Help the retired folk

Hello Kjoannaprichard,

Welcome.  I have no idea as I don't live there yet, but just wanted to welcome you to the site.  I too am looking to relocate to Ambergris Caye in a few years.  Not looking for work, but plan on living there til the end! 

Good luck in your endeavor!  This is a great site and I'm sure you will get several really good posts!

Cheers!
Boxergal

Thanks, I am excited!

I worked as a GP, in neuropsych, and med school teaching there for several years up to 2011. This was in the two northern districts. The two areas that Belize lags in the health care arena would be emergency-trauma care and chronic care. The overall medical infrastructure is grim as is true of most everything else. The MDs are pretty good overall and less rushed and very empathic. That being said there are very few facilities for elderly care and since about 45% of the population is impoverished many are looked after by extended family. I never encountered PSW's anywhere during numerous home visits.There are no facilities that I know that cater to foreign retirees and that would be far in the future.
The pay structure for RN's is very grim and many are Guatemalan imports.Obtaining a work permit for your purposes would not be easy.
Belize is not really a place for ex pats  to  work in most fields of endeavour, except as a temporary experiment in cross cultural exposure. As a place to retire, there are better places eg Panama or Mexico.
The expats who work successfully in Belize do so by catering to tourists as in the hospitality industry or real estate/relocation where they also hand out free  rose colored glasses.

Hi Kj,
I have been visiting Belize since 2005 and have been there 12 times at 1 week to 1 month intervals. I met my future wife there in 2005 and we were married in 2009. She is a Belizean National. We currently live in Houston but plan to move to Belize around August 1st this year. We have land on the Belize River about 27 miles outside of Belize City in the Jungle. I have a bank account in Belize and have invested in my brother-in-laws ranch and farming operations. We have 31 heads of cattle and grow a variety of crops. To address your question, Belize is nothing like Hawaii in anyway. Belize is a true 3rd world country. The population is very poor. Infrastructure exist, but is weak. Roads don't go everywhere and the ones that exist are usually in bad shape. You can't go to Belize thinking what will work in the US will work in Belize because it won't. For instance, I originally thought I would buy a tow truck and rent out my services. My wife told me no one would call. Belizeans would consider that as a luxury and are accustom to towing their own vehicles. I've never seen a retirement home in Belize for Belizeans. Belizeans take care of their old, unlike American culture. They see value in the old. There are many resorts that sell most of their properties to older retired Americans and Europeans. You might be able to find one that is in the market for a caregiver or have residence who are willing to pay a caregiver. If you go to work in a Belize Hospital you will make far less than you are accustomed to. You can go there on your American passport up to 90 days. If you want to stay longer, then you can drive into Mexico at Chatama for a day of R&R and drive back in at the end of the day. This will reset your 90 days all over again. Just make sure you don't go pass your 90 days when you do this. This will give you time to visit the country for a while so you can determine if it is for you. You need to research Belize and some of it's Government Agencies to see what and how to qualify for say a work visa. You can also check companies in Belize and see if they are looking for shoes to fill that they can't fill locally. I am taking a different approach than you are. We have dozens of fruit and nut trees on our property. We will have a large garden and we like to can goods. I fish and hunt. We also will have a pig or two and some chickens. Basically we will be off grid and be able to survive on our own if need be. For yearly income we will sale some of the crops, a few cows for butchering, and we plan to help out in the Cahune oil business my wife's mother has set up. I plan to buy a dump truck and rent out my services at the construction sites. I can also teach college in Belize City if need be. I will look for other opportunities ounce we get settled in and get everything up and running. I will be investing in land for development and resale. I also am looking at starting a couple of websites that take advantage of what Belize has to offer. With all this going I think we will be fine. However, I have a BS in Computer Science and an MBA. Other than teaching I doubt if I will be able to fall back on those skills to survive. So you have to see it to understand it and then be creative and willing to adopt. I absolutely love Belize and you might also. Then again, depending on what you are looking for in life, you might hate it. Take the time to find out before you lock yourself into anything. Good luck, let me know if I can help out anywhere else?

I'm not sure how it works in the rest of the country, but on Ambergris Caye we have immigration and you just have to go every 30 days, pay your fee and get your stamp in your passport.  No leaving the country required.

That's interesting. I've been to AC a lot but only a week at a time and never thought about using it to get my passport updated. I'd rather go to AC for a weekend than drive to Chatamal. I will have to check with immigration when we arrive next time to make sure about the 90 days but having to do it every 30 days sounds too soon. Of course, it is Belize and it could easily have different rules for different places. That seems to be common. Do you do the 30 day thing because you live on AC? Are there rules and conditions you must meet to get you passport stamped every 30 days? That might fall under a different ruling than being on the main land?

As I understand it you have to get it stamped at immigration every 30 days for tourist visa which is what I use.  Here's a link to the US Embassy info http://belize.usembassy.gov/information … lers.html.  You will have to cut an paste it in your browser.  I would think there would be other immigration offices too.

As a tourist you have to get your passport stamped, at an immigration office, every 30 days. Or on or before the date issued to you by immigration.

Excellent review...

mps1973
I just finished reading your posting,very well written. You have a plan and a very positive outlook. Your posting is very helpful to future ex-pats in Belize

Dr Al is telling the truth.   International living has oversold Belize as a place for ex-pats to live. 

