Are there any (livable 🥺) countries that basically allow anyone to become a citizen? Specifically where an English speaker could get by.

Edit: by allowing anyone I mean poor people with no skills.

  • @tal
    5•5 months ago

    They don’t say it, but reading further, apparently there are polar bears up there that have sporadically attacked humans. If you leave town, you apparently normally go armed:

    https://www.sysselmesteren.no/en/weapon/

    Firearms

    Due to the polar bear threat on Svalbard, anyone travelling outside the settlements must be equipped with suitable means of scaring off polar bears. The office of the Governor of Svalbard also recommends carrying firearms with you. The processing time for all types of firearms applications is up to 4 weeks.

    Given that, my guess is that another factor might be that Svalbard’s polar bears might be interested in digging up non-cremated human corpses.

    • @imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
      3•5 months ago

      Well, I now know more about Svalbard than I thought possible, just from reading this whole thread. Thank you for your service 😅

      • @aturtlesdream@lemmy.world
        3•5 months ago

        If you are really interested, Cecelia Blomdhal (spelling may be slightly off) is a youtuber who lives there and shares all kinds of interesting stuff and gorgeous scenery. You can visit without having to brave the cold and polar bears that way

        • @tal
          2•5 months ago

          searches

          https://www.youtube.com/@CeciliaBlomdahl

          skims

          I’m not really into her style, but she does have a lot of footage of the landscapes and the kinds of buildings they have and stuff.

          I’m kind of surprised that her house has so much glass in it – I kind of expected houses in the Arctic to have a lot of thick wall – but I guess if you get fancy-enough windows, you can probably get decent insulation.

          googles

          https://glawindows.com/triple-pane-window-r-value/

          With double pane windows, you get an R-value of 2 – 4.1. Meanwhile, with triple pane windows, the R-value is from 3.2 and up to 5.5 with 1 Low-E pane. With 2 Low-E panes, it can improve up to an 8.7 with argon gas filled units and up to a 9.9 with Krypton filled ones.

          It looks like new exterior walls in the colder parts of the US use R10 insulation (in addition to the siding itself and drywall, which I’d guess doesn’t contribute much):

          https://www.energystar.gov/saveathome/seal_insulate/identify_problems_you_want_fix/diy_checks_inspections/insulation_r_values

          Insulated 2x4 wood-frame wall:

          For Zones 4–8: Add R10 insulative wall sheathing beneath the new siding.

          …so in theory, if you have really high-end triple-glazed, exotic-gas-filled windows, they can insulate about as well as a wall.