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Disclaimer: I'm not sure if this question is appropriate for this site, Travel SE, both or neither.

For a great many amenities which are useful to most people (e.g. bank accounts), you need to supply a "permanent" address of some kind, and oftentimes Bad Things will happen if you supply an address which is either not available or unreliable: For example, at least in the UK, banks will freeze your account if your post is returned to the bank as "undeliverable", and the excitement of living a nomadic lifestyle will be somewhat dampened when you're e.g. in the middle of the Mongolian steppe and can't speak Mongolian/Chinese/Russian and suddenly have no money.

For someone who wants to lead a truly nomadic life, then, what are the solutions to the dilemma of needing a geographic address for e.g. banks, insurance companies, etc.? Family and/or friends are always one possibility, but are there no solutions which are more "professional" and/or "official" so that said persons don't need to be responsible for my stuff?

Finally, in some countries, it is required to "register" your primary residence in some way; Although this can obviously be more difficult than dealing with private companies, is there no solution for this, e.g. some way of "officially" being on the move? Of course, solutions to this, second and more specific problem will likely be country-specific and so may be too broad to answer.

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  • Truly nomadic lifestyle means you carry everything with you. Including money. :)
    – Karlson
    May 18, 2016 at 21:58
  • 2
    @Karlson: I suppose either you've either got less money to carry around than me or you're more confident in your ability to defend yourself from thieves than I am... May 19, 2016 at 7:36

1 Answer 1

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I think your best bet is a mail scanning and forwarding service. (Google it, there are many, and I haven't used one to recommend.)

Most will:

  • Give you a 'personal' address, intended to be professional looking; I.e. A street address with a 'Suite' number or equivalent for your personal account.
  • Provide a website for viewing all scanned/photoed envelopes/packages
  • Choose to open and scan, shred or forward any specific items you choose.
  • Costs $15-$30/mo for most services I looked at (in the USA)

This may still be problematic with some of the bureaucracy of 'proving' your 'residency address'. I.e. the Bank may still require you to 'prove' this is your address with a utility bill or equivalent, which may be difficult in some cases.

There are sometimes loopholes though. You mention the UK, and in the UK my bank accepted a letter from my employer as 'proof' of my address at temporary accommodations when I did not yet have an address or any other proof.

Good luck!

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  • @errantlinguist In USA, there are many people who live full time in RV (caravan in Europe), and services to provide address, documents scanning/forwarding etc are pretty advanced. One of US states popping often on RV forums with such services is South Dakota (state makes living from providing such services, so it is easier there). Of course best would be to search for such services in country where you are citizen, to make it simpler. Aug 24, 2017 at 22:30

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