Product Description

Had enough?

Whether you find the government oppressive, the economy spiraling out of control, or if you simply want adventure, you're not alone. In increasing numbers, the idea is talked about openly: Expatriate.

Over three hundred thousand Americans emigrate each year, and more than a million go to foreign lands for lengthy stays.

But picking up and moving to another country feels like a step into the void. Where to go? How to begin? What to do?

Volume 2 of the Process Self-Reliance Series, this smartly designed two-color guidebook walks you through the world of the expat: the reasons, the rules, the resources, and the tricks of the trade, along with compelling stories and expertise from expatriate Americans on every continent.

Getting Out shows you where you can most easily gain residence, citizenship, or work permits; where can you live for a fraction of the cost of where you're living now; and what countries would be most compatible with your lifestyle, gender, age, or political beliefs.

So if you've had enough of what they're selling here and want to take your life elsewhere-well, isn't that the American way? At any rate, it's not illegal. Not yet, anyway.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41158 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Taking a decidedly pessimistic view of the current American moment, Ehrman's well-designed, all-encompassing guidebook provides detailed instructions for fleeing "before America comes crashing down upon you." Ehrman includes a large number of first-person stories from folks who did just that, starting new lives in China, Australia, Slovakia and Israel, among other destinations. The majority of these voices come from 20 to 30-year-olds, and some of the advice here skews to a younger sensibility, listing, for example, how each country prosecutes pot possession. However, there is valuable and comprehensive information here for a wide range of readers, including a globe-spanning country-by-country guide on how to immigrate-including Old Europe standbys as well as a number of countries in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe-with helpful sections on visa and residency requirements, acclimating to foreign culture and how to earn a living, as well as a handy list of online resources. Though the negative tone of the book might prove off-putting for readers planning an overseas move for reasons unrelated to politics, the wealth of information it carries-as well as its wide range of expatriate perspectives-will prove valuable. Illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Mark Ehrman is a frequent traveler and freelance writer whose work regularly appears in the Los Angeles Times, Playboy, Travel and Leisure, and numerous travel magazines city guidebooks.

Customer Reviews

A good place to start
The strength of this book is that it favors breadth rather than depth.

If you are thinking about leaving the US but don't really know where you'd like to go, or if you have a destination in mind but don't really know what you don't know about emigration, this book is for you. Getting Out covers the top 50 destinations for US expats, with information about the quality of health care, cost and standard of living, and social permissiveness. Also included are brief accounts of the experiences of expats living around the world. There is also good general information about the different pathways available to the potential expat.

Reading it will definately leave you with more questions than answers, since any comprehensive emigration/immigration guide to all the countries in the world would fill a small library. Getting Out will give you the basics and point you in the right direction to find more in-depth information. You won't find anything here that will help you decide to settle in one country over another, but it will help you either narrow your list or give you reason to consider some place you otherwise would not have.

Excellent book with no peers
This is a great book that is a good foundation in researching the how-to's in leaving the country. In a category where there are very few books to choose from, this book is timely and reasonable well written. If you are interested in leaving the United States and not completely sure of where to go, this is a good resource along with the CIA factbook & other well known websites.

Pros:
1) Great list of helpful websites in the back for each country.
2) Excellent group of countries considered around the globe.
3) Decent foundational info about each country considered (50 countries).
4) Very readable style.
5) Good cross section of short blurbs about various peoples rationales in leaving.
6) Fair price for the book.

Cons:
1) No specific info as to why certain countries were included and other excluded.
2) Many countries mentioned in passing (in a positive light) in various parts of text are not considered as possibilities (i.e.: not profiled).
3) No easy way to see how countries stack up against each other at a glance based on various factors.
4) Poor editing... Many typos.
5) Could have had much more specific info about each country for various factors to consider (e.g. Pet specifics for each, education system, etc...)
6) Would have been nice to have at least one person for each country cited. Although difficult to pull off, this would have been better than people telling their stories for a subset of the countries profiled.

In short, this book has very little dead weight material and is a must have if this topic is relevant to you.

Living in Another Country
This is a very fine book for anyone thinking about trying to live in another country. From Canada to France to Egypt to China, most of the world is covered. The book is full of little essays by people who have moved away and lived to tell about it ( a little humor there). The book gives suggestions on steps to take to get started, things to think about before making the move, How to stay (legally and not so legally) and the pluses and minuses of many countries around the world. It's an easy, interesting and quick read. A very good guide book and very informative!