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Postcards from the Island of Spices: living in Grenada as a foreigner

7/24/2020 8:00:00 AM
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After a lifetime of work, there comes a time when you feel you must stop. We all have that feeling at some point. It's a call to slow down; it's like looking up after climbing a mountain. All my life I thought that when I retired, I would just rest and get bored. I thought the adventure would come to an end to make way for a long and quiet stillness. I was sure it would be a boring retreat, but when you choose the island of Grenada for a retreat, things change.

My name is Oliver, and after spending five years on this island where there are hardly any taxes, and I enjoy the best personal safety rate in the Caribbean, I think it's time to tell you about this place of enchantment. This is Grenada.

After spending most of my life in the UK working to ensure a good life for my family, I was finally ready to reap the benefits of decades of hard work. My children were already living their own lives, so I took my wife and made her the second most important proposal I've ever made: run away to an island as if we were still two easygoing teenagers.

We thought about many destinations before deciding, but it wasn't long before we found the perfect option for both of us. We saw that in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, there was an island paradise where you can see how the sun meets the sea when it sets. We looked into each other's eyes, and without saying a word, we had made our decision to retire to Grenada.

Grenada is an island like no other. It's the place where the wild feels perfectly in balance with the sophisticated. It is a land full of aromas and flavors that redefine the standards of any palate; a country that is not only perfect for investment and business, but for those who, like my wife and I, are just looking to retire and enjoy themselves.

This place makes you feel at home from the first moment. As the official language of the island is English, we had no problem adapting. What was new to my wife and me was the display of natural wonders that the island has. In Grenada, only boring people get bored. From coral reefs and turquoise beaches to mountains and jungle to otherworldly food experiences, Grenada has it all.

I would be lying if I told you that it was only the natural wonders, the delicious food and the friendly people that convinced my wife and me to choose Grenada as our last stop to enjoy. Beyond the fact that we were in love with the island from the very first moment, many practical reasons helped us confirm that Grenada was the right destination for us:

 For my wife and me, it's essential to have the possibility that our family can come and visit us without any problem, or better, to be able to visit them by surprise without having to take a flight with countless stops to get there. To our relief, this Caribbean paradise is quite accessible, even from the United Kingdom. From the island, we can take direct flights to visit our children and grandchildren in Canada and the UK without any problem. That's what I call convenience.

● The island is naturally protected from the hurricanes that wreak havoc elsewhere in the Caribbean, so we knew we'd be covered on that side, which is essential when you're about to buy a beach house on an island (but I'll tell you this in detail in a moment).

● Let's put it this way: the island has one of the most robust health systems in the entire region, its crime rate is virtually non-existent, and its human development index has been growing for years. This was one of the clearest signs that Grenada was calling us. This island has a huge sign on it that says prosperity.

● Grenada also enjoys undisturbed political stability. The country is a member of the British Commonwealth and has a political system based on the Westminster system. This also helped us to adapt quickly to the island. In a very short time, we felt as if we were local.


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Going to Grenada

After the decision was made, the rest was a piece of cake. Sincerely, Grenada is a country that makes it easy for you to enjoy its goodness. It has options for obtaining residency through clear and hassle-free processes.

My wife and I had wanted to buy a beachfront house for years, which we could never do because we were never convinced by the UK's rocky and cold beaches. But with Grenada, it was different. We took advantage of the fact that one of the ways to get a residence with your CBI program is by buying a property in a real estate project, and we jumped at it.

If you ask me in person how much money I spent to go to Grenada, you will see me smiling for a while. A smile always comes out of my mouth when I think of how absurdly cheap it was to secure the rest of my life in a tropical paradise.

We knew that for only $220,000 invested in a shared real estate property, my wife and I could obtain citizenship and dedicate ourselves to enjoying ourselves. That already seemed like a good deal, but I was surprised when I wanted to see how much it would cost to buy a property just for me. I remember that I almost fell off my couch when I saw that with $425,000, I could buy a luxury apartment facing the bluest ocean you can find in the Caribbean and inside one of the most modern resorts on the island. I felt like I had won the lottery.

