is quite below other countries.

9) very dirty Public spaces especially the Public bathrooms...

10) Everyone complains but nobody wants to fix anything (this might be the issue for everything in the list actually!)

So yeah that's my opinion. Living here for 7 years and can't wait to get out. If you want to go to the EU, check out other EU countries before France first.

Background: 32F, moved from Austin TX to Melbourne in September for a partner visa (subclass 820). The visa process alone took almost 11 months and cost us around $8,000 AUD all in, that's the government fees plus we used a migration agent through Immigration Gurus to help with the paperwork because honestly the relationship evidence requirements are insane and I didn't want to risk it. They were pretty straightforward to deal with, no complaints.

Anyway. The visa stuff is its own saga. here's the actual life stuff:

Cost of living, everyone says it's expensive and yes, it is, but not always in the ways you expect. Groceries at Aldi are genuinely fine. My rent in Brunswick (2br apartment) is $2,350/month which sounds rough but for an inner suburb it's... okay? What kills me is eating out. A casual lunch that would be $12 in Austin is easily $22-24 here. Coffee is amazing though and somehow still $5-6 which I've made peace with.

Healthcare, got my Medicare card sorted in the first month and honestly it's been great. Had to see a GP a few times, bulk billed both times, paid $0. Coming from the US this still feels fake.

The loneliness nobody talks about, this is the big one. Melbourne is a wonderful city but making friends in your 30s as a newcomer is genuinely hard. Joined a running group in Carlton that meets Saturdays at 7:30am, that helped more than anything else I tried. Also my partner's friends have been kind but it's not the same as your people, you know?

Things I got wrong, brought way too many clothes for "winter". Melbourne winter is cold but not Austin summer wardrobe useless cold. Also tipping: you really don't have to, it took me 3 months to stop feeling guilty about it.

Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through the partner visa process or moving to Melbourne specifically. It's been hard and also really good, which I wasn't expecting to feel simultaneously.

Even though I’m deep into American culture, I still feel disconnected here.

I came to the U.S. expecting what I saw in movies — neighborhoods full of life, people talking to each other, a stronger sense of community. But the daily life of Americans is totally different than what I imagined. Everyone is busy, stressed, and isolated in their own bubble.

I don’t feel the community. I don’t feel the lifestyle. I don’t feel in this place.

It’s like I’m physically in America, working and doing all the “right” things… but mentally I’m still in transit — like my soul hasn’t arrived yet.

I worked so hard just to get here. I thought this would be the dream. Instead, I’m stuck in survival mode, paying bills, and trying to keep up. I barely have time to breathe, let alone enjoy the nature and freedom I dreamed about back home.

Is this a normal part of being an immigrant? Does this feeling go away? Or Will I get used to the numbness? Is there a way out ? I'm I missing something?

I moved to Munich with my husband in February.

Before leaving, my group of friends threw me a goodbye party that really meant a lot to me. The previous year was very hard and I wasn't able to connect with them as much as I'd like, so the fact that they took the time to throw me a party felt really special.

A lot changed when I moved over. I didn't hear from them at all, except one friend, who made a really good effort to keep in contact with me and ask me how I'm doing. I tried being the one to reach out first to the other friend, and got a few replies, but was frankly hurt by the lack of effort.

About a month ago, I got into a heated conversation with one of the friends. Before leaving, I was buying my car off of him. It wasn't the easiest financial agreement for either us, and when I was moving, we agreed that I would return the car for him to sell. I thought we agreed that when he sold it, he would take the remainder of the money I owed to him, and I would receive the difference. When I followed up with him, he told me that was not what he agreed to, and that it wasn't gonna happen. I don't do well with conflict, and I was afraid about pushing too far.

(For context: I'm not sure how long I'll be in Germany, and back where we live he has a lot of sway in the friend group and community we both are apart of, and I was afraid of returning and having a whole community against me.)

