Thinking of moving to Ireland from the U.S.? You’re not alone, and this episode will help make the whole process a little less daunting.

This week I’m joined by Jeremy Strozer - consultant at Expatsi.com and an American expat who moved to Ireland with his family in 2020. Jeremy had to learn a lot of what he knows now the hard way, but now helps other U.S. expats to get perspective on their move and take a practical approach to what can be a very emotional and turbulent time.

In Part One of our conversation, we talk through how to approach your Visa, how to get a sense of where in Ireland might suit your lifestyle, what surprised Jeremy about buying a house here, and why the Irish Health Insurance system requires a bit of patience and tact to navigate.

Jeremy shares all the practical guidance he can offer as someone who’s made the move with his family, and he’ll be back to talk about even more in Part 2.

Main Topics discussed in this Episode:

1. Understanding Visa Options: Jeremy outlines the different visa pathways available depending on your life stage and how to approach the decision based on your personal circumstances.
2. Choosing Where to Live in Ireland: How to explore different counties before committing, and why his family ended up settling in County Clare.
3. The Realities of Buying a House in Ireland: Jeremy shares his experience with the Irish property market, the quirks of bidding through auctioneers, and how the pace and culture around home-buying differs from the U.S.
4. Navigating the Irish Health Insurance System: They talk through how health coverage works in Ireland, the importance of planning ahead, and why managing expectations is key when accessing care as an expat.
5. Adjusting to Life in a New Country: Jeremy reflects on the emotional highs and lows of relocation and how to find balance and stability during the transition.

Contact Jeremy:

As an exclusive deal for Taxbytes For Expats listeners, you can book a Consultation Call with Jeremy for 20% off. Click the following link to book your consultation today: https://calendly.com/strozerj/ireland-consultation-clone.

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Taxbytes for Expats is brought to you by ExpatTaxes.ie. If you're considering moving to or from Ireland and would like support with your taxes, book a consultation today: https://expattaxes.ie/services-and-pricing/.

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Welcome to Taxbytes for Expats, the top tax tips you want to know as an expat.

The podcast is here to help answer the common queries and concerns expats have

when moving to or from Ireland. Complex taxes explained simply. We'll focus on the Irish and

international tax issues to be aware of to ensure you save time, money and stress.

Hi everyone, this episode is part one of Stephanie Wickham's chat with Jeremy Stroza, consultant for expatsy.com and an expat

himself to Ireland from the US with his family. Jeremy covers every part of the journey for an

expat coming to Ireland. And in this first part, he talks about visas, picking a county to live in,

buying a house and health insurance. He's an expert in these topics as well as having a

lived experience, which makes this an important episode to listen to. Make sure you're subscribed

if you enjoy this episode, because in part two,

they'll be talking about all the other aspects you're looking to know before you get to Ireland.

And of course, if this episode resonates with you and you know someone moving to Ireland,

make sure you share it with them as well.

Enjoy.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Tax

bytes. I'm really looking forward to this episode because I think it's a really practical one that

our listeners are going to really enjoy, and particularly those who might be in the planning phases of their

move to Ireland. The guest that we have today works mainly with people who are relocating from

the US but his advice will resonate with anyone who is planning their relocation. Jeremy Stroser

from Ex Pazzi is joining us and Jeremy is a consultant who specialises in helping people

create a life in Ireland, specifically Americans who are planning their move. And he advises on all aspects of it. He

offers a service where he acts as a sounding board for his clients and he uses his personal

experience to help them navigate their own situation and their move here. He moved with

his family to Ireland in October 2020. And in the middle of COVID, two job changes and starting a

company, he realised he could simply retire and focus on his love of teaching acting. Jeremy and his family have been through a huge

amount and they've made their way towards Irish citizenship. They've purchased a house,

acquired Irish driving licences, they've dealt with medical issues. But in the middle of it all,

they found a way to thrive and he now consults with Americans who are considering their move

to Ireland. He shares his experiences and that essentially means that he's able to help them

debate whether or not life in Ireland is right for them.

