this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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it is still very easy to get a passport. I helped a friend get theirs last month, and more over the years.
don't listen to any of the ignorant comments saying it's difficult to get one; they don't know what they're talking about.
you can do it online or in person at a US Post office.
fill out the application form, takes maybe 20 minutes tops, pay the fee (165$), they take your picture, you will get your passport in the mail in a couple of weeks, it lasts for 10 years, renewable on the go from embassies and consulates.
If you have any questions about passports or traveling, fire away.
A passport costs 165 dollaroos? Damn. And I thought the 70 Euro we have to pay was excessive.
yea, but $16 a year for an instant 50-90% reduced cost of living with guaranteed high-pay employment and no income tax while retaining access to consular services is a pretty good deal.
not as good as 7 bucks a year, but I'm not exactly going to quibble over the extra ten in the face of all the benefits.
Damn it! Who let the bot out?!?!
I said it's for internal testing only.
are you confused by the numbers or the words?
both are concise and to the point, in case someone like you happened upon them.
Man the main problem is that most people understand that traveling abroad with a passport is no guarantee of getting a job abroad.
Even if you travel and you have a remote job, there is no guarantee that your cost of living is gonna go down. Countries change.
Also there is the pesky fact that to be able to work as a vacation stay while being inside another country, you usually need a visa.
Try Panama for example. You can work remotely in there, all good. But you will have to pay for everything in cash because you can't use the ATMs up to certain limits of withdrawals.
Try western union? Good, a chunk of your money is just gone, and that's if they don't catch you transferring money to yourself. They are not a Bank.
Try crypto? That's good too, comes with the expected baggage of taking security on yourself, not the bank. And certainly not "easy" true the standard person who never traveled
Even credit cards have limited use as you need to leave a travel warning to the card. Maybe you renew it, maybe not, but after a time suspicious activity starts to pile up from outside your billing country
Pay rent? In cash. Sure there are landlords that will accommodate for that (for a higher price and good luck complaining about anything. To who?) but most will be subject to taxes on the property and to get discounts on those they need to make a digital invoice for you.
Rent is not cheap in there. Food is cheap but it is getting near international prices since a few years ago
And forget about all the luxuries you have in the usa while living in there.
Someone assaults you or you get robbed or into an incident, car crash, your personals stolen? Forget the cops.
Health? All paid. Not cheap and certainly not easily accessible.
Also insurance. If you are identified as an illegal working abroad, policies you got while in the usa may not cover for that.
Transportation is the easiest one but going everywhere with a cabify or Uber is expensive. Rent a car? Sure, also expensive. Buy a cheap car? Sure. You need legal means on the country to do that. Driving license? Hope you legalized and apostilled that too.
You could become a citizen. But if you have 40k ISD to 750k USD to spare, why the hassle? Stay at the USA.
And that's from the top of my head for one country.
And that's without talking about how you're presence there will make everything expensive for the locals over time
So you not only fucking up your life, but others as well
Truly American collectivism in action
tldr your anxieties here are ridiculous and for the large part simply unfactual and unsupported by any evidence, although I take the time to correct them below.
"most people understand that traveling abroad with a passport is no guarantee of getting a job abroad"
this is specifically because they don't have the experience or knowledge that comes with traveling abroad.
"Even if you travel and you have a remote job, there is no guarantee that your cost of living is gonna go down. "
this is flatly incorrect, maybe the most ignorant comment so far. this is as incorrect as claiming that one plus one equals four.
if you move from a country with a high cost of living to a country with a lower cost of living, your cost of living will go down, full stop, there is no maybe about it.
that is simple fact, and to claim otherwise is absurd and makes absolutely zero sense.
"Countries change."
broadly and over time, but you aren't going to land in a country that costs 50% less and then suddenly find out 3 months later that everything costs as much as the US.
that does not hapoen, but even if we play to make believe and it did, you can move the next day to another of the 100+ countries with a lower cost of living.
