Trying to move overseas - but how?

[Sunnysof]

Our ultimate goal is FI and to be able to live overseas in Europe. DP has a job there right now, and is working on establishing time to qualify for permanent residency. However, this means he is not here with me and the kids. Which he is very sad about. And me too.
We could move over there but would mean a huge income loss and FI would be years and years away.
Alternative is to sit tight and work on FI here for 5-10 years, and for him to remain in Europe to get residency.
Or, he could come back, but lose the residency opportunity, and we'd have to figure out another way to get residency in 5 or 10 years time.
I know you cannot get time back with your kids or your partner. Kind of torn.

[expatartist]

Your options will depend on a few things. Some depend on you:
What passports do all of you have?
What country are you looking to get residency in?

Some depend on other things, like - will the EU be a place you'd actually want to live in, in 10 years?

Here's how one family plans to do it: http://life.almostfearless.com/want-to-move-to-europe-whats-an-american-to-do/

[JoanOfSnark]

Of course, it depends on where you're moving to, and what your skillset is, but I moved to Germany from the US a few years ago, so it's definitely possible. From my experience, getting your feet on the ground is the hard part- presuming you're not a lawyer or something extremely region-specific, you could likely get a job that would sponsor you for a work visa, but only AFTER you moved there. If your husband has any kind of residence permit (which he must, to enable him to work), he could likely extend it to cover you and reunite your family.

If you are in a position to contemplate FI in the near future, you might want to look into a Blue Card as well... it shortens the time to permanent residency significantly, available based on income and the duration can be shortened even further with proof of language proficiency.

[Sunnysof]

Passports- Canada, no European ancestry rights
DP working in the UK at the moment.
If we don't have to work (or have something portable), Spain or Portugal would be nice to settle, but if we both need jobs it will have to be northern Europe where there are more jobs in English.

I don't have an extremely portable job, government management, and looking at entry level jobs in the UK using my skill set, the income cut would be 75%. Hence, I'm rather reluctant to leave this position! DP's job, while very interesting, is basically just covering his expenses and travel right now.

Looks like if we amass enough money, we could get an entrepreneur's visa in the future.