Why being a global citizen is the new norm
Most certainly every one of us has at least once started asking ourselves these questions. Existential questions, starting with those few words, are perfectly normal and not uncommon. We human beings have always looked forward, looked for a change, to make thing easier or better. We have always tried to develop, explore, and find better places to live. From the beginning we were all traveling people, nomads, seeking a better life somewhere else, just like birds.
But time changed us. We started to develop small societies, where we could live, work and play successfully. The development of these new “collaboration areas” never really required us to move somewhere else, we had everything we could ever wish for…..or so we thought!
However, the nature of us human beings presented itself again. The nomad spirit within us showed that there is not one single location, where all of our wishes are fulfilled. The societies we once started to build thousands of years ago, were and today still are, just steps along our life journey. Today, we rather see developments that will help us explore and develop ourselves further. We observe technical innovation that enables us to live and work from anywhere, at any time. We see innovation around travelling, even outside of our own planetary atmosphere, all with its purpose to explore, learn and teach, and enrich our lives.
At Strategica, one of our core business values is directly linked to the nature of who we are. We say that “our services should let individuals who want freedom and flexibility, not to be hindered by old static beliefs nor bureaucracy, but instead enable development and exploration”. Slightly odd as a business value you may think, but for us it makes perfect sense, and here is why:
As many others also we at Strategica have gone through different stages of development, also mentioned in a previous blog article talking about why you should get a residency in Paraguay. We experienced, in a pretty short period of time, how the world changed and business along with it. We saw a clear increase in demand by our customers, wanting simplicity and to become more global. We saw how people got more and more interested in the macro-environment, and how the life within the micro-environment became less and less important. We saw how the macro-environment suddenly became the new micro-environment. These changes required Strategica to become agile, to understand our customers better, to create services that could help them and others on their journey.
Today Strategicas’ main focus is to help individuals to become permanent residents of Paraguay. Why Paraguay you may ask? The answer goes back to the beginning of this article, and our business values. We are all nomads in one way or another. We seek opportunities beyond our settled structures, even though they are our comfort zones. Many people want to free themselves and seek new experiences and challenges, and its then our job to make sure this happens and support them as our customers.
So, how did we get here? A fundamental piece goes back to how societies are built and formed (could be a city, a municipality, a region, a country etc). For the members/citizens of these societies, different rules and norms are established, such as how to reside, what and how to pay taxes, which insurances you need, and other obligations. The purpose is clear, to establish some sort of “control and stability” within the environment. This is, of course, perfectly fine, and is critical for managing the society, but it also brings complexities with it when an individual may want to explore other places, or on a more extreme note, not even sees themselves belonging to any specific place at all! This is now happening as we speak. Today we have more than 40 million people in the world who see themselves as digital nomads, and that number is increasing rapidly from day to day. These individuals don’t really see themselves belonging to one defined location. They usually sporadically move from place to place; hence they explore, work, live and play just like everybody else, but in different corners all around the world. The rules and requirements that have been established where they originate from, might therefore not fit these individuals and their lifestyle. They therefore end up in some sort of a parallel universe, a universe that we at Strategica call the “global citizenship.”
The rules and requirements are not yet set for the global citizen, but there are countries that have managed to see this development and have created programs to help them to be successful. Many times, these are countries that in the past seemed rather under-developed, but maybe just because of that, might have gotten a head start and a shortcut to what today is required by these people? The number one country on that list is undoubtedly Paraguay. The country has established numerous of smart and flexible rules for these individuals; Examples such as no direct requirement to permanently reside within the country to keep the benefits and the residency, hence letting the individual be mobile. They have established a tax-exempt policy, where no taxes need to be paid in Paraguay as long as the income is from abroad. Through the Paraguayan residency id-card, they also grant the freedom to travel and trade within the Mercosur countries. These benefits enable the individual to securely live as a global citizen.
When comparing the permanent residency cost and time required, no other country comes close. The other countries are just in the starting pit of offering permanent residency to these types of people. They are trying to follow, copy to do the same, but end up in requiring extensive investments that most cannot afford. We are talking about countries such as Panama, Spain, USA, UK, Montenegro and many of the Caribbean islands etc, all requiring 6 digit investments in USD to grant a permanent residency visas (the so called “golden visa programs.”) On top of that, after obtaining the permanent residency in these countries, a significant bureaucracy and complexity awaits the individual, just to keep the status. All in all, these solutions are half baked, and therefore are not a perfect fit for the global citizen nor anyone else that has done its homework.
For us at Strategica, it has been important to offer services that are relevant, that enables the individual to be mobile. It’s about giving the opportunity to focus on the things that matter the most, instead of needing to spend unnecessary time on less meaningful topics. We are the partner who helps these individuals, along with many others in similar life situations, to become a permanent resident of Paraguay, and giving the opportunity to be a digital nomad, remote worker, or any other description that they can identify themselves with.
So, why are we saying that being a global citizen is a new norm? First, even though we in the last few decades have seen everything from financial crashes, one of the worst pandemics in history, political turbulences etc, the globalization movement have still persevered. The nature of who we are, has not changed, and we are certain this won’t change going forward either. To be locally connected has always been of importance, but more and more people see the future of life as being more international. The expansion of Internet and mobile phones will also continue to connect people all over the world, being mobile is a criterion of success and more and more part of everyone’s daily life.
Strategica has in the last couple of years seen different reasons to become a resident in Paraguay, whether it’s driven by an opportunity, wanting to be more mobile or building a greater security for the future. However, the common theme for them all is that they seek something that their local environment doesn’t provide, rather the opposite unfortunately. They need flexibility to act on the global market, but what is offered to them are complex and irrational processes that make little or no sense to them. Strategic is the service provider that provide a solution to this. We are offering permanent residency in Paraguay in 45 days. We customize packages to fit our customers’ needs, and combine these services with additional add-on solutions, all with the purpose of establishing a one stop shop that solves our customers dilemmas.
What should then be your next step? Well simply, we are all, even if we want it or not, becoming global citizens. The question is just, if you are going to give yourself a fair chance of being successful in that role, or whether you passively will join the train when it passes your station? Strategica can help you, just visit our site to learn more, and take that step to become a full-blown global citizen today!