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Recently Answered Questions

How much do healthcare and medical services cost in Mexico?

Yvon Marier - Travel Info Mexico

(Expats learning more about insurance and air evacuation with Yvone Marier, Mexico, pictured.) – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

Mexico has a national healthcare service called IMSS. This coverage is paid by employers, or can be purchased on an individual basis, even by foreigners with resident status. Rates vary dependent on age, from $150 and up to $350 USD per year.  Although the doctors are very good, in many areas is the system is overcrowded and waits are very long, sometimes 8-10 hours to see a doctor.

For those who don’t have healthcare coverage, the cost of...

Are there rivers and lakes in or around Belize?

Christian Burn

Belize river – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

We have rivers on the mainland of Belize, not on the island of Ambergris Caye. You can navigate the rivers, too, and there is white water rafting. Recently though, they dammed one river which used to be a very fun play river that had Class 5 rapids. Now, there is only the Mopan River, which starts in Guatemala, but the current there is minute and the rapids are not even more than Class 1. Mopan River is mostly used for washing, sustenance, and farming.

There are many...

How bad are the mosquitoes and other bugs and insects in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?

Lucy Valenti - Liv Nicaragua

How bad the mosquitoes and other insects are in the area of San Juan del Sur depends on where you are located and the season. If the area is less developed, you will find more mosquitoes. If the winds are blowing, the problems with mosquitoes and other bugs are much less. During the rainy season, the problems with bugs and other insects and mosquitoes in San Juan del Sur is worse. However, any issues with mosquitoes, insects or other bugs can easily be remedied by using...

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a Portugal passport?

Luis Rodrigues - Gouveia Pereira, Costa Freitas & Associates, Law Firm, RL

Electronic passport from Portugal – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

To have a Portuguese Passport it will be necessary to apply for Portuguese Nationality first.

The Permanent Residence Permit allows for citizens of third states to apply for the Portuguese Nationality after 6 (six) years of residence in the Portuguese Territory.

Nonetheless the citizen applying for the Portuguese Nationality shall also have to comply, namely, with the following requirements:

...

To have a Portuguese Passport it will be necessary to apply for Portuguese Nationality first.

The Permanent Residence Permit allows for citizens of third states to apply for the Portuguese Nationality after 6 (six) years of residence in the Portuguese Territory.

Nonetheless the citizen applying for the Portuguese Nationality shall also have to comply, namely, with the following requirements:

a) Proof of residence in Portuguese territory for at least 6 years;

b) The applicants must be over eighteen years old;

c) Sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese Language;

d) Absence of conviction for crime punishable in Portugal by imprisonment for more than 3 years;

e) Birth certificate;

f) Passport;

(Electronic passport from Portugal, pictured.)

g) Incorporation about personal data as the name of the parents, profession, etc.;

h) Countries where the applicant had residence besides Portugal;

i) Criminal registry issued by the Portuguese entity of the county of birth or of the nationality where the applicant has its residence.

The Portuguese Passport allows the holder to establish residence and free movement in Portugal and in other European Union Countries. Thus, with a second passport to get into countries that require visas for certain citizens could benefit you in substantial costs and less paperwork and unnecessary bureaucracy to travel around.

Other advantages of having a Portuguese Passport are the access to medical assistance, to education and others publics rights on the same terms as the Portuguese without losing your American citizenship.

(Electronic passport from Portugal, pictured.)

How's the hiking and camping in and around Panama?

Esteban Guerra

Cerro Ancon hiking in and around Panama City Panama – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

You can go hiking in Cerro Ancon (pictured), which is a hill 16 minutes away from Panama City by car. In Cerro Ancon, you can have a beautiful view of the Panama City skyline and the Panama Canal. It is the best place to go hiking in the city. You can go there by bus or by Metro. Once you are in Cerro Ancon, you can go to Mi Pueblito, which is a museum that displays things from different cultures here in Panama.