I sold part of my shares in a company I had invested in a long time ago for $1.5M (I know, I hit the jackpot) and contacted real estate specialists in Grenada to start the process of moving with my wife to live in paradise.

In no time, I was buying a surreal apartment with an ocean view for less than $500k. I literally couldn't believe my money could perform that well outside of London's super high cost of living. I put the rest of the money into a mutual fund and used some to open a beach bar that would allow me and my wife to enjoy a lifelike we never thought possible.

Mundo and NTL have formed a partnership with Grenada's most successful real estate developer to help you to obtain citizenship through investment by purchasing a property in the best real estate projects throughout the island. For a limited time and only for the first 30 applicants, Mundo and NTL offer a package that will allow you to settle as a citizen in a paradise-like Grenada in a very short time.

The package includes:

● An apartment facing the Caribbean Sea in one of the most ambitious real estate projects on the island.

● A reduced passport processing fee with the services of our partners at NTL.


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The island's government approves all the properties that Mundo and NTL can help you buy in Grenada for its citizenship by investment program. If you want to know more about how it works, you may want to read our article where we talk specifically about the options you have in the Grenada real estate market.

Emigrating was a breeze. Grenada is only 11 hours from London, but the flight seemed much faster.

Our new apartment was less than 15 minutes from the airport. Actually, the resort is less than 15 minutes from pretty much everywhere. It is very convenient to explore new places and discover new things about the island.

It was enough to arrive in Grenada to start living the advantages of having obtained citizenship by investment in this island paradise. A couple of months after settling on the island, another company where I still had some shares passed me a valuation round that made me a lot of money without lifting a finger. Usually, in these situations some government tax collection agency comes along and ruins the party, but not in Grenada. On this island, there is no income, capital gains, dividends, or profit tax. Incredible. In the UK, I'd have to pay 32.5 % on dividend income.

At this point, I honestly didn't know why I hadn't made this decision much earlier.

 

Living in Grenada

After five years on this island, I'm still amazed. I'm always discovering something new about Grenada. One imagines that retiring is giving in to quietness, but no, this island has returned me to adventure, to a life of vigor.

Being a citizen of Grenada is one of the best investments anyone can make, whether it's to retire like me or to do business.

If you're one of those who cares about safety, you can relax. Since my wife and I arrived, the most dangerous thing we've seen was a not-so-friendly beehive near our bar. This island is so safe that it makes you walk around carefree no matter what time of day it is. This place is simply magical in that way.

Grenada also promises people freedom, and I can tell it delivers on that like no other place. No tax collectors looking at your bank accounts and no exchange controls or financial restrictions. This is like a huge playground for people who are engaged in offshore income-generating activity.

Perhaps my favorite part of this island is how cheap it is to live here compared to many places in Europe, especially London, where I come from. My wife and I usually go out to restaurants, go diving, take calypso lessons, and buy a lot of wine. At our age, we felt like rock stars with this lifestyle, yet we barely spent around $1,700to have a fridge full of food, go to restaurants, do fun activities at least once a week and drive around the island a lot.

That, my friends, is what I enjoy most about Grenada. With the income my wife and I generate with our beach bar, we can live incredible adventures and experiences without the need to use the money set aside to invest in the next generations of our family.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of the dreamy colors of the sea or the soft white sand of the beach. In Grenada, I can do everything.

I can reach the bottom of the coral reef and feel connected to the sea's immeasurable force, or I can go and conquer the jungle terrain of the island's mountains to breathe the purest air of this world. I'm not going to lie; sometimes, I just need to watch the sunset with my wife from the beach. I swear to you that the orange and pink combination with the indigo blue that you see on the horizon when the sun goes down on the beach is a spectacle that leaves you contemplating for a long time.

Grenada is becoming one of the most popular destinations for those wishing to obtain second citizenship through a CBI program due to the speed of its application process and the convenience of being a Grenadian citizen. If you want to know how to acquire a property that qualifies for the CBI Grenada program.

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