Can an American live permanently in Macedonia ?

Welcome to the forum

A Google search came up with a Govt website for visas www.mfa.gov.mk

One site shows that to get residency you have to invest a minimum of US$500,000.

How pathetic. Why would a country like this not want retired foreigners to live there? Retirees will do nothing , but spend money, legally, to help their economy.

Good luck, Macedonia. Your;e going to need i

Seems they wish to attract only millionaire types and can splash money around freely. So one has to buy your residency.
Their economy is doing well and probably due to the millionaires !!

Hi Recoletaguy,
I have deleted my message. If you need insight let me know.
Best.

I have been living in Ohrid, North Macedonia for 13 months now, I have a 12 month visa & have been told that I can apply for citizenship any time next year. I am retired but have bought a house with a letting appartment which gives me a top up income, The total investment I have made - for the house purchase & renovations - was around 180,000 euros. There is an English lady living here who has been resident since 2005 who has, like me, a Macedonian ID card which has to be renewed every year. I don't know which website you saw but I think you need to check more carefully as I don't think it was correct. Good Luck & look at Ohrid as a possible alternative - it's great!

As I know foreigners are allowed to hold titels on Flats and houses but no land unless you are a citizen/born in the EU. this was altered recently, before that only flats were able...and land under a house only for Eu citizes, agricultural land is limited on size for foreigners...
the agreement was a balance for Macedonians to gain the same rights in the EU and maybe a first step into the EU.
Argentina is broke and most foreigners transfer money via a teansfer firm in USD there, i guess this is the reason why you left..before that it was not so bad, but exchange fees, a transfer tax...loosing 10-15% on value only on the official bamk account transfers, the enforced transfer into worthless Argentinian Pesos...this all inkl. a 58% decaluation last year and 50% ++ unemployment....
I guess i.m right?
Asia kicks you ou unless you have 800,- at the Philippines, but monland to hold...only to lease and condos loose worth...they go back to zero within 50 yrs, so nothing to leave behind for any relative or spouse, poverty and smiling faces for scams!
All other countries kicked out most of the wxpats in Asia simply bcs they used visa runs! Mexico starts a new campaign against this bcs that way Us avoid the Mexican tax regime! They don,t tell you and it.s well hidden what you pay...dedeuctions are a joke...same for all Souther Europe, zero deductions, France has 9k i guess,...this rules apply for all foreigners! Double tax treaties have changed! And read the particular small variations...
Macedonia( Northern Republic of M.) has one of the few territorial tax regimes on pensions within the EU. I.m from Austria and search for 3 yrs now to which country i can go!
Turkey has chnaged it,s tax laws, so retirees from Austria ( they were from Turkey!) went back...now they have 12.5% minimum income tax? and the free deduction is a few 3 k or less...we always forget that those tax laws apply for low incomes! Same goes for health care costs! I can move to Latin America, yes, ..i can easily get the retirement visa at the age of 50 but(!): healthcare is basically free for mostbLatins out of low income, as mine is cheap in europe bcs of retirement rules! But in Latin America or Asia they charge me1400-2000 euros( not usd!) per year! for basically no helathcare...or not better than some quacks with iodine! the rest is on private costs!
Same goes for Japan, i am tax free there but social fees apply until age of 60, so i denied to pay 50% of my income to a system that does not work for me🤷‍♀️the Phillies charge you a yearly renewal fee on your visa! and they don.t let anyone in at the moment( April 2021!)
So your vacation all over the world was actually the same as mine with lower costs on the internet...but inpayed travel, hotel and a lawyer in Germany to break off a sale! There is fraud everywhere...so most come to Austria...we are cheaper than Switzerland, warmer than Germany, have a free 11k income per year, then it starts with 20-25% ...🤷‍♀️healthcare is relatively cheap, everywhere on highest stabdards but costs are as high as Finland or Norway🤷‍♀️most eastern people come to us, we take in 5000 refugees for the first three months while 50% of our own people have incomes at 1k/month and often whole fmailies live on that! And we have cold winters and cars are a must, or you pay 1-1.2 k on a 50 m2 flat in a town or city...so cars are cheaper🤷‍♀️and a small house or flat outside...
back to Macedonia: i conatcted 5 different real estate agents and sites and became answers of two!
first one told me sll flats for sale in Skopje are already sold! ( wtf?) and the other ones accused ke to be a professional agent who wants to take over the market!
That was a new one for me...besides not knowing the language or even the letters is a big problem, my computer does not easily work with those and homepages of agencies don.t work on my decice§ either!
so my basic conclusion was: I can chnage to a bank group in Austria that has a good network on branches within all Eastern European countries( maybe they have all those clients who work in Austria and Germany🤷‍♀️) but they don.t sell me anything ..even flats for a mere 50-70 k newly built on the market for 6 months are "sold"....they don.t like us but work in the West! I have enough discrimination and Mafia behaviour from Hungarians, SK, CZ, Serbia, Bulgaria...Macedonians are rare here but i have trouble every week and they become more without any trouble to come and work here despite Covid! and we have new variants every month! now it.s  the Indian variant! 🤷‍♀️how comes...oh, rich folk don.t care and still travel.