He acknowledges it's not easy to move to a new country, but he can at least help to make your

journey on the path a little easier using his experience. You can talk to him about every

aspect of relocating from where to live, how to engage socially, learning to drive on the other

side of the road, getting health insurance, finding a job, and even down to things like

finding out what the right visa is for you, buying a house, car, and even working out how to pay for

your oil or your gas heating. There's a lot to learn. Jeremy, we've got a lot to talk about.

Thank you so much for joining us. I don't really know whether or not my intro did you justice.

You've been through a lot to get to this point, haven't you? Kind of moved to Ireland.

It's been a journey. Thank you so much, Stephanie. I appreciate the opportunity to talk and to share.

So maybe before we jump into questions, because I have some brilliant questions to ask you, kind of distilling

some of what we introduced there. Tell us about you. What brought you to Ireland? Why Ireland?

And what did you do before you became a consultant on Irish immigration relocation?

Certainly. So my family had been talking about moving abroad for some time before we made the

move here. And I worked for a company back in 2020 that wanted to take advantage of the intellectual property rights tax possibilities that Ireland

offered versus the US. There's a lower tax rate for those. And so they were looking for leadership

within the company to move to Ireland. And then all intellectual property created under those

positions would then be taxed at the Irish rate rather than the US rate. So they offered that up.

And I went home and talked with my wife that night and said, hey, they're offering Ireland. It's just like Ireland.

We don't know anything about Ireland. And so we were originally kind of against the idea. We're like, not really where we want to be. We don't know anything about it. We have no family. We

have no connections there. But then we started doing research. We started looking at Ireland,

understanding the Irish culture, the Irish language, the Irish political system,

and where we could live in Ireland that was not Dublin. No offense to Dublin,

but there's a lot of Ireland available and not everything is always there. And we recognized that if we lived on the

west coast of Ireland, we could live much less expensively than we could in the U.S. And we would

be able to be closer to the ocean than we'd ever been in our lives, in a natural environment,

in a walkable community, at a pace of living that was more attuned to the way we wanted to live.

And we were very attracted to the fact that Ireland has instilled in its constitution, the ability to homeschool. We have two neurodivergent

kids, classrooms are not where they belonged. And we found that Ireland created an opportunity for

the whole family that was really positive. So went back to my company, said, sure, we'll go.

I took a 50% pay cut to come here. When I got here, after the company got its tax benefit,

they made me redundant. And so my family had moved over, we were six months in, and I was told you got to go. And I was freaking out because

I was on a critical skills visa and I needed to be two years in the role, or at least on the visa,

before we would get residency. So I scrambled, I looked for lots of different jobs. I luckily

found one at a US pharmaceutical company that had big facilities in Ireland. and I was able to transfer my critical skills visa over to

them and then work for the remainder of that two year timeframe with that company

until my residency came through. And that was a godsend because we love Ireland. I

am so thankful to that original company for offering this up to us because despite that

experience with them, they gave us the gift of here. Wow. That's a really good story. A lovely intro into like lots of even positives and

negatives and challenges you've already alluded to. I want to focus firstly on something you said

about the visa. High level, what do you share with people who come to you to talk about,

you know, what your experience means for them when you talk about visas? What do you say to people?

Well, first, I want to figure out where they are in their life and if they're looking to work,

if they're looking to retire, if they're looking to retire, if they're looking

to be a student, because there's different paths. And depending on where you are and what you want,

then I'll help you on the path that makes the most sense for you. And so if they are later in years

and have the financial resources, I will highly recommend the Stamp Zero because that's retirement

visa. They don't have to work. All they have to do is prove means and recognize that the Irish government will allow them to have residency and that's

a very positive option for many people. If they're looking to work usually I

will focus them on the critical skills visa because if they have any kind of

critical skill or technical capability that's something that they might be able

to satisfy the criteria of and that'll allow them within the two-year time

frame to gain residency which is usually what they're looking for on potentially

a path to citizenship. And if they're looking for on potentially a path to citizenship.

