“Kathleen, my husband and I are members of your Overseas Retirement Circle and have some questions for you and Lief regarding a residency option for Nicaragua”.
“We plan on moving to Nicaragua in July 2017 or later in the fall of 2017. We are trying to figure out what kind of residency to sign up for. Basically, we will both be retired. My husband, John, is currently 66, and I am currently 50. So this will be early retirement for me. We think the pensionado program would be appropriate, but we both think we may decide to work some. John in an engineer who currently owns his own consulting company, and I am thinking about doing some writing. In addition, we may rent out a casita that we are building as well. So should we try to get another type of residency or stick with the pensionado? Also, to set up the residency, should we use an attorney? If so, can you recommend one?
“Lastly (for now) do you have a mover or freight forwarder with Nicaragua that you can recommend. Although we have two years to prepare, I feel like we need to get much of this started where we can. Certainly selling many of our home items is a start so we have less to move.
“Thanks as always for your help. I expect that we will have many more questions over the next two years, and your program is so helpful to us. I regret that we didn’t take a few minutes to introduce ourselves to both of you when we were in Nashville at last year’s Retire Overseas Conference. Hopefully we can meet again at some point in time.
“Enjoy your summer.”
–Carole W., United States
Nicaragua’s pensionado visa should be fine for you. If you’re working for yourself, especially if you’re working as a consultant for clients outside Nicaragua, you shouldn’t need a work permit. Managing a casita as a rental wouldn’t require a work permit either.
We generally recommend using an attorney for the residency process, though this is not required in Nicaragua (as it is in Panama, for example). If you don’t speak Spanish, using an attorney will save you time. On the other hand, some people are happy to use the residency process as a learning experience, a chance to get to know the culture, the bureaucracy, and the language.
Continue Reading: How To Retire Overseas
