I wanna move to Europe with my kids?

Question

I wanna move to Europe with my kids. Wat is the best country to live and buy in ??
i have 10k USD to put down on a place I want land for my kids to have a horse.
Also must be close to great shopping!

Answer 1

There's 46 countries in Europe. With 10,00 USD you can only look at the poorest most backward countries, Albania, or Bulgaria, or Kosovo maybe. Not a place I would recommend, and not much shopping possibilities there but...



10k is not even a down deposit on a house with land in western European countries (and not much more in the most developed Eastern European countries). In France for example a house you don't have to renovate with some land in a cheap far away place starts at 100,000 Euros (140,000 USD).



To buy a horse that won't keel over dead the first time a dog barks you would have to fork out between 3000 to 6000 Euros (4,000 to 8,000 USD).



That's not counting with how you intend to live.

Answer 2

Forget it with only $10,000.

I live in eastern Europe and even there that won't take you far unless you wish to buy a run down old farm out in the middle of nowhere that is in a distressed area with no work around.

Even then, you would really have to hunt to find a cheap place like that.

They don't give loans out to unemployed people that are new to the country either.

As far as great shopping goes, forget that too, everything half way nice costs at least twice as much as in the US from cosmetics to shoes.

I am an American and have lived in both parts of the world, can't compair them, so different.

Anyways, after 90 days you would all have to leave unless you had visas to stay longer and what could keep you in Europe if you aren't working or a student?

Take your money and have a nice vacation in Europe.

Your kids would also have a hard time unless they spoke another language. The American school here in Budapest is over $15,000 dollars a year per kid and high school is over $22,000 a year. If you sent them to a regular school in a new country without language skills, they would have a hard time with the other kids and be held back several grades or worst.

Answer 3

It's sooo relative! What do you mean "best country?" If you want American comfort, forget Europe, especially Western Europe. It will be expensive.

Unless you can find a job as an expat with a foreign company and live like a king. Then you won't need to buy a flat, since the company will take care of flat, school, periodic trips home...



I'm living in Hungary, so I can give you tips about what I'd do:



Hungary is the perfect place if you like horse-riding. There is a long tradition of horsemanship, and there are many beautiful places to do it. Also, Hungary is relatively cheap as far as real-estate goes, especially once you get outside the big cities.



It is possible to buy a run-down farm house for about 10k dollars in small villages in the northeastern mountains. You could work on fixing them up yourself, or hire locals (good workmanship at rock bottom rates, since the local economy is in a downturn) whenever you have money. With the new highways, you could probably zip down to the new Bosch factory for work, the Mercedez-Benz plant about to be finished, or perhaps even in the capital, (if you don't mind spending more than an hour driving, and spending alot of money on gas) but due to Visa restrictions, and since you are unlikely to become fluent in Hungarian in a few months, you are more likely to find a job teaching English at a language school in a bigger local town, where they are in big need for native English speakers. You will be paid ridiculously low wages by American standards, but if you keep your spending low, you can get by. In dealing with locals, just remember to politely accept only the first offer for "pálinka", the local brandy...

Answer 4

Your first concern is getting the appropriate visa for the country you decide upon. Most countries in Europe belong to the European Union. Any citizen from any E.U. country may live and work in any other E.U. country without a visa...putting outsiders like Americans at the end of a very long line. You may visit in most countries for up to 90 days, but not work. You must first find an employer to hire you and sponsor your work visa. This requires you to be highly educated and skilled in a much needed line of work. Unemployment in Europe is very high, taxes are higher than in the U.S., and cost of living is higher. If you decide on a country, you will need to go to the website of their embassy in the U.S. and research work visa info , and/or consult the nearest consulate.

Answer 5

$10,000 won't take you very far - the cost of living here is somewhat higher than many places in the US. You need to be concerned about how you would support yourself here and whether you could even get a visa to live and work here. I have friends here in Italy who own a horse, but they keep their horse at a communal stable with several other horses - a place with land is pretty expensive.



There are a couple of good starting points for this. The websites of the consulates of countries you're interested in usually will have information about the requirements. Expat websites will have information about planning a move, making the move and how to deal with daily life after the move. You can find lot of different ones by doing a simple search for "expat" and the name of the country you're interested in.



Generally, this is not an easy thing to do; you cannot just show up, move in and look for a job. It depends on where you're from, where you want to move and under what conditions you would want to move there. Generally, if you are not European, you would need a visa first & then a residence permit after you arrive for any of the countries here, for example. For Italy, see: http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/10…



The site for visas here in Italy is: http://www.esteri.it/visti/index_eng.asp . The site has links to the application, the additional information you need to supply in order to get the visa and where to apply (the consulate). How easy this might be depends on the type of visa you want: education visas are somewhat easier to get than work visas. You need to be accepted for the entrance exam at an Italian university before you apply or be signed up for another qualified education purpose. There are also elective residence visas which are not so difficult to get. You would need to prove you have adequate resources to live here without working and have a place to live. A work visa is much more difficult especially in the current economic situation.



You cannot apply for the visa from Italy; you need to do that before you arrive. When you get here, you will have to apply for a Permesso di Soggiorno (residence permit) from the authorities. This will have to be renewed annually. For a long term residence permit, you now need to pass an Italian language test. http://www.interno.it/mininterno/export/…



If you want a work visa, the work permit is separate - you cannot apply for that yourself. The company has to apply and they have to be able to demonstrate that there is not a viable EU candidate for the job. As a result, jobs for foreigners including Canadian or US citizens are pretty much restricted to people with special education, knowledge, or experience ... and you would have to be able to speak the local language. Right now, the best bet would probably be something in the healthcare field. When I moved here, it was through a transfer of the job I was already doing in the US to the Italian office. Even so, it took 8 months to put all the paperwork in place to apply for a work visa.



It's useful to check the expat sites for information about living and working here including the mechanics of registering your residence with the anagrafe in your commune, geting a driver's license, getting the residence permit, healthcare, etc:



http://www.expatsinitaly.com/



There is one other possibility that you could consider if you are Canadian. There is a working holiday visa intended for stays of more than 90 days. Information for this visa type is also on the website.



The process is roughly the same for other countries although specific details may vary. A good starting point for Spain is the consulate website: http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/Lo… . In particular, you would need a visa that allows you to live and work in Spain - there's a link to the information on this page: http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/Lo… . Note that you will need to have your documentation translated into Spanish and you need a Medical Certificate & Certification of “absence of police records” which must come from the FBI.



As noted above, you can check the consulate websites for various countries for the specific variations for each country.

Answer 6

Haha, oh the naivity ...



I recommend you search 'moving to Europe from USA' on Yahoo Answers.



And try not to be too disappointed. Time you people realised you can't have everything.