To want to move to the Caribbean

[Thisisnotataste]

totally.
I dream of living in a wooden house by the beach, with DD playing on the beach after school, DH working from home, same job, me working from home PT. Is it possible? Obviously my work and his are totally doable remotely!
Doesn't have to be Caribbean just somewhere relaxed and warm. I miss the sea since we moved inland.
Talk me out of this dream please! Its probably lockdown fever...

Ok hurricanes and Barbados not a problem.
Crime not a major problem. I dont thibk a agted community is for me.. but I will now watch a place in the sun

Huh, I have property in Jamaica. Was about to offer it. Guess not then

Some of my family is from the Caribbean, one aunt and uncle have a beautiful house near where the president lives... hurricane Maria hit and they came back to the UK and I think won't return to the Caribbean. My grandad had a house that was trashed by Maria but at least it still standing. I have uncles living there in poverty, though they are at least lucky enough to have a concrete house (if you can call it a house) and not a wooden one.

It's not a glossy touristy island, there's a lot of poverty but it is beautiful.

I'm not sure id feel brilliantly comfortable trying to live it up there, earning waaaaaay more than an average citizen

If you're employed, have you considered the tax implications for your employer? If it's complicated (probably given it's tax) then they may not agree

Are you likely to move permanently from where you live now? If not, do think about which school might have a place for dd when you come back.

either wine or excitement.

"I don't think and gated community is for me

@Thisisnotataste I lived in Trinidad for about 3 yrs and had friends living in Barbados.
It's not all palm trees and beaches unfortunately...don't get me wrong it was great at times but...
It's poverty.
You will need private medical care for definite.
No the state schools are not good...your dc will need to attend an international school.
We were robbed twice...
We lived in a gated community...that can get very repetitive and boring trust me.
It's very slow service... painfully slow...so you will need go with the flow.
I left when we wanted to have dc...that speaks for itself tbh.

I

Haha @brassylocks I'm so sorry! Should I consider Jamaica? I thought crime rate was high there?
@olderthanyouthink OK. I will take hurricanes seriously. I've live in places with high poverty. I promise I won't be living it up. Just living. And using my money to be more relaxed rather than having more luxury.

A quick glance at the Barbados (at least) work from home visa is that you wouldn't pay tax in Barbados. Its worth thinking about though so will add to the research list
@PastMyBestBeforeDate i can't see it being permanent but who knows. However there are a lot of really good primaries round here. I would be more than happy with 9/10 of the closest ones. Again worth thinking about though.

Cheeky bugger! What’s wrong with Jamaica? I’m Jamaican! It’s a beautiful island and the crime is no lower in proportion to other places. That’s just a stereotype. It’s statistically safer that some some big world cities that people flock to live to.
Gosh the prejudice is unreal!

*crime rate is no higher

Please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Jamaica have the worlds second highest murder rate per population? It sounds like a beautiful country otherwise!

My mother retired to the Caribbean Island where she was brought up. She sold up and returned to the UK within 5 years.
Violent crime is an issue, sorry. Burglars have guns and machetes, and are not scared to use them.

All 100% doable. Many Caribbean countries will give you residency if you buy property but first I'd consider renting for a while. You can certainly live it up if you wanted, there are plenty of well off people in the caribbean locals and foreigners alike. Or live a more middle class lifestyle. I live on an island and I'd say you can choose many different experiences and lifestyles. There are kids in top schools (NOT international schools as pp said above, schools in some islands are excellent) going to every activity club going and going back to air conditioned mansions with pools, and then there are kids at normal schools playing in the yard and on the beach after school. There are rural lifestyles and city lifestyles and a huge variation of the circles you can mix in, even in little tiny islands. Go for it and explore I'd say.

Twilight cafe, totally depends on which island and where on the island...! Some areas of Trinidad, for example, are horrific. Some areas I've lived you can leave your door open all day and night and nothing untoward would happen

Jamaica rocks! I went there for my wedding and honeymoon, 24 years ago now. they told me the rain on my wedding day was lucky, but so much for that!! It was wonderful, but I too thought it was high in crime
I'm from Glasgow - also a murder capital - so I do understand your protectiveness though

I'd recommend not living in a big house in a poor area I.e. match the neighbourhood. If you can rent a house on 'family land' where a family has a few houses on one piece of land, as they'll introduce you to everything and it's good for safety as well.