"the pesky fact that to be able to work as a vacation stay while being inside another country, you usually need a visa."
this is also incorrect and clearly stems from your ignorance of travel.
if you ask questions instead of making assumptions, I won't have to correct every single one of these false statements.
three important points here:
if you are a digital nomad, many countries waive taxes and a work visa for digital income. you can go through the Visa process if you want to, but you do not need to.
a work visa for teaching English abroad as a native English speaker is about the easiest visa to get.
visas are not some kind of crapshoot or gamble. if you apply for a Visa and you fit the requirements, you get the visa. the process only becomes more surefire for industry-critical jobs, like English teaching in a world that relies on English.
"You can work remotely in there, all good."
correct.
"But you will have to pay for everything in cash"
incorrect, you can use a card with no transaction fees, or online payments.
"...because you can't use the ATMs up to certain limits of withdrawals."
every bank in refrigerator country has daily withdrawal limits, is that what you're afraid of?
because the daily limit in Panama for withdrawals is $500 per day. that's plenty of money for daily activities.
you don't even need more than $500 a day in the US.
"Try western union? Good, a chunk of your money is just gone, and that's if they don't catch you transferring money to yourself."
there is no reason to throw away your money.
if you want to throw away your money personally, feel free, or give it to someone in need.
you choosing to throw away money out of ignorance or fear doesn't mean that the cost of living is more expensive, it means that you are personally choosing to throw away money.
"Try crypto?"
again, zero reason to do this.
"Even credit cards have limited use as you need to leave a travel warning to the card. "
first, this is not true.
secondly, if you want to leave a travel warning, it is a one minute phone call.
you call the company you want to, tell them I will be traveling for the next 6 months, they say okay and add the notification to your account.
if you forget to do that and your card gets frozen while abroad (which is not common), you call up the bank tell them you are traveling, confirm your identity and they unfreeze your card.
"Maybe you renew it, maybe not"
this would be the exact same thing if you were still living in the US. do you use expired credit and debit cards in the us?
of course not, that would be idiotic.
"after a time suspicious activity starts to pile up from outside your billing country"
this is simply untrue, the longer you travel the more normal it becomes that you are using your card abroad.
and again with a one minute phone call, you can let the company know you were traveling, this is a non-issue.
"Pay rent? In cash."
flatly incorrect again.
you can use pretty much any form of payment to pay online for rent in every country.
"Rent is not cheap in there"
again, that is the whole point of moving to a place with a cheap cost of living.
you seem not to understand basic math.
if you move to a place that costs more, or a house that costs more than where you are living now, you are going to end up paying more, and have a higher cost of living.
my suggestion is that people who are paying a lot move to places that cost less for the same quality, that will result in a lower cost of living.
you want to pay more, I want people to pay less.
"Food is cheap but it is getting near international prices since a few years ago"
this is not true, even though you've chosen the richest country in Central America.
you can take a bus from that country to any other country and everything will instantly be cheaper.
you are very confused about how economies work.
"forget about all the luxuries you have in the usa while living in there. "
incorrect, especially in Panama you can enjoy every single luxury at a lower price than you enjoy in the US.
not to mention the cost of living is so low, you're enjoying zero cost of utilities, an incredibly low cost of insurance, low cost of healthcare, low cost of all foods, low cost of rent, and every luxury you want is available but costs less.
this is why I encourage people to move away from the US. except for you, you are so afraid of basic facts that maybe you should give yourself some time.
"Transportation is the easiest one..."
you're clearly talking about how afraid us transportation makes you and how expensive it is, that is the most expensive and useless transportation in the world.
transportation everywhere else in the world is very commonplace, easy to use and cheap in comparison to the US.
none of what you have said so far is remotely accurate, while my information is easily verifiable by online apps, charts and articles.
"You could become a citizen"
you could become a skydiver.
"But if you have 40k ISD to 750k USD to spare, why the hassle? Stay at the USA."
because if you have 750k USD to spare (and have no unforeseen expenses), you can live for several years in the US inside a system that does not support you, OR you can live abroad well for the rest of your life.
if you stay in the usa, you have no health Care. if you travel abroad, you have quality, instant, affordable healthcare.
if you stay in the us, your utilities alone cost more than twice your rent if you live abroad.
if you stay in the us, you aren't guaranteed a job as a native English speaker. abroad, you are guaranteed that job.
there are many reasons to not stay in the US.
you are completely off the mark following your fears and anxieties.
Lol no 🤣
Know