I’m not so sure this part is accurate- on this page , a former NYPD Sgt/current adjunct professor of criminal justice says:
So it’s very possible that the police will *not *be searching for you.
I’m not so sure this part is accurate- on this page , a former NYPD Sgt/current adjunct professor of criminal justice says:
So it’s very possible that the police will *not *be searching for you.
That will be pretty much universally true. Although each jurisdiction can allocate their resources as they see fit, NCIC will only allow someone to be entered as missing if they are considered endangered.
So will they do anything at all? Will there at least be some kind of general notice sent out? “Hey, if your jurisdiction has an unidentified, male, pasty, fat-ass clogging up your morgue, let us know. He might be our missing person.”
No. The US doesn’t keep track of who leaves the country, and local paperwork doesn’t automatically flow back to the US government, let alone local governments.
There are some circumstances where information does get transferred. For example, after many years of living in Japan I went back to the US with my then wife. As she was Japanese, US customs was able to understand that I was living in Japan and asked for my Japanese resident ID number. I had been in and out of the States many times previous to that. However, customs would not share that information with local governments. How could they? They wouldn’t know where in the US I’m from.
There are not a few foreigners living in Asia who are living with a local and work off the books such as running a bar together.
Unless you are running from the law, living in a foreign country is a way people can easily “disappear.”
I just remember the complete questionnaire I had to fill out two years ago for a simple tourism visit to India. The rules about anything longer than tourist visas to Egypt or Tanzania (to pick 2 other examples) seemed similar. Staying longer implied a lot of red tape.
Plus the problem going to a different country is going to be money -there are a lot less privacy rights from authorities, you can’t carry too much money out of the USA without breaking laws, I assume the authorities will want taxes (and hence documentation) for anyone working for enough money to maintain a passable lifestyle… Dealing with a bank will require documentation, and don’t think the locals won’t notice and gossip if you show up in the village market regularly with foreign currency and nobody has seen you go to the bank. Western history is full of stories of the local thugs deciding that that old miser must have a pile of money hidden in their house, and then torturing him to try to find it. Foreign countries will be the same.
What does it take to be a permanent resident of the Philippines or Thailand? I suppose one of the advantages there is not so much you disappear and nobody has any idea, but you are lost in a maze of chaos (especially if you use a mail drop) and it would be difficult for an American to track you down.
I’ve lived overseas for over 30 years, I’m slightly aware of what is necessary to live and work in a foreign country.
None of this has anything to do with my answer. Let me remind you.
This of course is in response to your statement.
My answer has not changed.
No. This information does not in one way or another make itself known back home unless the government is actively looking for someone, such as someone who is wanted for a serious crime.
Cite that it does. Otherwise, there isn’t anything to discuss.
Like I said each individual agency can waste the time of their detectives as they wish. An adult is free to leave their home whenever they wish. And they don’t have to tell anyone. That’s not a police matter.
What is considered an endangered missing person is governed by what is required to be entered into the National Crime Information Center database.
The categories are:
[ul]
[li]have a proven physical or mental disability (Disability - EMD)[/li][li]are missing under circumstances indicating that they may be in physical danger (Endangered - EME)[/li][li]are missing after a catastrophe (Catastrophe Victim - EMV)[/li][li]are missing under circumstances indicating their disappearance may not have been voluntary (Involuntary - EMI)[/li][li]are under the age of 21 and do not meet the above criteria (Juvenile - EMJ)[/li][li]are 21 and older and do not meet any of the above criteria but for whom there is a reasonable concern for their safety (Other - EMO)[/li][/ul]
The last one is pretty broad and a judgement call. Depending on what the reporting party says your regular guy who just walked away might be put in that category.
I fear what they told you about the EU is wrong: If you move to another country, you may only stay without a visa for three months, after that period you have to register with the autorities and will need a residence permit, a work permit too if you intend to work. Then you will get an ID-card showing who you are and your status: legally residing EU-foreigner (the UK does it differently, granted, see where that got them). That will be notified to the original country. In most countries (perhaps all) in the EU you will have to show you have unregistered in your original country to allow for this procedure, they want to avoid granting legal residence in several countries simultaneously. You do not have the right to live wherever you want in the EU: you only have the right to work there as an employee. For that a work contract is often required. If you want to stay without a contract you may have to prove you have the financial means not to be a burden on your new State: if you are a Romanian pensioner with a 100€/month pension you will not be granted the right to live in Germany with a much higher level of guaranteed social benefits. Whatever you do, the autorities in the EU (the UK is perhaps different but probably not a Member State for much longer and let’s be frank: *where *in the UK would you like to disappear?) will want you to register: they may give you formal rights or simply tolerate you, but they will want to know where you are and who you are.
€urope and its Member States have the propensity to become more and more bureaucratic with the passing time: are the U$A any different in this regard?
I don’t remember the specifics for the USA, but the more common recent rule was that you had to notify on exit if you were carrying a lot of money (or equivalent notes).
And some countries have got rid of even that requirement.
The rule on not exporting currency at all was from when countries ran strict exchange rate controls. Not many countries try to do that now.
AFAIK, you are correct in the US has not had a law restricting the amount of cash, but requires declaring the amount when either entering or leaving the country.
Other countries have similar laws. I’d be surprised if many countries repealing those laws. Often the last 36 years of my experience, the laws have gotten tighter rather than looser.