Best countries so far for good menaing Christians with good income tax free are: Panama, Nicaragua( dangerous for LGBT! ) Uruguay, Paraguay( same for Lgbt! but better)...forget the rest of Latin Americas i read hundreds of expat forum reports about rising fraud and danger, kidnapping is as ususal as breathing and I get marriage requests on interpals daily...every hour! just for the visa! ...
Best dountries in Europe: Greece 7 % flat tax for 5-10 yrs( fould not find those crappy official papers, all comes from newspapers), Portugal cancelled the zero % regime for 10 yrs after 4 yrs🤣🤷‍♀️that.s stability! Macedonia has a double tax treaty with some Western countries that keeps rhe tax regime in the country of origine, so they don.t charge and you keep your own deductions and free 5/7/10 whatever tousand free of income...but not healthcare, some have treaties like Austria...that was the reason why to choose it! cheaper, healthcare on Austrian insurance and still Austrian zero tax...but still searching for an agent who likes to sell on wetserners...and not rent wich is expensive for that country(250-350 for an old crappy flat)...
cheap West is Germany! good luck with frauds and half truth, I lost 1400 euros not to loose more!
Asian countries: Philippines when you are good with an more and more expensive condo bcs prizes have risen by 12%/year! corruption on your visa fees( so don.t mind any "agent" you need to help you who presses oit another 100 usd for hiving you your already signed and approved papers!) ...and no land to own...as in all Asian countries except Japan, where you can buy a golden visa for 200.000,-/ year! but have to pay income tax unless your dtt tells differently, and social security( i.m still on that..if i don.t need to pay, i got no answers or just lonks and found a new site who expalins all this...
https://www.gtalent.jp/blog/japanwork-e … ance-japan
then i marry to Japan...i have three proposals! from English students of mine( online.)).
Phillies is 800/ month on income, the rest is expalined on the embassy homepages very clearly,
as most embassies except the golden triangle explain it very good!
Visa runs in Vietnam are risky! what happens with your priperty and belongings? i.m not a backpacker...and you pay twice as a white! "hello! hello! " sorry ,but it.s like that! young people are between 300-400 usd jobs and rel. high rentals in the city and suicide( i lived with deathnotes from girls onlone for some time on SHOE, yes, i.m a. lesbian, so i check Lgbt laws roo! )
forget all Africa, maybe Namibia is a good place in Africa as long as you are not gay...Namibia has a mysterious expat visa for retirees with yearly renewals! Germans like it there! it.s as expesnsive as European west!
You can check all Islands in the Pacific for free tax regimes, income hurdles and so on...have fun...i don.t sell 3 yrs of work and type another two pages...nope, and it changes anyway all the time and violence and weapons everywhere! whites are not wanted! unless we have money! lotsof it!
Hmmm? Thailand has an expensive income hurdle and asks for health care cover which is expesnive the older one becomes( as mentioned in the intro) , but save! Cambodia has no real healthcare, so if you need medicatio: comtrols, derug paranoia and pill shops! have fun!
Don.t forget Malaria in most / all warm/ hot countries! Have fun with Malaria and TBC and HIV and whatever!
Free title for foreigners on land: Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain!portugal, ...
and so on...but i think you hook on the tax free pension rule in Macedonia but just don.t tell! and cheap healtchcare an Western standards.
pay a lawjer (500,-++++) for the info! have fun if it.s fake or he/she does not even know the answer!
Embassies don.t know the tax regime either! They ghost off! All of them! They only want rich ( that.s relative, i.m rich in Mexico but mot here...hmm...maybe) TAXPAYERS.
Germans love Chechia for same prizes, the index is 20%+ starngely on a cheaper country...for whatever reason but those indizes are not telling the set of income and cost parameters...
and forget all the videos on youtube and blogs from backpackers! An Indian UK girl in her late 20 ies was a backpacker in 2019 in all over South America! she needed 24.000£ !,,,, for a good yesr of travelling! mostly backpacking, mostly cheap hostels...nowadays it is not save anymore! only for bar flys....
if you find a Macedonian reliable real estate broker who sellls under 70 k ( euros, not usd...that would be 84k usd) tell me!
Many thanks! Selina...the world has become a cage and income tax in warm countries is somewhere between 24-33% on a "high" Westerners income!
see ya!
ps: this was a SHORT summary without all examples i learnt within 36 months! and i spent 30-60 hrs online per week on travel blogs, youtube blogs, embassy pages, internal papers, WHO reports, UNO reports...I even started to learn Castellano to understand the information that is mostly not available in English in Latin countries!
be careful! it.s just like that and not a bad made up story of mine....and thanks for letzing me tell someone! if you have a good warm country where i don.t need to transfer 2400 euros per month! i gladly take it!
Forget Bulgaria!or Romania! that.s over!

