Buying a property and retiring to Florida

[bagnut]

My husband and I would like to retire to the USA within the next 2 years and were thinking of Florida as our destination. I have tried to find information on the process we would have to go through, but I am having problems finding the answers.
We both live in the UK and are British citizens. We are not planning to work once we have retired. I am 44 and my husband is 50.
Do we need visa's? I understand we can stay in the USA for 6 months, but how long do we have to stay out of the USA before returning?
Could anyone provide me with the answers to the above and any other info I may need.

[Carla]

You can only stay anywhere in the USA for 6 months in any 12 months, providing that you have a B2 visa, otherwise with just a Visa Waiver you have only 90 days in any 12 months. Retiring to the US is not an option for British Citizens, unless you are prepared to go somewhere else to live for 6 months of each year.

Buying a property in Florida or anywhere else in the US, gives you no advantage whatsoever, you can still only stay for a maximum of 6 months then you must leave for 6 months.

Before 9/11 it was relatively easy to get an extension from 6 months to 12 months, if you were already in the US, but now that is very difficult, and you should certainly not plan on getting an extension.

[chrizzy100]

quote:Originally posted by bagnut

My husband and I would like to retire to the USA within the next 2 years and were thinking of Florida as our destination. I have tried to find information on the process we would have to go through, but I am having problems finding the answers.
We both live in the UK and are British citizens. We are not planning to work once we have retired. I am 44 and my husband is 50.
Do we need visa's? I understand we can stay in the USA for 6 months, but how long do we have to stay out of the USA before returning?
Could anyone provide me with the answers to the above and any other info I may need.

You can only retire here if you have close family members....daughter son...mother father....who are US citizens or hold greencards......my parents are coming over to live and they have to do it before anything happens to my mother ....my father is not my real dad....so if he is left on his own he can't come over to live with or be near us...so you could look at semi retiring to FL for the winter...and maybe going to Canada or back to the uk for the summer.....which is what my father plans to do if need be.....

[imported_n/a]

From reading the various posts on this and other forums I understand that the Immigration Service is totally "name" based.
I am in the position of having 2 nationalities and therefore 2 passports - which due to the vagaries of my "other country's" language are in slightly different names with different middle initials.
Although I do not intend to rely on this in any way does anyone here have an opinion as to whether leaving after 6 months on one passport and then re-entering on the other (hopefully seeing a different immigration officer) would work out?

[Carla]

If it didn't work out then you may well find yourself banned completely, under all names!!

The US immigration has really tightened up since 9/11. There probably are people doing things illegally, but I don't know any of them and I would certainly never risk it myself, and nor would I advise anyone to try it either.

[huckleberry house]

Hi anorak
I cant for the life of me understand why a language difference would result in two different passport names especially with different middle initials[:0] Dont you have to supply your Birth certificate anyway, in which case unless you had two different ones of those as well ,wouldnt match one of your passports and should mean that you cant get two different visas.

Lesley

[Carla]

You don't need to show your birth certificate for a B1/B2 visa. Your Passport is all that is required, plus documents proving that you will be returning to your own country.

[imported_n/a]

To answer Huck's query - if you just think about it:
English John = Greek Iannis = Irish Sean

So there you have 3 different initials for the same name. J and I and S

A Cypriot born in Cyprus might have a Cypriot passport in his Greek name and a British one in an English name he might also be married to an Irish citizen and entitled also to an Irish passport in the Irish form of his name.

[imported_n/a]

Carla - I don't know why you say I might be banned - I put in my post that I would not be relying on this in any way - so why would they ban me?

[Carla]

You asked for an opinion of what we thought might happen if you did try to use two passports one after the other. If they catch you then you may well be banned. That is my opinion.

If they even suspect you of doing anything that they consider illegal they will ban you from their country. Simple.

Many owners have now obtained a B1/B2 visa, not because they intend staying anywhere near as much as 6 months in any one year, but because, like me, they "pop over" 4 or 5 times a year and encounter problems at immigration. The immigration people do not even have to give you a reason to put you on the next plane home and prevent you from coming again.