Is Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc safe? What's the crime rate in general in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?
John Venator - Casa de los Venados
Emphatically, yes it is safe in Yucatan. Our own US Department of State statistics reports that the Yucatan is safer than any other part of Mexico. Mexico in general is safe. The Yucatan Peninsula is very safe. We are safer than 26 major American cities in terms of crime in general, crime against people and the big one, murder. We are safer here than we are in Chicago, statistically.
I recently did some presentations with the National Secretary for Tourism in Mexico, with whom...
Emphatically, yes it is safe in Yucatan. Our own US Department of State statistics reports that the Yucatan is safer than any other part of Mexico. Mexico in general is safe. The Yucatan Peninsula is very safe. We are safer than 26 major American cities in terms of crime in general, crime against people and the big one, murder. We are safer here than we are in Chicago, statistically.
I recently did some presentations with the National Secretary for Tourism in Mexico, with whom I have become friends. She would use our house several times for events. I went with her to New York and did Bloomberg, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and the NBC Editorial board. My role was to say, in the almost 50 years I have been coming to Mexico (because I came here in 1962 as a student), I, nor any member of my family nor anybody who has ever come to stay with us, none of us, have ever encountered crime. We have never been victims of any crime.
We feel very safe. The same is true in Cancun, which I can report because we own a house there. We started with timeshares over 30 years ago, then had a hotel condo and now we have the house right on the ocean. This includes all that time that we have been property owners in Cancun as well. We have never had an incident of crime, period. We have never been pick-pocketed. We have never been robbed. All the things that people fear, we have never had any of that happen to us. I do not know anybody, neither our Mexican friends nor any of our expat friends, who live here in Valladolid, who have been victims of crime.
(Children's Parade on Day of the Revolution, Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)
Can I wear jewelry in Ambergris Caye and feel safe?
Kate Corrigan - Caye International Bank
Yes you can absolutely wear jewelry in Ambergris Caye and still feel safe at the same time. Although, most people choose not to wear flashy jewelry because mosquitoes sometimes bite you around where your jewelry sits, if you are prone to those kind of sorts of things. People here do wear their rings and other beautiful jewelry when they are going out. Belizean locals love their jewelry and are very proud of it. They wear jewelry when they are going out with their partners or if...
Yes you can absolutely wear jewelry in Ambergris Caye and still feel safe at the same time. Although, most people choose not to wear flashy jewelry because mosquitoes sometimes bite you around where your jewelry sits, if you are prone to those kind of sorts of things. People here do wear their rings and other beautiful jewelry when they are going out. Belizean locals love their jewelry and are very proud of it. They wear jewelry when they are going out with their partners or if they are going out of town.
Can I receive my Social Security checks or benefits abroad, as an expat, outside the US and if so, how?
John Ohe - Hola Expat Tax Services
You can receive your Social Security check outside of the US directly to a foreign bank account. However, there is some paperwork that is required to do this. It's easier to have your Social Security check deposited into a US bank account and just access that money through a debit card.
There is absolutely no US law that states that if you're living outside of the United States, you're not entitled to Social Security anymore. If you're...
You can receive your Social Security check outside of the US directly to a foreign bank account. However, there is some paperwork that is required to do this. It's easier to have your Social Security check deposited into a US bank account and just access that money through a debit card.
There is absolutely no US law that states that if you're living outside of the United States, you're not entitled to Social Security anymore. If you're entitled to Social Security, where you're living is completely irrelevant because you paid into the system.
A lot of expats who continue to work for US companies but live abroad still pay into the Social Security system even while living abroad. They may be able to avoid income taxes, but they'd be paying into Social Security. For self-employed expats, they're basically the employer as well as the employee, so they pay both sides of Social Security taxes—as an employer, and as an employee.
(Castillo de San Felipe, Rio Dulce, Guatemala, pictured.)
Can I wear jewelry in the Panama City, Panama area of San Francisco and feel safe?
Lourdes Townshend
San Francisco is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city of Panamá, which is one of the reasons why it attracts so many people, residents and visitors of all kinds. It has the only large park in the city, open from 4:30 am through 10:00 pm. Residents from all over the district take advantage of this park to exercise, or simply to get together with friends for a fresh fruit shake, or coffee.
