Best Ex-Pat area for full time residency
We are considering moving out of the US to experience another part of the world. We have thought of Mexico, Costa Rico, Belize, Panama each one has plusses and minuses. When reading the blogs it seems...
Forum Discussion
To a certain extent it depends upon how you feel about living in a country without very much freedom. For example: Thailand is a military dictatorship where foreigners can be imprisoned for critiquing the king. The Philippines is run by a murderous vigilante.
It also matters how you feel about living on an ex-pat island in a sea of locals or living in a society with extreme income inequality where everyone is just scraping by except for the elite who run everything.
For some folks, as long as they are the ones on top this is irrelevant and I suppose that as long as you never leave the safety and security of the bubble it does not matter. Like a trip to Dubai: just ignore the near-slaves building the malls and high rises and don't worry about the religious police since they often do not target foreigners. But IMHO, sooner or later the real world intrudes and makes it impossible to ignore what it is really like in your new home for the ordinary citizens.
It also matters how you feel about living on an ex-pat island in a sea of locals or living in a society with extreme income inequality where everyone is just scraping by except for the elite who run everything.
For some folks, as long as they are the ones on top this is irrelevant and I suppose that as long as you never leave the safety and security of the bubble it does not matter. Like a trip to Dubai: just ignore the near-slaves building the malls and high rises and don't worry about the religious police since they often do not target foreigners. But IMHO, sooner or later the real world intrudes and makes it impossible to ignore what it is really like in your new home for the ordinary citizens.
