4 Best Countries to Live and Work Abroad: 2021

1. Czech Republic

Obtaining a one-year visa requires jumping though a number of hoops, but once granted it can be renewed for a two-year, long-term residence visa. After five years as a legal resident, the expat can apply for Czech citizenship and a Czech passport, which is an EU passport that allows them to live and work anywhere in the EU.

The first step is apply to join the "živnostensky" ("zivno") list, a trade license for any Czech resident who works independently, which will take a week at most. Then, with zivno in hand, expats can apply for a one-year, temporary residence visa. They must do this at a Czech Embassy outside the Czech Republic, and show they have a notarized lease agreement for housing for the full length of the visa. They will need a signed letter from their bank — translated into Czech — stating they have the equivalent of 125,000 Czech crowns on deposit (about $5,700), and an account debit card as proof that they can access the account. Finally, they will need a passport, an FBI criminal background check and an application form.

Hiring a local agency to help with the process should cost less than 15,000 crowns (about $685). The embassy fee is a separate 5,000 crowns (about $230).

(Image: Maks_Ershov/Adobe Stock)