Visiting Europe always makes me wish I lived in Europe, but it’s hard to do as an American and I’m not sure how we could. Apparently it’s fairly easy to immigrate to Portugal but we don’t know any Portuguese and that would still be a 9 hour flight to visit my sister.
@lemontart 1. Don't ever go to Portugal -- you'll end up _immediately_ making a plan to immigrate (and make the visits with family happen anyway)
2. It depends on where in Europe you're looking at, and where you are in life. Retiring? It is easy to work out just about anywhere you choose if you can show the retirement income to justify it. Still working? There are more hoops to jump through, but it generally boils down to ensuring you're not taking jobs from locals.
@Nikto the problem is almost anywhere in Europe with a decent standard of living would be fine by me so it’s hard to figure out what path to take. I just want to be able to see my sister more often. I have a long time left before retirement so it’s most likely going to involve a work visa.
@lemontart something to consider, in that case, is that while Portugal is amazing in many (many) ways, it has the lowest average salary in all of Europe. Going in on a digital nomad visa is great, but can lead to concerns in the event of job loss.
Spain and southern France have similar climates and significantly better economic outlooks for those in the workforce.