And if they're looking to be a student, I'll recommend that they go on a student visa.

And that sometimes is hard for people because they want to bring others with them.

And you are not allowed to do that on the student visa.

And so then we'll work out how they can get that done, what ways they could sort of have

whoever they want to bring with them apply for their own visas and try to work for the

whole group or family to make sure that everybody is covered with the right

visa that makes sense for who they are and where they are.

So consider your own situation and figure out your path with respect to that.

You mentioned as well something that I thought was really, really interesting.

There is life outside of Dublin.

Now, I love Dublin.

Absolutely.

I've lived there.

It's a fantastic city.

It's a lot going for it.

Yeah.

What do you say to people who have no idea where to live in Ireland?

What do you share with them about your experience?

So we actually ended up where we are by utter accident.

And so I offer them the opportunity to have some happy accidents that will allow them

to discover the personality of the different parts of the country.

Because everywhere you go in Ireland has its own sort of characteristic.

And so if you're going to Kerry or you're going to Sligo or if you're going to Donegal,

you're going to have a different lived experience in

those places. And so what I recommend is that people take the time to spend at least a week

living in a particular place as if you would be living there. So find a way to go to the grocery

store, go to social engagements to have a lived experience, not a vacation experience in that

place. And what does that feel like to you? Does that feel right? Does it feel less walkable than you want or more urban than you really desiring or, you know, whatever your criteria are for living? And then as you kind of tour different All of the counties were closed. We could not

travel outside of Dublin. I got special permission from the Garda to go one day to look at three

houses, one in Killarney, one in Newmarket on Fergus, and one in Galway. The houses that were

available, two of them had a lot of glass in the house that was very breakable. One of them did not.

With my kids being the ages that they were, I decided I wanted the house with the least glass.

That is how we ended up in County Clare.

You couldn't have predicted that.

Not at all.

And how have you transitioned? Actually, sorry, that might be a good question to add. Where had

you lived in the US?

I was originally born and raised in California. I was kind of splitting my childhood between the LA

and the San Francisco Bay Area. Then I lived for about 25 years in the Washington DC area with two

years off to go to

Chicago to study improvisational acts.

So you've lived in some pretty eclectic places.

What's your experience of Clare been?

I mean, not necessarily the people listening are going to

want to move to Clare per se, but you know,

It's a beautiful county, yeah.

Oh, it's stunning.

It's stunning.

What's your experience been?

You know, are you glad you picked it as the place to settle?

We are so glad we picked it.

It's been a wonderful place for us.

Like I said, Ennis where we live, the town is really walkable.

I could get anywhere I want in about 20 minutes.

We're the closest that we've ever lived

to the beach, to the ocean.

And what we've also realized is that

we had originally come with the intent

of buying a place right on the water,

looking right at the ocean.

But we spent a lot of time in town

doing things with the kids, doing things with friends.

And so we decided when we bought our place

to buy it in town and just drive to the ocean rather than live on the ocean and have to drive

every day to get into town. One thing I will note though, is had that happy accident of the housing

not worked out in Clare, had I ended up in Galway, had we ended up in Kerry, I imagine we would have

been just as happy because wherever you go in Ireland, there's something that you can connect

to. I have found that I really love Kerry. I love walking through the forest there. I love

walking through the mountains. I love Galway. It is gorgeous. And whenever I go to other counties

and I look around, I'm like, oh, we could have been happy here too. And that is very appealing

to me because wherever you end up is just where you belong and that's all right. And you could be

someplace else later if that works out too. And that's cool. And I think, and I imagine you'd

agree that, you know, when you've lived in different places,

you realize there is no such thing as a perfect place. Everywhere has its drawbacks. And it

doesn't matter if you're living in sunny climate or a wet climate or in the country or in the town,

if you want to find fault with where you are, you'll find it. And sometimes that's the hard

part when you move to a new country is, you know, trying sometimes in spite of challenges to maintain a positive attitude.

