Latin America
has in Caracas, Venezuela one of the largest active social groups
of expats (expatriates) in South America. Called the Rincon
Gang or Rinconeers, they publish a regular newsletter, the Rincon
Reminder, which updates their Caracas community web site, www.Expat-Village.com
The Rincon Reminder updates are also issued to ex-Caracas Rinconeers
now living and working in over 25 countries..
The Expat-Village web-site has all the latest Venezuelan news in English.
We publish news stories of interest to expatriates, including world news, sport,
entertainment and business. We have features on travel in Venezuela, Latin
America and the Caribbean, quick food recipes, and Venezuela security alerts.
Caracas social activities are listed in ‘What’s on in Caracas’, and we’ll keep
you amused with the 'Joke of the Day' page.
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Hong Kong isn't a city for nostalgia.
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A Bloomberg article by food critic Richard Vines
Travel back after a few years away and you may as well have stayed at home.
The office where you worked, the bar where you went for a first date, the
nightclub where you danced and the apartment block where you once lived all may
have been demolished.
It's 24 years ago today that I arrived in Hong Kong to work for what turned
out to be 12 years. Kai Tak airport, where I touched down, has gone. Lee Gardens
Hotel, where I stayed, has been replaced by an office block. I couldn't even
find any trace of Fifth Avenue, the dodgy disco where I spent many a night.
So I felt a bittersweet pleasure when I spotted Red Pepper, the Sichuan
restaurant in Causeway Bay where the Lee Gardens concierge in the early 1980s
sent many a visitor intimidated by the heat and dust, the crowds and noise of
Hong Kong island.
Step inside the door of this eatery on Lan Fong Road and time stands still.
Red Pepper has occupied this spot since 1975 and the decor is exactly as I
remember it: the lanterns with red tassels, the cream walls, the orange
tablecloths and the patterned carpet. It's how Chinese restaurants once looked
in London.
The place was almost empty one lunchtime earlier this month. A Japanese
couple showed up with shopping bags, and two mainland Chinese enjoyed a meal
while the waiter immediately brought hot jasmine tea and a cold towel to my
table as I tried to cool down.
I'd spent the morning checking out the two apartment blocks where I once
lived. Both were still there, though there was so much development around one in
North Point, it took a while to spot it. The building where I first worked was
demolished in 1995. The street where it stood, once very much down at heel, is
now lined with......... Click above for more on this story
Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams
in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Affluent? Like hot weather? Move to Monaco
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A Daily Telegraph article by David Harrison at www.telegraph.co.uk
For all its royal family, Grand Prix,
and sleek super-yachts, the tax-free haven of Monaco has never quite
shaken off its description by Somerset Maugham as "a sunny place for
shady people".
Now the Mediterranean principality is fighting back to create a
cleaner, trendier image, partly by persuading affluent, young British
families to move there.
The campaign will be launched as Monaco prepares to mark the 25th
anniversary of the death of its most glamorous royal, Grace Kelly, the
Oscar-winning actress who became Princess Grace of Monaco when she
married its ruler, Prince Rainier III, in 1956.
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The iconic Irish-American actress, known as "America's Princess", died
aged 52 in a car crash on the French Riviera as she returned from her
country home with her daughter, Stéphanie. Her life will be celebrated
in a series of exhibitions and other events in Monaco, New York and
London from July.
This autumn her son, Prince Albert II, Monaco's current ruler, will open a consulate-general in......
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Catral mayor, developers charged in homes scam
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A story by Expatica at www.expatica.com
VALENCIA. The mayor and four
developers have been charged with perverting the course of justice in
connection with an illegal building homes scandal which threatens the
homes of hundreds of expats.
The socialist mayor of Catral, near Alicante, Jose Manuel Rodriguez
Leal and the promoters, were charged by a judge with building 1,270
villas without any planning permission.
The charges come after regional government officials sent shockwaves
through the expat community of Catral near Alicante after stripping the
town hall of its housing powers and threatening to dissolve the local
council over the scandal.
Hundreds of the homes have been built inside a nature reserve, with
many of them sold to expats seeking a new life in the sun or a holiday
home.
The rest have gone up on green belt land next to farms and orchards to
the south of Catral, whose foreign population has rocketed in the past
five years following a construction boom in the area.
Last October, the regional director of housing threatened to demolish all illegal housing built on protected land.
Esteban Gonzalez Pons, director of housing for the Generalitat
Valenciana regional government body, said: "The homes built on
protected land inside El Hondo Nature Reserve will all be demolished.
"The future of the remaining homes will be studied on an individual basis."
"We've already taken away the housing powers of the local council and
will take away its town planning powers and seek its dissolution as a
local authority unless it recognises more than 1,200 houses have been
built illegally and proposes solutions."