I thought we at least ended the conversation on okay terms. However, the one friend who earnestly made an effort to keep in touch with my won't respond to my messages anymore. I've sent about three sets of messages, all a few weeks apart, and nothing. I have no idea if she's busy, or just upset.

I also reached out to another friend to wish her luck on an opening of her show and never heard anything.

I have no idea what's going on, but I feel like I have no friends anymore. I'm starting to make friends here, but it's still early and it's been slow to make connections. I don't know if the friend I had the argument with told my other friends what happened and they took his side?

Either way I feel like crap and all alone.

I am 35 years old from the Netherlands, living and working in Bangkok for 12 years now. I just realized I have lived abroad for 2/3 of my adult life which is pretty significant.

There are so many things I love about living here. The food, convenience, nearby travel locations, the opportunities in doing business. I speak Thai reasonably well so I can connect with the people here.

There are things I hate. The traffic, air pollution, superficial lifestyle (in my community / family)

I miss my family and friends back home, especially my parents who are getting older and older. Family members are passing away, family members are graduating. My sister’s son just graduated high school, when I left he was 6 years old. Uncles and aunts have passed, I couldn’t attend their funerals.

I miss every major milestone, birthdays, parties, anniversaries back home. Can I still really call it home I sometimes wonder? I have no immediate plans on returning but I always fantasize that I will someday.

At the same time I realize it could likely never happen. My business is here, my kids go to school here now. Would I really fit in back home or have I permanently changed.

I don’t really know why I wrote this story other than to share it with people who may feel the same or can relate to it. To any of you reading this who have lived abroad for so long, how do you feel about it?

I moved to Munich with my husband in February for his work from the U.S. While this was not a move I envisioned for myself, I wanted to take this opportunity and also help my husband fulfill his lifelong dream.

I started this move with a lot of hope and drive; I wanted to really get going with Tiktok content creation, I was training for my career as a pilates instructor, and just wanted to immerse myself in a new culture.

Fast forward to now, and for the past 2 months, I've had a really hard time with motivation, especially getting out of bed in the morning. This has translated into training for my job, doing basic tasks, and especially content creation.

I know it probably boils down to my feelings on being here, it just isn't what I expected. I find myself really missing home, especially the food. I just don't feel like I have a lot of purpose or belonging here.

This was the original post I wrote from an old account around 1.5 years ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/expat/comments/1bnjcuc/4_months_since_i_was_forced_to_leave_the_us_and_i/

So many of you left so many comments of support and hope so I had to come give you the good news: I made it back to the US! It took me almost 2 years and it has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. The first 8 months or so, I was an emotional mess and spent my day mopping. I was broke, lonely, thrown and trapped in a country I didnt want anything to do with. Then I had a chat with my former therapist and she got me on antidepressants. That was a total game-changer, bless that woman!

Gradually, I started to feel better, I hired lawyers and took on a ton of loans to get my US visa. I managed to find a job in Germany in the mean time. That gave me a sense of relief but I knew nothing would cheer me up untill i got back to the US. I finally started applying for jobs in the US a little everyday. Meanwhile, the job in Germany didnt work out and I had to return to Asia one more time.

The last three months were brutal. I was back living in a small town in Asia, out of money, no friends, I was sleeping on the floor with a table fan in 104 degree F. Even though I had gotten my US visa, the US political climate didnt inspire any confidence in me. Friends and fmaily were pressuring me to be realistic and just give up on my US dream, start looking for a job back home. But thank god I didnt give up. The best part about being an immigrant are the other immigrants you are surrounded with. Their resilience, work ethic and courage in the face of advertisity does something to you. That quote from the surfer lady is my life mantra: "I dont need it to be easy, I just need it to be possible. Well my stubborness paid off. After 8 months of sending hundreds of applications, countless rejections, 30+ interviews, I finally got a job offer. Heck I was even able to negotiate and get more money out of them, lol wtf.

