The Hollywood actor is a prominent donor to the Democratic Party in the United States. In recent years, that has regularly led to criticism from President Trump, who has called him a “second-rate movie star,” among other things. According to Clooney, it didn’t bother him much. “It’s not my job to keep the President of the United States happy.”
The American dream is now to escape America.
I heard you were dead
I got better
Damnit, another sequel?!
They tried 6 times to make a sequel, Kurt Russell keeps saying no.
It’s harder than you think to renounce American citizenship.
If you’re brown, they’ll do it for you
You don’t have to and it’s not clear whether or not Clooney did.
It would be a massive tax bill if he did.
It really isn’t. https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship
- Extensive forms;
- approval by the U.S. Department of State;
- In-person interviews with U.S. consular officer abroad (at least one in person).
- Renunciation in person;
- Exit tax for renouncing citizenship, on top of existing U.S. tax liabilities;
- Retain Selective Service obligations;
It always has been.
It must be a confusing time for Russian dissidants that just got here 👀
Must be nice to have “Buy Myself French Citizenship” kind of money.
He could do it for under $500K. He probably started the talent investor visa process during the 45 administration, as they take about 4 years to get approved.
Super easy for him to spin up some production company that makes 2 art movies a year, hire 3 French people he knows on 5-year contracts, and he’s basically at the minimum requirements. If he’s bought and invested more than a certain amount in a home as well, that also counts towards citizenship.
He could do it for under $500K.
Oh, is that all? Let me check my couch for loose change.
If he’s bought and invested more than a certain amount in a home as well, that also counts towards citizenship.
I’m sure he has a home in the South of France. Probably walking distance from the Cannes movie festival
I’m sure you’re correct. And yes, these are trivial amounts for him – and not exactly insane amounts if you simply owned a house in LA and sold it to flip it into EU citizenship. IMO the key point is that this is a 4-year process that I bet he started in mid-2021. Time is something he can’t buy.
The US has its own citizenship by investment schemes as well, well before the “Gold Card” or whatever scam that is. Usually the base investment levels on these things are $100K-$300K and then you’ll be on the hook for taxes and admin fees and a lawyer as well. It’s why so many UK cits bought property in Portugal or Greece as they had lower levels for investment to count.
You only need savings of about 1.5x the SMIC (minimum wage) - currently 1801.80€ monthly for 12 months and you can get a year visa. If you have enough the following year, you can renew. Do that four times and you can ask for a more or less permanent multi-year residency if you speak french by that time. So as you can see, you could probably sell a house in the US for a decent profit and invest time enough to gain French residency without needing George Clooney money.
In the process of moving to Fr myself (diginomad). As I understand it you don’t even need 1.5x SMIC in savings just prove you earn 1.5x monthly x12. I could be wrong, still trying to work the plans out if you have any resources you can recommend would love to learn more!
The other big aspect to getting your temp long stay (1yr) visa, if you’re not being sponsored by a company, is to prove your income is solely from non-EU companies. Since I’m WFH American business, I basically just need to pay rent+insurance.
Yes, there seems to be some confusion in the french interpretation of non lucrative visa categories. The benefit of this is that some remote work may be tacitly allowed. The complexity comes really from French taxation and social charges. Nobody can really say whether you will be chased for 9% of your income, 17% of your income, or 47%.
The problem is nobody can actually give you a clear and definitive answer, so if you do things like stay past six months, get a permanent apartment, get rid of your home elsewhere, there is a risk you could be asked to pay even several years later. It makes for a complicated situation, and for this reason I think another country with a clearly specified digital nomad program and tax regime is a much safer bet.
I can get more detailed outside of a public forum.
Add I understand it, permanent residency also requires a language exam and doesn’t guarantee employment rights (because French voters don’t want people “stealing jobs”). So it’s more complicated than that.
The multi-year residency requires B2 proficiency as of this year, and also allows working in France. It is of course up to french authorities as to whether it is granted, taking into account your time in the country and your level of integration.
Probably cheaper than a “Trump Card”
He didn’t buy it, his wife has french citizenship so he can get it too although I bet the process was faster for him since he is rich and famous while I have been waiting 8 months for my wife to be allowed to enter the country.
“It’s not my job to keep the President of the United States happy.”
That’s Jeffery Epstein’s job
That was.
His children would have a good life anywhere. The joys of being incredibly famous and wealthy.
Wish I had the money to escape the United States too
How much does it take?
More than just a plane ticket. You need a marketable skill that is easily transferred, rent, food, utilities, new transportation, new licensing, and coverage for enough months until you can get the job. Also, the immigration fees. Basically, immigration is for the rich who can use money as a cushion or for the impoverished who have nothing to lose by assuming the risk.
