We were pursuing Panama, after looking closely at Belize. Canada will not take retirees--unless
you have a LOT of money (and after a brief look/see at New Zealand in 1994, decided not to go).
If the development where we were building a house in Panama (Bocas del Toro region on
the Caribbean side) had not experienced financial problems, I suspect we would be living there
now. We had opened bank accounts, applied for and received permanent resident visa status,
gotten our Jubilee cards (retirees get discounts on LOTS of things in Panama). After our fire
destroyed our house here in 2007 and the house we were building in Bocas had been stopped due to
not only the financial problems but labor issues/strikes, we finally gave up and decided we'd
be staying here in Chapel Hill.
Cautionary word to anyone who thinks about moving abroad: do not buy anything that isn't completed.
These were the typical US midwestern "boys next door" who were running this development and their
greed got them in over their heads--against the advice of their very well connected Panamanian attorneys.
They had ended up running a pyramid scheme. The development eventually was taken over by the investors
and the "boys" were run out of the process, and the development has actually completed some of the initial
plans and is operating. But what a mess. A lot of people lost a lot of money. It was only because we waited
and waited until the time was right--and our Panamanian attorney knew when to take advantage of some legal leverage--that we ended up
not waving goodby to the funds we had invested. Of course, it was several years waiting for that 'right time'
to happen.
So, beware! It is not the easy process that the folks at International Living would have you believe.
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