Oh, yes, it’s perfectly legal to leave the USA with a valise carrying $1M in small unmarked bills. It’s also perfectly legal for customs to seize that cash and hold it for the authorities, who will then take it as asset forfeiture unless you hire a lawyer to defend the money and prove the money has done nothing wrong. It’s entirely possible that you may actually be allowed to leave the USA unmolested (or rather, your money unmolested) carrying several hundred thou in cash. I rate it highly unlikely, since there are areas of the USA where simply driving down the highway will get the contents of your wallet confiscated by the police since you cannot prove you did not get it as proceeds of crime. (Skin hue is a factor)
I find it hard to believe this reporting requirement is disappearing from international travel, given that the USA is twisting arms all over the world for the (perfectly justifiable) goal of throttling money-laundering techniques for the drug trade and organized crime in general.
But to get back to the OP - leaving the country with enough cash to live comfortably for decade(s) is not trivial and certain to draw notice.
I also wonder what the legal requirements are for foreigners seeking to spend extended periods in third world countries. I know it’s possible - I saw a large number of “hippy” types in Pushkar, for example. they can’t all be living on daddy’s largesse. Are the rules typically overlooked by authorities given financial incentives? I imagine requiring some form of financial self-sufficiency would be a minimum requirement.
How likely in a large cosmopolitan city like Berlin or Paris that the authorities would notice a foreigner unless they do something to draw attention?
What do those Brits etc. who like to spend 6 months a year in their villa in Spain do for legalities?
(Of course, if you go off to live in a rural cave, you stand out and the Park Rangers or whatever and the local villagers will certainly notice.)
Crystal Haag was only 14 when she ran away, but she managed to build a completely new life pretending to be 23, and lived for 21 years in New York City until she decided on her own to reconnect with her family. She had a felony drug conviction in her new identity, but no issues with the law when she returned to Baltimore.
we had a local guy walk away , he was married . He left from his job at a 7/11 type place and at first cops thought he was a crime victim. After 6 months or so someone spotted him around New Orleans. He did come back not long after that and divorced his wife, I think his kids were grown. I think he wanted to be fishing guide so that’s what he did after he left.
[quote=“Loach, post:27, topic:832081”]
[li]are 21 and older and do not meet any of the above criteria but for whom there is a reasonable concern for their safety (Other - EMO)[/li][/QUOTE]
I assure you their reputation for self-harm is greatly exaggerated
If you are a US Citizen who earns income, the timing would be tricky, because you are required to file a 1040 with the IRS every year, unless you have no income that year or your income is a negligible amount (less than $1,000 IIRC). Suppose you have a job, earning $500 per week, taxes withheld and everything, and then you decide to take off in October of 2019. After April 15th of 2020, you’re in trouble with the IRS for failure to file. Okay, so you wait until April of 2020 (after you’ve filed for 2019) and then take off. But not so fast, now you’ll get in trouble on April 15th of 2021. You’d have to wait for January of 2021, file for 2020, and then take off before you’ve earned enough money in 2021 to require you to file in 2022. Tricky.
I have known a few people who failed to file a 1040 for a few years. Some of them got away with it, others got unpleasant letters from the IRS saying the IRS decided to make assumptions about the taxpayer’s income during the missing years, and consequently sent the taxpayer a hefty bill for extra taxes owed on fictional money. If they do that and you come back to civilization more than four years later, you’ve missed your window of opportunity to file an amended return, and now you owe lots of money to the IRS, and they could go after you for failing to pay it.
Of course, it would be even worse if the IRS was convinced that you intentionally tried to avoid paying your rightfully owed taxes. They could prosecute you for tax evasion.
When you get rid of exit cards, there’s no easy place to force people to make an exit declaration.
But since /all/ large cash transactions have to be reported now, partly because the USA is twisting arms all over the world for the (perfectly justifiable) goal of throttling money-laundering techniques for the drug trade and organized crime in general, they’ve got all that information long before you arrive at the airport.
You’re overthinking things. TokyoBayer is absolutely right. I’ll add my 28 years of expat living to his 30, and say that there are counries wheree, if you are willing to take a few risks and live cheaply, and aren’t kept awake at night by worry over getting caught, you stand a good chance of melting into the background for decades.
I know plenty of people who live illegally in Indonesia - they came on a tourist visa, overstayed and by accident or design just ended up never leaving. Sure, the Indonesian authorities are not amused, and there will be fines, blacklisting, and possibly even jail time if they catch you, but foreigners walking down the street almost anywhere are not so remarkable that the authorities will definitely find you. (Sometimes they do, of course, but if you keep your head down your chance of success is pretty high - especially if you have the cash to pay someone off, though you’ll probably end up having to do that over and over.) You can illegally teach English and/or have a little shop with your local partner to bring in some cash. Personally I could never stand to live like that, but there are people who find it preferable to whatever awaits them back in their home country.
For the most part, overstaying visas simply means getting kicked out of the country unless the person is breaking the law in other ways.
The other way is just keeping taking “visa runs,” short trips to another country to reset the tourist visa. I’ve got a friend here in Taiwan who has lived on a tourist visa for over a decade. He goes to HK every three months.
That’s perfectly legal, although a bit risky because the country may decide you have been in their country long enough. I know someone in Japan that had that happen to him. He had been in Japan for two years and would take visa runs to Seoul.
In the summer after high school, I worked in a factory for three months making furniture with a bunch of stoners and hard core partiers. Shit job, but it paid for the weed. A lot of the people living in foreign countries off the books were from the same socio-economic class.
Living like a native can be very cheap, and if you are used to not having a lot, it doesn’t really matter if it’s in the States or Bangkok.
I’ve talked to people in the Caribbean who left the US for good. None of them liquidated and carried cash with them, that’d be ridiculous. The idea, from what I’ve heard, is to put your money “in the cloud” to borrow a computer concept.