• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result

One More Reason To Get Up And Get Going Right Now

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Feb 09, 2015
in Retirement/Living
0
visa costs
208
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

One More Reason To Get Up And Get Going Right Now

“In the past few years,” writes Intrepid Correspondent Paul Terhorst from Buenos Aires, “visa (and reciprocity) fees around the world have shot up.

“In the old days, many visas were free, and and countries that charged hit you for US$15 or US$20 or so. Now visas cost hundreds of dollars, especially when you add in the costs of travel to the consulates, special delivery mail, pictures and copies, shots, interview time, and planning.

“Taxes have gone up, too. When traveling to or from Europe, Britain, and North America, taxes and airport charges account for 30% or more of what you pay for ‘airfare.’

“Meanwhile, airfares themselves have fallen since the Great Collapse of 2007. Fuel surcharges have largely disappeared. Air Asia, Ryan Air, and other discounters around the world keep fares low on short flights.

“You see where this is going. I predict that soon visa fees, taxes, security charges, and other state-imposed costs will exceed the cost of airfare. In 2008, Vicki and I crossed over. That is, we spent more that year on visas, taxes, and fees than on airfares.

“So what if countries start charging hundreds of dollars more for visas or adding hundreds of dollars of new taxes? How about thousands of dollars? I can see the U.S. leading the way on this one, as soon as some government study or other justifies it. Perhaps visa fees will go to US$300 or more as part of a larger plan to convince voters that the government is getting serious about deficits. Politicians have got to love a fee that only non-voters pay.

“We can only guess what travel will cost in the future, when state fees and taxes dwarf airfares. My advice: Get going now. Start with countries you can enter without a visa, without reciprocity fees: Uruguay, Ecuador, Belize (30 days), Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand (30 days), Singapore, and so on.”

Kathleen Peddicord

P.S. Longtime friend and retire overseas expert Paul Terhorst (retired abroad for more than 25 years) contributes a regular column to my Overseas Retirement Letter. The next issue is in production this week. If you’re not yet an Overseas Retirement Letter subscriber, get on board here now.

 

***

MAILBAG:

“Be advised, the Spanish authorities have declared war on mainly foreign-owned properties.

“The victims of property scams have been notified that they are the criminals. In Andalucia, a government spokesperson is on record as saying, ‘100,000 properties must be demolished’ to restore law and order.

“The property market is in disarray. European politicians are seeking sanctions against Spain for blatantly trampling on its citizens’ rights related to property purchase and ownership.

“Eleven-thousand homes were constructed in one valley, and nobody saw or noticed. This and worse is the insanity of the Spanish property market right now.”

— Karl D., Spain

Euro-Correspondent Lucy Culpepper replies:

“This is obviously a dreadful time for all those who have properties that could be demolished, but the crisis is related to new builds and not the majority. As we all know, the press will jump on a story and paint everywhere and everyone with the same brush. None of my friends in Catalonia are having problems.

“Family in Valencia are also fine. Friends in Cantabria say there’s no problem, as do friends who live in the Alpujarras region of Andalucia. But none of them have new builds. They all bought property in settled, stable villages and towns.

“While all this is going on, the obvious advice is to keep away from new builds and to stay away from areas of Spain that are notoriously corrupt. This is certainly not the whole of Spain and not even the whole of Andalucia.

“Perhaps because of Spain’s massive unemployment problem, the corrupt face of this country is now showing itself again. Maybe the builders and minor politicians, etc., who have had an easy time of it over the past few years, are now suffering economically, and the only way they know how to deal with economic hardship is to return to corruption. Bulldozer the land, then re-sell it some months down the road. It wouldn’t surprise me if that happened.

“I don’t think that the blame can be laid squarely with the Spanish either. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that many expats were just as happy to circumvent building laws to get their perfect property built, as the builders were to receive the backhander.

“It is worth reading this blog from the London Times (Jan. 18, 2010) and the responses from people living in Spain. Note that the Times reporter got his basic history of the Spanish Civil War wrong! Can we trust him with all his other facts and figures? Still, take a look.

“I am sure we will see more about this in the press before the situation is resolved. Best to keep an open mind and not tar everyone with the same brush.”

***

“Kathleen, can you help us in learning more about people who would like to swap homes, for a month or two, with someone in another country? We’re interested in testing the waters of home exchanging in the UK, Ireland, or France. Any help will be greatly appreciated.”

— Sandra D, United States

I reported on the home-exchange idea before.

And, following that report, a friend in Paris wrote to say:

“We just finished the first half of our first home exchange, so we’re not exactly experts on the subject. But all went well. The exchange was for a place in Baltimore, Maryland, while I was in town for meetings. We didn’t arrange the swap through one of the exchange sites but through friends. It’s a non-simultaneous swap, so they’ll be coming to use our place in Paris sometime in the spring.

“Interesting sub-network of people doing this kind of thing. Digsville is one of the most popular and responsive sites. But there are plenty of others. And this site, for example, seems to offer some kind of third-party certification to help make sure the swap goes smoothly: www.chectravel.com.”

Comments

Tags: visa costs
Share83Tweet52
Previous Post

U.S. Dollar Surging Against Euro, Colombian Peso, Brazilian Real, And Chilean Peso

Next Post

Using Direct Debit To Pay Bills Overseas

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.

Related Posts

Beautiful Wooden pier view in Belize.
Belize

Living A Whole New Life In Belize

by Kat Kalashian
January 14, 2021
0

It’s gray, dark, and rainy here in Paris… and it’s unlikely to change much over the next couple of months....

Read more
Perfect tropical paradise beach with palm trees and hammock.

Most Frequently Asked (And Not So Crazy) Questions About Retiring Overseas

January 10, 2021
Family watching sunrise on beach.

Moving Overseas Will Affect Your Family But It Can Be For The Better

January 5, 2021
Senior couple walking on the beach.

The 2 Biggest Concerns Retirees Have Before Living Overseas

January 4, 2021
Couple Enjoying Beautiful Sunset Walk on the Beach.

9 Critical Issues To Consider Before Deciding To Live Overseas

January 1, 2021
Elderly couple sitting next to other looking at the sea at sunset.

The Real Reason To Retire Overseas Is Purpose

December 30, 2020
Tavira, Algarve, Portugal.

The Top Options For Retiring Overseas In 2021 Revealed

December 27, 2020
Next Post
Exemption From State Taxes

Using Direct Debit To Pay Bills Overseas

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

how to retire overseas

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2021

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.