myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

first off what a great site - we just spent 5 weeks on island in part looking for a place to retire to - wondering if anyone on here has retired to Tobago and could give us some ideas on ways to make it happen - I've read much of the info including the TT laws and looks to be rather difficult even without needing a work permit

one specific question: does anyone try the "leave for a day" every 3 months to stretch out an indefinite stay that seems to work on some islands ?

we are going to contact a lawyer but hope for some suggestions on possible ways to move to paradise

thanks and feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]

doug

Retiring to Tobago is my plan too. I'm done teaching in five years and our house will be finished (yeah right!) by then. I intend to apply for residency but not sure about work permits. I do have the advantage that my wife is Tobagonian so I don't have to worry about property issues (as much).

Please keep me posted with whatever info you turn up. I'll contact you through your email also.

Thanks, Hugh

I teach also - neither of us are native to the island so looks like we are going to have somewhat harder time - but hey I figure with 5 years till we can move I might make a start in getting the paperwork done

thanks and let us know how it goes

doug

Hugh, join the club of people who love Tobago and plan to retire there. I plan to build my retirement home in Tobago as well. I'm not sure what the immigration rules are, but I am sure that they're not unsurmountable, as I once met a retired couple who had settled in Tobago from Bermuda.

Please note that the Tobago House of Assembly earlier this year announced a licencing requirement for property ownership in Tobago by non-residents. Unfortunately, since that announcement (around January) there have been no further details announced, so all property deals involving offshore buyers have been in limbo since then. So stay tuned to the forum for news of any further developments, or if you were using one of the Tobago real estate agents, they should also notify you once the new rules are announced.

Clyde

Thanks Clyde,

Property ownership is not the issue but rather getting residency. David Watkins just mentioned on another post that he thinks that might be a problem although I know a number of people who have done it. Because my wife and I have joint ownership I should not have a problem with the house. Once I get residency I should be able to get my name on the deed too. Hopefully . . .

Hugh

"leave for a day" doesnt really work im afraid. its certainly possible (ive done it in the past) but it gets very stressful being interviewed by immigration on your returns! there are ways around this but youll need to speak to someone more knowledgable than i.

i particularly liked this solution - one gent who was basically on island full time despite being non resident, who owned property and had retired on an occupational pension from the uk. basically he did some regular voluntary/charitable work and from time to time used his contacts in the uk to procure useed schools equipment which he then donated and distributed on island.
in return he had been awarded a discretionary non residential visa, like a work permit but without the "work" element. i have no idea what this visa was but its def working for him !!

paul

Now come on guys! I think that probably most of the forum members would love to live in or retire to Tobago, I know that I would. But what kind of a place would the island become if it started to fill up with old ex-visitors buying up property and building retirement homes? I love Tobago the way it is and if change has got to come, and it inevitably will, I think that it's only fair that the Tobagonians themselves control the way it happens. Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire to live in a place we all love so much but are we not all being just a tad selfish?

I await an expected avalanch of vitriolic replies.

Tony

I'm with you on this one Tony. I love Tobago Just as it is and allways want to be back there as soon as I am home again but I really hope that the Tobagonian people will keep thier lovely island for themselves and for future generations. After all, blood, sweat and oceans of tears won them the right to live there.
Looking foreward to seeing the lovely people of Tobago again in May.
Gill x

Dear Tony G.,

No vitriol, maybe a tiny bit of defensiveness. I agree with you almost completely that I do not want anyone else to move to Tobago (or even to visit Tobago! ). It is getting too crowded with American and other tourists and I cringe when I read about the national efforts to promote tourism in Tobago all over the world. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could turn back the clock and let Tobago stay unspoiled and pristine? Our little secret.

But the truth is that it’s too late. There is crack cocaine in Paradise and all the crime that goes with it. Trinis and others are trying to grab their own little piece of it for the same reasons it is so popular worldwide. We can only hope that the changes are made thoughtfully and caringly and that we don’t simply love Tobago to death. I have given serious and ongoing thought to my personal impact on Tobago in general and locally in the village where we live part-time. I am trying to project out to the years when I will be able to stay year-round and speculate how I can give back to the wonderful people there. There are many ways to help including working with others to restore and protect the natural environment and to raise awareness about such issues in Tobago and in the rest of the world.

But to those of you who still insist on coming to visit this place we have fallen so desperately in love with, I promise not to ruin it.

Hugh

Thanks for your thoughtful reply Hugh. It's a difficult one isn't it? Here we are, all members of a forum on a website that actively promotes Tobago as a wonderful place to visit, yet we know that the more people who visit the more 'our' paradise will change. We want to tell the world about it but yet we want to keep it secret. The comment about being selfish applies to myself. I don't know all you other members. You have to look into your own hearts.

I first visited in 1999 and even then change was in the air. I was actually surprised that, on my next visit in January of this year, so little had changed. I had expected that most of the land around the airport to have been developed and that there would have been more of those dreadful, 'All Inclusive', resorts (owned by multinational conglomerates) that contribute little to the local economy. Change is the only constant in life and Tobago will change. We have to expect that and perhaps we have to change with it?

My last post was a reaction to the whole thread and not directed at any individuals and I was warmed by your heartfelt reply Hugh. To everyone else I would adapt a famous quote from the late JFK - 'Ask not what Tobago can do for you but what you can do for Tobago'.

Love to All

Tony

Yes I agree with you Tony.
Do we want the island to be full of retired ex- pats as has happened in some parts of Spain? Or look at some of the coastal towns in the UK which have become " Costa Geriactica?".
I remember hearing " humans destroy what they love", from, I think, a "Star Trek" film of all things! Wherever it came from, it is so very true, particularly of tourism.
Regards,
Carolnoe
Live long and prosper!

Or Barbados,Sir Cliff .Cilla and Tone and Cherry!
I have just had a close stomach eruotion at the thought!
Disgusted Bude(name and address withheld)

Dear Disgusted,
What, in the name of Sir Cliff, is an ERUOTION of the stomach? I have such faith in your erudite-ness ( erudition?) that I even tried to find it in the dictionary!
I take it you mean ERUPTION?
Yours,
Confused of Surrey

Please? Do deserve to be castigated for a simple typo?

Damn that qwertyuiop keyboard!

Jane

Aw, Sir David of Bude,
You know I wasn't castigating you, wouldn't dream of it, you sensitive little soul.
Love and kisses
Carolnoe
xxxxxxxxx

obvious, carolnoe, that you never met the sensitive little disgusted Bude
but don't worry: he'll live... and quite happy from the 29th of november on.

steph