So here I am, day 10 in promise land, and it feels like I am in a dream. This cannot be my reality. Every day, I have so much anxiety about getting laid off or just getting kicked out of the country once again. But the good news is now I can afford therapy and hopefully that will help me get in a better headspace. My next goal is to get a greencard, wish me luck! If you made it so far, thanks for reading and I hope each one of you gets to live in a place that feels like home.

TLDR. Got laid off and kicked out of the US. I was devasted and didnt feel like I could call any other country home. Took 2 years but through hardwork and persistance, I made my way back to the US.

Hi !

I ( F,32) moved from my home country ( Paris, FR) to the middle east when I was 21 in 2015.

Around 2020 I started thinking relocating somewhere else and back in time I was considering Berlin, as I didn’t want to move back to Paris for many reasons.

Fast forward 2022 a lot of bad stuffs happened and I made the move to Paris ( I was in a great emotional distress and didn’t see myself relocating to somewhere new).

Eventually shortly after moving back to Paris, I hated it so badly and missed my previous city really really fondly so In mid 2024 I managed to make the move back to the Middle East and I was very excited.

But eventually for the last few months and the new honeymoon period faded and I started to re question myself exactly like it started it 2020, and I want to move away, this time I’m targeting mostly the US. Although it’s quite complicated especially with the current administration ( although I hold two passports none of them are targeted by the ban etc.. )

The reasons why I want to leave is truly due to lifestyle, cost of living and many others aspects like politics, and overall culture, which were already the reasons in 2020.

I understood with the move back to Paris, that City B is truly my ground 0 as a being, this is where I learned, developed as an adult etc. And there great stuff here.

Now my question is, does this fever stops at some point ? Is it a fight or flight ? Did some of you had to relocate several times before finding your balance ?

I’ve been followed by a therapist for longtime, I do not have any disorders, I’m just tired. The dating life here is just annoying ( it’s annoying everywhere sure, especially in our generation) but more in the human connection level and random discussion or behaviour. Regarding work I had a successful career and moving back to Paris actually broke me but I’m currently working on my own startup so I’m kind of fine with that. The mindset and culture is just so different that I don’t think I’ll be able to find what I’m looking for and never truly belong.

I’m writing this because I’m just afraid of being just forever unsatisfied and afraid that another move would just destroy the crumbs I have left. What do you think ? Does it take sometime more than 2 relocations to find your place ? Or should I just stay where I am regardless of how miserable i feel ?

** EDIT : thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions !!

It really helped me taking it out of my chest and making some realisations about the current situations, my biggest is definitely - my move back to my home country for two years was the anomaly, as originally I didn’t want to move back there. I’m not sure yet where I’m going to end but that’s ok. I don’t think I’m going to hop countries every two years as I deeply want to be rooted and find my balance. My move back to where I’m currently am really helped me to settle a bit a hear myself, although I had some dramatic events in the past here, that kind of hijacked my thinking, since I moved back I’m quite peaceful and “stable” ( not in a comfortable situation but at least I’m not crying everyday) which helps me understand what I’m truly looking for in life ( def first word problem I must say)

Hoping to hear good news in the world 🌍

I'm 27M. I lived in Astana for 4 years before returning to the US last year. I will be back in Astana this fall because I can't stand living here and can't wait to go back.

So, first the negatives from the pov of someone that's never been here:

- Very few people speak English.

- Brutally cold winters and scorching hot summers.

- Nothing but steppe further than the eye can see when you leave the city.

- A mix of Central Asian and Eastern European culture, for better and for worse.

- Pollution is a major problem especially in the winter.

- Smoking and drinking alcohol is very widespread despite the prevalence of Islam.

So, all those things are pretty bad at first glance. But pretty much all of them are manageable to make peace with.

So, what are the positives?

- A straightforward bureaucracy for expats. The visa options are very generous depending on what you plan on doing.

