Retiring
in Belize
Belize,
the English-speaking country on the Caribbean Coast
puts
out the subtropical welcome mat for Americans
By
Lan Sluder
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Residency
In Belize. Get It While You Can - Belize has rescinded its
Investors Passsport Program, but there is still a way to get a Belizean
Passport and one of the most important things you can do to protect your
future and the future of your family is to get a second passport. The process
of getting residency in Belize is straight forward and uncomplicated, especially
when you have Bill & Claire Gray providing an easy to read explanation
of how to go about getting Belizean residency for you and your family.
Bill & Claire Gray, authors, Belize Relocation Guides and long time
residents of Belize supply the answers, the facts and the forms for residency
in Belize through the Belize 'residency' program, plus they provide you
with the pathway to a passport, a work permit and more. When will Belize
rescind it's residency program just as they did their passport program?
You can wait and find out, or you can get this report for 20 bucks and
insure your future. Retirement? This report also has all the forms
and instructions to gain retirement status in Belize. |
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| This article
on retirement living in Belize first appeared in the Winter 2000/2001 edition
of Where to Retire Magazine. It appears here by permission of the
author, Lan Sluder, editor and publisher of Belize First Magazine (http://www.belizefirst.com).
Sluder is the author or co-author of five books on Belize, including Belize
First Guide to Belize, Fodor’s Belize & Guatemala Guide, UpClose Central
America and the upcoming Adapter Kit: Belize, a complete guide to
retiring, living and investing in Belize. Adapter Kit will
be published in August 2001 by Avalon. |
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| Even if
you’re a world traveler with a bazillion frequent-flier miles, chances
are that you’ll be fascinated by your first glimpses of Belize, the little
English-speaking country on the Caribbean coast of Central America. Hundreds
of travel-poster islands dot the turquoise sea along Belize’s 200-mile
coast. Just offshore is the longest barrier reef in the Northern and Western
hemispheres, with an undersea world of fantastic color and diversity. The
diving and snorkeling are world-class, and the fishing is so good that
it usually takes just a few minutes to catch a sea bass or spiny lobster
for your lunch.
Inland are
lightly populated savannas, limestone hills and lush rainforests, home
to more than 500 species of birds, 800 kinds of butterflies and 4,000 varieties
of trees and shrubs. Bananas and mangos grow like weeds. Exotic animals
like the jaguar and tapir still roam free in “backabush” Belize. Hidden
under cohune palms are thousands of mysterious Maya ruins. The small villages
and towns of Belize -- the only city has just 70,000 people -- are alive
with a cultural gumbo of colors, races and backgrounds.
But Belize
also appeals to those who want to linger longer than a week or two of vacation
in paradise. It is getting the attention of prospective retirees who want
a laid-back lifestyle in a frost-free climate similar to South Florida,
with a stable government and economy, and a familiar legal system based
on English common law where all documents are written in English.
Retirees are
attracted by low real estate costs and an overall cost of living that stretches
retirement pensions and Social Security checks further than they would
go in the United States. But most of all they like friendly Belizean neighbors
who have put out a subtropical welcome mat for Americans.
As one American
expatriate in Belize puts it, “This is the friendliest place I have ever
been, and I have traveled a lot. Belizeans take people one at a time --
foreign or local is not the issue. How you behave and how you are in your
heart is what makes the difference,” says Diane Campbell, a real estate
developer on Ambergris Caye who moved to Belize from California. “If you
are nice, kind and honest, you will be loved and respected here. When you
get used to living here, you won’t be able to imagine living elsewhere.”
Belize’s government
recently has enacted a retiree incentive program that permits U.S., Canadian
and United Kingdom citizens to establish official residency in Belize and
to live there free of most Belize taxes. Under the new program retirees
can’t work in Belize, but income from outside Belize isn’t taxed, and retirees
can bring in household goods, a car, a boat and even an airplane without
paying import duties.
Bill Wildman,
a long-time real estate agent, surveyor and developer based in Corozal
in northern Belize, says he thinks the new program is a solid beginning.
He says applications are being approved quickly, typically in less than
three months. The Belize Tourist Board, rather than the immigration department,
handles applications.
Some retirees,
however, question the amount of money that retirees are required to deposit
in a Belize bank -- up to $2,000 a month -- and don’t like the paperwork
and application fees of about $700 associated with the program. One is
Doug Richardson, a retired lawyer and investor from Malibu, CA, who is
building a large home on the Caribbean Sea in Placencia.
