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Home How to

10 Retiree-Friendly Visa Options For Easy Residency

10 Best Places To Become A Resident Retiree Overseas

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 14, 2020
in How to, Offshore, Residency/Citizenship
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west bay beach honduras

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Friday, resident go-offshore expert Lief Simon introduced you to the best places worldwide to establish residency to cut your tax bill… even to zero.

However, as Lief pointed out, reducing your tax liability shouldn’t be the driving factor when deciding where to launch a new life overseas.

That is, if you’re considering living or retiring overseas, shop destinations on the basis of their appeal for you personally… not their approach to taxation.

Then, after you’ve identified where in the world you think you’d most like to settle, look closely at that destination in the context of the factors most important to the retiree. Yes, taxes would be on this list but at the bottom. In most cases, a move overseas is a tax-neutral event in retirement. It’s when you’re working or running a business and earning income that the potential tax advantages of one jurisdiction over another come into play.

If you’re looking to retire overseas, what factors matter more?

Cost of living, of course. Plus the weather… health care and health insurance options…

And residency.

Not every country welcomes foreign residents or retirees full-time. Some countries, on the other hand, not only welcome full-time foreign residents, but they compete for their attention, offering special benefits and discounts for foreigners, usually foreign retirees, who qualify, in what are typically referred to as retirement programs (referred to aspensionadoprograms in Spanish-speaking countries).

Here’s an overview of the most appealing and retiree-friendly residency programs in the world today…

#1 Belize: The QRP Visa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$2,000 per month

Qualified Retired Persons (QRPs) are easily able to obtain permanent residency in Belize. In many ways, this program is the most efficient route to foreign residency anywhere in the Americas. This visa is available to anyone over the age of 45, and it grants a host of incentives designed to encourage foreigners to come and bring their money.

3#2 Panama: ThePensionadoVisa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$1,000 per month

Considered the Gold Standard of retiree visas, Panama’spensionadoprogram is by far its most popular residency option and one of the most generous in the world. The program has drawn thousands of retirees to Panama to take advantage of the tax status and discounts. To reap these benefits, you don’t need to invest a cent up front; you need only receive a pension or an annuity that meets the requirements.

#3 Nicaragua: ThePensionadoVisa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$600 per month

In 2010, Nicaragua launched a competitivepensionadoprogram that rivals that of its neighbors. You can qualify forpensionadoresidency status (and all accompanying benefits) in this country with an income of as little as US$600 per month. That’s the lowest qualifying income for apensionadovisa in the world.

#4 Malaysia: The MM2H Visa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$2,350 per month

The Malaysian government makes it surprisingly easy to live long-term in this hard-to-resist Shangri-la with an incentive-packed residency visa called Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H). Unlike other countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia actively encourages foreign residents to relocate here. Excellent incentives are available, if you qualify for the MM2H program. About 12,000 foreign residents are already participating and enjoying the benefits.

#5 Malta: The Global Residence Program

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): No specific figure

While there’s no pensioner visa here, Malta does offer what they call a Global Residence Program for non-EU citizens, and it’s the best deal in Europe. You can qualify by either renting or buying real estate—a notable point, this is the only country in the EU that will grant you residency for simply renting a house. The process is also quick—residency should be obtained within three months of applying.

#6 Colombia: ThePensionadoVisa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$800 per month

The process for residency is fairly simple and straightforward, with a low-income requirement. Colombia also offers residency with the least amount of red tape. My colleagues with this visa report that it’s possible to apply and get the permanent residency visa issued in just one hour.

The lawful income requirement is three times the minimum wage, which has been less than US$1,000 for several years now, thanks to the strength of the U.S. dollar versus the Colombian peso.

#7 Dominican Republic: ThePensionadoVisa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$1,500 per month

Residency in the Dominican Republic is easy, and the country embraces and even incentivizes foreign residents and investors. Residents can apply for loans and import household goods and a car tax-free.

#8 Honduras: ThePensionadoVisa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$1,500 per month

You’ll need to prepare application documents before arriving in the country, but you can pursue your residency visa while in Honduras as a tourist. Your pension income must be received monthly in the country, received by a national bank. As a resident you’ll be able to own title on up to 3/4 acre of land in your own name or an unlimited amount through a corporation. Residency in Honduras takes about six to nine months to complete.

#9 Argentina: ThePensionadoVisa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): US$2,000 per month

You have to prove your retiree status to apply for the pensioner visa in Argentina, as well as your monthly income, unlike many other countries that only care about the income. The minimum income requirement fluctuates, but is usually around US$2,000. Benefits of being a resident include the ability to open a local bank account and discounts on national airlines. It’s important to note, though, that you must physically be in Argentina for almost the entirety of your first couple of years when applying for residency in the country.

#10 Portugal: The Self-Sufficiency Visa

Minimum Income Requirement (for one applicant): About US$1,500 per month

While Portugal’s retiree residency visa doesn’t compare to the affordability and benefits of the pensioner visas offered in Latin America, this is one of the best programs in Europe. As in other EU countries, pensioners are granted residency once they prove “sufficient income for subsistence.” The minimum wage (which varies according to region) can be taken as a guideline for this amount.

Kathleen Peddicord

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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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