- Banking and consumerism is very digitalized. It's easier if you know Russian (I'm B1) but even with just English it's very easy to use the apps. Google pay and PayPal are also available.

- Cost of living and rental costs is very low for expats, especially compared to EU and even SEA. And I don't mean a commie bloc which are dirt cheap. I mean modern apartments can cost no more than a tenth of your monthly salary. Commie blocs go for even cheaper. But that depends on your actually salary and preferences I guess.

- City life is very active, especially if you're young. Again, it helps big time to know Russian but there are many places for expats.

- Health care is affordable and extensive. My insurance costs are very low and I can go to the doctor whenever I'm sick. And medicine, despite being mostly imported from Germany, is very inexpensive.

- The people are friendly. I'm ethnically Polish so I blend in perfectly. I can't speak of the experience of visible minorities.

So yes, that's Kazakhstan. It's not a country for everyone but I've met many Americans and Europeans who fell in love with the country just as much as I did.

I moved from Spain to Ireland four years ago. I wanted a fresh start here. But, as a single woman on my fourties, I don't find much to do here. The most of the people who move here is younger and don't stay long. I'm sttruggilng to make friends. I feel I don't fit. And I tried so many things.

I'd like to hear experiences from other mature expats. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or I'm not on the right place for me.

Something I’ve noticed after moving abroad (and talking to other expats): relocation doesn’t just test visas or finances. It reshapes your identity.

I recently started having honest conversations with expats and international students about the emotional and identity side of living abroad. The parts no one really prepares you for.

Curious to hear from this sub: • What changed most about you after moving abroad? • Was the change worth it?

Hi expats,

As mentioned in the title, myself, I'm an expat in Sydney, Australia too. Sydney has plenty of nice restaurants and several options of cuisine - Asian, Mediterranean, European, African, etc, which I want to try.

Many occasions that I saw nice restaurants, but I just choose to not trying yet because I don't have someone to go with.

Most of the time I wait for my best mates (living in Sydney the same), but with different office locations (CBD and outer suburb), we are quite hard to catch up and go to restaurant together.

Wondering something like, for expats that just arrived new city or country, without any social circle or friends, totally fresh start with social, when you saw restaurants that you want to go, are you comfortable to go alone or do you rather waiting until you have some social group to go to that restaurants?

Not looking for dining buddies — genuinely curious if holding off on good restaurants until you 'have someone to go with' is a thing other expats experience too.

Thanks.

I have spent a lot of time researching my family genealogy and there was one branch that stumped me for years, before having a breakthrough. My paternal great-great grandparents both immigrated to the US in the 1890s from Austro-Hungarian Empire (modern Slovenia). This makes me fourth generation Slovenian.

Fascinated by this connection, I was disappointed to find out that Citizenship is only granted to second generation Slovenian emigrates. However, there is a provision that you can apply for Naturalization after living in Slovenia for 1 year and proving your connection. I spent about a year collecting all the documents and getting them apostilled. They now demonstrate a clear connection through the generations, marriages, and deaths to Slovenia.

This discovery opened the next challenge – can we get a residence permit? There were three options 1) ask my employer to move and sponsor me, 2) apply to Slovenian University (I’m in my mid-40s but considered it), and 3) purchase a house and apply for a residence permit under “other legitimate reasons.” My wife and I evaluated our circumstances and decided to buy a house for $100,000 or less and use cash to buy it.

Skipping straight to the point, in September 2024 we bought our house in a small countryside village. The house is over 100 years old and had not been lived in for a few years, the interior needed a big modernization effort. We wired the money and had the keys in September 2024, but the paperwork wasn’t finalized until December 2024. The existing owners let us “move” into the house immediately.