He added: "We will not hesitate in acting against other town halls that break the law, whichever political party holds power."
Expats affected by the shock move were consulting lawyers to try to save their homes.
Many have invested their life savings - paying an average of EUR
200,000 for three-bedroom homes with swimming pools they thought were
legal.
In the wake of the original scandal, British expat Dennis Archer, who
has bought a home near Catral with wife Pat, said: "Our house was
finished on time and was very nicely built.
"The problem our solicitors failed to notice was neither our home or the others on the complex had planning permission.
"Our dreams of a new life in the sun have turned into a nightmare."
Another expat, who asked not to be named, added: "I moved out to Spain
with my wife and two young children and wanted to do everything by the
book.
"The estate agents put us in touch with a local solicitor who........
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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BUPA Survey. How Brits see their homeland - and how it appears to newcomers.
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With Xmas fast approaching, people's thoughts turn to home, and for expats, it's no different.
Most would say that their lives have improved since leaving Britain,
yet they still miss traditional British institutions such as Yorkshire
puddings, Marks & Spencer and Marmite.
BUPA International, the world's largest expat health insurer, surveyed
expats from more than 35 countries about their lives abroad and gained
a fascinating insight into how Brits see their homeland - and how it
appears to newcomers, too.
When people from overseas were asked what they liked about the UK, they
placed their new home's weather right at the bottom of the list, with
just 9 percent admitting to liking the British seasons.
By contrast, and not surprisingly, 89 percent of expats who'd moved to
Australia praised the weather down under. And less than half the expats
now living in Britain said they enjoyed the lifestyle, compared to 90
percent of expats who gave the Spanish way of life the 'thumbs up'.
Traditional dishes such as Bangers and Mash may tempt British taste
buds, but they don't cut the mustard when it comes to other nations'
cuisine, just 15 percent admitted to liking British culinary delights,
while three quarters of those who moved to Thailand and France claimed
to love the local delicacies.
In a blow to British pride, expats from all nations felt that the
British people were not as likeable as the French. In fact, the British
came behind the................
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Spanish Capital Gains Tax change will benefit expats.
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Britons living or working temporarily
in Spain could be in line to save thousands of pounds following cuts to
Spanish Capital Gains Tax.
From 1st January 2007, the Capital Gains Tax on Spanish property sales
and personal income for non-residents in Spain will drop from 35% to
18%.
The tax cut comes in the wake of a European Court upholding a complaint
that is was unfair for the tax to be charged at 35% for non-residents,
but at only 18% for Spanish residents.
Research by Mintel estimates that 800,000 Britons now own a second home abroad. Spain is the most.........
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Expat Village is edited and published by
Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Non-resident UK millionaires face 13 years of tax bills
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An article by Ian Cowie, Daily
Telegraph Personal Finance Editor at www.telegraph.co.uk
Millionaires based overseas who
frequently visit Britain could face tax bills going back up to 13
years, as a result of a new court ruling.
But the change in how residence and domicile status will be determined
for tax purposes means many wealthy foreigners who live and work in
this country are now less likely to be forced to pay tax here.
The biggest losers from the ruling are business people who enter the UK
from tax havens such as Monaco on Monday and leave on Wednesday,
allowing them to retain 'non-resident' status and avoid paying income
tax.
Since 1993, days of entry and departure have been disregarded when
calculating whether an individual has spent an average of more than 90
days in the UK during four consecutive tax years – or more than 183
days during any single year. Anyone who exceeds either limit is liable
to income tax.
Now that the rule has been changed by the Special Commissioners, many
wealthy business people will be stripped of their non-resident status.
The tax judges ruled against multi-millionaire Robert Gaines-Cooper,
who sought to establish he was resident and domiciled in the
Seychelles. He faces tax bills going back to.........
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Chance to climb the property ladder back home
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A Daily Telegraph article by Melanie Wright at www.telegraph.co.uk
Buying property in the UK while you are living
overseas can be difficult, as expatriates can find themselves up
against stern restrictions and expensive mortgage rates.
However
there are several banks and building societies that offer a range of
deals to expatriates who want to get on the property ladder in the UK.
Derbyshire Building Society, for example, announced earlier this year
that it has developed a new range of mortgages designed specifically
for UK and EU nationals living abroad.
The range
includes a buy-to-let deal, fixed at 5.35 per cent until August 31,
2009, and a flexible tracker mortgage, at five per cent for two years.
The
buy-to-let deal allows overpayments of up to 10 per cent a year without
penalty. At the end of the three-year term, the interest rate tracks
the.............
