The Hollywood actor is a prominent donor to the Democratic Party in the United States. In recent years, that has regularly led to criticism from President Trump, who has called him a “second-rate movie star,” among other things. According to Clooney, it didn’t bother him much. “It’s not my job to keep the President of the United States happy.”
His children would have a good life anywhere. The joys of being incredibly famous and wealthy.
And they still let him in after that Louvre heist?!
Ocean’s 14 is about to be authentic as fuck
But he still keeps his US citizenship? Or did he give it up?
US accepts dual citizenship so I doubt he gave it up.
He could have saved a bit of taxes.
Depending on the intricacies of tax treaties you probably won’t pay much US tax after moving to a high taxation country. Relinquishing US citizenship when you are wealthy means paying the capital gains exit tax on your worldwide assets though so if you can afford good accountants, keeping both is probably easier
Yeah: you are correct. My french wife is also a US citizen and he works in hospitality (nor she or I are loaded). Her tax is high enough here that it annuls any taxes she should pay to the IRS.
Tax is not on the bingo card. What is on the bingo card is that France never never extradited it’s own citizens. And if you are sought after by another country’s justice system, no matter how heinous your supposed crimes (like being an influencial democrat supporter in the current US ), you will be 100% safe on french soil if you are french.
Must be nice to have “Buy Myself French Citizenship” kind of money.
You only need savings of about 1.5x the SMIC (minimum wage) - currently 1801.80€ monthly for 12 months and you can get a year visa. If you have enough the following year, you can renew. Do that four times and you can ask for a more or less permanent multi-year residency if you speak french by that time. So as you can see, you could probably sell a house in the US for a decent profit and invest time enough to gain French residency without needing George Clooney money.
In the process of moving to Fr myself (diginomad). As I understand it you don’t even need 1.5x SMIC in savings just prove you earn 1.5x monthly x12. I could be wrong, still trying to work the plans out if you have any resources you can recommend would love to learn more!
The other big aspect to getting your temp long stay (1yr) visa, if you’re not being sponsored by a company, is to prove your income is solely from non-EU companies. Since I’m WFH American business, I basically just need to pay rent+insurance.
Yes, there seems to be some confusion in the french interpretation of non lucrative visa categories. The benefit of this is that some remote work may be tacitly allowed. The complexity comes really from French taxation and social charges. Nobody can really say whether you will be chased for 9% of your income, 17% of your income, or 47%.
The problem is nobody can actually give you a clear and definitive answer, so if you do things like stay past six months, get a permanent apartment, get rid of your home elsewhere, there is a risk you could be asked to pay even several years later. It makes for a complicated situation, and for this reason I think another country with a clearly specified digital nomad program and tax regime is a much safer bet.
I can get more detailed outside of a public forum.
Probably cheaper than a “Trump Card”
He could do it for under $500K. He probably started the talent investor visa process during the 45 administration, as they take about 4 years to get approved.
Super easy for him to spin up some production company that makes 2 art movies a year, hire 3 French people he knows on 5-year contracts, and he’s basically at the minimum requirements. If he’s bought and invested more than a certain amount in a home as well, that also counts towards citizenship.
He could do it for under $500K.
Oh, is that all? Let me check my couch for loose change.
If he’s bought and invested more than a certain amount in a home as well, that also counts towards citizenship.
I’m sure he has a home in the South of France. Probably walking distance from the Cannes movie festival
Thanks to all those dead bodies at the beach.
Hey, France, return the favor?
Hey, France, return the favor?
They’ll maybe get to it as soon as you all finish your “freedom fries”
Someone is gonna have to save us because too many MAGA still.
Nobody is coming to save you, America will fizzle out and die then its remains will become improvrished and ruled by a reactionary dictator. The entire world willl celebrate when americans are too poor and starving to cause any more harm.
It’s not others’ jobs to fix your own country. Here we’re all baffled at your lack of responsiveness in face of the situation. Especially when you were so vocal about your guns and freedom and so on.
Where are the constant protests? The strikes? Why is nothing in fire yet? The guy removed the barely functioning thing that passed for social security in your country and you did nothing? He made all the prices jump by at least 20% in a few months and still nothing? He let a billionaire install his 18 years old “hackers” with goofy names steal all your data and fire half the public workers, no? He refuses to help your allies and threatens to invade them? He created his own private militia and arrests people on sight because they’re brown to send them in death camps? And you watch on the sides?
Nobody’s coming to save you because it’s not our job, it’s yours.
Being rich must be so nice.
Poor be fucked is the American way.
So he can meddle in French politics instead?
Stupid much?
Wtf is wrong with these comments. Is lemmy full of hate bots now aswell?
Trump has won twice, and you still blame “bots”.
It’s people. Just people.
God i know but i want them to be bots.
Huh, I thought they lived in Italy.
Doesn’t really matter. A French citizenship will let him live in Italy, too!