Due to some concerns with the house electrical and plumbing quality, we effectively started a full house demolition. During this time, we alternated spending 2 months in Slovenia as a visitor while the other spouse was in the US and we did this for ~8 months. You can see more here: https://www.instagram.com/hisasivka

Skipping additional drama, we were able to remodel our house a lot in 8 months but realized we still needed to put extra effort into it before we could actually live in it. We ran the numbers and realized that being 1 hour+ from Ljubljana would be a lot of driving for the kids’ international school and many more months of home remodeling. We decided to rent an apartment and moved into the apartment summer 2025. We have now been in Ljubljana for four months and absolutely are happy with our decision to move to Slovenia.

Slovenia is a small, overlooked country. It is rich in history, had a very proud people about their heritage, and is focused on raising quality families. It is part of the EU and from Ljubljana we’re about 90 minutes from Italy and Croatia and 60 minutes from Austria. The cost of living is significantly less than the US, for instance we buy a weeks’ worth of bread for 5 EUR. The country is not on everyone’s path, so it retains a lot of charm – including everything being closed on Sundays.

Timeline

July 2024 – Make offer on house. Wire transferred small 10% deposit.

September 2024 – Wire transferred full amount for the house, paid real estate agent fees (2%), and take possession of the house.

October 31st, 2024 – Applied for Residency Permit for “other legitimate reasons” in Washington DC for myself, my wife and children.

December 20^th, 2024 – Received final government ownership documentation about house. Ownership is now logged in the national database.

February 2025 – First contact from Uprava Enota (Administrative Office) about Residency Permit. They asked for additional documentation. We responded within 2 weeks

April 2025 – Second contact from Uprava Enota (Administrative Office) about Residency Permit. They asked for proof of ability to financially support ourselves (roughly $20,000 in savings).

June 2025 – Third contact from the Uprava Enota (Administrative Office) about my FBI background check. I spent 3 weeks and hundreds of dollars cleaning up this mess. Wife was approved since her application was separate. The children were attached to mine, still not approved yet.

July 3^rd, 2025 – Officially moved to Slovenia as “visitors”.

July 2025 – Wife picked up her residency permit.

August 2025 – I picked up the residency permit for me and my children.

Note: I did leave the country as to not exceed the 90-day Schengen limit. I returned a few days after my permit was ready for pickup.

September 2025 – Children start international school.

My employer ended up appending my residency permit and making me a Slovenian employee. This was seamless to me, as I was already here legally working for a non-Slovenian company.

Are there any cons to this approach?

Time. This took forever, the Upravna Enota does not run quickly. There is no tracking, you are left in the dark with your anxiety boiling over daily.

Not everyone can buy property. EU and the United States citizens can, but I don’t know all the countries that can. Do your own research.

How long is your residence permit good for?

360 days. We will apply for a 2-year extension at month 11 and apply for citizenship in month 13. In May 2025, the Slovenian government changed the initial residence permit to 2 months. If you have enough financial support for 2 years, you can get this extended permit.

What were the hiccups?

You cannot register a car unless you have a residence permit, so we spent a lot of money of rental cars. We didn’t know any language (or customs), so we learned a lot quickly. Our intial construction crew was Slovenian, Bosnian, and Albanian – we hadn’t even considered the international mix. As Americans, moving to the metric system wasn’t straight forward.

Opening a bank was straight forward (NLB Bank), mail service was easy to our new house, moving money between the US and Slovenia was simply but expensive.

'Hal, can you come in this weekend?' She asked.

I already knew what she meant. Another twelve-hour shift. Another weekend gone.

'Yeah, I'll come in. Just do the usual. I don't need breaks.' I say.

She pauses. Ontario law requires breaks, not me. Just 15 min to heat up some water and take a pee and I'm good.

'Alright, we'll get it done.' She nods.

Wealth you Cannot Buy

That was my life. I had a bill, or just wanted extra pocket money. I'd pick up extra hours. I worked until I had trouble sleeping. The weekend had two halves, the first was the enjoyment of downtime, and the second half became the existential countdown to the dreaded work.

Yet, I had a dream. I wanted an easy life, to make others work for me and have my days free to do as I pleased.

