Retired US citizen needs residency advice
 

I am retired, and want to live in Barbados. But I have a child who must attend school. We carry U.S. passports.
Must we emigrate in order to live there throughout the school year, or can we just go as tourists and enrole in a private school?
What are the requirements & hassels for a US citizen to emigrate to Barbados if he is retired and does not need a job?
I realize immigration is a hassle. They don't answer their phones and send you bouncing from one office to another when they do. Most of the info I have seen on this forum is with regard to people who want jobs. What about retired people?
Any advice appreciated.

Re: Retired US citizen needs residency advice
 

As a retired person emmigrating would not be too difficult. At the airport you need to ask for whatever length if stay you plan on being in Barbados. However, they may look you up and down and agree to give you as little as 2 weeks, in which case you need to pay $25USD and go stand up in line at immigratin and beg to stay longer.

In order to enroll your child in private school you MUST have a study permit for that child. I really don't think these are difficult to get. However, finding a place in a private school could be a little more difficult. How old is your child?

Re: Retired US citizen needs residency advice
 

I don't think it is possible to put your child in school, even private, withouth having any status in Barbados. Which means, either work permit, residency or citizenship. Without any status they most probably wouldn't grant you the student visa for your child. Same thing happened to us, only that they granted the student visa by "mistake"....and then said, this shouldn't have happened without me having the work permit.
I would suggest you to talk to an attourney about that first.

By the way, in Grenada it wouldn't be any problem to put your child in a private school, they don't mind if you come as a tourist, and there is no student visa necessary.

Re: Retired US citizen needs residency advice
 

I think you should just call immigration and ask.

Re: Retired US citizen needs residency advice
 

Thanks everyone for the advice. Sorry to be so slow in getting back, but I have been away.
It would seem that I could just phone immigration and ask, but in fact, I have tried that a couple of times and it didn't work. First it was hard to get through at all as I am phoning from Europe, using skype, and it took several days before I could even get a phone to ring. Then when it got through they obviously didn't want to hear about it and would pass me from one person to another with no one answering my questions, and finally the line would cut off. It was after that that I posted my message.

But some of the answers have been very helpful.
If I do decide to go to a lawyer, does anyone know a good lawyer for this?

My son is just starting out in school, and so primary level, and I was thinking about Providence Academy. I have not contacted them yet. I don't want to do that until our dates are more certain. Are they very full? Is it easy to find a place to live that is not too far away from that school? I take it the morning traffic to most anywhere can be pretty horrible.

Re: Retired US citizen needs residency advice
 

That tends to happen regardless, unfortunately. Even calling Immigration from here can be painful. I, too, got passed around from person to person without any real answers. I actually found my best answers (for me it was re: visitor's extension) came from someone who had actually gone through the process themself. So I completely understand why you'd post here :D

Good luck to you. Lawyer might be best, and you could probably google them.

Foxy