Help us find a new country!

Consider The Netherlands - the economy is great, almost everyone in Amsterdam and in the cities speaks English fluently, foreigners (and esp Americans) are well-received, and it's a great place to live...

Never been there, but how about Kozhikode?

My intuition says Italy. You'd need to learn the language, but enough italians speak English that the transition is doable. Second guess, give Chennai a look. English is pervasive (among the business/educated class), and one of you speaks Hindi. Lots of entrepreneurial spirit, and I think that it meets your climate requirements.

Countries all over the world are making migration harder unless you are willing to invest major moolah. You are probably going to be the lead applicant, and your partner the 'trailing spouse' as the expat lingo goes. Despite this, there are many countries that are 'traditional' for expats for good reason - besides the weather, working life etc, there is the infrastructure to make setting up in a new country and settling in easier. eg, I'm in the Netherlands, there are expat offices and plenty of clubs to help you navigate the bureaucracy (even though I'm an EU citizen it's still tricky). I think most of the countries in this part of Europe could be an option for you, although the weather is not ideal over winter. Best of luck with your search, wherever you go.

I'd say that you're looking for Western Europe, if you can find a way around the taxes. Being from Canada, I'd veto it.

http://ask.metafilter.com/97537/Help-us-find-a-new-country#1421560 -- "Once you have a right of residence in one country then you are free to live and work in the rest of Europe ..." Important distinct between residence and (what I suspect you're thinking of) citizenship. Since 2002 I've had what's known as Indefinite Leave to Remain, permanent residence in the UK. But I can't live nor work - legally - in other European nations. My wife is Dutch, we keep a second flat in Amsterdam, but even so I can't live nor work there. I could either take Dutch citizenship or acquire a spouse visa, but my UK Indefinite Leave expires if I'm out of the England for two years. Lots of restrictions unless one is a full citizen of a EU country, but once that new passport has been acquired we're back to the tax ramifications that I mentioned earlier. In general, European taxes are more aggresive and higher than in the US. This means not only do you hit the highest rates quicker, but those higher rates are in some cases much, much higher than the Stateside load. That being said, it is possible to play off both systems against each other to dramatically lower one's overall burden, but this advantage disappears once takes EU (in my case either UK or Nederlands) citizenship. Finally, every country is interested in attracting entrepreneurs; the capital and other requirements vary, but it seems for European nations if you can put about $250K to maybe $500K on the table as money dedicated to start a business, you will get fast tracked in (sidenote: the US does this as well). For obvious reasons, countries don't really publicise these shortcuts, but they exist. On the low end, when I last looked at these programs The Dominican Republic only cost $80K.

I'm surprised no one has suggested Italy. Not Rome and not too near the coast.

Here in Europe the traditional view (and still a very broadly accurate IMHO) is that the north is the best place for business and the south, around the Mediterranean, is best for climate (both places will provide your cultural and educational requirements in spades). These days cheap flights and online working have led to a rise in the number of people who keep a home in both areas - and who also may divide their business interests in this way. Once you have a right of residence in one country then you are free to live and work in the rest of Europe so you could potentially come to somewhere like the UK on a points system and then either extend or move your interests to somewhere like southern France or Catalonia. The exact nature of the problems you will encounter as an entrepeneur will vary substantially according to the type of business you want to set up: so you need to think about what this will be, establish whether you are going to need to employ local people and so on.

the problem with south america, i think, is going to be corruption. if you're not happy dealing with that then being a entrepreneur may be tricky (although i don't really know what that means - see below). if that's not an issue, nor the spanish, then buenos aires sounds good. or, if you can cope with portuguese, perhaps one of the big cities in brazil (i know less about them). santiago has much less corruption (and a very open, easy, transparent regulatory system for being self employed etc), but misses out on "cosmopolitan big city" vibe, which sounds important. also, if being an entrepreneur means generally bullshitting, trying to raise money and hussle deals (i am a technocrat and so perhaps don't understand) then everyone down here (santiago at least, and i assume continent-wide) is doing that already. the economy is much more fluid. and without community contacts i'm not sure how you'd win out. finally, for what it's worth, living in another country, with a different culture, may be harder than you expect.