Couple emigrates to Caribbean dream island and names major disadvantages of Germany

When you think of Curaçao, if you know this part of the world at all, you might first think of Caribbean nights, Blue Curaçao, the famous liqueur made from bitter oranges, and of course holidays with sun, sand and sea. That’s how it started for us when we first came here as holidaymakers in the winter of 2012.

We came to Curaçao because it was away from the Caribbean mainstream, a good one and a half hours’ flight south of the Dominican Republic. And it seemed more interesting for tourists. The experience of four weeks with mostly 30 degrees, sunshine, and at most the occasional short rain shower clearly won out over the February that usually makes its appearance in the Rhine-Main area, and that’s why we came back every year from then on.

From dream to reality

The idea of ​​using a slightly early retirement – in my wife’s case, a long-term unpaid leave of absence from work – to actually move with all our belongings developed around 2014, from a dreamy idea to becoming a reality in 2019. We had always rented accommodation, were thus independent and soon knew the infrastructure of the island with its approximately 170,000 inhabitants, from supermarkets to hardware stores.

We made new acquaintances, gained a lot of information and insights and got a pretty good overview of the real estate sector. In the end, all that was missing was the organizational side, the inevitable bureaucracy. With the help of a relocation agency, we managed to gather together the numerous documents that a German needs.

Curaçao, for example, takes a very strict approach to looking at income and assets and their sources; it does not want to be seen as lax when it comes to money laundering.

Apartment or house with garden?

The key point of our entire venture was, of course, the question of housing. While we had originally considered an apartment, this soon turned into a desire for a house with a garden. You can find everything on the island, at various price points, and in 2019 the price was significantly lower than it is today. What I then found was almost too much of a good thing: a property in the style of the historic plantation houses that can be found everywhere on the island.

The house and outbuildings, built in 1993, are on 10,000 square meters of land, and my wife was initially a little taken aback by the mistaken assumption that this would all become a cultivated garden, like in Germany. The semi-desert climate ensures temperatures between 28 and 33 degrees during the day, almost constant wind, and little rain.

Curaçao is outside the hurricane belt, too far south. So we fell in love with the property. But that also meant that we would not live in bustling Willemstad, the capital or its suburbs, but rather in the countryside about 20 kilometers away, in the middle of the island, but with numerous beaches nearby – and plenty of peace and quiet.

Early retirement and leave of absence

At the end of 2019, I had the opportunity to retire early; decades as an employed television journalist were over. But continuing to work independently is now possible from almost anywhere. My wife, who works in the public sector, took a leave of absence with the option to extend it after three years. There are still a few years until she retires.

We kept a residence with our family in southern Germany, which seemed sensible for many reasons, including tax reasons. And private health insurance, for example, is still valid, although you can also get insurance quite cheaply in Curaçao.

If you deregister completely, you will still be taxed on your income from your home country, such as your pension or capital gains. And this is true from the first cent. Ironically, this is called “limited tax liability”. But it essentially means that you cannot claim things like the basic tax allowance. So be careful!

Anyone who pays their taxes properly in Germany will not be taxed again in Curaçao – a kind of gentleman’s agreement between the tax authorities, as there is no double taxation agreement, which only applies to the Netherlands itself. Curaçao is also not a member of the EU, and the local currency is firmly linked to the US dollar.

Start in the new home

So we sold our house in Germany and bought the property on Curaçao in the summer of 2019, with handover in February 2020. Because of this investment, the authorities on the island immediately issued a residence permit for three years (instead of one) and an identity card.

All of this could be done well in English, Spanish is also widely spoken, although the two official languages ​​are Dutch and Papiamentu. The latter is something you should learn if you want to integrate. Numerous nationalities and descendants of “visitors” from all over the world now live together here, and it is almost completely conflict-free.

The majority of the islanders are Catholic, there are Adventists, a mosque and several free churches. The smaller supermarkets are almost exclusively run by families of Chinese origin, as are the laundries. The car repair shop we trust belongs to a family of mechanics who originally came from Lebanon and Egypt.

Corona caused economy to collapse

So our flight left in mid-February 2020. Before that, a moving company had packed our household goods in a standard sea container. As an immigrant, you are allowed to bring one motor vehicle per family duty-free, which we did in a second half-container. Everything arrived and cleared customs just in time, because then Corona began.

There were many cases on the island at times, the tourism-heavy economy collapsed, some partial lockdowns did the rest, and unemployment rose. Without the support of the Kingdom, this would not have turned out well, because around forty percent of the population depends directly or indirectly on tourism – the lack of cruise ships alone also put numerous traders in distress. However, the shutdown of everyday life was far less strict than in Germany and, above all, shorter. The issue has now almost been forgotten.

The disadvantages of living in Germany and Central Europe

But why do people emigrate when they are almost retired? For us, the island was love at second sight. The mixture of Caribbean lifestyle and Dutch-influenced legal system was one thing. The other: the fact that many things are not viewed so narrowly, but that you also have to make compromises, is something we find relieving.

With all due respect for the German way of life, with its well-known virtues and achievements, you can do more than just slow down here. The people are friendly and seem more approachable than in Central Europe. People help each other. The technical infrastructure is not backward, fiber optic cables are usually standard and wireless Internet access is available on every corner and in every larger shop or restaurant.

Sometimes the power goes out for a few hours, in our area an iguana sometimes wanders into a switch box and then it just gets dark. We always found the climate more than pleasant – if you have a chronic lung disease like me, it’s a relief. Then there was just the appeal of starting something completely new again.

There are many connections to Europe, i.e. the Netherlands, and there are direct flights several times a day. Travelling is also a tempting undertaking; it takes a good hour to fly to Colombia, three hours to Panama, and another three hours to Miami. There are daily connections to New York, Atlanta and Canada.

How affordable is life on Curaçao?

Finally, the big question back then, before jumping into the unknown: how affordable would it all be? We knew everyday life, where many things are a bit more expensive than in Germany, namely imported and possibly refrigerated food such as dairy products. Electrical appliances, tools and household goods are also more expensive, and there are customs duties on them.

But vegetables are cheap because they come from here or from nearby South America – asparagus from Peru, cabbage from Colombia, potatoes from Idaho, USA. Meat and fish are similarly affordable. Petrol and diesel are half as expensive as in Germany – as the island is only around 65 kilometers long and only up to 15 kilometers wide, electric cars are on the rise and there are many charging stations. The wage level is significantly lower in Curaçao, which means that tradesmen are affordable, and anyway: the VAT rate is generally six percent.

What we miss, but only occasionally, when we think of Germany: The language in everyday life, of course, the quick, personal contact with friends, which cannot be compensated for by WhatsApp or FaceTime. Some things in nature, such as forests, which do not exist here; and some typical foods. Conversely, many Germans are currently moving to Curaçao. We can understand that.

The article “Couple emigrates to Caribbean dream island and names major disadvantages of Germany” was written by Business Courier.