Glossary
Relocating comes with its own vocabulary, visas, tax residency, totalization, NHR. This glossary explains each term in plain language, with the free Voymo tool that puts it to work.
- 183-Day Rule : A common test for tax residency: spend more than 183 days in a country during a tax year and it usually treats you as a tax…
- 90/180-Day Rule : A short-stay limit that lets you spend up to 90 days inside any rolling 180-day window. Most days run as a moving count, not a…
- A1 Certificate : An A1 certificate is an EU/EEA/Swiss document proving you stay covered by your home country's social security while working…
- Apostille : An apostille is an official certificate that confirms a public document (like a birth certificate or diploma) is genuine, so…
- Beckham Law (Spain) : Spain's Beckham Law lets qualifying new arrivals be taxed as non-residents for several years, so most foreign income is excluded…
- Biometric Residence Permit : A Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) is a physical ID card that proves your right to live, work, or study in a country. It stores…
- Centre of Vital Interests : Your centre of vital interests is the country where your personal and economic ties are strongest — family, home, work and…
- Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) Rules : CFC rules let your home or new tax-residence country tax the profits of a foreign company you control — even if the company never…
- D7 Visa (Portugal) : Portugal's residence visa for people with their own stable income from outside the country — pensions, rentals, dividends or…
- Digital Nomad Visa : A digital nomad visa is a temporary residence permit that lets you live in a country while working remotely for clients or an…
- Double Taxation Treaty : A double taxation treaty is an agreement between two countries that decides which one gets to tax your income, and how each side…
- e-Residency (Estonia) : Estonia's e-Residency is a government-issued digital identity that lets non-residents open and run an Estonian company online. It…
- EHIC / GHIC : The EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) and GHIC (UK Global Health Insurance Card) give you access to state healthcare in EU…
- eSIM : An eSIM is a digital SIM card built into your phone, so you can activate a mobile plan by scanning a QR code instead of swapping a…
- Exit Tax : An exit tax is a charge some countries apply when you stop being a tax resident, often taxing unrealised gains on assets as if…
- Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) : A US tax rule that lets qualifying Americans living abroad exclude a large chunk of foreign-earned wages and self-employment…
- Golden Visa : A residence-by-investment scheme: you put a qualifying sum into a country (real estate, a fund, a business, or a deposit) and, in…
- IBAN : An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a standardised code that identifies a specific bank account across borders, so…
- Multi-Currency Account : A bank or fintech account that lets you hold, receive, and spend money in several currencies at once, so you can manage funds…
- NHR (Non-Habitual Resident) : Portugal's NHR was a 10-year tax regime giving qualifying new residents reduced or zero tax on much of their foreign income. It…
- Nomad Health Insurance : Health cover built for people who live and work across borders, covering routine and emergency care in multiple countries rather…
- Non-Domiciled Status (Non-Dom) : Non-dom status lets a tax resident of a country be taxed differently on foreign income and gains because their permanent home…
- Permanent Establishment : A permanent establishment (PE) is a fixed or substantial business presence in a country that lets that country tax part of a…
- Proof of Funds : Proof of funds is documentation showing you have enough money to support yourself for a set period, usually required when applying…
- Regime Forfettario (Italy) : Italy's flat-rate tax scheme for small self-employed earners and freelancers: one reduced tax replaces ordinary income tax, with…
- Residence Permit : A residence permit is the official document or status that lets a non-citizen live in a country for longer than a tourist stay…
- Schengen Area : The Schengen Area is a group of mostly European countries that have abolished passport checks at their shared borders, so you can…
- SEPA : SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is a system that lets you send and receive euro bank transfers across 30+ European countries as…
- SWIFT / BIC : A SWIFT/BIC code is the 8- or 11-character bank identifier used to route international wire transfers to the right bank. SWIFT is…
- Tax Identification Number : A Tax Identification Number (TIN) is the unique code a government uses to track you in its tax system. When you move countries you…
- Tax Residency : Tax residency is the country that has the right to tax your income — usually where you live most of the year or keep your main…
- Territorial Taxation : Territorial taxation means a country taxes only the income you earn inside its borders, leaving most foreign-sourced income…
- Tie-Breaker Rule : A tie-breaker rule is the set of steps in a tax treaty that decides which single country you are resident in when two countries…
- Totalization Agreement : A treaty between two countries that coordinates their social security systems, so you don't pay into both at once and can combine…
- Travel Medical Insurance : Short-term cover that pays for emergency medical care, hospital stays and evacuation while you're abroad. It's built for trips…
- US LLC : A US Limited Liability Company is a flexible American business entity. A non-resident with no US activity often pays no US federal…
- Visa Run : A visa run is a short trip across a border to reset or renew the time you're allowed to stay in a country, then re-entering on a…