they hate Westerners and kepp the, out, some ladies here bought highly expensive houses! 180 k in euros in Macedonia to make a "top notch income" is not possible for retirees who would loose their pensions( which are top notch anymway for Eastern Europe) when they start a business!
you need to renew the ID card yearly, yes, and as an EU citizen you get a perm. after 5 yrs...will become easier with Macedonia becoming a member of the EU...sadly we are not welcome as long as we don.t pay 180 k as it seems!
i simply wanted to buy a flat or student.s invest in Ohrid or beneath for asked 50 k...and then they had one stupid excuse after the other just ncs i asked three different flats for! 🤷‍♀️they don.t even tell if it is the same agent! how do i know? if i need to go there myself in advance and pay 180 k i just buy a cuty flat in Vienna! 3k per m2 bcs i have a stable income...
and what is top notch in !acedonia? a country where you earn 400/ month!?
and who are those two ladies? no offense...but who needs to buy a house to live from the vacation guests at her retirement ?
sounds starnge!

if i have 500k i don,t need Macedonia🤷‍♀️but besides that: all expat destinations try to kick out and avoid old people bcs of exorbitant health care costs of overweight old retirees! it.s that simple! they only want well off high paying turists, and that is want they smile for...here in Europe and in Asia!
so there is two ways to accomplish it: visa rgeimes on income and opligate enforced health care fees( which locals never pay on theyr measly wages! this is usual in Ecuador, Thailand and everywhere else), investment hirdles for citizenship( 300k in Cyprus, 500 k here...wth? ) solodarity fees at 5% on income for the broke health care like in Cyprus( or i would live zhere already, flats are cheaper by the day bcs expats leave aftr loosing their tax free country! rmemeber! EU pays retirees healthcare from the country of origine anyway COMPLETELY! so why paying income tax and an extra fee) ...
then high income hurdles and no free or cheap healthcare like in Singapore, there an expat who does no work oays all healthcare in cash! ...)
or you make it extremely cheap! like The Phillies: 800 usd per month, or you marry a Phillipina( be happy she wants your money, so it,s the same as in Europe or the Us) and you pay a monthly cheap fee for cheap healthcare...or pay chash🤷‍♀️so most go to the Phillies, not only Europeans or Us( veterans have a priviliges visa, check it) Asians too bcs property is still cheaper than elsewhere...
Africa sinks in a swamp of high cost and taxes, and corruption violence crime deseases amd whites are not really welcomed there anyway, unless you are a chick like me and stupid...so have fun!
The Balkan countries only accept you g cute girls students, paying guests, tourists with money and then go home...investment of 150-200 .ooo euros for retiremnt are a joke! i.m 50 and pay in cash, don.t take others work🤷‍♀️but ehy should i rent when it costs the same within 15 yrs...otherwise i would rent...bcs i have just 10-120 yrs anyway left...but my own property m ans security, a rent means rising renting costs! so buying is cheaper! they just don.t want to!
any real estate broker is welcome 50 k a flat in Ohrid or around, i want to give up my car! and a save country! 🤷‍♀️that simple, ...my helathcare is covered by the Austrian nation! guaranteed! no risk! but they don.t want us!🤣🤣🤣🤣but we have whole villages and districts full of Eastern people who hyped prizes on property! nice deal! we are stupid in Austria! they are vlever...they don.t need a law against foreigners, they just ignore us bcs they keep together!

@Selina R. What a nightmare story you have experienced!  I am very sorry to hear it for you.   And also sorry to hear it for me!  Why in the world would N. Macedonia not welcome westerners with decent pensions that flood money into the local economy for no expense!  My search to Escape from America continues.  I am learning no place is perfect.  In so many countries you are marked as rich as the locals try eating you alive -- everything costs more for whitey.  Well good luck to you. Just go and rent.  Start living the experience and maybe the perfect place will reveal itself to you as you travel. XOXO