Looking for expats with a portable income...

Perhaps you could explain a little about your goals, the reasons for writing and where such scribbles are likely to be published.
It might attract possible subjects if they know a few details.

Such "portable careers" are the dream of naive wanna-be expats, but they hardly exist in reality. And most countries do not give visa to such people (for good reasons), so most of the few that exist live and work illegally.
The most internationally mobile professions are to be found elsewhere: Diplomats, higher managers, seamen, stewardesses, soldiers, refugees and nomads come to mind.
Looking at my background (I lived or worked in 15 countries during the last 30 years), managing industrial installation projects seems to be pretty portable, too. But I guess that's not what you want to write about ...

beppi wrote:

Such "portable careers" are the dream of naive wanna-be expats, but they hardly exist in reality. And most countries do not give visa to such people (for good reasons), so most of the few that exist live and work illegally.

Can you base that statement on any facts, or is that just a narrow minded opinion?  I couldn't disagree more, and I'm evidence to the contrary, and I'm not living nor have worked illegally.  There are many countries that have provisions for self-employed/freelance visas.

In any case, the OP didn't ask if it was a dream.

romaniac wrote:

Can you base that statement on any facts, or is that just a narrow minded opinion?

It's based on the expats I met during my international career. Certainly not a scientifically representative group, but also not a small number.

I live and have worked abroad for 9 years. I teach English legally (I am not sure why it matters if it is legal or illegal for the question).

To answer some of the questions above...I have lived abroad for the last ten years. I taught Mathematics at a large international school in China for the last six years of my career and then retired to Thailand, where we lived for the next three years. After a brief return to China for five months to teach Digital Media, we moved to Peru a year ago. For the last four years, I have also been writing for a well-known publication that focuses on retiring abroad. They also feature articles about running part-time and full-time businesses in other countries.

It is not a pipe-dream to work online. Although it is not easy, I know many people around the world that are earning decent incomes online. It is not something that happens overnight and it does take a lot of time and energy, despite all the "make a $1000 a day online" articles that you read about. Most of them are totally garbage. As we say, most of the people making good money online are those who are showing other people how to make money online! lol

As far as actually working online, it is a grey area in most countries. Some countries have visas for that very purpose but most look the other way as long as you are employed by a company that is located in a country other than the one you are living in. If what you are doing online has no direct association with where you are living, you are generally safe, even though it may not be technically legal on paper. Certainly, you can't legally open up an eBay store or Etsy shop in most countries without having a business visa. You can't legally open your own English school online either in most places. But if you are working for an online English school based in another country teaching students from another country, then it's another grey area! And most freelancing to residents of other countries is pretty safe as long as you are not taking jobs away from local residents of where you are living.

Having said all this, many expats still take chances online and may suffer the consequences. In Thailand, a dozen expats decided to set up an online school in a condo. It didn't take long before they were arrested! And many expats continue to work under the table, hoping they don't get caught.

For anybody who wants to live and/or work abroad, there are plenty of different types of visas available. If you can't obtain the correct visa, you probably shouldn't be there in the first place!  It's getting more and more difficult to live as a tourist forever in most countries, as it probably should be.