Relocate
Hello, World.
So you are curious to see what’s happening here. Beneath the layers of ancient bedrock and earthen strata, through veins of molten lava and into our magnetic core.
Welcome.
Here you will find the heart of Relocate. An ever-evolving, diverse group of individuals: From bohemian nomads to pure-bred academics. Star-gazing dreamers to earth-grazing laborers. Seafaring journalists to sure-footed rockstars.
And we’re on a shared mission. One that extends well beyond our core. Belongs to no individual. And cannot be constrained by prescribed borders. This is what moves us. This is what brings us together. Our world spins along this axis: To Ease the Burdens of Migration.
And magnetic it is….
Relocate - Who we are and what we do
Symbolic mission statements like WeWork’s “We elevate the world’s consciousness” are on the rise. To a certain extent Relocate has a short mission statement as well, although a bit more hands on: To ease the burdens of migration. At Relocate we do believe in freedom, most and foremost: The freedom to move. The freedom to relocate. The freedom to experience life beyond your home borders. In fact, we imagine a world without borders.
And wow, did our world change over the last few years. While there were times when the freedom to travel was significantly limited, the surge of remote work opportunities opened up a whole new world for many — and indeed, this opened up the world. You do not have to be located where you work any longer — you can live where you WANT to live, and work where you WANT to work.
Sound amazing? Sure does. Sounds easy? Unfortunately, not always.
We know, visa pathways are becoming more and more complex. We know, the immigration system in many (or most) countries is not prepared for the surge of expats and nomads and their increasingly complex pathways, nor are many law firms or immigration agencies out there. At Relocate we want to ease these burdens and enable everybody to live their best possible lives — while still remaining in the realm of what is legal and - well - possible. Migration in many classical senses is stressful. The process of dealing with visas is something, many find burdensome, exhausting, or even worrying. Relocate is a solution improving the migration experience by connecting like-minded individuals and creating an ecosystem in which the burdens of migration are truly eased.
Information is key, especially when it comes to immigration and relocation. Whether it’s the technical jargon which we must know and can hardly swallow, or reading about the personal experiences and tricks of the trade from others — being informed is how we thrive. We google everything as a means to find information to prepare ourselves. It’s the norm, though googling about a new country and building a life there as an expat or nomad can lead you down a rabbit hole. For example, as you are trying to immigrate to Germany, search results for sauerkraut recipes aren’t the most useful. (perhaps after you’ve settled there). Wait, is mastering sauerkraut a German immigration requirement? Better check out our Germany destination page!
That’s what we do. Look, the information is out there, but it’s fragmented. You will dig the depths of the world wide web and need to paste each and every hyperlink into your notes to have the full picture of what you need to know and do before you relocate. We are here to solve this problem. For our evergreen content, we do our research, we dig in the trenches of government websites, vetted statistics, news sources, travel guides, blogs, YouTube videos, expat forum/websites, first hand accounts, you name it. We research for endless hours to provide you with the full picture of your desired new country, not a glamorized version of any destination, but a transparent and factual summary. Internally, we call this our “pillar pages” because they are indeed pillars of our marketplace – our destinations. Hey, let’s face it, you don’t always need an immigration lawyer, and maybe it isn’t quite the time for you to engage the services of a tax advisor, but you need to know what you’re getting into — the good, the bad and the ugly. Time is precious and we mustn’t get distracted on how to make the national dishes of the places we are relocating to. Then… we add the details, how to buy a house, pay taxes, invest, what education is like — we are constantly curating all this information for destinations around the world. (Please keep in mind, good writing takes time and we are constantly developing and updating our destination pages.)
We post articles daily… Written by Relocate Advisors, Contributors and Relocate Community. Our Advisors provide up-to-date information. They are most up-to-date with the ever-changing legalities and technicalities of immigration and tax matters. While our contributors focus on the human side of relocation, they tell you what to pack, where to drop your luggage, what it’s like to flee a worn torn country, or be away from home during the holidays and oh so much more. Then there is us — Relocate Community — we bring you on the pulse information. A couple months ago Jurgen, our star nomad, came back to his favorite island and on the way back, he was informed at the airport “The digital nomad visa you are on no longer exists. Have a nice day.” Oh well, Jurgen’s pain was our community’s gain as Relocate.World was the first to report about it.
Be prepared to move to your next destination through sources all in one place.
Why Relocate Matters
A Changing World - Expats and Nomads
From moving to where our jobs took us to taking our jobs on the move, humans continue to discover new shores, greener pastures and bluer skies.
At the same time, we squeeze the sides of the earth with forces like climate change, internet, and abundant and cheap air travel. Over the last 20 years, we have seen how globalization begets more globalization.
This has led to reduced resistance among skilled labor to move continents, as they draw comfort and confidence from the fact that their new base will continue to offer kernels of familiarity, smoothening the otherwise rough process of transitioning and settling into a dramatically different country. This is a life unique to the modern-day knowledge worker.
But today, those who can pack their skills in a bag and go where the proverbial road takes them, are veering away from urban centers that once used to be lucrative for global businesses, and looked alike in their social, capital and cultural makeup.
If we don’t have to live where we work, why not rethink where and how we live?
Providing a Soft Landing — Need a Friend?
They say moving ranks as one of the top five most stressful events in a person’s life (divorce and the death of a loved one also rank on this list). Relocating down the street is hard. Relocating across your own country is even harder. Relocating to an entirely new country? That’s stress-inducing to say the least.
