Moving To Europe On Your Mind? Best Places To Live And Work, According To Polls

31.08.2023 - 11:43 / forbes.com

“Home sales to Americans in Europe keep growing”; “The number of Americans living in European countries is increasing”; “Americans relocating to Europe is a trend.”

Such declarations and headlines, accompanied by statistics on the numbers of recent American expats published by immigration agencies, European institutions and respectable media outlets make it easy to conclude that Europe is once again a very attractive alternative for Americans looking to relocate.

Quality of life, house prices, political stability, remote working, lower cost of living and frustration with the political situation are among the main reasons mentioned in articles and studies.

As explained by Bloomberg, “more Americans are relocating to Europe, driven across the Atlantic by the rising cost of living, inflated house prices, a surging dollar and political rancor at home.”

“Why Europe is a magnet for more Americans?” wonders The Economist in an article about the growing number of Americans “seeking to escape violence and political strife in the United States.”

According to that article and official statistics from the European Union, the number of resident permits for Americans per country over the last five years increased from about 15,500 to 24,000 in the Netherlands (6,791 granted last year); tripled to almost 10,000 in Portugal (3,275 in 2022); jumped by 13% in Spain from about 20,000 to nearly 34,000 (11,156 in 2022) and reached a total of 12,220 for last year alone in France, 9,367 in Germany and 6,599 in Italy.

“In Britain, the number of resident Americans rose from 137,000 in 2013 to 166,000 in 2021 (the latest estimate),” The Economist writes.

Eurostat data published by SchengenVisaInfo.com also include Denmark (4,689), Switzerland (4,513 ), Ireland (3,831 ) and Czech Republic (2,513 ) among the top ten of the list of countries granting the highest number of residence permits to Americans in 2022. More than 4,000 Americans moved to Denmark and Switzerland last year.

Sweden with 2,447, Belgium with 1,902, Hungary with 1,467 and Austria with 1,134 residence permits granted are also on the list.

Lithuania and Liechtenstein approved the lowest numbers, with only 54 and 27 respectively.

“Recent data by the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, shows that a total of 76,221 Americans were granted residence permits by the EU/Schengen countries last year,” SchengenVisaInfo.com reports, with France, Spain, and Germany granting the highest numbers.

Prices — high prices, in fact — appear as an important factor in the decision to move: “Americans Head to Europe for the Good Life on the Cheap” is how the New York Timesexplains the renewed attraction to living abroad in the Old World.

“Americans, unable to afford the kinds of homes