More than just a plane ticket. You need a marketable skill that is easily transferred, rent, food, utilities, new transportation, new licensing, and coverage for enough months until you can get the job. Also, the immigration fees.
You’ll need a marketable skill, rent, food, and transportation if you stay, too. I’m not sure what you mean by licensing. Immigration fees is something that I haven’t looked into before, but it appears to be something like 800€ in here Denmark.
As for language, if you pick the Netherlands, Scandinavia or larger German cities, then English will be OK.
I’m not saying that I think it’s a walk in the park, nor that’ll be free, but it may be easier, and less expensive, than people think. Start by going on an extended vacation to the countries that you’re interested in. Maybe talk with potential employers. Then make plans afterwards.
You’ll need a marketable skill . . . if you stay, too.
Fair, but some skills are inherent to your placement within the home country, and transferring that skill to another country would actually add to the expense. A great example of this would be an American lawyer relocating to France. They go through law school and learn the American/English common-law system, then they relocate to France, which bases all its laws in a statutory context. So, not only would they handicapped by this new legal mantra, they’d have to then go to school again and pay to pass the bar again. So, there’s another cost.
I hear real estate in Iran will be cheap.
I’m a regular guy who saved up for years while studying another language and gtfo of the US. It’s an option.
congrats man. welcome 2 the club.
I did that too and I got tired of it and came back and now it looks like the country’s fucked. Thanks a lot guys
If you did it once, you can do it again. Nowhere is perfect, though. If I had it to do over, I’d probably pick one of the Nordics instead of Japan.
Even ethnic Japanese people born outside Japan have a hard time there
Probably a harder time as they’re often expected to know all the unwritten rules and behave a certain way. I know people who have struggled a lot to reintegrate. Many end up working for themselves and/or in entertainment if they have a more western mondset
Having more money than you could spend in your lifetime buys you options not available to most people, news at 11.
i got out with less than 20k.
Wtf is wrong with these comments. Is lemmy full of hate bots now aswell?
Trump has won twice, and you still blame “bots”.
It’s people. Just people.
God i know but i want them to be bots.
A rich man and wife feel safer in France than in the US. I don’t necessarily care how safe the ultra-wealthy feel in any country
If a rich man and his wife feel safer outside the United States, that’s saying something. And you completely missed the whole theme under discussion.
What exactly is it saying? I understand his wife is a lebanese, but how are they materially any less safe in the US than they are in France? This really just sounds like wealthy liberals changing country clubs. I’ve only ever been to France as a tourist but they didn’t seem any less prejudice there.
I think Clooney might be specific about paparazzi pressure here. You don’t really see the same level of harassment from this kind of press in France. I don’t know.
Yeah, their privacy laws are no joke.
The divided states are a hate-filled bunch of rag-tag counties occupying space on the same continent. In Europe, there is less (not zero) hate and people do not define their lives around Fox news.
Its kinda funny someone with the name ocean is shitting on george clooney.
Wow, I didn’t realize making a movie gave you rights over the entire concept of the ocean
Only if you’re George Clooney.
Ok, but how is this World news?
It vaguely involves a non US country
Vaguely? Specifically.
Vaguely international barely news article in WorldNews. Quick, upfart it.
So glad to hear that his unimaginably privileged kids will be better off in France. I think they would probably do pretty damn well just about anywhere. Hell, I’d move to France too if I could do so in a financially sustainable way (spoiler, I don’t think I could).
I think that’s the point. They could be anywhere and they choose not USA.
Do you think getting a job in France and living like French people do not to be a financially viable option?
The rich and famous will live their lives in a bubble no matter where they reside. And Clooney is still going to hear about Trump’s criticisms no matter where he lives.
Lemmy in a fucking nutshell: Fuck these rich people!
Also lemmy, missed the entire fucking point.
People who are “actor rich” aren’t the problem. AFAIK Clooney hasn’t done anything particularly immoral, he just played in some movies and got paid well.
You should be mad about the amoral corporations that are ruining the world, and the sociopaths that control them.
Tina Turner did it before it was cool.
Mark Twain, Mary Cassatt, James McNeill Whistler, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Henry Miller, Josephine Baker, Alexander Calder, Man Ray, Stuart Davis, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Beauford Delaney, Kay Sage, Joan Mitchell, Ellsworth Kelly, Sam Francis, Alexander Archipenko, and Edmonia Lewis all did it before it was cool.
Alexander Archipenko? Wow, I didn’t know that.
It was Switzerland though.
Which is more impressive because she had to pass German exam and get approval from the community.
I thought her husband is German.
Just like Richard Scarry! He also moved to Switzerland.
Cuz you’re rich, dummy.
