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.”
The American dream is now to escape America.
Damnit, another sequel?!
They tried 6 times to make a sequel, Kurt Russell keeps saying no.
It’s harder than you think to renounce American citizenship.
If you’re brown, they’ll do it for you
You don’t have to and it’s not clear whether or not Clooney did.
It would be a massive tax bill if he did.
It really isn’t. https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship
- Extensive forms;
- approval by the U.S. Department of State;
- In-person interviews with U.S. consular officer abroad (at least one in person).
- Renunciation in person;
- Exit tax for renouncing citizenship, on top of existing U.S. tax liabilities;
- Retain Selective Service obligations;
Yeah I don’t think that helps them make the point they thought they were making lol.
At least 3 of those things are kinda the same and would be covered in one visit.
The selective service won’t apply to people over 50 I don’t think.
The exit tax is probably the sticking point for many, I’m not sure how that works for mega rich like Clooney, but it might be really easy for a poor like me.
It must be a confusing time for Russian dissidants that just got here 👀
Yup, leave if you can.
I’d love to if I could afford it. Neither my wife or I are particularly tied to our families.
rich people always say these things once they are safely away, remember ellen degeneres she only moved away because of diddy/epstein controversy last year, she smelled the wind could turn against her and she ditched the us.
Yeah I’m in the process of moving to France as well. Have been planning it before the current state of affairs and for work reasons but things like ICE and the Thought Police EO are expediting things.
Ultimately my family came here from Europe generations ago for better economic opportunities, more freedom, and virtually every one of us have served our country in some compacity. I no longer see anything on the list that is true anymore. Europe, and France, have their own problems but in the next 60-100 years they seem much more stable and democratic than the US.
I’m contemplating just going on our 90d visa, WFH with my American business, and simply renewing until I get a 1y long-term visa (which you can renew every year with proof of income and NOT working for a EU company). A lot of people on r/digitalnomad and r/getout do a variation of this in Fr.
If things get worse I genuinely think seeking political asylum may be on the table for some people. But I make enough money to not really consider that.
seems harder for non-tech, non scientist level people(i would say extremely difficult)
I know and quite frankly I probrally should. Not enough money to leave yet too much anger to die.
And if you can’t, whine about those who do.
Must be nice to have “Buy Myself French Citizenship” kind of money.
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
Home bought 2021, according to reports. Not long enough for the normal 5 year residency requirement, plus he’s probably away lots. Looks fishy. Nice to be rich.
Cool to see he already knew back then (this is a comple guess, of course) that getting out of the US was needed. If this was the plan all along it still took this long, but there are obviously many more things than just the citizenship to make a move like that.
I’m sure you’re correct. And yes, these are trivial amounts for him – and not exactly insane amounts if you simply owned a house in LA and sold it to flip it into EU citizenship. IMO the key point is that this is a 4-year process that I bet he started in mid-2021. Time is something he can’t buy.
The US has its own citizenship by investment schemes as well, well before the “Gold Card” or whatever scam that is. Usually the base investment levels on these things are $100K-$300K and then you’ll be on the hook for taxes and admin fees and a lawyer as well. It’s why so many UK cits bought property in Portugal or Greece as they had lower levels for investment to count.
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.
Add I understand it, permanent residency also requires a language exam and doesn’t guarantee employment rights (because French voters don’t want people “stealing jobs”). So it’s more complicated than that.
The multi-year residency requires B2 proficiency as of this year, and also allows working in France. It is of course up to french authorities as to whether it is granted, taking into account your time in the country and your level of integration.
I’m pretty sure France has all the retail workers they need.
Now if you are a medical doctor or a reasonably famous scientist, famous actor, or just rich, they will also be happy to take you in. But plebes generally need not apply for citizenship in almost any nation on this planet.
I am speaking of highly specific regulations in France which I have direct personal experience of. If you decide to work in retail after receiving your multi year residency, the French government has no objections to this as long as you have sufficiently integrated.
