Can I make my personal (tax) residency a virtual office?

@thomas you are right and I am looking to establish a domicile in the country. So all I need is a legal address. Is it possible to get a legal address together with mail forwarding? I don’t think a virtual office will be good also a mailbox etc box is also not what I am looking for I guess. Although some legal companies also have a virtual office address so this might work in some situations. I dont mind to rent because I saw rent prices that are sometimes lower then a virtual office. It is just that picking up mail would be dificult ( if the mail would ever reach the house in the first place ).

@nevergoingback I think you should read the Streber article you linked to again. Nowhere does he claim that you can establish tax residency with a virtual office address. You may however establish domicile by having a permanent residency permit plus a legal address.

Although a country like Panama will allow you to maintain a resident permit without spending more than a day-ish per year there, that isn’t the same as automatically becoming a tax resident there… However, together with an address (for example by renting a room, using a lawyer, etc) you can establish domicile. And if no other country considers you a tax resident according to their own internal rules, that may be enough to be considered tax resident there.

@nevergoingback
If you have a stated purpose and you are not a US citizen, Malaysian banks will open an account for you. They do need a street address initially but once account is established, it is easy to change it to a PO Box.

@nomadcapitalist
First off all thank you for the reply and I admire your work. I actually already knew the article you posted and also agree with you that Panama and Malaysia are the best options.
Costa Rica is a country that I personally like because I love beautifull nature ( they have that in Panama and Malaysia too though ) but I have read that it is required to be present 4 months per year.

Having residency in Panama costs more per month I think because it is required to setup a company and that company should do some activity. I dont think a holding company would do the trick.

Malaysia is far more advanced then Panama if you ask me and alot cheaper to live.

What holds me back now is that I do not live anywhere and for both programs I need to open a bank account. Banks will not accept a PO box and I think that even a address that has suite # in it will not work ( Mailbox Etc address). Is there a solution to this? Renting a appartment can be cheap but then there is no mailforwarding. Renting a virtual office can give this service but will banks (and other companies) accept a business address? (Most company addresses have floor#)

I wrote an article about this exact topic here:

My personal favorites for PTs are Panama and Malaysia. Both seem like reasonable choices; a place like El Salvador could work, but are you really going to live there, use it for anything, or even pass off that you really “live” there?

I think that the EU will do more of what the US is doing over the next few years and crack down on non-residents and make them prove some kind of tie. Panama and Malaysia are great places you’d actually want to live.

While Panama costs a bit more to set up upfront, you get permanent residence and you’re basically done when you’re done. Total investment is $5,000 in the bank.

Malaysia is uber cheap to get setup, but you have to purchase health insurance and do a few other things that involve running around. The main difference, of course, is that Malaysia requires a bank deposit of about $70,000 - a drop in the bucket to some and a deal breaker for others.

I deal with about 18 residency programs, so if you have questions, feel free to ask here or send me a message.

@Munly_Leong there are alot of countries where you dont need to be a minimal amount of days to be a resident. Think of malaysia with mm2h program Costa rica and panama 1 day per year is required there.
This is ideal for PTs!

@wanderingdev thanks I really like your idear! However I am going to use this address for opening bank accounts, giving the address to all companies from my old country that keep mailing me so I need mail forwarding service. And actually… I do not plan to be there alot at all. The reason for this is so I have on country that I officially live and “pay” tax there. This is for me important because I want to incorporate more businesses and open bank accounts and for that I always need proof of residency. And yes I could give my families address but the Netherlands is pretty strict and they could see that address as my residential address if nothing else is known because I receive mail there. The term used for these type of addresses are ghost addresses.

I have called Regus but they told me that they do not allow legal documents to be received and that they will not sign for me. So I can cross that off the list…
Suggestions???

Not sure why US options keep getting mentioned since you’re neither a US citizen nor interested in becoming a US resident so setting anything up there would be…weird.

If you are looking for a home base doesn’t that include having an apartment? Or do you just want a general city that you want to return to on a regular basis? Maybe you could rent an apartment and then AirBNB it when you’re not there?

Thanks for the advice! But America is one of the last countries I would want to have residency.
I actually found some sort of solution.
If you have residency in a country you dont always have to have a address.
This means I can get legal residence in a country and use a virtual office or whatever as my address in other countries. So that would mean I have some sort of home base and have a legal residency but still wont have to pay high rental prices!

Try looking into Earth Class Mail. I don’t use them (yet) but you can recieve your docs in the US and use a US based address, they will even scan and email them for you while you’re on the road.

Ah oops, yeah the tax residency part they dont do but I could handle that part once I’m based there. Could just forward from Earth Class Mail if needed.

Here is a article that claims it is possible. Does anybody has any experience? Is this advised todo?

https://www.streber.st/2015/06/the-permanent-traveller/