Retirement

This is the site's home-country reference, and the guide is unusually blunt about retiring to it: no retirement visa exists. Retirees without a US citizen or resident spouse or child typically rely on the EB-5 investor route or long visits under a B-2 visa, and its dedicated Retirement Move plan still budgets $38,800 for the first year — priced around a lawyer, age-60+ private health cover, and tax and estate advice.

The retirement route: there isn't one — here is what the guide offers instead

The guide's retirement text is a negative with two workarounds: “No retirement visa exists. Retirees without a US citizen or resident spouse or child typically rely on the EB-5 investor route or long visits under a B-2 visa.”

Note what that framing does and does not say. The EB-5 is named as the investor green card in the visa list, but the guide prints no investment amount for it in either source. The B-2 is a visit route — the visa list states ESTA or B-2 is for visits only — so “long visits” is the guide's own wording, not a residence right. The Retirement checklist's first item, in the shared plan template, is to have the retirement or passive-income route confirmed with a lawyer; for this country that lawyer conversation starts from the country-specific statement above, not from the template.

What a retirement move costs in the guide

The Retirement Move first-year setup total is $38,800. Beyond the shared move lines, its distinctive costs are a $3,100 “Retirement visa, lawyer & pension certification” line (an immigration lawyer, apostilled pension letters, medicals and translations), $5,750 for private health insurance for the first year at age 60+, a separate $2,900 general health insurance line, and $1,800 for tax and estate advice covering double-taxation, pension treatment and wills. The visa paperwork line itself is $1,700, and the plan carries a $3,550 contingency.

The Retirement plan, unlike the other tiers, prints no ongoing monthly living figure of its own. For monthly context the guide's other tiers give about $1,450/month (Affordable), $2,500/month (Mid-range) and $5,800/month (Luxury) for one adult, each plus utilities around $220/month. The site data's city rents run from $1,100–2,000/month in Chicago and $1,200–2,200 in Austin to $1,800–3,500 in Miami and $2,500–5,000 in New York City.

Pensions and tax — what the guide does and does not say

The guide treats pension tax as an advice item, not a rate it quotes. The Retirement plan budgets $1,800 for tax and estate advice on double-taxation, pension treatment and wills; the checklist says to take advice on your tax residency date, pension treaty and estate, and to have your home-country pension paid to a local or multi-currency account. It gives no tax rate for pension income and does not describe how a foreign pension is treated — do not plan around a pension rate taken from this guide.

The general tax lines the guide does state are state-level: state income tax of 0–13.3%, with nine states having no income tax at all, plus local tax in some cities (see Tax & Legal). Those lines are not presented as pension-specific.

Healthcare access for retirees

The Retirement plan prices a private health insurance line of $5,750 for the first year at age 60+, described in the plan template as comprehensive cover until public-system access, and the checklist repeats that private cover should be in place for your age and conditions, until public access. Read that template phrasing against the guide's country-specific numbers page, which states there is no public option for childbirth and prices birth by insurance status instead — the guide describes no public system for a newcomer retiree to access, so budget on the private line. The United States scores 60/100 for healthcare, and life expectancy is 79 years.

Practical steps the guide builds in for retirees: on the six-week scouting stay, register with a GP or clinic and visit the hospital; bring prescriptions and medical records for a year, with a translated summary; and make a plan for care needs (home help and assisted living are named as things to plan for, without prices). Private care price points from the guide: a private doctor visit is $150 and an emergency room visit is $1,500.

Where retirees live, and how the guide says to choose

The guide names states, not cities, for retirees: Florida, Arizona and the Carolinas host most foreign retirees. The site's hub list for the United States is New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin and Chicago, and its city data describes Miami — in Florida — as an international gateway with no state income tax (rent $1,800–3,500/month), Austin as a tech hub with lower costs than coastal cities ($1,200–2,200/month), and Chicago at $1,100–2,000/month.

The method the Retirement plan prescribes: shortlist two places using the retirement, healthcare and hospitals pages, life expectancy, climate and the numbers section; do a six-week scouting stay in the town you would live in, in the season you would like least; and rent a home for at least a year before buying. The checklist also adds a local will and power of attorney, embassy or consulate registration, and a return-trip fund for family emergencies.

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