Probably cheaper than a “Trump Card”
He didn’t buy it, his wife has french citizenship so he can get it too although I bet the process was faster for him since he is rich and famous while I have been waiting 8 months for my wife to be allowed to enter the country.
ITT: people not realizing his wife was born in Lebanon. Are they safer than your average non-pure-white family? Absolutely. But they have legitimate reasons to be scared.
Also apparently she’s a human rights lawyer so she’s bound to have pissed off republicans one way or another already.
What does her wife being from Lebanon has anything to do with this? She has British and French citizenship so it is easy for him to get the citizenship and I bet she is safe from ICE on virtue of having shit ton of money, other 2 nationalities and being an international lawyer.
What does her wife being from Lebanon has anything to do with this?
That she’s obviously not safe in the country and people are mad that they decided to uproot their family and leave?
I bet she is safe from ICE on virtue of having shit ton of money, other 2 nationalities and being an international lawyer.
I’m sure that being part of the team that being one of the authors of this article makes you popular with Netanyahu’s sock puppet’s pet anti-immigration criminal organization lmao. She’s also represented other people that the US government doesn’t exactly agree with. There are a LOT of good reasons for Trump to disappear her. She did exactly the one thing that the shit ton of money allowed her to do: Escaped. I hope everyone else who can and needs to, does as well. The bigger the brain drain, the better - Trump’s empire won’t last as long.
Neither him nor her or their family are in any danger in the USA, besides the usual due to the nature of the country.
If you’re NOT on a government watch list by now, you should be ashamed of yourself.
If you’re posting history of the last 6 years doesn’t get you on a list, I don’t want to be your friend.
My activities are not televised.
They removed me from it: They lost too many agents due to boredom.
i was going to go with the Terry Davis method but i’m just not comfortable screaming racist things into every microphone.
Whereas Crudbump had an even more ingenious plan to get the NSA off his tail, pun intended.
If I check to see if I’m on any lists, does that put me on a list?
Just this comment makes you eligible for being on a list. Not The List though, you gotta do something special for that one.
Only one way to find out 🤷
Lmao 🤣
It’s funny you say that, because even just finding out whether you’re on a list is nearly impossible.
There are certain magical household chemicals that makes them appear if you stockpile enough of them.
“What‽ What‽ Is it wrong to want a clean house‽ It’s illegal to collect styrofoam coolers now‽”
Considering Clooney’s involvement with the Satellite Sentinel Project, he’s probably on every list.
But also if you’re on one with your real name, don’t even op-sec?
I’m probably on two lists.
CCP and US 47th admin
And they still let him in after that Louvre heist?!
Ocean’s 14 is about to be authentic as fuck
This is the best comment.
Where were you when they were shooting “The Night Of” ?
They’re rich. His children will be fine wherever they are.
Having more money than you could spend in your lifetime buys you options not available to most people, news at 11.
i got out with less than 20k.
Being rich must be so nice.
Poor be fucked is the American way.
“It’s not my job to keep the President of the United States happy.”
That’s Jeffery Epstein’s job
That was.
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
This is at the heart of a scandal he triggered in France. A lot of people would have prefered him not to get fast-tracked when he doesn’t qualify for the minimum requirements ( this is from his own confession) when so many are getting bumped out when they are more “worthy” ( not in financial or influence terms).
I hear real estate in Iran will be cheap.
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.
Even ethnic Japanese people born outside Japan have a hard time there
Probably a harder time as they’re often expected to know all the unwritten rules and behave a certain way. I know people who have struggled a lot to reintegrate. Many end up working for themselves and/or in entertainment if they have a more western mondset
Don’t you mean French actor Le George Clooney?
George Le Clooney
French cinema world busy updating all their leaderboards about best paid actors etc.
Ok, but how is this World news?
It vaguely involves a non US country
Vaguely? Specifically.
Vaguely international barely news article in WorldNews. Quick, upfart it.
France?
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).
I think that’s the point. They could be anywhere and they choose not USA.
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.
