Diane:

You have some good food for thought here. Thanks for adding information to this interesting concept.


Originally Posted by Diane Campbell
Yikes - lots of of mixed-mis-information on this thread.

There is no "virtual residency" program.

QRP means Qualified Retired Person. This is a PROVISIONAL not permanent residency. You qualify under conditions set by Government (check with Government, not message boards to see the current requirements, as they change over time). Depending on the tax rules of your home country, this may make you tax-exempt there. I believe this is true for citizens of the UK, where there are complex laws about being "domiciled".

You probably know if you are a US citizen. No address required - if that were so, lots of unfortunate homeless people would have had their citizenship taken away long ago. If you are a US citizen, your world wide income MAY be subject to income tax. There are exceptions for people who actually live outside the US - whether you qualify is another reasonably complex formula related to the number of days you physically spend in the US. This has no relationship to having QRP, or permanent residency status in another country, or for that matter dual citizenship (there are complex rules on this too which like everything, change over time). IF you qualify as a US citizen who really truly lives outside the country, the first (approx) $92,000 US a year EARNED outside the US is exempt from US Income Tax. As a US citizen you are supposed to file annually regardless of whether you have earned enough to pay taxes or not.

Money earned in Belize is taxable in Belize.

There are some countries/territories with no income tax - those places tend to have very tough immigration laws!

You live where you live. Bad idea to think you can "take the target off your back" by lying about it. Your passport stamps tell the story of your entry and exit.

The best "strategy" is to stay a little fish, live simply, save your money for a rainy day and color inside the lines as best you can.