“I feel the
program is a failure as an inducement to encourage anyone to retire (in
Belize). There are too many fees, hurdles and demands made by the government,”
says Doug, who also believes the program doesn’t offer enough to wealthy
retirees. For example, it permits retirees to bring only $15,000 worth
of household goods and just one vehicle duty free. Yet for a retiree with
limited resources, the monthly income requirement may be too high.
For those who
don’t qualify for the new retirement program, residency in Belize is available
through regular channels, most of which require more red tape and a residency
period before you can apply for residency status or a work permit. Citizenship
also is available through a controversial “buy-a-passport” citizenship
program that costs a minimum of $25,000. Many expatriates simply stay in
Belize as perpetual tourists, renewing their 30-day entrance permits for
$12.50 per month for up to six months, at which time they must physically
leave the country for at least 48 hours.
Whether they
came to Belize under the new program or not, retirees say they like living
in a country with many of the conveniences of modern life, such as Internet
connections, air-conditioning and North American-style houses, but without
franchised fast-food restaurants and chain stores that have come to dominate
America’s frenetic consumer culture. Belize has no Wal-Marts or McDonald’s.
John Lankford
was a 37-year-old lawyer in New Orleans when he first visited Belize’s
Ambergris Caye in 1982. Intrigued by what he saw, six weeks later he came
back a second time. “I found five acres with a house I couldn’t afford
and on return to New Orleans called the owner and agreed to buy it on the
Gringolian plan: There, I’ve bought it. Now how the heck do I pay for it?”
It took him about 11 years to pay for it, he says, with periodic commutes
to resample life on the island. John finally moved to San Pedro on Ambergris
Caye full time in 1993 and registered with the Bar Association in Louisiana
as “retired.” The biggest mistake he made in moving to Belize was “not
moving here sooner,” John says.
Belize is not
for everybody, however. “We’ve seen so many gringos give up and go home,
and so many others still here who are burned out and bitter, that you sometimes
feel there is really something insidious underlying the friendly surface
appearances,” says Phyllis Dart, an ex-Coloradan who runs a jungle lodge,
Ek ‘Tun, in western Belize. |
Lan Sluder
is the editor and publisher of Belize First Magazine (a Web
edition is at http://www.belizefirst.com
and the author of several books on Belize, including the Belize First Guide
to Mainland Belize, Belize Book of Lists 2000 and the upcoming AdapterKit:
Belize, to be published in August 2001 by Avalon.. He revised, updated
and co-authored the Belize sections of Fodor’s Belize & Guatemala Guide
and UpClose Central America, both from Random House. Sluder also
is the author of Frommer’s guidebook. He has contributed to many
publications around the world including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune,
Miami Herald, St. Petersburg Times, Caribbean Travel & Life,
Bangkok Post, The Tico Times and Canada’s Globe and Mail. |
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Highlights of Belize’s Retired
Persons Incentive Act
For
Printable Vesion Of This Docment Click Here
The Qualified Retired Persons Incentive
Act passed by the Belize legislature in 1999 is now in force and being
implemented by the Belize Tourism Board. The program, which resembles
the formerly popular but now defunct pensionado program in Costa Rica,
is designed to attract more retirees to Belize. As of late 2000,
according to Gina Escalante of the Belize Tourist Board, more than 200
people have applied for the program, and about 100 have been so far
been approved. Interest in the program is high, Escalante says,
with thousands of people visiting the program’s Web site monthly and
hundreds of them calling or e-mailing for information.
For those who can show the required
monthly income from investments or pensions, this program offers benefits
of official residency and tax-free entry of the retiree's household goods
and a car, boat and even an airplane. This program eliminates some
of the bureaucratic delays built into other programs. The BTB guarantees
action on an application in no more than three months, but we have heard
of qualified retirees getting approval for this program in only two to
three weeks. Key features of the Act include:
• Open to anyone age 45 or
older who is a citizen of the U.S., the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, Canada or Belize; a person who qualifies can include
his or her dependents in the program, including children under 18 (up to
age 23 if enrolled in college).
• Applications for the program must
be made to the Belize Tourism Board and include the following:
Copy of birth certificate for applicant
and each dependent.
Marriage certificate (if applicant
is also applying for a spouse).
Notarized copy of complete passport
of applicant and all dependents.
Copy of police record from last
place of residence (completed within one month of application).
You should request this from the police department where you last lived.
Sometimes there is a small processing charge of US$10 or so.
Copy of medical exam including AIDS
testing. Inexpensive medical exams are available in Chetumal,
Mexico, and also in Belize, or you can have one done by your physician
back home.
