By Kelvin Marshall, Nica-Biz
Condé Nast Traveler, a market-leading travel magazine and Forbes Magazine both have articles this week on retiring abroad and both pick retire to Nicaragua as one of those options.
Condé Nast Traveler features “6 Countries with Incentives to Retire There” by Laura Kiniry.
Forbes features “6 Great Places You Could Retire Overseas Right Now” in an article by Kathleen Peddicord (who some of you will remember has been promoting Nicaragua for many years, including with International Living).
Condé Nast looks at the various incentives for retirees offered by Panama, Greece, Malaysia, Portugal, Nicaragua and The Philippines.
In Forbes Magazine, Nicaragua and Panama are also on Kathleen’s list of 6, along with Mexico, Belize, Dominican Republic and Croatia.
Kathleen confirms that Nicaragua’s borders have remained open throughout the pandemic and notes that “Nicaragua has chosen to take a laissez-faire approach to managing the (Covid) situation” (not getting involved in other people’s activities or behavior).
She also mentions the required negative PCR test (taken no longer than 72 hours before your actual entry to Nicaragua), as well as comments on the online form to be submitted at least seven days before entering the country.
However, local experience is that this form is something that perhaps only a single digit percentage of travelers entering Nicaragua are actually aware of, let alone complete, yet are welcomed with open arms anyway. So don’t panic if you forgot or you hear someone else talking about it.
Whereas masks are not required by law, it should be noted that entering banks, public buildings and many commercial establishments do still require masks to be worn, hands washed and a temperature check.
On point with the articles theme, Kathleen confirms that residency card applications (and renewals) have been processed throughout the entire Covid-19 Pandemic.
In fact, extensions to tourist stays are being granted 30 days at a time (while your application for residency is being processed) so as not to require you to leave the country every 90 days and pay US $150 for a Covid test to get back in.
Pension Income Clarification
In the Condé Nast Traveler article by Laura Kiniry, she refers to the requirements of Nicaragua’s “Pensionado Residency Program” and mentioned a “Passive Income (?) of US $600 per month”.
The $600 minimum monthly pension requirement to retire to Nicaragua as a pensionado was increased to US $1,000 per month in February 2019 by the Law of Tax Concertation (Law No. 987).
As a pensionado, they need you to prove (with a notarized document) the source is from a government, public or private institution irrevocable pension such as; Social Security (USA), CPP and/or OAS (Canada). The $150 per month for each dependent is unchanged.
The “Rentista” category means your monthly income is derived from a permanent stable income source abroad was also increased at the same time. It went from US $750 to a minimum monthly amount of US $1,250 or equivalent.
