313: El Salvador: Is This Emerging Latin American Country Worth The Hype?
It seems like every day, a Private Client or subscriber to our newsletter asks me about El Salvador. I can’t say I necessarily blame them; with everything Bukele has done, from turning around the violent crime situation to legalizing Bitcoin, there are plenty of reasons for expats to take an interest in the direction of this emerging Latin American country.
But having not been to El Salvador myself for twenty-some-odd years, I decided to take a long weekend trip down there to meet up with a few business contacts and check out how things had progressed since I had last hitchhiked through it as a much younger man. This episode is my full report from the trip and my thoughts on El Salvador’s potential for expats.
TODAY’S EL SALVADOR TRIP REPORT:
- Hear about the good (I’m still thinking about the pupusas!), the bat (that’s not a typo…), and the ugly of my hotel and Airbnb stays in El Salvador.
- Listen in for the inside scoop on some of the quite frankly terrible things I learned about El Salvador for expats, which mostly centers around the unfavourable tax situation.
- What about the visas? Tune in as I discuss all the available options for expats to live legally in El Salvador.
- Is Bukele really going to be giving out 5,000 “free passports,” as he proclaimed in a tweet? Hear what my El Salvadoran insiders had to say.
- How does the proposed $1 million “Freedom Visa” stack up to other regional citizenship-by-investment programs? Hear my thoughts on this pricey offer.
- What about company structures? I dissect whether El Salvador could be a viable option for forming offshore companies.
- How does El Salvador’s banking system stack up to its neighbours? Discover what I learned about finance in the nation.
- Lastly, hear my final analysis of whether El Salvador could serve as a potential Plan-B destination for expats.
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RELATED EPISODES
306: Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador: An Oasis of Decentralization – Dr. Jack Kruse
304: Expat News: Bukele’s Bitcoin Bank, Portugal Shuns Expats, & Milei’s Record Surplus
287: Expat News: Canadian Exodus, Panama’s Visa Boom, & El Salvador’s Pricey Citizenship
See you all next Wednesday!
About The Host, Mikkel Thorup
Mikkel Thorup; the host of The Expat Money Show, has 20+ years in continual travel around the world, visiting more than 100 countries including Colombia, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Iran.
His goal now is to help Expats just like you to generate additional streams of income, eliminate your tax bill, and take advantage of offshore structures so you can travel the world freely and never have to worry about money again.
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Thanks for sharing Mikkel and for going to El Salvador and checking things out personally. We appreciate you going right to the source and chatting with people on the “ground”.
Holy batman Mikkel…loved the bat story..too funny Mikkel.
Remind me when we are for dinner again Harry and I will find the video I took, you will laugh
Finally someone speaks the truth about this. As a businessman here I can confirm what your lawyer told you is 100% true.
Doing business here is absurdly hard and extremely over regulated. I’m a bitcoiner so don’t take this as bitcoin hate or as someone that doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
I did find it hilarious you mentioned the Western Union thing. Guess what? Look up the official figures for bitcoin for remittances. They’re public and they’re out there. Do your homework. Bitcoin is not used for remittances at all. Not even 1%. Why? Because the idea that transferring bitcoin to El Salvador is cheaper than western union is absurd and people aren’t stupid. Sending the actual sats, if on lightning, is cheaper obviously but people conveniently forget that on-ramps and off-ramps have fees and spreads. Look up what WU and others charge. Basically flat fees around $5. Average remittance is close to $300. Try buying $300 worth of Bitcoin and cashing it out for under $5. You can’t. WU? I can go with actual physical cash to tens if not hundreds of thousands of locations worldwide and have the transfer done or just online with a card and have it cashed out or direct deposited at its destination.
Amazing points, I will look into this for sure, thanks!