Americans can travel to scores of countries without getting a visa in advance, making the United States passport among the most coveted in the world. But while it’s relatively easy to plan a vacation abroad, planning a permanent move is often complicated, protracted and uncertain.

Generally speaking, most people live abroad because of a job or remote work, school, a path to residency or citizenship through a relative, or personal wealth. Absent those scenarios, an American’s access to a new life in a different country narrows considerably.