[HN Gopher] Beautiful Italian towns will pay you to work remotely
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Beautiful Italian towns will pay you to work remotely
Author : Tomte
Score : 54 points
Date : 2021-05-09 20:21 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (edition.cnn.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (edition.cnn.com)
| kordlessagain wrote:
| CNN popups no good.
| sirfz wrote:
| Article doesn't mention this, I wonder if this includes non-
| European visa-requiring visitors, if yes then do they offer
| residency?
| disabled wrote:
| Sometimes yes, although typically not.
|
| It is far better of a deal as an American to get EU citizenship
| in any EU country. This confers you Freedom of Movement Rights
| to live/work/retire in any EU or EFTA country, once you acquire
| the EU citizenship. You will always be seen as "the American"
| and also so with your American credentials. For Americans,
| usually the best country to do this is Republic of Ireland, as
| a it permits dual citizenship and it only takes 5 years to
| become a citizen.
|
| With Irish citizenship, you also get Freedom of Movement rights
| to live/work/retire in the UK, unlike other EU passports due to
| old treaties and ties with the British.
|
| Also, many people on here could work without having to get
| sponsorship in Ireland as they have the qualifications to get a
| skills waiver from the Irish government.
|
| Once you are an Irish citizen, you will legally have the rights
| to work remote-based US-only jobs anywhere in the Ireland, the
| UK, EU, and EFTA. You just have your US employer hire you on as
| a contractor and have an Irish payroll company take care of the
| US (global income taxation) and Irish (residence based income)
| taxes. Obviously you forfeit Irish workers rights going this
| and you are subject to US employment law in this case,
| generally speaking.
| sirfz wrote:
| Thanks for the insight, I should've been more specific. I'm
| asking for non American/western passport holders
| dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
| Santa Fiora is beautiful! Some random points:
|
| 1. It's very hot in the summer - you'll be OK inside, but
| personally I can't spend much time outside during the hottest
| days of the summer. The altitude helps a bit.
|
| 2. You have everything you need, and the sea is not far away (an
| hour drive away; count two hours if by public transport).
|
| 3. You basically need to have a car if you want to move. The
| public transport is mostly fine, unless it's Sunday and you
| missed the last bus. The taxis are terribly expensive (the ride
| to/from the nearest city can easily cost more than the EUR100
| rent mentioned in the article).
|
| 4. You need to be prepared to spend money on gas which is used
| for heating during the winter. It's important to always be
| prepared and never run out of gas otherwise you'll need to move
| to your friend's house to avoid freezing.
|
| 5. People are very friendly.
|
| 6. There are many immigrants from Bangladesh working in the local
| vineyards. After some initial conflicts things are more or less
| normal now. I wouldn't say there is some integration (except the
| kids at schools), but people get along fine.
|
| 7. If you plan to come, I'd suggest starting around now and
| leaving in September. In October you'll already need gas,
| definitely in November. Winters are beautiful if the snow falls,
| but the curvy roads get even more dangerous.
|
| 8. Local food is delicious. You can get liters of high quality
| wine and excellent olive oil from local producers extremely
| cheap. There are also many green vegetables and various ways of
| cooking them that you'll learn with time.
|
| 9. If you have a car, it's worth visiting various small local
| restaurants, some of them you'll never forget.
|
| 10. The air feels very pure and you'll sleep well at night (also
| during the day if you wish - all windows have shutters).
| poisonborz wrote:
| The dubious nature of these "1EUR" south european homes were
| already covered in many articles. Most of them come with a lot of
| strings attached (like how much time you have to spend there, and
| you can't rent it), huge renovation cost in an area where
| craftsmen are largely unavailable or untrusting of foreigners,
| complexities with authorities due to the historical status of
| buildings, desolate areas without shopping opportunities... and
| the list goes on.
|
| Instead of sprinkling fairy magic, these articles should at least
| hint at these.
| curmudgeon22 wrote:
| This seems a bit different from the feel of it. The towns are
| subsidizing short term stays of 2-6 months. You are renting
| from someone else, so you're not really making a significant
| investment.