So glad to hear that his unimaginably privileged kids will be better off in France. I think they would probably do pretty damn well just about anywhere. Hell, I’d move to France too if I could do so in a financially sustainable way (spoiler, I don’t think I could).
Do you think getting a job in France and living like French people do not to be a financially viable option?
Considering most Americans couldn’t even afford to buy a one-way ticket to France with cash-on-hand, the costs and logistics of actually moving to another country are a moot point. Not to mention the additional costs of securing residency and eventually citizenship.
Most Americans can’t even bear the thought of moving a couple states away for fear of losing all of their social safety nets in existing friends/family.
I guess it’s different if you’re a childless, perpetually single loner tho.
People living in places considerably poorer than the US do travel to other countries, they do secure residency and get jobs. While I have met several people in America complaining about the hardships of life, which I do reckon definitely exist in the US, I have also seen them not recognising the great amount of riches they had. I did move several times and I lived in different continents.
While being able to afford a plane ticket is a much better way to move somewhere, it is not something necessary. I went to work in China as a factory worker and asking nicely to the company over there they agreed to pay my ticket.
Indeed, travelling with no children is definitely easier.
My point here is not much about the fact that everyone should move all the time or that you should do so to enjoy your life; the point is that if you want to go to France just go there and don’t complain about the financial viability of the thing.
I think you’re conflating the wealth of the nation and the wealth of individuals. Saying that if you really want to go to France it’s possible, you just need to sell or abandon your belongings, walk away from your debt, abandon your family and travel by steerage on a cargo ship to get to France and live illegally because you don’t qualify for any type of long term residency and you also can no longer return home because you’ll be homeless and left to die in the street is… Unrealistic.
A very significant number of Americans simply do not have the resources to fail at something like that.I think you’re making it much more difficult than it actually is. I just checked prices for a flight new York - Paris and it is less than 200€. That amount of money should be easy to source for pretty much anybody. Make it 1000 and you have 2 months of breathing time without having to immediately get a job. In Europe you can stay for 6 months without a permit; that gives you 6 months overall to find a legal job, which should not be too difficult. That way you get back to paying your debt and you can send your stuff in boxes from America to France. I met plenty Americans in Europe, they were not rich people. Although I’ll give you that most people who leave America did have some kind of problem in there and decided to leave. I met a bunch of people from other countries where mostly people want to see different places, and so they do that.
simply do not have the resources to fail
This applies if someone else depends on your income. Indeed, if you have children leaving the place where you are in such a way is a bit risky. Would be better to first get a job and then move. If you don’t have children or a family member that depends on you, I don’t see how losing one year of income could noticeably ruin your life. You’re always in time to go back and get back to your previous life, if you didn’t enjoy the new place.
Most of the country is not New York, and transportation is more expensive. Basing travel costs off of the cost at a major transit hub isn’t representative.
France requires you to file your visa applications before travel. If you show up on a travel visa and then apply for long term residency they’ll reject it because you didn’t follow the rules.
A residency visa requires €1400 a month in income, so good luck getting residency with €1000 cash. Particularly when a significant portion of Americans don’t have that to begin with.No one said you had to be rich to leave America and move to France, just that it’s not available to most Americans.
I don’t see how losing one year of income could noticeably ruin your life
Says the person who is obviously not American.
https://www.norc.org/research/library/most-working-americans-would-face-economic-hardship-if-they-miss.html Remember that we don’t have a social safety system here like most countries do. Being unemployed means you don’t get medical treatment , and even if you’re employed the costs can be devastating in their own right. You can end up homeless, where housing assistance can have a wait list of more than a year, if it even exists. Same for food assistance. The only medical care you’re entitled to is that the ER must do the minimum necessary to stabilize a life threatening condition.
That’s what’s looming over Americans when we weigh taking financial risks. Loosing a month of income can create an unrecoverable financial burden.That’s what I mean when I say most Americans can’t afford to fail at something like that. They may be able to afford to do it, and it might work out, but if it doesn’t the consequences are crippling.
How often do you see an elderly person in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank doing menial labor at a supermarket or hardware store?
I do see your points, and I do reckon you have strong reasons supporting what you say. Please, understand that what I consider movin is indeed always a difficult and extenuating endeavour. It can be very moving and accomplishing, but that does not take away the difficulties. Please, read my messages above as a way to interpret the initiation of such an experience, rather than precise steps to take. See it more of a way to look at life. It may not be the way you like to live yours.
Regarding the points you raised, these are very valid, and all of them very good reasons to be afraid of moving. Very valid reasons to believe what I said is either uninformed or what would decide to do somebody who is desperate.
However, I do know many US citizens living in Europe. While I do have some survivorship bias, what I have said is not something impossible, and actually something quite realizable. Some corners are often cut in such occasions, I do reckon that.
Basing travel costs off of the cost at a major transit hub isn’t representative.
I’m sure people are able to work things out.
If you show up on a travel visa and then apply for long term residency they’ll reject it because you didn’t follow the rules.
