[Scapeghost]

Thank you. Though Mexico has always seemed just as scary and with many of the same problems as the place I want to leave.

I'm more inclined towards East Asia, and read that Thailand may have options for "digital nomads". My passive income alone may be enough to live in relative comfort there.

If I ever go to the western hemisphere I'd rather consider places like Chile, or even visa-free places like Svalbard, Norway as a last resort.. :)

How about just disappearing in a Polynesian island like Samoa, is that a thing? lol

[gregjor]

You don’t need to speak much Thai if you live in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or the more popular beach resort cities. You can get by with no Thai at all unless you intend to live in rural Thailand.

Thailand does not have a remote worker visa like some European countries do. The requirements for the DTV (erroneously called a digital nomad visa) look hard to satisfy, and then you only get to stay 180 days in a year.

https://siam-legal.com/travel-to-thailand/dtv-visa-thailand-...

Thailand does offer other visas you can research. Digital nomads in Thailand typically come and go on tourist visas. Look into Thailand Privilege (formerly Thailand Elite) for a decent visa you can just pay for.

Honestly without a college degree and a high income you can document, combined with a passport that I guess limits your options, you will have to put significant effort into moving anywhere long-term. Look into Indonesia and Malaysia, both friendly to immigrants and nomads, cheap, safe, if not democratic in the American/western European sense.

[big-green-man]

If you're looking for a beautiful place to go outside, Svalbard is not it lol.

Thailand is awesome, however they're not like many other well developed places where English is important to them. They are proud of their language and you'll need to learn it to get on. It's a shame because you speak English perfectly.

If you want something that your English can be a skill that you can put to use, Europe and the English speaking countries have pretty strict rules (for legal immigrants). You can get work as an English teacher in Korea or Japan since you're so good at it, especially if you learned it as a second language you're more familiar with the formal structure of the language than a native speaker because you had to learn them from scratch. Not quite tech work, but they're reasonably nice places. They're a little racist but they see nothing wrong with it, and their target of dislike is probably not you so you probably won't see much of that. And, their racism isn't usually hateful, they just stereotype and stare and ask inappropriate questions mostly.

Latin America... you'll need to learn Spanish. Most of the place is unbelievably beautiful, but there's some corruption and crime. The Caribbean, it's also beautiful, and many places have English as the primary language, but again, similar problems to Latin America.

The pacific islands are nice, most of them are full of English speakers, but many of the islands are UK or US territories and you'll have a hard time going for the same reason you'd have a hard time going to the US or UK. Also, some places like american Samoa, they have weird laws about land ownership, and interestingly those from there have US passports but are not US citizens. There are many that aren't US territories but that are guaranteed military protection and use the US dollar. Tons of great places there if you do your research.

As far as Mexico, many places on the Baja peninsula are relatively crime free, as developed as any US town, many people speak English there because of a history of tourism from the US state of California. Maybe worth checking out. Mexican passport holders can travel to more countries visa free than any other country's passport, and in many other places, get a visa relatively easily, so it might be a great idea to get one if you want access to much of the world.

[Scapeghost]

> If you're looking for a beautiful place to go outside, Svalbard is not it lol.

It'd be a nice change from the desert climates I've been stuck in all my life though haha

> You can get work as an English teacher in Korea or Japan since you're so good at it

Let's be real here, they won't feel much confidence in learning English from a brown person :') I grew up on English media and then raised on the internet so my accent actually used to be good, but living in places like Dubai has actually messed up my English a bit because of the creole/pidgin they use there.

As for racism, I've been to East/SE Asian countries and frankly the racism that white/Western people tend to perceive is often pretty harmless and benign. Just cultural differences in "appropriateness". I've certainly seen worse in my own country. The worst I've personally experienced was in Dubai from Arabs/Emiratis against the many "brown" expats who live and work there, even those following the same religion. (P.S. I'm not religious at all)

I don't really need a job per se to support myself. I just want a way to 1: Be able to stay in a country long-term (longer than the usual tourist visas) while working from home, and 2: Eventually own property there and become a permanent resident if not a naturalized citizen.

There are some "gray" options like paying someone to "hire" you as their employee, basically getting an employment visa but doing your own thing. Or paying someone to marry you :') Both options are legal but rely on trust and make you dependent on a person you don't know: They can take your money then give you the boot any time if they want.

I learned of New Caledonia a while ago (France) and man, that place looks like paradise. Would be so perfect if I could settle there!

[galfarragem]

> There are some "gray" options like paying someone to "hire" you as their employee, basically getting an employment visa but doing your own thing. Or paying someone to marry you :') Both options are legal but rely on trust and make you dependent on a person you don't know: They can take your money then give you the boot any time if they want.

That's exactly the problem with even the most "benign" expats (I was an expat myself). They bring with them the same practices and prejudices from which they are trying to escape.