Where can we live?
 

Hello!
I apologise in advance if I am asking a daft question but I am really hoping
that I can find some answers here.
Where can my family live in the Caribbean?
My husband is a UK citizen. I am a US citizen. Our daughters have dual citizenship. I also have Irish citizenship. We are currently living in NYC.
Between Brexit and Trump we are looking at where in the world we can land.
We are self employed. Eldest daughter is in Uni in the US. Our 13 year old would
need a high school. We lived in Antigua this Summer for 7 weeks. We love it, but don't know if we could live there because we aren't residents. We are curious if any island ( not USVI or Puerto Rico) would welcome us? We want to rent for a year to start. Any and all info is so appreciated!

Re: Where can we live?
 

The question generally is, why would any caribbean island want you? Do you offer an important employment skill, or do you offer a substantial sum of investment money in exchange for 'living in paradise'? Because clearly these are the things that might induce an island to let you stay?

NB plenty of people stay for several months of each year as tourists, which is fine.

Re: Where can we live?
 

I'm not sure that is a fair 'ruling' for all islands.

Indeed the Citizenship by Investment programmes are trying to inject hard finance into the islands one way or another but retired people are perfectly able to settle there simply by buying property in the open market, subject to certain upfront fees as aliens.

In the same way, those working 'offshore', such as over the internet providing services to elsewhere, need not acquire a work permit.

Now there is a short-term issue in that one needs to get over that first year while renting and preparing to buy or build but I'm positive that in today's environment, in most islands that do not have any particular political axe to grind regarding foreigners, there are possibilities and one just needs to contact the appropriate authorities.

It's interesting! I'll be in St Lucia next week and will ask around about it.

Re: Where can we live?
 

Sorry pistolpete but while you can just buy property on most islands [a few dont allow it] subject usually to an alien landholding tax [10% in the grenadines] you wont just be allowed to retire to it permanently on some at all, and some will allow you so long as you keep your nose clean, keep on buying visas, and after 3-5 years you can apply for residency for what is a wide range of prices. Thats what happens here.

It depends on how much the island wants you, a few rich islands just dont, end of story.

Its also true that even people with residency can have it easily taken away so a low profile is a reasonable stance. We recently had a bar owner who threatened a politician and was marched to a police station, had their papers marked as an undesireable and was put on the next flight out,

Re: Where can we live?
 

Oh - and some islands have populations or politicians who really dislike foreigners, not here so much but i hear about some other islands on this forum [im sure soneone will be along...]

Re: Where can we live?
 

The UK has cracked down on student visas from certain islands sufficiently that the powers that be have felt obligated to retaliate with some anti-foreigner anti-UK rhetoric.

Re: Where can we live?
 

We want to live in The Caribbean. We don't want to work there. We aren't looking to take jobs from citizens. We are self employed and work in The US, UK, SA and pretty much globally. We want to add to the economy not take from it.

Re: Where can we live?
 

Thank you so very much for your kind and informative reply.
Please do let me know about St Lucia. Have a lovely journey.

Re: Where can we live?
 

We are looking to live not own a business. Grenada is one of the countries where we've met
a few families that are doing what we'd like to do.

Re: Where can we live?
 

Sorry for jumping in but I thought Bahamas was easy for US citizens, or let's say once you buy property you can automatically get a home owners resident card for $500 a year. Saying that, every island is different and I'm sure just going for the easy option doesn't make it a good place to live.


If it has to be an island there are plenty of easier options in Europe without visa hassle and additional costs.

Re: Where can we live?
 

English-speaking and amenable climate?

Only Malta surely and there are fairly complex rules regarding the residency that suits and the best requires you to pay tax on the remittance basis.

Typically, if you have offshore income in the Caribbean there is no tax, except in Barbados plus others......?????

OP lives in NYC and if they still have connections there they would only be a JetBlue flight away.

Re: Where can we live?
 

I knew I had seen it somewhere. HTH and I hope that there is something similar elsewhere so you have choices.

Pinnacle St. Lucia - Residency Guide

Re: Where can we live?
 

Well there are other islands. Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera. Then you have Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza. You have São Miguel Island, Pico Island, Faial Island etc. + Madeira just to name a few. Climate is also relative and not all of the Caribbean is the same.

Re: Where can we live?
 

Yeah Yeah I could have done those too if I thought them relevant! English-speaking? And what about tax - punitive or almost punitive.

In Madeira one could set-up shop in the freezone but it's still Portugal.

BTW you forgot Santa Maria - at least it has a good airstrip.

Re: Where can we live?
 

Hi Yes, We are NYC based. I'm as US citizen. My H is British with a green card. Our daughters are UK/US citizens. I also have Ire/EU citizenship.
My elderly parents are in NY. We can get back and forth to NYC area relatively quickly & easily from The Caribbean.
We want to rent a home for 6-12 months to start, of course.
If there isn't an appropriate school for our youngest wewill homeschool.
Our income is offshore.
Not looking at The Bahamas or Caymans.
Thank you.