That's not always easy.

What was your experience?

And it leads nicely to my next question about buying a house in Ireland.

And I think tangentially, there's a nice link

between the word challenge and house buying in Ireland.

You can be honest.

Oh, yes.

So it was not what I was accustomed to.

We had purchased two previous places in the US

over my wife and I, my shared experience there.

And we were very surprised when we got to Ireland and there's no buyer's agent.

We were just like, what do you mean?

Nobody represents me.

Like how is that?

And, and also the, the listing process where each individual

company does its own listing and Daft, IE, you know, kind of has a

collection of them, but it's not a comprehensive one.

And so we found it difficult to find the places to go look at. And then when we started bidding, we found that the auctioneer didn't really care who

we were.

They just wanted our amount of money to go higher than the other person's amount of money.

And then they went on holiday for a month during the bid.

We were shocked.

Like, what do you mean you're on holiday? Like we're in the process of fitting

on these houses. And so everything was just paused while they were enjoying themselves

in the Canary Islands, which are beautiful and I highly recommend them, but like, really?

We're trying to do it, do you?

Yeah, exactly. But that leads to something that I've noticed about Ireland in general, which allows me as an American to realize I didn't have it right before, which was not everything needs to be done right this second. Not everything has to be a hurry and it'll get done.

You'll figure it out. There is a process through there. It isn't what I'm used to, but it's fine.

You know what though, that's really interesting because, you know, when you move country, we naturally look for things to be familiar because it makes us feel a bit safe.

You know, it's a big, big move. You've got kids and a wife and, you know, maybe you've got a dog

and furniture and, you know, so it's, it's not unusual or I suppose unexpected that we kind of

go, what, this is different. But I think what you're saying is, you know, just lean into that

a little bit because the sooner that you kind of go, this is the way it is. And maybe I'll learn

something from it. I would completely, I mean, from personal experience,

it was the other way. When we went from Ireland to Australia, it was like, wow, like this is quick,

you know, I want a driver's license. I mean, actually you get your driver's license pretty

quickly in Ireland these days, but you know, lots of things happened in a very formulaic way.

That was refreshing. And you know, so what can I learn from this? And sometimes it'll just be

learning that, oh, this is not the way I expected it to be.

Did you, you obviously, did you close on that house?

Did he come back?

We did.

Yes.

Yeah.

This is the house we live in now.

Yeah.

So it all worked out.

Okay.

Wow.

So what, what experience or what do you say to people when they're coming down as the key point?

So one of the key things that I talk to people about is you are going to go through a hype cycle.

You're ramping up to do this big thing.

You're doing all the paperwork.

You're getting your planning ready.

You're trying to figure out how the move works. So this excitement level is rising, then you go and you actually have

this thing happen, you arrive in country, you are top of excitement, chances are, you're also pretty

exhausted, because that was a really hard thing to do. And then what will happen is you'll hit,

you've hit this peak, and you're going to start coming down. And you're going to come to a place

where you are just, it's been 10 days since you've seen the sun, it's raining, it's

cold, it's windy. You're not finding the house you're looking for. You're running out of time

in your Airbnb before you have to figure out where you're living. If you brought kids with you,

they're miserable. And you're just like, what have we done? This is horrible. I can't believe

we've upended our lives for this. And that is sort of the bottom that you're going to have. And you're going to just be really frustrated and kind of just like, this isn't working.

And you will recover from that.

And you will come to a place that's sort of halfway in between of homeostasis, where you

found a place.

It wasn't exactly what you were looking at initially.

You're living in a place.

It wasn't exactly where you thought you would be geographically.

That's fine.

You're living your life in a way that is comfortable, but it isn't the ideal you had told yourself

it would be when you were getting this all

set up.

