International Living Community

I offer one to one consultations for people looking to secure ancestral citizenship in Europe so if you'd like to reach out, you can find the sign up link on our IL website. Look for Global Citizen. Regarding Poland, there is technically no limit on how far back you can go to find an ancestor who qualifies you for residency. The problem is that Poland only came into existence as a modern nation in 1920. That means that your ancestor must either have been alive and Living in Poland when the Polish Republic was declared, or they must have lived on territory that subsequently became the Polish Republic before 1920. For example, many ethnic polls left what was then the Russian Empire or the Austro Hungarian Empire prior to 1920, but qualify as Polish ancestors. Not all countries do that. If and when you have your Polish citizenship recognized come up your wife would be eligible for a family reunification visa. This is required by European Union law. However, the only way to qualify for it would be to move to a European country as an EU citizen and then apply for her visa once you are settled. She won't be able to get the visa if she's still living abroad.

Although Costa Rica is getting more and more expensive, I have met plenty of people living on a fixed income over the past few years. The postcards section at IL shares the experiences of others who have made the move and is a great way to check out success stories. https://internationalliving.com/category/daily-postcard/ I suggest spending a month and staying in each of the places to really get a feel for them and check out the vibe for yourself. I recently visited Atenas and Grecia in the Central Valley and you might want to check them out if being close to health is necessary. I will be talking about them at the San Jose Conference in July 2024. Are you planning on joining us online or in person? The best healthcare is in the Central Valley, so keep that in mind. The best equipped hostpitals and most specialists are there. Often times, a specialist will visit a clinic in Guanacaste once a month. So it isn't as conveninet. An important factor to consider is the weather. What temperatures do you prefer? It rains everywhere, yet some places have more rain than others. The beaches Hot and humid, and I love them! Guanacaste is the driest part of Costa Rica. The Central Pacific receives more rain. Lake Arenal Cooler (temperature) than the beach. Nuevo Arenal gets about 50% more rain than Tronadora, located just across the lake. Tronadora is much windier. La Fortuna and the surrounding towns like Chachagua are drier and warmer. Many people find staying in an Airbnb a good way to check out a community, more so than a hotel. I talked with Nick when in Nuevo Arenal and he rent out an Airbnb. https://internationalliving.com/from-deaths-door-to-thriving-in-lake-arenal-costa-rica/ (https://www.airbnb.ie/rooms/40036748?source_impression_id=p3_1719933875_P3ic3CyJiPWB-oYF) The Central Valley Cooler temperatures - especially from the variety of elevations available. I met three people living in the Atenas/Grecia area on my last editorial trip in April 2024. Karen lives on $2000 a month, Mike on under $1400 a month (he spends six months here as he is Canadian), and Lynda spends about $1500 a month. This shows that living in Costa Rica can be affordable, hopefully giving you peace of mind about your financial situation. I suggest posting in Facebook groups to ask questions and get more on-the-ground information. I post in the groups in the areas I will visit to connect with people for my editorial trips and find specific places to visit. Most of the time, people are very helpful. I am not sure which areas you are most interested in, but you can start by checking out these groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/209258083597577 https://www.facebook.com/groups/128010388878472 https://www.facebook.com/groups/579515763190243 https://www.facebook.com/groups/178568066214136 https://www.facebook.com/groups/450171628439598 I suggest searching Facebook for the town/city you want to visit to see what results appear. Facebook is widely used down here for community sharing and support. Let me know if you have any additional questions about Costa Rica. Bekah Bottone, IL's Costa Rica Correspondent

@83DONV-0 Hi there, I'd like to help you find this article--can you give me any more information about it? Do you know roughly when this article was published, or when you might have read it?

The thing that's important to bear in mind is that the cost of paying for care out of pocket in Panama or any other of the countries listed here may well be as low as a co-pay in the US. Many expats in Panama find that paying out of pocket for healthcare in Panama, with no insurance to help them cover costs, is still far cheaper than living in and paying for insurance in the States. Many US expat retirees living in Panama do keep some form of Medicare so they can return to the US if they need anything major insofar as healthcare is concerned, to avoid long-term major costs and to be near family, etc. Best, IL Panama Editor Jess Ramesch

Could not make the live presentation. There are no clickable links in this email to any presentation! Where is it in the Members account - under subscriptions?

We are also going in May/June 2025 - fly into Lisbon, but then Coimbra, Braga, and Viesu. Anyone have tips about car rental from Lisbon airport?

@RAINE1949 Hi Raine, Sorry you've had trouble accessing the Global Retirement Index. It looks like our community site is having some trouble displaying images right now, but I'll do what I can to help you. Try using this link—it should take you directly to the Global Retirement Index. https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/annual_global_retirement_index_2025/4237086/

https://www.expattaxthailand.com/

My name is David Hammond, I have been living in Uruguay for several years. You can find medical and psych services here, but they will all be in Spanish.

Hi, I would suggest you decide where you want to live by doing some research first. www.internations.org is a large expat organization that charges a small fee, is very active and is in many cities. Then you can just Google "Expats in Florence and follow up on your leads. I would suggest you decide where want to lve as most larger cities, will have an expat community and the flavor of the city from one to another is generally very different. For instance, Rome, Florence, Naples and Milan have very differnce characters. The food is different the cost of living is different and the activities are different. Maybe a discovery tour would help but doing your research beforehand can save you alot of time. If you were to Google Expats in Florence, you have a wide range of answers. Good luck on your search. Chip Stites, IL Italy Correspondent.

Hi John & Sheri, We have literally just returned from Penang ( & Langkawi) as part of a 6 week Asia trip. We basically wanted to ascertain if there was any place in Thailand or Malaysia that would woo us away, for part of the year, from a very nice (but expensive) life in Australia. Alas we did not find anywhere that suited. We gave it a good crack, staying 4-6 days in airbnb's in each town/city experiencing/engaging in both expat and local areas.

search online for "seloger toulon appartement" to get an idea of sales and rentals and some of the agencies that post listings. you can also download the seloger app. note it's all in french.

I just saw this post here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/810076836099323/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=2123235051450155 --Franky Franky Hello Community We have to leave Costa Rica end of may. Now we‘re looking for someone for our dog because we can‘t take her with us. She is a 4,5years old German Shepherd Mix, a really good guard (without barking all the time),shy and well behaved. Most of the time she is ok with other dogs/cats and she knows kids. Maybe we find a person who will give her a home for about 3 weeks end of may/june? I said I just heard of someone interested... you should go comment there if interested.