@Notnowplzz. How would I find houses on family land?

Yes jamaica looks lovely but i would be worried as its listed as 2nd in the world for highest murder rate as well as forbes saying its unsafe for female travellers.

Bermuda is offering the same thing as Barbados.

Happy to have inspired you 😃. I would say private school rather than state, even the best (and most expensive schools) on the island we lived on had poor results in comparison to UK state schools but they are fine for little ones, mine caught up easily once back in the UK.

You will almost certainly need medical insurance. Check any life assurance you have in the UK will still be valid if you move overseas, we checked and ours wasn't.

Word of warning, we lived right next to the sea to begin with but the children would cry if I had the patio door open as some days the waves were so noisy 😂 Great for shark spotting at dusk though. Canal-side living was much quieter...and good for turtle spotting!

We lived in gated communities and it did feel safe in terms of letting the DC's play out as the roads were much quieter so they could ride their bikes and scooters without me worrying about traffic.

We looked at the cost of living day to day prior to moving, this covered everything from groceries to water and electricity then factored in larger outgoings such as school fees, medical insurance and regular flights back to the UK. You have lots to research! Good luck!

My part time job earns me £15k after tax i earn nearly 3 times the average income, my day rate for freelancing (just started) is about the average monthly income and then there's my partners income too... having that much more money than everybody else and it seeming a completely meh amount of money probably wouldn't be good for me

And I'd have to drive (or hire someone), on bat shit crazy roads.

And it's really humid and I'm currently hating the humid heat 😅

Re houses on family land... I would first go and rent an Airbnb for about a month in a gated community and rent a car. Take drives out, find areas you like, and ask staff in local shops about places to rent. In many rural places, nearly all places to rent will be on family land. Many people build two flats and live in one and rent the other to pay their mortgage.

The only problem I foresee with that plan is they will probably try to jack up their prices on you. To avoid this you can join local Facebook groups for houses to rent as a lot of rentals in Caribbean are done that way, then you'll see genuine prices in that area. You would also find local estate agents that way and you can ask them for a rental that has a lot of family around or whatever, they would help. It's better finding them through those groups than via search engines.

I live in the Cayman Islands OP, happy to answer any questions you have. I've been here near 13 years, moved from London as a single 28 year old!

Low crime rate, I've just this minute returned from happy hour on the beach where we took our boys after they finished snorkel camp, met friends and had a wonderful relaxed dinner. And yes, it's pretty much like this most weeks.

I work for a law firm, DH is in security. We're Covid free and our borders will open slowly from 1 September and the government are being very strict on who comes and from what countries.

Cost of living is exceptionally high here, schools are fee paying and many folk have a helper who looks after pre-school age kids or babies. But that helper (who can also clean/run errands/school runs etc) will set you back the same as a full time nursery cost in UK.

You will have a great life here if you can prove you're able to support yourself and your dependents when you arrive, and you will also need private health insurance for your entire family which runs at approximately $1000 per month.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to give a realistic view of living costs.

Just this evening as we watched our kids spend their evening playing on the beach whilst we drank cocktails, we understand they live a very privileged childhood. They don't know they're born frankly! We stay because the quality of their childhood here is the same kind of freedom I had growing up.

Life is easy, yes we work long hours in our positions, but the flip side is zero commute, safe neighborhoods, beautiful weather and a community (both expat and local) like no other.

A woman I went to school with moved to Barbados about 10 years ago. We don't keep in touch, only friends on Facebook, but she seems really happy. She even met someone there and got married. You should go if you really want to.

Really so no body is going to say it?
Are you of carribean heritage op? Because racism is quite strong there, too.
Crime rates are high.
Pp said her OH is handy and can work..dont make me.laugh.. people are very resourceful and hire friends/family theyve known all their lives if they cant do a job themselves.

Even if you arent rich, to the majority there you will be perceived as such and will be a target.

Good luck should you get ill or need police help there.