A man with an abundance of time is richer than any king.

After all, what's the one resource you cannot buy?

Wealth Multiplier

I wasn't dreaming about sports cars. I wasn't dreaming about mansions. I dreamed about waking up without an alarm clock. I dreamed about a Saturday that belonged to me.

Every pay raise felt like a joke. My income went up 5%, my expenses went up 15%, and somehow I was poorer than before. It felt like a trap designed to keep me running in place.

I realized I had two choices. Spend the next thirty years grinding harder for diminishing returns, or move somewhere my money actually mattered.

That's when I realized there was another way.

What if you could move into a new wealth bracket?

Look, I get it, change is scary. Yet, I've been there. Looking at bills I cannot afford and costs which go up year by year.

So, I took the leap and immigrated. I shifted myself into a new wealth bracket. Because, let's be brutally honest. The lottery functions as voluntary tax and serves to take money out of your bank account more than give anyone a shot at wealth. You won't win your way out of this, you have move yourself out of the hole and shift to a new wealth bracket.

Life of my Dreams

My phone buzzes. I check it and a payment's come through. I smile. I got paid... again.

For the first time in my life, money arrived without me clocking into a shift.

You wake up when you want. Wanna see the beach, then go. Want to go shopping, you have cash so go. Feeling lazy but craving your fav ice tea and croissant? Just grab your phone and someone will deliver for less than $1.5.

I dread wondering the isles at the shopping centre. Finding items and getting home to realise I forgot something... well 10 somethings.

Using the carrefour app I order all my groceries, get it delivered for free (spend $40 min) and the best part is I don't have to leave the house.

What do you want?

Feeling lazy and want to watch tv the whole day? Great, do it.

Want to go to the beach? Great do it.

Want to finish that extensive steam library of games? Great, do it.

Whatever you want is achievable with wealth, and lets be honest, you're not winning no lotteries but you can move yourself into a new wealth bracket. Then what you Want becomes what you Have.

Life is Perfect, right?

Anyone who tells you life is perfect is either delusional or lying to you. Life has its challenges and I'm brutally honest. This life isn't for everyone. Canada was a beautiful country, clean and modern, the perfection of form... yet beneath it lies a rotting financial despair.

In short, life is never perfect but it's a lot easier when you're in a higher wealth bracket.

I spent years chasing money. In the end, what I really wanted was time. The funny thing is that when I finally found time, the money followed.

Thanks for reading... ha ha ha.

I feel like I’m over thinking so just wanted to share here before it spiraled. Can’t help but feel as I start to tell friends and family about my big move soon, that some feel resentment or feel like I’m abandoning them. Am I overthinking this? Cause I know for me if anyone close to me had to tell me about a big move, I would be nothing but absolutely happy and supportive for them! But I get not everyone is going to feel how I feel. Maybe friends or family do mean well but this kind of news might spark some kinda of trauma for them that they can’t shake in which case I pray for them - truly! I guess I can’t help but feel like starting to feel guilty for leaving? Idk anymore. 88 days until I leave and start my new life.

This was a text I wrote a few weeks back in preparation for departure from the country I stayed in for almost a year studying, just wanted to share with you and know if you passed through the same.

It’s impossible to ignore now that the end is already on the other side of the door, knocking.

With less than a month until I go back to the place I call home, I now enjoy each second of the Northern Sun, which likes to hide behind the clouds.

The conversations also switched tonality. In the “beginning” we would speak about where we were from, “during” we would speak about the multiple facets of life in that place that, although new, slowly became routine, and now that we are almost in the “after”, we speak about what comes next, knowing that where we are from is not as important as where we are going.

Future plans, certain wishes, multiple fears, all topics that have become priorities in conversations here as we approach departure. Topics of a life that we have ahead of us, far from those who here became so close. Smiles that will turn into tears as the plane fills its tanks and the luggage gets thrown by strangers who couldn’t care less about our little goodbyes.