An official statement from a bank
or financial institution certifying that the applicant is the recipient
of a pension or annuity (including U.S. Social Security) of a minimum of
US$1,000 per month or that the applicant's investments will generate a
minimum of US$2,000 per month. The two types of income can be combined
-- for example US$500 from a pension and US$1000 from investments, but
all income must be in the same applicant’s name. A husband and wife
each with a US$500 pension cannot combine that to qualify as having a US$1,000
monthly pension income. Within a month of approval of residency status,
the first deposit of at least US$1,000, if qualifying on the basis of pension,
or US$2,000, if qualifying on the basis of investments, must be made.
It can be deposited in any bank operating in Belize, either annually in
a lump sum or monthly. There is no restriction as to type of account,
savings or checking, but it must be a Belize dollar, not U.S. dollar, account.
The funds are available for living expenses of the retiree.
Four front and four side-view photos
of applicant and each dependent.
• Funds from pension or investments
must be deposited monthly in a bank in Belize.
• Persons applying for residency
are subject to a background check by the Belize Ministry of National Security.
• Persons residing in Belize under
the program cannot work for pay in Belize.
• Persons retiring in Belize under
the program are exempt from the payment of all Belize taxes on all income
or receipts from a source outside of Belize whether that income is generated
from work performed or from an investment.
• Persons retiring in Belize under
the program qualify for duty and tax exemptions not exceeding US $15,000
on new and used personal and household effects. A list of all items with
corresponding values that will be imported must be submitted with the application.
In addition, a personal vehicle, which must not be more than three years
old, a boat used for recreational purposes and a light aircraft -- any
of these or all three -- can be imported duty free under the law or can
be purchased in Belize. Duty-free import of these items can be done
in stages but must be completed within one year of moving to Belize.
• Fees for the program total US$705
per application (individual, couple or family.) These consist of
a non-refundable application fee of US$100 payable to the Belize Tourism
Board submitted with the application; a program fee of US$500 payable
to the Belize Tourism Board upon acceptance into the program; on
first entering the country after approval, a fee of US$100 must be paid
to the Immigration Department; a BZE $10 stamp (US$5) must be attached
to each application that is submitted to the Belize Tourism Board for processing.
For information on the program,
contact:
Belize Tourist Board
Central Bank Building, Level 2
Gabourel Lane
P.O. Box 325
Belize City, Belize
Tel: 501-2-31913 or 800-624-0686
Fax 501-2-31943
E-mail: gina@travelbelize.org
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The BTB has a Web site covering
the program at www.belizeretirement.org. An application form for
this program is available on-line at www.belizeretirement.org/applicationform.htm
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“You have to really
like Belize for what it is. You must be prepared to adapt your lifestyle
to fit Belize -- Belize will not adapt to you,” says Pamella Picon, the
publisher of a newsletter on Belize and co-owner of Mopan River Resort
in Benque Viejo del Carmen.
For those
who are willing to put up with the challenges -- such as lack of high-tech
medical care, a high crime rate in some areas, the high cost of imported
items and the occasional hurricane -- Belize can be a wonderful place to
live.
Costs of
Living
With a big
SUV in the driveway and Belize gasoline at $3 a gallon, the Carrier turned
to frigid and three fingers of French cabernet in the glass, living in
Belize can cost more than back home. But if you live as a local -- eating
the same foods Belizeans do, using public transport and living in a Belizean-style
home with ceiling fans and cooling breezes -- you can get by on a few hundred
dollars per month. In between, combining some elements of both lifestyles,
you can live well for less than you would pay back home. Health care, the
cost of renting or buying a home in most areas, personal and auto insurance,
property taxes, household labor and most products produced in Belize are
less expensive than what you’re used to paying.
You can eat
well for a modest cost in Belize. Even in resort areas, a fresh grilled-seafood
dinner is $10-$12, and stewed chicken with rice and beans -- Belize’s national
dish -- might be $5. In-season (mid-June to mid-February) lobster in nice
restaurants costs $10-$20. Belize City has modern supermarkets, and district
towns have smaller but still well-stocked shops. Many towns and villages
have weekly markets (usually Saturday morning) where fresh fruit and vegetables
are sold at low prices. In coastal areas and on the cayes, fresh seafood
is sold cheaply off the dock or at local seafood cooperatives.
However, grocery
items imported from the United States, Mexico or England are expensive.
Examples: A 15-ounce box of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran is $5.13, a three-ounce
box of Jello is 80 cents, a can of Campbell’s chicken soup costs $1.75,
and a bottle of Gallo Turning Leaf cabernet is $12.50. But locally produced
products are fairly inexpensive, including black beans at 75 cents a pound,
red beans for 40 cents a pound and a dozen eggs for $1.25. A liter of premium
One Barrel local rum is $7.30, corn is the equivalent of 10 cents an ear,
mangos are 15 cents each, and pork chops are about $2 a pound.
For ex-New
Orleanian John Lankford, living in Belize is cheaper than in the United
States. “I need neither heating nor air-conditioning with their attendant
bills, nor insulation in my house, nor much of a house, nor much in the
way of shoes. One casual wardrobe serves all purposes except travel back
to the USA,” he says.
If you know
where to look, prices for seafront or rural real estate in Belize will
remind you of costs in the United States in the 1960s or 1970s. In small
towns in Belize, you can rent a pleasant seaside house for $250 a month.
Land in larger tracts can sell for $200 an acre or less. Building lots
on a remote caye might start at $4,000. Outside of high-cost tourist areas,
you can build for $30-$50 per square foot or buy an attractive, modern
home for $50,000-$100,000. Property taxes in Belize are low, rarely over
$100-$200 annually even for a luxury home.
Unlike Mexico,
Belize generally has no restrictions on the ownership of land, even seafront
land, by foreigners, as long as the parcel is of 10 acres or less outside
a town limit, or one-half acre or less inside town limits. Purchases of
larger tracts and, in a few instances, land on the cayes require government
approval.
More
Resources On Belize
Embassies
Of Belize - Click
Here -
Maps Of
Belize - Click
Here -
Moving
to Belize - Click
Here - Information on moving to Belize, including real estate, residency,
contacts, articles and resources.
Articles
About Belize - Click
Here - Everything from Homesteading to hydroponic farming -
If you want to move to Belize we've got a good deal of information to get
you started plus links to websites and resources for anyone thinking of
moving to Belize.
Videos on moving to Belize - Click
Here - Learn to live in Belize on video - includes free book - Also
books on island living, living in other nations and related subjects.
International
Real Estate Marketplace - Belize Section - Click
Here -
Books about
Belize - Click
Here - Part of our Expatriates Bookstore
EscapeArtist
Evaluation of Belize - Click
Here - EscapeArtist evaluates Belize as an expatriate destination.
Calling up facts, evaluating the existing problems and the vitures of the
nation of Belize in order to assist potential expats to make intelligent
decisions regarding Belize as a potential new home and investment location.
Media &
News Resources for Belize - Click
Here - Newspapers, magazines, online resources and news channels with
current Belize information.
Offshore
Financial Services & Belize Real Estate Companies - Click
Here - Belize has excellent offshore services, reasonalbe real estate
and an excellent residency program. |
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Belize
banks offer mortgages and personal and commercial loans, but rates are
higher than you’d pay in the United States, about 12-16 percent. Therefore,
most expatriates try to get loans outside Belize or arrange owner financing.
About the best owner-financing deals available for property in Belize require
10 percent down with payout over 10 years at 10 percent interest.
The good old
greenback is the national currency of Belize -- almost. Belize does have
its own currency, the Belize dollar, but it is pegged at two Belize dollars
to one U.S. dollar, and it has been that way for decades. Belize shops
accept both currencies and often give change in a mix of the two currencies.
As it’s not always easy to exchange Belize dollars back into U.S. dollars
or other hard currencies, expatriates in Belize usually keep most of their
funds in a bank in their home country, transferring what they need for
living expenses, or what is required under the retirement program, as needed
to their Belize bank account.
The main tax
affecting expatriate residents is a national 8 percent sales tax on nearly
all goods and services, with exclusions for some food and medical items.
(An unpopular 15 percent value-added tax was eliminated in 1999.) Import
taxes are a primary source of government revenue. They vary but can range
up to 80 percent of the value of imported goods. Official residents in
Belize under the Retired Persons Incentive Act do not have to pay import
duties on a car, boat, plane and up to $15,000 in household goods imported
into the country. For those working for pay in Belize, the country has
a progressive personal income tax with a top personal rate of 25 percent.
Belize has no estate or capital gains tax. On real estate purchases, buyers
who are not Belize citizens must pay a 10 percent transfer fee.
The exact number
of foreign expatriates from the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe
in Belize is unknown. Estimates range from around 1,000 to several thousand.
Most foreigners living in Belize are not in the country as official residents.
Often they are snowbirds, in Belize for only part of the year. In any case,
the number is as yet small, although interest in Belize as a second home
and as a retirement or relocation destination has been growing by leaps
and bounds in recent years.
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