| jamisteven wrote:
| exactly, looked into this heavily years ago and this is spot
| on. These towns will basically never turn into anything worth
| investing energy into and most have absent local governments.
| kmarc wrote:
| FWIW this was part of my life pre-pandemic; remote work from
| Italy is amazing, especially if you willing to try mingling in
| the evenings on the piazzas, or even enjoy a short shot-like
| coffee after your mid-day siesta.
|
| But I mostly visited more frequented cities; remote work is fun,
| but preferably not in the middle of nowhere.
|
| Also, I already felt like I'm taking advantage of the situation
| (and of the less fortunate Italian locals, whereas "we", the
| wealthier digital nomads use this opportunity as spoiled rich
| kids). I hope there will be a sustainable model in the future for
| these towns to welcome (and somewhat integrate) remote workers
| while respecting locals and their culture too.
| Mediterraneo10 wrote:
| Some regions in Europe that want to attract remote workers (and
| pensioners from wealthier places), are doing so because they
| are grappling with rural depopulation. There is definitely the
| opportunity for cultural clashes to arise, but by coming and
| spending your money locally, you aren't "taking advantage of
| the situation" as much as doing exactly what the local
| authorities want you to do.
| tormeh wrote:
| The dosage maketh the poison. Like any other place, they want
| to prevent change. So they want to replace the people moving
| away with new people. Any less and it's a dying village. Any
| more, and it's gentrification.
| system16 wrote:
| This is really interesting and something I'd actually consider
| (even without the rent rebate), but based on the fact the website
| and application form are only in Italian and the contact
| information they request does not ask for country, I'm assuming
| this is targeting Italians in the city to come visit the
| countryside and hopefully stay.
| frankbreetz wrote:
| Does anyone know what the tax situation is? I know if you are a
| US citizen you have to pay on all income, no matter where you
| live. Would you also have to pay Italian tax on top of that? That
| would mostly make up the cost of the subsidy.
| [deleted]
| disabled wrote:
| It depends. The US government has a double taxation agreement
| and also a social security agreement with Italy.
|
| The US government does not have these agreements in Croatia
| (which is also part of the European Union), for example, which
| means that if you are a dual US|EU citizen (such as Croatian,
| like me) living in Croatia, you get double taxed on all of your
| income. You still get to live like a king or a queen though,
| working for a US based company as a contractor being paid US
| income in dollars, as Croatia is cheap and very nice.
|
| US tax law is complicated. Also, if you are hired as a
| contractor by your US based employer then there are different
| rules than if you are a full time US citizen worker working
| outside the United States. (By the way, your US based employer
| has to know where you are domiciled when you are working for
| them. It is a legal requirement and they can get reamed by the
| IRS! It is not just about you!)
|
| There is also the Foreign Earned Income Tax Exclusion and the
| Foreign Tax Credit, one of which typically you must elect.
| skrtskrt wrote:
| I have family in the south and have visited a few times in the
| last 15 years.
|
| A lot of these places have never really recovered since the 2008
| crash. You can see many empty half built buildings. Closed
| nightclubs. Maybe half the businesses open that there used to.
|
| Right before coronavirus many people were investing in fixing up
| old buildings for AirBnBs. Who knows if they'll ever get that
| money back.
|
| Tourism is really all a lot of these places have left. The kids
| all want to leave for Germany or Australia where they know they
| can afford to leave with an okay job. There's no work for
| tradesmen that would have worked on building-related trades.
|
| Graffiti is way more common everywhere than it was 10 years ago.
| It's just really really hard to see.
| tschwimmer wrote:
| Anyone have experience doing something like this as a non-Italian
| speaker? It sounds very nice but I also have a bad feeling about
| navigating Italian provincial bureaucracy without a strong grasp
| of the language.
| yosito wrote:
| Italian is a very approachable language for an English speaker.
| 6 months of immersion should be more than sufficient to be able
| to handle some paperwork. Plus, it's Europe. There are tons of
| people who speak English, and you can easily get an interpretor
| or bilingual lawyer to help you with things.
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