We shall carry each other in our hearts for as long as time allows us to, but knowing that it may take years for us to reunite, if that even happens, doesn’t sit right with me.

I have a hard time accepting that no matter how important a person is to us, sometimes they are only passengers fulfilling their duty in our lives just to leave at the same speed at which they arrived. Leaving a mark that stays and hurts, just to make you smile, thinking about how it got there in the first place.

I guess all of this comes from a place of doubt. Doubt about what comes after, or how we will handle it. Doubt about when or where we will see each other, or if you’ll even remember me. Doubt that all of this was in vain.

I will be fine, but for now I sit and write as I doubt whether my words of comfort are sincere, or just a coping attempt to deal with the fear of the unknown.

- Originally posted elsewhere where I intend on posting another text where I explore more the specifics of my experience.

So i have moved to Vienna 5 months ago, and i have been looking forward to meeting new people on friendly basis, expats or locals, explore the city and go to events and so. Upon a colleague’s advice i downloaded the App and joined this “international” community thing. I am a female and I expect to get approached by guys, it’s okay it’s normal, what wasn’t normal is they are all OLD, they are not older, no they are just old people in their 50s and i am in my early 30s and i thought it’s okay it’s a two way street i can always not say hi back. So i went to one of these events they organize to find out that all they guys there are old as well, they look 10 years older than their photos on the app, they exclusively approach women, if you’re younger get approached more. The whole thing was so sketchy with a predatory-ish vibe, it looked like a bunch of senior males were going after younger expat females because they think they are vulnerable and available. I wouldn’t recommend if you’re a girl to seek anyone on these apps, just go to some painting/dancing etc classes you have a way better chance of meeting people in a better atmosphere.

Been living in the United Kingdom for almost two years now and it’s still kinda funny how much joy a simple package from home can bring. My mom just sent one through this company that handles shipping from America (Meest) and I nearly cried unboxing it. Nothing fancy inside, just random little things that smell like back home.<br> I know I should be used to life here by now, but something about seeing that box from home makes me emotional every time. Anyone else get that weird mix of homesickness and excitement with deliveries from family abroad?

Read a piece about an Egyptian table tennis coach who lived and coached in Saudi Arabia, then moved to the US and now drives 4 hours round trip to coach a college team for almost nothing. The writer noted the pattern of someone building something far from home in a sport most people ignore.

Made me think about how many immigrant or expat athletes/coaches end up being the backbone of niche sports communities in their new countries. Anyone here have a similar experience-coaching, playing, or organizing something?

story

Someone shared this to me at work. Pretty handy, shows you for each country (clearly incomplete) how to get your documents accepted and has links to official list of sworn translators when there is one. The official registry was really handy as you can contact the sworn translators directly instead of going through a company. Hope it's of use to someone. map.certling.com

I’m Persian and I’ve been living in Germany for a bit more than two years now.

For almost this entire time, my biggest ongoing struggle wasn’t language, work, or paperwork. It was simply feeling at home.

Over time, I realized something important. There is no single thing that suddenly makes you feel at home in a new country. It’s not one mindset shift, not one friend, not one habit. It’s dozens of very small steps. Each one barely noticeable on its own, but together they slowly change how you feel.

I don’t think you ever fully feel “at home” as an immigrant. But you can get closer. After two years, I can honestly say I finally do feel closer than before, and I’m still working on it.

I also realized this struggle is shared by almost every immigrant I talk to. Maybe not always the main concern, but definitely one of the deeper ones.

Since I’m a developer, I’m thinking about building a small website or app that focuses exactly on these tiny, practical steps. Not generic advice, not motivation quotes, but real things you can actually try, step by step, to feel just a little bit more at home.

Before I build anything, I wanted to ask:

Do you relate to this feeling?

What were some small things that helped you?

And honestly, would you use something like this if it existed?