Being part of a...
San Francisco is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city of Panamá, which is one of the reasons why it attracts so many people, residents and visitors of all kinds. It has the only large park in the city, open from 4:30 am through 10:00 pm. Residents from all over the district take advantage of this park to exercise, or simply to get together with friends for a fresh fruit shake, or coffee.
Being part of a high income neighborhoods that surround the area, and frequently visited by thousands of people on a daily basis, San Francisco is not exempt of an occasional incident, like a robbery, the same as in any other major city. As always, precaution is always advisable. But one thing is certain-- people feel safe walking in the street, or going from place to place, especially restaurants at night, and ladies wear jewelry all the time.
There is a police station in the area that is always patrolling the place, and also a station of the special presidential guard in the park, that are always taking care of anything unusual.
The most recent holiday in Nicaragua was Christmas. Christmas is celebrated by closing the government offices (except safety) from about the 23rd of December to the first Monday in January.
Easter, especially the week prior, is considered "summer" and government offices, banks and so forth close for at least part of the week (semana santa).
Independence day, and the Sandinista revolution are also celebrated. And, since...
The most recent holiday in Nicaragua was Christmas. Christmas is celebrated by closing the government offices (except safety) from about the 23rd of December to the first Monday in January.
Easter, especially the week prior, is considered "summer" and government offices, banks and so forth close for at least part of the week (semana santa).
Independence day, and the Sandinista revolution are also celebrated. And, since Nicaragua is mostly Roman Catholic, many of the Roman Catholic church's Holy days are celebrated also. Usually with fire works.
Will Portugal make me pay income tax on money I earn in Portugal?
Luis Rodrigues - Gouveia Pereira, Costa Freitas & Associates, Law Firm, RL
A. Employment or self-employment (for activities within the official list of high added value activities)
Individuals who qualify as non-habitual residents benefit from a special flat tax rate on Portuguese-source employment and business income derived from high added value activities of 20%.
High value added activities include a wide range of scientific, artistic or technical character performed...
A. Employment or self-employment (for activities within the official list of high added value activities)
Individuals who qualify as non-habitual residents benefit from a special flat tax rate on Portuguese-source employment and business income derived from high added value activities of 20%.
High value added activities include a wide range of scientific, artistic or technical character performed in Portugal as per the list of activities published by the Portuguese Government (which includes architects, engineers and similar technicians; fine artists, actors and musicians; auditors; doctors and dentists; professors; psychologists; sole traders, technicians and similar; Investors, directors and managers), for a ten year period.
B. Other types of income
Regarding the other types of income that are received from a Portuguese source (capital investments, dividends, interests, etc.) the tax regime for the non-habitual residents will be the same as for any other Portuguese resident.
(Live band at Stevie Ray’s Blues Jazz Bar in Lagos, Portugal, pictured.)
Here in Guatemala they call themselves Guatemaltecos (Guatemalteca for women) and not Guatemalans. But both are understood. When I came to live here it was a plan for two years, to put this young indigenous woman through her career program and then return to California. I had decided I was DONE with relationships and would never marry again. I tell my guests now I never say never. I also had never even thought about building my own home in a foreign country. But how young is he, this...
It was two years ago, December 9, 2012 when we landed in Panama City. As excited as I was, the fact that I had bronchitis dampened that feeling a lot. Day two found us looking for yet another round of antibiotics. I bought them over the counter. They worked great, too. I had such severe allergies in the USA, especially in Texas, that I usually had some kind of upper respiratory infection at least twice a year. Odd, but it seemed the doctors had no idea how to treat it. I was given the...
We find our way back to Los Cuatro Tulipanes in Casco Viejo by landmarks, sights and sounds: the nonchalant dog who lays on the sidewalk near the president’s security guard (who seems to be the only dog in a city of cats); the smell of beef broth from an open door whose meaty heat is added to the saturated heat of close dwellings and narrow passage ways, causing a linear view of the sea, its pungency carried by erratic winds; and remembering to walk just past the ruins of a convent that...