Get on the mailing list for Que pasa Corozal  for example.  go on Facebook for the Belize sites and notice what people are talking about.   MPS1973 has plans but no real experience living here on a daily basis.  He also has the status of being married to a Belizean.   He may hope to become employed at the college, but he is not employed now.  He also has assets if he is buying land and trucks.

DrAl wrote:

....where they also hand out free  rose colored glasses.

Having just returned from a trip to Belize I had to LOL @ that comment because it is SO TRUE!

Belize was on my list of potential paradises to escape to thanks to the likes of IL et.al. Oversold for sure. Of course many tourist destinations are.

I've not been the Big Island but I have been to Kauai and Oahu and to be sure the mainland nor AC is even remotely similar to Hawaii.

I spent the majority of my time on AC, and while it's a beautiful place, I can't say that I would want to live or ever retire there if for no other reason than the cost of living (my way) would be higher than the US.  As for the mainland, well, the biggest "no way, no how" for me would be lack of ocean breezes combined with high cost of AC!

Consider that the population of the entire country is that of a small US city along with widespread poverty, I'm not sure elder care for locals is going to be something that pays well, if at all. And, as others have said, and it's true for other places I've looked at as well, elders are cared for by family.

Though it does seem to make sense that if not now (assuming they could afford it) sometime in the future there may be a need among the expat retiree community?  I just have no idea how many expats who will be able to afford elder care are living there currently.

Would you consider some sort of combo house sitter/caretaker position for someone who has a vacation/rental home there?  There were many, MANY vacant homes which I assume are owned by foreigners. Perhaps some of them plan to retire there full-time in the future?

We stayed in a 4 unit house/condo. The owner lives in the states. They have a young Belizian couple who live in one unit and act as "Innkeepers" for lack of a better word for the others.  While the owners are not retired, they will need to someday. Being as far north on the island as they are, well, I can't imagine as an 80 year old having to trek down to San Pedro to shop!

Have you considered starting your own expat elder care business in Belize? I don't know what's involved or if it's even possible. I only know for sure that I wouldn't look to find employment in Belize given wages are so low. In fact, according to the owners of the house we stayed in, the only reason they didn't go bankrupt building the house was because the cost of labor was so cheap... $20 a day.

you have nailed it nicely.

We have been living in Belize now for 8 months. We are 'inlanders'. We came here to be on a farm, build workshop, house, fences, etc. We researched a lot using International Living, and narrowed the location to 3 countries in the Americas.

We then traveled to them and looked at property and got a feel for living there. We shopped in the local grocery stores, went to the markets, the drug store, doctor's offices. We looked at property with buildings to get an idea of the building style, quality. We decided on Belize. From the International Living (IL) book and our on site visits we knew Belize is no Kauai.  Isn't it interesting how different people read the same thing and come away with different impressions.

I have used the health care a few times here. Once for broken bones, others for a simple ear infection. Having worked in health care for more than 2 decades I have a good idea about health care. For primary care, the care here is fine in our opinion.

To live in Belize you cannot expect the same services or environment that you are going to get on a Kauai, or in North America. Of course that is what IL said. Having read 3 different reviews by IL and traveling to the countries I felt their reviews of the countries were pretty much on. We came to Belize expecting much less for services and modern items than we were used to. If we wanted more full featured medical services, Wallmart, McDonalds, etc Costa Rica would be a better choice. The central valley there also has a fantastic climate.

Do we miss services and choices we had in Canada / USA - yes, but we are learning to live without them. I think a big difference is that we are not resort people (thus going to the resort parts of Belize). We came with different expectations, than likely those going to resort areas to live. We wanted the rustic rural environment and we have it in spades.

We almost bought on Kauai Hi. once but backed away because of the cost. Loan was approved, all we needed to do was sign the paper. Kauai is a totally different experience than Belize. Certainly a nicer climate, and more modern. It would have been great (10 acre 'farm'), but we could not afford that living. If we could have we would have been there.

I have researched Assisted Living in Belize so I could move there with my father. In San Ignacio there is a facility and it is beautiful.  What a wonderful place to live!! The name is Octavia Waight Centre. Check it out.

The people that work there are awesome!! I hope this helps.  All the best on your journey!
Regards,
LAN

You will have to think a little outside of the box on this one. There will be a need for USA/North American style elderly care in Belize. Take a look at all of the developments going on including Sanctuary Belize (5 thousand housing development) small and large condominium projects and large resort proposals. You are very early at the party with your skill sets and ideas. Most of the people buying and building into these projects will be looking at having their one or two parents staying or visiting for extended periods of time or permanently in a warm environment.

Eventually making yourself known and your services to the different resorts, development projects and extended vacationing home owners and all of the retirees as the go to person in elderly care on a limited or long term basis you will have achieved your dream/goal and have provided a lot of comfort to the people that WILL BE in need. Guaranteed.

Good luck and continued success.

Life again

My understanding is that you will be unable to work for the first year (on the economy)  that you are there.

What is the fee cost?

The thread you are replying to has not been active in over 7 years. You might post a new request/comment for any current concern. You can also use the magnifying glass to look for answers or suggestions. Good luck!