Some people in Panama like to go...

Do I need a second passport if I retire, work, or live abroad?

Kristin Wilson - Orbis Relocation

Kristen Wilson working in Mexico – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

No, you don't need a second passport if you retire, work, or live abroad. There is a misconception people have that they need to either give up their US passport or US citizenship but no, you don’t need to. You can have your US passport.

As Americans, we're lucky that we come from a country where we don't really need to apply for even a visa to visit most countries. We can go with our passport. We can usually stay in countries anywhere from 1 to 6 months, depending on the regulations of each country. In Mexico, for example, we can stay up to 180 days with a US passport.

A lot of people who move abroad still want to go home once or twice a year and visit their family. You might be living in Nicaragua and stay 90 days before re-entering, because, without a visa, you have to leave and come back in. If you live in Nicaragua, maybe you want to go to Costa Rica or take a flight to Colombia. That’s basically what people do. They leave once or twice a year. They either travel around or go back to the US. You can do that all with your US passport. There's no need to make any changes. Just make sure that your passport is valid for a long time so that you don't have to go get a new one. Even if you lose your passport or you need to get a new passport, you usually can do so at the consulate in that country. It's not a big deal. Also, if you're planning on traveling a lot, you can order passports now that have extra pages that should last you a long time or you can get pages added to them about $80.

You can choose to continue doing this indefinitely in many countries. What you decide to do depends on the situation and the residency attorney could tell you about that. It could be expensive to get residency. It just depends on the country. For example, the cost of getting residency in Nicaragua is a fraction of the cost of getting a residency in the UK or in some places in the Caribbean where it can cost over a million dollars. In some countries, it costs a few hundred thousand. In Nicaragua, in Mexico or generally in Latin America, it's always going to be a lot lower, for the most part under $10,000. That might be the route that you take but even if you do that, that doesn’t mean you're going to get a passport from the country that you have residency in. You'll still be traveling on your US passport.

If, for example, you travel to Nicaragua on your US passport and then you want to get a permanent residency or temporary residency in Nicaragua, it could be up to 5 years. You'll still use your US passport to travel. The only time you would need to actually get a second passport would be if you obtain citizenship in that country, which can take 10 to 20 years. You won't really need your second passport under most any circumstances especially if you have a US passport. I can't think of any reason why you would need a second passport. It would be a luxury to have a second one but it's not a requirement by any means.

(Kristen Wilson, relocation export, working on Mexico beach, pictured.)

Recently Posted Expat Stories

How Former Texan Jackie Lange Found Her Paradise in Boquete and Unintentionally Started a Business, All at the Same Time

As told to Best Places:

Hi, I’m Jackie Lange. I have lived in Boquete, Panama for almost 6 years now. I moved after deciding I was just sick and tired of the heat in Texas. One summer we had 90 days straight of 100˚ weather. I lived on a private 500 acre lake. It was too hot to get out on my boat, so it was just too hot to stay in Texas.

I spent two years exploring about ten countries other than Panama, including Mexico, Belize, Uruguay,...

Hanging Out on the Amador Causeway, Panama

Located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal is the Amador Causeway, a road and pedestrian walkway that connects the mainland of Panama City with three islands. This causeway was built with material extracted from the Culebra Cut when the Panama Canal was built from 1904-1914. It provided a breakwater for ships waiting to enter the Canal, and to prevent the buildup of sediment. Later the United States militarized the promontory and fortified it with ordnance during the two...

The End of the Road At Playa Venao, Panama

The Divisa to the south of the Panamanian Highway is not a scenic ocean drive, except when you get near the terminus, in the Azuero Peninsula, where there is a ledge only big enough for two lanes, between the mountains and the coast with its tiny little coves. The road turns, and with each bend the ocean is glimpsed where the density of trees have become sparse. The water, unlike others parts of Panama, can finally be seen at the speed of a cruising car, in that uncommon...