Expatsi

09/03/2026

Italy will tax you 7% instead of 43%. In exchange they get to decide which towns you're allowed to live in.

It's called Article 24-ter and there are three things worth knowing.

1. It covers everything you earn outside Italy, not just your pension. Rental income, dividends, capital gains, all at the same 7%, for ten years.
2. On 55,000 euros a year, Italy's normal brackets take about 15,850 euros before the regional and town add-ons. Under 24-ter it's about 3,850.
3. You have to live in a town of under 30,000 people in one of eight southern regions. Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia. That limit was 20,000 until April, and raising it added 74 new towns.

You also can't have been an Italian tax resident for the five years before you apply.

One more country doing this, coming to the channel. Free test in bio.

09/02/2026

Greece charges its own residents up to 44%. Move there from the US with a pension and they charge you 7%.

The program is called Article 5B and there are three things worth knowing.

1. It covers everything, not just the pension. Rental income, dividends, capital gains, all taxed at the same 7%.
2. On 55,000 euros a year, Greece's normal brackets take about 14,750 euros. Under Article 5B it's about 3,850.
3. They ask for no investment, no property purchase and no deposit in a Greek bank. You just can't have been a Greek tax resident in five of the last six years, which for most Americans is already true.

Fifteen years, and you can apply for another fifteen when it runs out. Applications close March 31 each year.

Two more countries doing this, both coming to the channel. Free test in bio.

09/01/2026

Four countries are actively recruiting Americans right now. They're just really bad at advertising it.

They're all short on people and they all want residents who already have money coming in every month, which describes an American with a pension almost exactly.

First one is Cyprus, and there are two pieces to it.

1. The pension piece. Cyprus lets you tax your foreign pension one of two ways and you pick a new one every year.

Either a flat 5% with the first 5,000 euros free, or their normal brackets, which don't charge you anything on the first 22,000 euros and then climb from 20% up to 35%.

On a 55,000 euro pension the brackets cost you about 8,400 euros and the flat rate costs you about 2,500. On a 20,000 euro pension the brackets cost you nothing at all. So you run both and take the cheaper one.
2. The investment piece. Cyprus charges residents a separate tax on money you didn't work for, meaning dividends and interest. People who moved there from somewhere else are exempt from it for 17 years. So your dividends and your interest land in Cyprus untouched.

Three more countries doing this, all coming to the channel this week.

The free test in bio tells you which one you'd actually qualify for.

08/28/2026

For the first time ever, we get to spend time with the people we've helped move abroad! Plus there's lots and lots of work to do while we're in Portugal. What do you think of my packing list? What would you add or leave behind?

08/26/2026

Six years ago the United States scored .91 on the Academic Freedom Index, which is a measure of how free universities and academics are from political and institutional interference. Today that score is .40. That's well below the world average. University autonomy has fallen by 50% in a decade.

The decline started around 2020 with state governments interfering more in universities. Then it accelerated dramatically in 2025 (side eyes) because of government interference in what universities can teach, what they can research, how they hire, how they are governed, and attempts to use federal funding and accreditation to force compliance with political demands (exhausted side eyes).

Researchers compared the US trajectory to countries that have experienced major democratic backsliding. Hungary. India. Turkey. And found that the American decline happened faster than all of them, but unfortunately I don't think this is a competition we want to win?!?!

To put this in perspective let's look at other countries scores:

Ireland: .93. Czech Republic: .98. Uruguay: .91. Chile: .92. Germany: .88. South Korea: .85. Canada: .85. Australia: .86. Portugal: .83.

If you are a professor, a researcher, a scientist, or a parent who has started having opinions about where your kids are going to college — the question is worth asking.

Take the quiz at expatsi.com to find out which country might be right for you.

08/25/2026

This was written by one of our own. Michelle took a scouting trip to Mérida and Oaxaca, met Amy Jones on the ground in Mexico, and ended up finding something she was not expecting to find.

That is what has always made Expatsi different from a relocation service. It is not the database of visa paths or the list of partner experts or even the scouting trips themselves — though all of that matters. Expatsi was founded by a Gen X lady who was looking for a place she could call home, and started yapping about her process on the internet, and much to her surprise she collected a following of people who could relate.

That human experience and testimony is what has always made Expatsi different.

The partners around the world who show up like Amy did. The clients who arrive looking for a country and leave with something harder to name. The community of followers who are still figuring out where they are going but know they are not figuring it out alone.

We did not build a company. We accidentally built a village. And this is what it looks like from the inside.

Read Michelle's full article at the link below.

With brain surgery behind me and the borders reopening, I was sure the detour was over. Pursuing my life goal led to pneumonia, unemployment, and Mexico. Oh, and the worst birthday gift ever.

08/24/2026

To be perfectly honest, my first step was finding a partner who pulled with me instead of against me. Intuitive eating was another one — giving up diet culture that kept me distracted from my dreams and learning to listen to my body instead. Another was getting a financial planner and listening to their advice. One was taking some risks and trusting I could solve challenges along the way. In between all the BIG steps were thousands of tiny, barely perceptible decisions that accumulated into my new life.

I teach a free webinar every Sunday about how to get this life for yourself. Visit expatsi.com/events to join me

08/19/2026

Eight weeks since the facelift and Jen wanted to show you where things stand, scars and all, because that is kind of the whole point of documenting this.

The best part of all of this is she didn't have to plan a medical tourism trip. She didn't have to fly somewhere and come back with a new face and a story about navigating a foreign hospital alone. She lives in Mérida, her surgeon is local, and the whole thing cost under $8,000. When you move abroad the healthcare isn't something you have to seek out or travel for. It's just there, the way it is for everyone else who lives there.

Figure out which country is best for you by taking the expatsi test at expatsi.com

08/18/2026

Calling everyone in the Washington DC area! We're bringing Expatsi to you! Join us this Friday at 60 Vines in Reston Virginia. Gama & Ikiah will be there from our team along with some of our partners to help you kick off your second act in a happy new place. Here's to community and a new life abroad!

08/18/2026

Here's the thing about making friends when you move abroad.

You are all doing something genuinely hard at the same time. You do not have the luxury of small talk and surface level socializing because you are all a little bit out of your depth and you can't hide it.

Jen and Stephanie have both made some of the closest friends of her life since moving to Mexico and you can hear more about her experiences navigating all of this on this week's episode which is going live tomorrow!!

Find Americans Abroad on your favorite streaming platform and send your questions to [email protected]