And that's all right, because nothing in life actually ever is.

But once you hit that place of homeostasis and you're sort of comfortable, it gets good.

And you just look back at it and you're like, oh, okay, it worked out.

I'm all right now.

You know what?

The funny thing is what you just said could really apply to many things in life, couldn't

it?

It's just, you know, but naturally, you know, moving country is one of the most stressful things you can do.

So it's not unrealistic to kind of want it to go easily or it's not.

Of course we do.

But it rarely doesn't go smoothly in every respect.

That's part of the fun.

But maybe just in hindsight at the time, you're like, no

practical housekeeping things, health insurance.

My brother is in Texas and he had to go and visit a hospital the other day

and I'm aghast when I hear what the bill could have been if he didn't have health insurance.

What's been your experience with health insurance in Ireland? You know, people have that concern

when they come here. Yeah. So when we arrived, we were under my company's health insurance plan,

which was a private insurer. Due to the fact that both my wife and I have pre-existing conditions,

we've stayed with that health insurance provider. Now with that though,

is when we go to the GP, they offer us, do you want to do this through the national health

insurance? Or do you want to do this through your private provider, depending on what the issue is

and what's needed done. And usually it's like, yeah, whatever one's first and fastest is which

way we'll go. And that's fine. So we have maintained our private health insurance because

one, that's a criteria for citizenship is that you have to prove that you will not become a ward of the state.

So we will not take from the state. We will keep paying for health. I will note though,

that our health insurance costs have gone up in the four years that we've lived here by 50%.

Whoa, that's high. It is really high. And the coverage level has gone down in terms of what

is actually covered and how much it costs us in terms of that coverage. So I would say that we still pay significantly less than we did in the

US, probably about one fourth of the amount that we paid in the US for health insurance,

but it's getting closer. And so I don't know where that trajectory is going to go.

And we do not want to change health insurance companies because as I mentioned, the pre-existing

conditions, if we change, then that clock starts over again, and that's not worth it to us. So we've maintained our health insurance.

But what I advise others to do is if they're coming on a retirement visa, obviously they're

going to want their own private health insurance because the Irish government requires that.

If they're coming on critical skills, chances are their company is going to be covering their

health insurance because the company sponsored that visa. And if they're coming as a student,

then they're going to get student coverage usually through the university or through private insurance that way.

So they will be covered in what way makes

sense for them, depending on what their criteria are.

It is far less expensive than the US.

In terms of care, you get really good care.

We haven't lacked in care here.

The technology, the healthcare, everything has been fantastic, both in terms of when

I go to the private health insurance's clinic or when I go to a university hospital for the A&E.

Like both of those have been very good.

I have waited a lot longer at A&E for entry into getting to see somebody, but that's just

because there's a huge demand and not a lot of supply of doctors, physicians and nurses

in Ireland and A&Es around the country are struggling to keep up.

Yeah, I think that sounds like a common experience.

Did you find getting health insurance was difficult?

So like I said, it came with the company when we moved over.

The company just provided that as part of my benefits.

So we didn't have to go out and find it.

Okay.

It was just part of the company plan, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

That's interesting.

So what do you recommend that people might do if they don't have that coverage when they come with their employer?

So usually what I'll do is I'll recommend the four or five largest health insurance providers in Ireland, as well as international health insurance providers, if they are thinking about Ireland as maybe a snowbird location where they kind of spend some of the year here and some of the year someplace else.

And so depending on their circumstance, I'll give them guidance on do you want an Irish insurer or do you want an

international insurer? And then I'll work with them to try to find the right one for their price

level for the coverage that they need, because they definitely don't need what my wife and I have

for our family, but they'll need what's relevant to them and their lived experience.

Thanks for listening to Taxbytes for Expats. Please do leave a rating or review wherever you listen to your podcast. And as always,

remember to take professional tax advice specific to your personal circumstances before acting or

refraining from action in connection with the matters dealt with in this series. The material

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