Hello All,
New to the forums and have done quite a bit of reading the last few weeks. I really appreciate all of the useful information you have all put together here. It is quite invaluable to those of us in the process.
We are prepping for a scouting mission to make sure we like Belize in the flesh. In the meantime, being simple people living a simple life, there are technical questions we are looking to get off our list so that we know what we would be getting into.
We are NOT of retirement age and are NOT interested in the QRP option.
I understand the other option is to fulfill a requirement of 1 year of living in the country without leaving for more than 14 days.
My question has to do with gaining residency in Belize for a family of four (2 Adults and 2 kids 13 & 10yrs. old).
From what I understand there is the monthly check in with immigration to get your passport stamped and that costs $25 US / 50 BZE, per person for the first 6 months and then costs $50 US / 100 BZE for every month after that.
I have also read that we could then officially apply for residency after the full year passes (without leaving for 14 days or more) and would have to keep paying the $50 US / 100 BZE per person each month until we are accepted (approx. 6 months is what I have read).
Please correct any of the above if I am off.
So here are my questions:
1) I have read that we would need a police background check & HIV Test (I assume this is just drawing blood from each of us and having it tested). Is there anything else (ie. Belizean sponsor, etc.)
2) I also understand that there is a fee for the application of residency ($1,500 US / 3,000 BZE) and am unclear on how much that is for a family of four. Is it $1,500 US each person or for a couple or all of us? How exactly does that work?
3) When NOT applying for the QRP program is there a requirement to have a "proven minimum monthly income"?
4)Is there in fact a period of time after gaining residency where you can ship your belongings etc. without taxation?
5)Do you apply for residency after the year is up or can this be done a few months before hand to get the ball rolling?
6)I have read conflicting info on drivers license requirements and would like to know if it is true that you can use your US DL until you gain residency at which time you are then required to get a BZ DL ???
Thank you all in advance for taking the time to help with this.
Hope to have the opportunity to meet some of you someday.