Recent content by KJK

The story is absurd and the setup is even more absurd. However, the history behind it is interesting - not dissimilar to how Liechtenstein and Luxembourg statute were formed centuries ago. I'm not German but my advice to any German considering this would be - move outside of Germany and...

UK company with a beneficiary from Russia/Belarus? I think banks may actually be more benevolent than EMIs - most EMIs will just straight reject difficult cases while many European banks (like Raiffeisen) still do a lot of business in Russia. The easiest will probably be outside of EU in one of...

The deciding factor in many of these situations will be where your children actually live and where they go to school - if they live and go to school in another EU country outside of Germany, then they - and you indirectly- won't be considered a resident of Germany unless you have other strong...

Dutch banks and fintechs are notoriously known for insane KYC/AML requirements recently. I think it is because two or three of the major banks received fines and now everyone wants to pretend they have the best KYC in the world. Bunq closed my account years ago with no explanation. When I asked...

So your goal is to avoid getting an exit stamp in your passport to be eligible to citizenship (whilst having permanent residency in the country, speaking Spanish and paying taxes etc etc.). I think the real problem is that afaik Paraguay doesn't hand out citizenship like this very often...

Swissquote is comparable to IBKR but can be more expensive / more difficult onboarding / less available markets.

Mandatory military service in Greece, Estonia, Croatia, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania (each different and can be avoided to some extent) Exit tax and worldwide citizenship-based taxation plans/ideas in France and Denmark Dual citizenship not allowed in some situations in Slovakia, Austria and...

Moving from the UK to Spain is out of the frying pan, into the fire. The weather may be better and women better looking but I can think of 20+ better countries to do anything in (business, retirement, digital nomad...) than Spain.

Signal for encrypted communication. For classic phone number to receive SMS and/or make calls, there's different solutions such as Hushed.com, Call.com (was called CloudSIM). Another option (if you're okay with an eSIM in your phone/laptop) is a global eSIM subscription which can usually be...

Sometimes institutions are so broken that only a complete reset/shock event can fix them. It reminds me of Georgia where Saakashvili fired thousands of policemen overnight (around 85 % of the entire police force). Then they could rejoin a new police under new rules. Now when you visit the...

There will always be ways to avoid stupid laws. And in the end, a law is meaningless if it is not enforced or ignored by the population. In Montenegro there is a similar law regarding tourist registration - I think it is mostly to generate income, not spy on the people (after all, when entering...

Spain is one of these countries which are obviously going in the wrong direction. When you walk through the streets of Barcelona and especially Madrid, you feel the history and the wealth. Locals in cafes, majestic buildings, huge pieces of ham in every supermarket. Then you think about it - it...

It is important to differentiate between a) just "staying" somewhere, in a hotel, apartment, airbnb, a friend b) having an a registered Ejari contract Both have its pros and cons. I think simply having an Ejari does not trigger tax residency, however want to be 100% sure that if you won't...

You would be surprised how liveable some places in Southeast Asia can be. I think most of the hate/disgust comes from cultural shock, not from the places truly being unlivable shitholes. You mentioned only two places - Thailand and Vietnam. Vietnam is not the best place in SEA, I agree. Major...

That's a tough question because Thailand really is unique in terms of it's convenience, friendliness, infrastructure, nature variety - and until recently taxes for foreign income. If you prefer Southeast Asia (as you mentioned Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia), my advice would be either 1)...