When we navigate through a disruptive life event, whether by choice or not, it’s always helpful to have a guiding light. It’s why ships at sea have lighthouses, why highways have lane makers and road signs, and why dark alleys have street lamps.
Often when a relocation is involved we turn to trusted friends, or even an influencer who’s been there done that. Oftentimes, though, those experiences will be different from yours. Maybe they weren’t traveling with a family or a pet, maybe they had a sponsorship from a cushy company which enabled them to stay in the comfort of a free rental while they got their feet wet. Either way, your relocation journey is unique to you. We get that.
Our response to the difficult question of where do I turn for trusted advice? Is this: turn to us. We’ve created a tribe of vetted, licensed individuals who have self-selected into this space and we look forward to facilitating an introduction that will ease the burden of your relocation journey.
relocate.world — a community for expatriates, for digital nomads, for seekers: individuals seeking greener pastures, willing to transcend borders. This might be a summary of the eco-system relocate.world is trying to create. Greener pastures, however, need fostering, they need care and attention; thus, we see our mission also as enablers of sustainable growth and dreamers of a better society.
In order to actually contribute to better living conditions and more sustainable living and business models, the development of the company and our values have been guided by the Sustainable Development Goals declared by the United Nations from the very beginning.
Decent Work and Economic Growth
By bringing expats, digital nomads, and local communities together, we aim to actively establish new opportunities in developing economies, fostering their economic growth — transcending borders and connecting ecosystems.
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
We firmly believe that infrastructure cannot be limited to nation states. Through innovative technologies and connecting innovative minds, we seek to increase global innovation capacity. Expatriates and digital nomads are groups with high innovative power — if we bring them into new ecosystems, they should also benefit as a result.
Reduced Inequalities
Our work makes it easier for people to achieve mobility in an international environment, we help cross borders — both physical borders and those in people's minds. Simultaneously, nomadism and expats enable an economic advantage for structurally weaker regions.
Sustainable Cities and Commutes
New communities are emerging while existing communities are changing as a result of internationalization, mobility and migration. This is an approach that has been significant to us from the very first moment — a global community that brings together expats, nomads, and individuals in classic life models, facilitates lively exchange and enables the city and environment of the future.
Together we built Relocate.World and together WE TRANSCEND BORDERS!
Who We Are - The Story and the Faces behind Relocate
It all started as a sketch on a napkin. David and Jurgen…. wait! You’ve heard that story a million times. A business plan on a napkin happened somewhere along the road, no doubt but we’ll leave the cliches at home.
So, who are we? Our entire team are experts in the relocation field and expats/nomads ourselves! We have been “on the run” if you will, for decades and have a deep understanding of one thing – a challenge which all those living abroad run into some time or another. “What’s the best visa pathway for me? How do I establish residency? Can I avoid living in a grey zone or even an illegal zone? Basically, “How do I crush living out my international dreams the right way?” One authority said, “Remember, no overstayed visa goes unnoticed, and no overstay is left unpunished!” Travel ban, anyone? Not for us!
Simply put, the global migration market in its current state is not prepared for the changing migration pathways. Government authorities are mostly only prepared for cookie-cutter “you came from your home country and now you want to move to another country.” But what about those who haven’t lived in their home country over five years or even longer, yet have lived in seven other countries in the meantime? This is challenging for the legal systems. Jurgen, one of our founders, quickly realized the pain of this while on his many travels. As he was trying to file immigration papers and authorities asked him things like, “Please bring this specific document from every country you have lived in for the last five years.” Reminiscing over his last five years as a self-proclaimed serial expat, he realized he had lived in a number of countries, whether on a tourist visa, digital nomad visas, or residency permits. He had little idea how to show proof of all of this, and the authorities couldn’t guide him. What is a law-abiding nomad to do? Everyone knows “that person” who lives life on one long “visa run”, staying only on tourist visas for half his/her life and continues to float around. Thus, we said to ourselves, “There must be a better way!”
As nomads, our best life requires the freedom to move around with the peace that comes from maintaining legal status wherever our hearts take us for as long as they’d like to stay. And we didn’t join the nomad ranks to spend countless hours of our time reading/translating/interpreting government mandate announcements in each new destination! And on a side note, we really don’t make good outlaws. David’s face is way too honest, and Jurgen can’t run our LinkedIn Lives from immigration prison!
As humans, our best life demands seeing and acting. Traversing the world has put us face-to-face with people living in places of conflict, scarcity and a lack of opportunity. We have seen people desperate to unite with family members abroad or pursue an education that will equip him/her to be the next great legal or medical mind. We saw these people face insurmountable challenges to reach safety or pursue their dreams, and we wanted to help.
Thus, Relocate.World was born!
Our heart at Relocate.World, is to build a community of attorneys and legal and taxation advisors who can help people in this changing world. As government authorities grapple to adapt to our digital age, migration pathways can change overnight, and we’re working tirelessly to be at the pulse of that. The way we do so is by “living” this. We know what’s happening, and we believe this is the secret to our success! This is also why we love our advisors so much! They as well, live this themselves and they share the same mindset. We choose to partner with advisors and attorneys who “get it”, who “live it”, who know what relocation is about and the struggle it can be, how it can be difficult and that it’s a changing world out there. We love that spirit! We are on all different continents, yet we think the same and are fighting to achieve the same thing.
Hello, World.
Meet Our Team
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