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We all know our world is unpredictable.

Economic hardship, pandemics, inflation, social unrest, declining quality of life, and even war: these are all things that have popped up unexpectedly in numerous places around the world just since 2020.

We have no idea what’s coming next. And for that reason, it's crucial to prepare for potential crises now. Securing a second passport, establishing foreign residency, and planning your finances are essential steps that should be taken before you actually need to.

Waiting for a crisis to happen is like trying to buy insurance after your house is on fire. Obtaining a second passport, setting up residency, or managing finances abroad takes time, and can be very complicated, even if you’ve done it before.

It may take months to get a residency approved in another country, or years for a citizenship or passport.

During a crisis, governments may even make these processes even harder, or be overwhelmed at a time when resources are directed elsewhere. Acting now ensures you're prepared before new restrictions are put in place, or before things change.

During a crisis, many people will scramble to secure assets and legal statuses, overwhelming systems and causing delays. Planning ahead allows you to skip this, if you already have another passport or residency permit in hand when you need to move or travel somewhere else.

Opportunities for residency, citizenship, or favourable tax breaks can change. Countries frequently adjust policies based on political and economic conditions, and change laws all the time. A path to residency or citizenship available today, may be gone without warning tomorrow—and often is.

Acting now allows you to take advantage of the best opportunities available and secure benefits that might not exist in the future.

During COVID, many countries around the world were locked down, with only citizens having the right to enter or leave. In the case of Australia, citizens weren’t even allowed to freely leave their own country, with the exception of people that held another passport—because the Australian government found it harder to deny citizens of another nation to go home.

More recently in Ukraine, male citizens to the age of 60 have been banned from leaving the country, being forced to fight against Russia in war. However, many men who already had dual citizenship were able to escape over the borders, by showing their second passport. Something citizens of only Ukraine could not hope to do.

The lesson here is this:

Life in your country may be great now. But now is not tomorrow.

We don’t know what the future holds. And the best time to take steps to prepare for that is today—before you ever need to.

As the saying goes: it’s better to have a backup plan and not need it. Than need it and not have it.

Now let’s move on to covering the three main ways of increasing your global movement and business freedom: citizenship, residency, and e-residency.