Vatican City: The Country You Cannot Move to (Probably)
Book a consultation call: https://calendly.com/traveleconomics/...

Contact me: https://checkinprice.com/contact/

Check our other videos:    / @traveleconomics  

00:00 Intro
00:51 What is Vatican and the Holy See

The Vatican city, also often referred to as the Vatican, is an independent state in Europe, but I can guarantee you, this state is different from all other countries in Europe.

First of all, The Vatican city is the smallest country in the world by area and population. Not only that, the Vatican is the only country in the world completely surrounded by a city, it is literally an enclave inside Rome, the capital of Italy.

Apart from that, the Pope sits on the highest position as the chief of state in the Vatican. He is also the person in charge of the Holy See.

One important thing we should do before finding out why you (and I) cannot live in the Vatican, is to understand the difference between the Vatican and the Holy See.

01:38 What is the difference between Vatican and the Holy See

When you read the news about the Vatican, you will oftentimes read or hear as well about the Holy See. Oftentimes these two terms are used interchangeably. But the truth is, that the Vatican city and the Holy See are not exactly the same thing, although they are highly related.

The Vatican city is actually the state, the geographical space of the smallest nation in the world. The Holy See however is an administrative entity, part of the Catholic church.

For that reason, we are going to talk in this video how one can possibly, or impossibly live in Vatican city, and not in the Holy See, because the latter is not an independent state.

02:17 Living in Vatican and the Vatican and the Holy See Citizenship

The possibility of living in the Vatican is available to very few members of the Catholic church, and in many cases, it involves the automatic grant of the Vatican citizenship.

Getting a Vatican passport is a rather complicated task as the laws around Vatican citizenship are very different from laws regarding citizenship in almost any country.

First of all there is no such thing as ius sanguinis or jus soli in the Vatican.

Basically the Vatican citizenship is only granted for those residing in the Vatican, which are people with relevant roles in the country and its administration as well as to his immediate family members. People eligible for the Vatican citizenship are, according to the Vatican citizenship law as follows:

-Cardinals residing in Vatican or in Rome
-Diplomats of the Holy See
-Other people living and working in Vatican city, such as the Swiss guards for example.

In almost all cases, the Vatican citizenship is lost by the time the service or job in or related to the Vatican ends. Because of this, the Vatican citizenship is actually one of the hardest to acquire, but at the same time one of the easiest to lose.

03:43 Why you Cannot Live in the Vatican City

The reason why most people cannot live in the Vatican is quite simple. You need to be invited for a position in the country and the criteria are rather arbitrary. Apart from that, there are very few openings, since the state is very small. Finally, at the end of your service or job in the Vatican, in most cases you will have to return to your country of origin or simply live in another country, losing The Vatican citizenship in the process. Some people get Italian citizenship after working in Vatican and losing Vatican citizenship.

04:28 Advantages of living in the Vatican City

To be honest, there are not many extremely appealing advantages of becoming a resident or a citizen of the Vatican state, but there are some. The most significant one is that there are no taxes in the Vatican city for its residents. No income tax, no import tax, virtually no taxes exist at all in this micronation.

The other less significant advantages are: you can probably meet the Pope often, and if you are tired of your country you can just take a quick walk to Italy to have some of the best cappuccino coffees in the world.

05:05 Alternatives to Living in the Vatican City

Living in Italy

Moving to Italy is also infinitely easier than living in the Vatican city when it comes to paperwork. If you are a EU citizen you can just move to Italy without almost any preparations, but even if you are not an EU citizen moving to Italy is also quite easy. You can come as a student, or if you find a job, but also if you want to run your own business or even come as a retiree. You can check our other videos on moving to Italy for more details.

Living in Other European Microstates

The second alternative to living in the Vatican is for those who like micronations for no specific reason, including myself. The alternative is basically moving to another micronation in Europe, and Europe has actually quite many of them (Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino).