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Notes on Residency Options
These are my candid observations about these plans, based on
many conversations and e-mail exchanges with other gringos. (We get about
30 letters a week.)
Note 1. The law says one
year. When the UDP (Red) was in power, they implemented an option for
Retirees which took less time, but that was rescinded by the PUP (Blue) when
they began implementing the QRP Incentive plan. In fact, they have been
making applicants wait for much longer. (It varies in each case, probably
can be shortened with some mordida.)
Note 2. The catch in this
is that you have to wait a year to bring down your container full of household
goods! See note 6 below..
Note 3. You have to deposit
$2000 US a month -- $24,000 a year and 48 thousand dollahs is an
enormous sum in Belize. Once you've put it in a Belizean Bank, you really can
only spend it here in Belize; it's very difficult to convert it back into
Dollars or Pesos. Suppose you had a heart attack and went to Merida for
treatment. You couldn't pay your bill with Belizean dollars. Write a check?
Nobody uses checks here in Belize because hardly anyone accepts checks as
payment - so you think they'd take your check in Mexico?
So you need cash. You could
be here a year, with 48 large in the Bank, and the most you could get out in a
hurry is $250. (They tell you that
if you save your deposit slips, you can get it all back in a hurry, but I have a
friend who's tried that, and says it just isn't the case.)
Just to complicate the picture a little, they let some people get by with $1000
a month (singles, I think.) It is your responsibility to show proof that
you are doing this, and if you don't do it, you will have to pay duty on
everything you brought in. (Smile -- it's THEIR country.)
Note 4. $15,000US worth of
household goods, and you can do this right away -- perhaps when you arrive,
altho that would probably be difficult. The fact that it must be a new car
is amusing. The only people who have new cars down here are the
Government, Big Business dudes, Drug Dealers and Very Rich Gringos.
Driving one makes you a mark for every grifter, con artist, and panhandler in
town. In the States, you might be required to keep up;
"Honey, we're the only people on the block without a new car!"
Down here, nobody pays any attention to my Scout or your
ten-year-old Honda. (A very good choice, BTW.)
Note 5. This is a new tax,
discussed at length here.
Note 6. We opted not to
wait for our residency; went ahead and shipped our stuff down as a partial
shipment in a larger container. Our 850 cu. ft shipment cost us $200;
not a lot. Your experience may be different!
Note 7. The official
documentation shows a variety of different work permits, including one for
missionaries, volunteers and teachers that only cost $25US. Sadly,
teachers, even those teaching subjects which the Belizeans are not qualified to
teach, have to pay $1500US for their work permit. If you want to work
before you get residency, figure that they will get into your knickers for the
whole $1500, even if you're working in your own business.
New: Well the latest news from the BTB, which administers the QRP, is that
you can work in your own business without a permit; especially if you've created
jobs for Belizeans. Newer:
The money hungry GOB now says you have to have a work permit to work in your own
business!
A final note: Retirement rules change every so
often. You may wish to check with these people here.
They have all the latest information!!
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