Austin Willingham, 30, grew up in Decatur, Alabama, and knew from a very early age that he wanted to leave home as soon as he turned 18.
While studying abroad in Sweden during his junior year at Troy University, he visited the Netherlands for the first time. Now almost 10 years later, Willingham and his partner are living in Rotterdam with the hope that they can obtain permanent residency or EU citizenship.
It was a move that Willingham admits had been in the works since he returned from his semester abroad in Sweden.
Willingham left the United States just two months after graduating college.
Austin Willingham
“Once I came back from Sweden, I was just determined to move back to Europe and had reverse culture shock. I was asking my parents if I could transfer to a different university and complete my degree abroad,” he tells CNBC Make It.
“Me being the first-generation college student in my immediate family, my parents were really adamant about me just going ahead and finishing my degree.”
Prior to moving to Rotterdam, Willingham lived in Ireland, traveled through Southeast Asia and was in and out of Australia for five years.
“We thought that it would be a good break. It would be a good change and transition from life in Australia. We also thought it would not be as difficult a change because Rotterdam is still the second-largest city in the country. We’re definitely city people, so we thought that this would just be the best space for us,” he says. “As soon as we got here, the people were so warm and they immediately welcomed us in.”
An estimated 5.5 million Americans live abroad, according to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO). That number continues to rise with an estimated 1,285 U.S. citizens expatriated in the first quarter of 2025 alone — a 102% increase compared to the same period a year ago, according to a report from CS Global Partners, which analyzed statistics from the U.S. Federal Register.
Life in the Netherlands
Willingham made the official move to Rotterdam in June of this year, on a DAFT (Dutch-American Friendship Treaty) visa. That visa stipulates that he be self-employed or work as a freelancer only.
To satisfy the visa requirements, Willingham works as an event planner and does commercial modeling, but his ultimate goal is to grow his relocation services business, Willing World.
Willingham and his partner live in a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate. The couple splits 430 euros or USD $498 a month for rent — paying 215 euros or USD $249 each — according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Including rent, Willingham’s monthly expenses in Rotterdam total approximately $680, covering utilities, transportation, health insurance, groceries, and his mobile phone bill.
Willingham and his partner plan to stay in Rotterdam for at least the next five years.
Austin Willingham
“I like the freedom. This is coming from a privileged place, but I truly feel like anywhere outside the United States, it’s about being able to breathe and have a work-life balance. That’s what I love most about living abroad, even though I’m working for myself, there is still this balance and there’s not this societal pressure of needing to prove myself all the time.”
Willingham started sharing his journey abroad on TikTok and says that since moving to Rotterdam, he’s enjoyed building a community both online and in real life. He’s excited to see what the future holds, he says, but moving back to the United States is just not in the cards for him right now.
“I would love to live. I would love to own. I would love to say yes at some point, but not in the current situation that we have. It would be way down the line when the United States finally gets some change,” he says.
“I want to be able to be there for my parents, so maybe I wouldn’t move back permanently, but I would spend an extended amount of time.”
Willingham says that leaving the U.S. has taught him that he is capable of anything.
“I’ve learned that I can do it even when I’m scared because it still has to get done,” he says. “When living abroad, especially on your own, you don’t have anybody to depend on, so you learn to depend on yourself and trust yourself with it.”
Conversions from euros to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 euro to $1.16 USD on October 14, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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Source : cnbc
