Welcome to the Retirement page
One of the most frequent questions that I am asked by readers of this site, my blog, or my internet travel articles is about the specifics of retiring in Bali or Indonesia. I've been retired in Bali for the past four years. My first year I used the retirement visa, but have since switched to the spousal visa since my wife is Indonesian.
The basic requirements for a retirement visa are:
- Being 55 years of age or older.
- Having an income of at least USD 1,500 per month. This needs to be documented.
- Having health and life insurance.
- Renting in an approved area.
- Being sponsored by an authorized company.
- Having documented proof that you employ at least one Indonesian citizen.
- Having personal liability insurance.
All of this is relatively expensive. A retirement visa needs to be sponsored by a government approved agent. The cost for the first year runs from around 5.5 million and up. Shop around as there are a number of qualified agents these days and prices do vary from agent to agent.
An attractive alternative seems to be the social visa which is good for six months and has none of the above requirements. The downside is that you need to leave the country every six months, and the monthly renewal fee seems to have gone up.
The information above is related to retiring in Indonesia, but what about other countries in Asia. I've always heard good things about Malaysia, and they do give ten year visas for expats who want to retire there. But, you are required to have 150,000 ringgit on deposit for the first year, and then need to maintain a fixed deposit of at least 60,000 ringgit after that.
Expat Relocation and Living Sites
Best Places to Retire, covers both the United States and overseas. This isn't as fancy as some sites listed here, but it has some of the necessary information.
Go to Retirement: A Baby Boomer's Journery from Retirement Planning to Retirement Living, has a variety of tools for those planning on retiring soon.
Living at Smiling Hill, is a website devoted to a gated expat enclave on the island of Batam, Indonesia. This is an interesting site with some humorous (intended or not) comments about life in Batam. Check it out.
Living in Indonesia , is a major site for the expat community in Indonesia. If you need information about living in Indonesia, this is a good place to start. Follow this link to get information about the variety of visas in Indonesia. Just reading this page should give you a headache. Unless you happen to be a very detail-oriented person (and very patient), find a good agent and use them to navigate the bureaucratic maze on the immigration trail.
Malaysia Expats Forum , is a forum run by the allo' expat group who have forums about most countries around the world it seems. The Malaysia forum seems quite populated and there are a lot of entries
Malaysia My Second Home , is a website with lots of information about moving to Malaysia. These folks will help you with all the arrangements to secure a long-term social visa so that you can live in Malaysia.
Retired Expat, is a website specializing in information for retired expats or future retired expats. The site has good intentions but is somewhat lacking in substantial information. I'll post more about this site as I go through the country information.
Retire Overseas, is another website devoted to the retiring generation. This site has a limited number of countries that it covers. They include: Argentina, Australia, Belize ,Brazi, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, Spain and Thailand.
General Interest Sites
AARP (American Association for Retired People),is the web presence of the AARP. The site has information of interest to people over 50. While this is primarily for Americans, there are some items of interest to the international community.
The Retirement Cafe, has information on life after retirement like the top ten list of things to do, places to retire, jobs to get after you retire. A good source for those of us in the retirement stage of life.
Health and Insurance Information and Services
Asia Life Bali Personal Insurance , is a local insurance company. I know nothing about this company and am listing it only for information purposes.
BIMC Bali - 24 hour medical and emergency assistance , is a medical facility on Bali that is popular with expats and tourists. Consultation is available for routine, urgent, and chronic conditions. Consultation may include routine medical examinations, health check-ups and evaluations, nutritional, dietary and personal health care advice, immunizations, preventative health, neo-natal and pediatric care. BIMC has its own radiology, laboratory, and pharmacy services. BIMC also has a membership program for health care.
Gleneagles Hospital ,is another hospital in Singapore that is used by expats in Southeast Asia, as well as wealthy Indonesians. A friend recently paid 200 million rupiah for an operation for her mother. She said that she had to do this as the health care in Indonesia was too incompetent to risk having them operate on her mother.
Globalsurance: International Health Medical Insurance , is an insurance provider for those folks living overseas . I'm in the process of going over some of their material, and I'll update this in a few days.
Pacific Healthcare , is another health provider in Singapore, with branches in Hong Kong, China, and India.
They have this to say about themselves:
Pacific Healthcare is an integrated healthcare provider offering a comprehensive range of healthcare services; encompassing specialist medical care, general practice medicine, dentistry, health screening, wellness services, as well as the operation of nursing homes, day surgery centres and a psychiatric hospital. Its integrated network of healthcare services allows patients to be treated in a multi-disciplinary manner within our Group.
Pacific Healthcare aims to be the premier healthcare group in both Singapore and Asia, renowned for our Care, Compassion and Medical Excellence. Through a team of more than 100 dedicated medical professionals and a wide network of clinics and facilities, it focuses on the total health and well-being of our patients.
Our core competencies include the fields of cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medicine, obstetrics & gynaecology, cardiology and implant & aesthetic dentistry.
Raffles Hospital,
is a popular hospital for expats in Asia, as well as wealthy Indonesians.
One of my friends who was there recently for an operation says it's outstanding although it seems to charge substantially more than Bumrungrad in Bangkok for similar procedures.
Retirement and Good Living,
is a site that offers a variety of information for folks who are already retired or are seriously contemplating life after work. Information includes retirement locations, health, finances, mindgames and recent news about retirement. Included on their list of the top ten overseas locations for retirees is Bali. Hmm.
Retirement lssues to Consider,
is from the Aussie government and has information on health issues-physical and emotional for retirees.
Web MD , is a good place to go to check on all those nagging health issues that come along with aging.
Visa Services
Bali
Ide, is the company that we used for years for our children's
visa. My feeling is that as they've grown, they've lost the personal
touch that they had years ago when they were first starting. Still
they are used by many expats.
Bali Visa Consultants and Immigration Indonesia Bali, is one of the service businesses related to expat visas and work permits that have sprung up over the past ten years. This company is located in Denpasar and arranges work and residence visas. They say on their website that they will beat any written quote. I'm going to contact them and find out what they would charge for a retirement visa. I'll post my results in the future.
Highway Bali, is yet another company built to assist the expat in Bali. Highway Bali is based in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. They assist the expat with Indonesian business setup and investment protection, dispute resolution and immigration status. They can also offer a complete range of Bali company support services including communication, currency exchange, Indonesian translation, printing, graphic and web design. They are also involved in Bali real estate.
Mas Tours and Travel,
is a travel agency that also works in the visa procurement field. Mas charges 7.5 million plus for a retirement visa which seems fairly dear, but the second year the price drops to 6 million. The Mas website is very clear about what your money pays for and what it doesn't.
Thai Visa , is the Thaivisa.com site which has a major amount of information about obtaining visas for living in Thailand. There is a forum here, information on a variety of visa runs, stock market info and much more. If you are planning on moving to Thailand, you need to check out this site.