Every week I come across potential clients looking to retire in Florida. It's a great idea. It's beautiful, comparatively inexpensive, warm and sunny almost all year round, it's not called "God's waiting room" for nothing. OK, there are the hurricanes to deal with but I don't think there is a place on earth that does not have something that it's inhabitants have to deal with.

Even though we help people relocate all over America, for Brits, Florida has always been the number one destination.

Let's talk about retirement though.

Whether you're fabulously rich or poor or any where in between US Immigration does not have a pathway that would allow a person to simply turn up to retire in the US. US Immigration does not have any visa that provides for that scenario. They could, but they don't. 

Most Brit's looking to retire in the US don't want to sponge-off the state or become a burden in any way; they have sufficient means to take care of themselves quite well thank you. Most Brits would not mind qualifying for a means tested visa of some sort so that if they could prove each year that they had net assets exceeding a certain point then they could continue to renew their visa and enjoy their retirement. That sounds reasonable to me.

It's certainly not rocket science to come up with an immigration policy that would make sure that only the deserving retirees were granted a retirement visa. Unfortunately, we're not talking about rocket science or common sense, we're talking about politics.

What Brits are only now just beginning to realise is that countries are no longer islands able to set their own immigration or economic agendas. Most countries have banded together by way of common agreements, treaties, directives, trade agreements and the like, so that if one country allows a benefit to another country, the benefiting country has to reciprocate in kind. So all of a sudden countries have to be very guarded about what they can agree to, since the benefit and reciprocation may not just involve just one country.

Other countries may be party to the same agreement and therefore will also have the same benefits. Britain signing up to the EU means that every member of the EU has the same benefits as British citizens in their own country. As a result common sense cannot prevail, politics prevails. 

In order to retire in the US you must work your way up to green card status. You can attain green card status if you have an immediate family member who is already a citizen.  If you don't have a US citizen family member, then you have to enter the US on one of many non-immigrant visas and work your way up to green card status.

An emerging popular solution to getting the right to stay in the US indefinitely is to simply buy an established business. As the owner of a business you can qualify for an E2 visa. Although these visas have to be renewed every two years, basically as long as the business keeps going visa renewal is a done deal.

As a semi or fully retired person being the owner of a business, you may be able to rely on good managers to run the business for you and by having a good accountant keeping an eye on the books, this could result in the British investor having very little to do day-to-day so that they can enjoy their semi-retirement without having to clock in themselves.

There are many perfectly well run businesses for sale that can be taken over almost without missing a beat, that require very little hands on oversight.

So if you're looking to retire in the US and have no immediate family to help you then this might be your ticket.

Many people have tried going the B2 tourist visa route. This visa allows you to spend up to six months per year in the US. However, if you spend more than six months per year you can lose your visa altogether. Many people mis-use their B2 visa by staying six months and then coming out of the US for two weeks and then going back again for another six months. This may certainly work for a while, but one day US Immigration will cotton on and then update your passport and their data base accordingly. If you try to come in again on the tourist visa after that point you could risk immediate deportation. Given that people own homes and have established lives in the US based on a B2 tourist visa having that suddenly brought to an abrupt end can be a shattering experience.

There is a fine line between trying to live in the US as opposed to being a legitimate tourist. Each time a person arrives in the US on a B2 visa the US Immigration Official has an arsenal of seemingly innocent questions that they will use to establish whether you are indeed a genuine tourist in the true sense of the word, or if you are living part of the year or most of the year in the US. Once an immigration official makes a determination that you are not in fact a tourist the B2 visas status can be terminated.

If you have any concerns and require detailed advice on this issue please contact this office to discuss.

Chris M. Ingram ESQ.