While this is true on paper, I really have not seen this being applied. I know some people who stayed illegally several years and then got a job and regularised themselves.
A residency visa requires €1400 a month in income, so good luck getting residency with €1000 cash. Particularly when a significant portion of Americans don’t have that to begin with.
Are Americans in such terrible conditions? That is a salary that I’d now consider a starting salary in Western European countries. Pretty much any full time job will get you that much.
Do people in the US with full time jobs earn less than that? Or is it difficult for many people to find a full time job?
just that it’s not available to most Americans.
I understand this as over half Americans make less than 1400€ a month. I assume you were exaggerating a bit.
Thanks for the linked article, a bit aged but very interesting.
One-third (31 percent) of households report that they would need to skip the purchase of essentials if they missed two paychecks.
Indeed very worrisome to live in a place where people can not get essential goods. I’m not sure how those are defined, but I imagine we’re talking about food.
Being unemployed means you don’t get medical treatment
Indeed, that is a huge limit.
How often do you see an elderly person in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank doing menial labor at a supermarket or hardware store?
Never seen, most homeless people around where I live are homeless because they do not work. Most of them is people who lost their job after the 2008 crisis and either got hooked on drugs or decided to stop working. I know many of them, they do not live a hard life according to their own interpretation. They either go to a cheap canteen dedicated for that, or either way people is very happy to gift food. Some of them beg for money, but that is mostly to get alcohol, crack or heroin.
Besides, I know many people doing odd jobs and working a couple days a week. Working this way allows them to safely rent a house, to have food and extra money for diversion as well as saving up for times in which there may be no available jobs. Most of them can probably go on one year without working with the minimal savings they have.
I’m a regular guy who saved up for years while studying another language and gtfo of the US. It’s an option.
congrats man. welcome 2 the club.
I did that too and I got tired of it and came back and now it looks like the country’s fucked. Thanks a lot guys
If you did it once, you can do it again. Nowhere is perfect, though. If I had it to do over, I’d probably pick one of the Nordics instead of Japan.
Anyone would have a better life in France instead of the US but good for him. Glad to see there’s still some backbone in Hollywood.
How is earning another nation’s citizenship having a backbone?
Oh no, not that. I mean speaking up compared to other actors who gladly bend the knee.
They’re rich. His children will be fine wherever they are.
Says something when even rich people are better off elsewhere.
being rich doesn’t protect you from fascism
I’m hearing this in a Ulysses Everett McGill voice from “O Brother, Where Art Thou” “What we are experiencing here today is a Re-verse migration in progress. In other words, Adios, vaya con Dios.”
Wish I had the money to escape the United States too
How much does it take?
More than just a plane ticket. You need a marketable skill that is easily transferred, rent, food, utilities, new transportation, new licensing, and coverage for enough months until you can get the job. Also, the immigration fees. Basically, immigration is for the rich who can use money as a cushion or for the impoverished who have nothing to lose by assuming the risk.
More than just a plane ticket. You need a marketable skill that is easily transferred, rent, food, utilities, new transportation, new licensing, and coverage for enough months until you can get the job. Also, the immigration fees.
You’ll need a marketable skill, rent, food, and transportation if you stay, too. I’m not sure what you mean by licensing. Immigration fees is something that I haven’t looked into before, but it appears to be something like 800€ in here Denmark.
As for language, if you pick the Netherlands, Scandinavia or larger German cities, then English will be OK.
I’m not saying that I think it’s a walk in the park, nor that’ll be free, but it may be easier, and less expensive, than people think. Start by going on an extended vacation to the countries that you’re interested in. Maybe talk with potential employers. Then make plans afterwards.
You’ll need a marketable skill . . . if you stay, too.
Fair, but some skills are inherent to your placement within the home country, and transferring that skill to another country would actually add to the expense. A great example of this would be an American lawyer relocating to France. They go through law school and learn the American/English common-law system, then they relocate to France, which bases all its laws in a statutory context. So, not only would they handicapped by this new legal mantra, they’d have to then go to school again and pay to pass the bar again. So, there’s another cost.
To be fair it is expensive if you want into Europe or something, but to leave for example to some East-Asian country, the cost of living out there is so much lower compared to US you could probably sell everything you own, buy the flight ticket there, and still have enough to live off for a while. That’s obviously not sustainable in the long run unless you can figure out a source of income, but just leaving itself isn’t that expensive. It’s the where you’re going and how to keep staying away
Maybe you’ll need to learn and get proficient in a new language too
Go to a big city in the Netherlands or the Nordics if learning a new language is too hard. People there are fluent in English. And in many companies there who hire expats they speak English on the work floor.
Sure, you can work in English, but ‘live’ in English? Not so much.
As a local in a city that gets its quota of English-speaking expats, I kinda hate the guys who pretend we locals to switch to their language just because. I have no problem speaking English to visitors (aka tourists), but permanent-ish residents should make an effort to speak our language. Unless they plan to keep themselves in an isolated island of expats.
