Re: Living part time USA
 

Hi Geoff,

Yes the warm humid weather does help...it really is strange but after arriving in Florida it takes a week or so and my walking and movements really do improve. I arrived back in the UK first week of may after five weeks in the USA and a week after getting back the pain was back in the knee and other areas.

For me when i get back its not so noticable what I mean by this is that I get the pain but am used to it so do not place to much on it but my wife notices a marked improve in my walking and getting about in general when in warmer weather.

We lived in Dubai for two years (work related) and again it helped and for the past four years we were in Libya (again work related) till the conflict caused us to leave and again it eased the problems.

Best regards
Mick.

Re: Living part time USA
 

Might be a daft question, but why not northern Italy, Spain, Greece etc where a visa wouldn't be required?

Potential issues, the BUPA medical just might not be up to snuff. Property and car insurance might be hard to get and expensive to get.

No credit history is always a hassle, but it adds to your start up costs, having to put deposits down on everything.

And the tax issue, substantial presence test, it's 182? days in the US and you're required to file, but it's more complicated than just that arbitrary number. So if you've got property in the UK, pensions and investments, it can become very complicated to stay compliant with the IRS and Treasury Department, even if you don't end up owing taxes in the US.

Re: Living part time USA
 

This would seem to suggest that you are considering to move to Florida, and vacationing in the UK. You need to tread carefully. A legal consultation would be in order.

Re: Living part time USA
 

Spain or Portugal would be my choice for warm weather if you live in the UK to avoid all the visa and potential tax issues.

If you do go the USA route make sure you stay in the UK long enough each year to maintain NHS eligibility and spend less than 182 days in the US so you avoid becoming US tax resident.

Re: Living part time USA
 

Exactly what I was thinking.

Also consider retiring in Malaysia (my spouse and I may do so in the future, we've lived in neighbouring Singapore). Malaysia has a retirement scheme for expats called "Malaysia My Second Home". The cost of living is much lower than in the UK and US and the lifestyle is superb. It has a wonderful climate and food, excellent medical care, beautiful beaches, English spoken almost everywhere and taxes are very low:

http://www.escapeartist.com/OREQ13/R...Malaysia1.html

http://www.expatfocus.com/retirement-in-malaysia

http://www.mm2h.com/

http://voices.yahoo.com/retiring-mal...t-7094818.html

There are some expats who have retired in Malaysia and they post on the Far East boards here on this BE website.....take a look!

Re: Living part time USA
 

Bank account is simple really. Don't worry about it.

Bigger issue is the visa and the jumps through the hoops. Biggest, and by far possibly the 'brick wall' in your plan is the health insurance. Fine print is essential in reviewing your health insurance plans as they often have many caveats that can end up 'biting you' should you actually need health care.

Quite frankly: for most people the issue of health insurance negates their plans to move to the US for retirement--full stop. It's good you have already been looking into this but really delve deeply into what is covered and what is not. It is a major minefield here.

Re: Living part time USA
 

How long can I be away for on any one trip?Hide
Single trip policies - you can choose cover for specific trips between 1 and 90 days.
Annual policies - if you are a UK customer you can choose a trip duration of 31, 45 or 91 days on your annual policy. While you may take as many trips as you like in the year there is a maximum overall length of time you can be away for - this is 183 days in any policy period. These upgrade options are not available for our International policies.
Gap Year policies (Explorer) - if you are aged between 18 and 45 and planning a "gap year", then one of our Explorer policies will cover you for between 3 and 18 months.

Re: Living part time USA
 

You also have to declare that you are a resident of the UK to get UK travel insurance. Selling one's house and buying one in the US does not suggest one is a UK resident should a claim occur.

Re: Living part time USA
 

Many thanks for all the advise given it really is appreciated.

I think after reflection then maybe renting would be the way to go as i think the visa could be a problem after all that i have read here.

Although selling the house and living for the summer on the narrowboat with a bona fida address and this being the marina that we moor the boat in I guess this could well be a problem with the US authorities.

Best regards
Mick.

Re: Living part time USA
 

HI, I've been reading this forum for a while but registered just now so I could respond to this post as two-country living is exactly what we are now doing.

We are in our mid-late 50's and retired in 2010. We were frequent visitors to the USA for work and leisure over the last 30 years and in our first year of retirement rented a villa on Florida's Gulf Coast for a long stay. We much prefer living in our own space to renting and so while there we bought a condo (bought outright, no mortgage). The buying process was straightforward.

Opening a bank account in the USA was easy. We have Bank of America's e-banking account. It's free. We used our UK passports and UK driving licences as proof of ID. We transfer funds to it online as we need to using HiFx.

Getting a B2 visa was very simple. Filled in the online form (although that took a few days to gather the data); phoned the US Embassy in London for the interview appointment and was offered one 2 days later; and then the interview only took about 10 minutes. We own a house here in the UK and took along our house deeds and copies of bank statements and investment funds statements but the interviewer at the embassy didn't look at any of that.

When we looked into the cost of shipping stuff over we decide just to buy new over there. We did underestimate the costs of that. It was not the big things like furniture, TV and obvious kitchen stuff but it was all the small stuff. For the first week I think we spent a couple of hundred dollars a day in Walmart and Target on everything from ironing board to wastepaper bins to cheese grater. And we continue to find that we don't have things that we take for granted in our established home.

Anyway our basic costs for the condo are about $6000 per year for HOA fees, electricity, water, and property taxes. Obviously the utility costs go up when we are there. So far we've not bought a car there (our town is cycle friendly and we rented when we needed one) but we'll do that on the next visit. We don't need finance but we got contradictory advice about whether we needed Florida drivers licences first. So that all needs to be looked at in more detail next time.

Long stay medical insurance is an issue and a major expense. That is true whether you rent or own. But don't skimp on it. Sadly on our last trip DH needed urgent hospital treatment. Fortunately we were covered. We did find that online insurance doesn't work for long stay with some pre-exisitng conditions. So be prepared to phone around and talk to agents and insurance companies.

Hope this info helps. Good luck.

Re: Living part time USA
 

you can no longer get one ...

Re: Living part time USA
 

Yes not that difficut to get as retiree
yes easy you can even get one on a visa waiver ... the free ones are mostly gone ..you need a minimum amount to get free banking
yes... you cannot get a US licence and insurance will be expensive

forget that idea completely pointless you can buy property fully furnished

dont go for a condo can be a nightmare

been in florida 17 years and know many snowbirds

Re: Living part time USA
 

Are you sure Ray? My parents are B2-ers and they're just towards the end of a 5-month stay, my Dad having renewed his FL license on arrival. He has to do this each time they arrive, as the DLs were tied to the length of their stay.

Re: Living part time USA
 

two of my friends could not get there renewed this past winter

http://www.gathergoget.com/

Re: Living part time USA
 

This sounds strange to me. Drivers licenses are issued state by state, but usually you need proof of residency. On a B2 you would generally use your own foreign license and an international permit.