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Briton, American Expats kidnapped from oil ship in Nigeria
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A Reuters story by Tom Ashby at www.reuters.com
LAGOS (Reuters) - A Briton and an
American were kidnapped on Thursday by an unknown group from an oil
prospecting ship off the coast of Nigeria's southern state of Bayelsa,
diplomatic and security sources said.
Noone immediately took responsibility for the abduction, the latest in
a wave of violence against foreigners in the world's eighth largest oil
exporter which has forced hundreds of workers to pull out and cut oil
output by 500,000 barrels a day.
"Two expatriates, an American and a Briton, working for PGS have been
kidnapped this morning," a security source said, asking not to be named.
Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) is a Norwegian-based oil service company
specialising in seismic surveys. The company's spokesman in Oslo was
not available for comment.
The hostages were taken from a........
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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British expats trapped in the sun
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An Observer story by Gemma Bowes at http://observer.guardian.co.uk
Thousands of British retirees who have
moved abroad in search of the good life in the sun are instead ending
up in poverty, ill and alone, according to a stark warning from the
Foreign Office.
Officials say the problem is growing fast as the first big wave of
expat retirees, who went overseas in the Eighties, reach old age.
Many of them fail to understand the welfare and support systems of
foreign countries and end up isolated after the deaths of partners and
friends.
'It is astonishing how many retirees make no plans or provisions for
their future health and wellbeing when they retire abroad,' said Steve
Jewitt-Fleet of the Foreign Office.
'The majority of British nationals do not register with local
authorities and often the FCO only hears about these people when they
get into...........
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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The expat pension pitfalls
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A Times Online story by Mark Atherton at http://www.timesonline.co.uk
Most overseas workers find out about
retirement provision too late and end up losing out. Travelling abroad
to work as an expatriate can make your fortune — but it can also leave
a nasty hole in your pension pot.
Overseas workers have traditionally lost out to their home-based
colleagues when it comes to retirement provision, and this was even
more true in the 1960s and 1970s.
Dennis Hall, of Yellowtail Financial Planning, an independent financial
adviser, says that though pension provision was improving for the
average UK employee, there was no real solution to the needs of the
expatriate.
He says: “Many UK companies sending employees abroad 40 years ago
expected them to make their own pension provision out of their often
higher, often tax-free, expatriate salaries. Inevitably many didn’t.”
In other cases, overseas workers believed that they would be receiving
a pension from their employer, only to find at retirement that no such
pension was forthcoming.
On top of that, companies often chose not to make UK national insurance
(NI) contributions on behalf of their expatriates, thus creating a
further gap in their pension savings, which employees were expected to
plug themselves.
Often they fell between two stools. They would be obliged to contribute
to the local state pension (where one existed) but would not build up
enough years’ contributions to be able to draw on it at retirement.
Then, when they returned to the UK, they would find that their patchy
record of NI contributions here meant that they qualified only for a
much reduced UK state pension.
At the moment, a man needs to have built up a record of 44 complete
years’ NI contributions to obtain a full single person’s state pension
of £84.25. A woman requires 39 full years, though the Government has
announced that it plans to bring this down to 30.
This means that a man can miss only five complete contribution years
between the ages of 16 and 65 if he is to qualify for a full state
pension. If, as a result of working overseas, he ends up.......
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Four expats kidnapped from oil ship off Nigeria
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A Reuters story by Tume Ahemba at www.reuters.com
LAGOS (Reuters) - Two Norwegians and
two Ukrainians were kidnapped at gunpoint from an oil services ship off
the coast of Nigeria on Wednesday, the latest in a series of abductions
in Africa's top oil producer, authorities said.
The kidnappings coincide with an upsurge in militant attacks against
the oil industry which has crippled a quarter of oil production in the
world's eighth largest exporter.
"Four foreigners were kidnapped, two Norwegians and two Ukrainians,"
said Hafiz Ringim, police commissioner for Bayelsa state, where the
attack happened.
"They were working in their boat around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. when some
armed men believed to be disgruntled members of the community attacked
them and took them away. Right now, we have not been able to..................
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Budget changes may hit expats with money in offshore trusts
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A Daily
Telegraph Money article by Faith
Archer at http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Investors who use offshore trusts for
tax planning may be caught by expensive inheritance tax changes
announced in the UK Budget this March.
Trusts which restrict beneficiaries from receiving funds until after
their 18th birthday now face inheritance tax charges on assets above
the nil-rate band - currently £285,000 - of six per cent of the value
of the trust every 10 years and six per cent when the trust finally
pays out. Anything paid into a trust over the nil-rate band will also
attract a 20 per cent tax on the way into the trust.
Even expatriates may be affected, if they were domiciled in the UK when
creating the trust. Mike Warburton, senior tax partner at accountants
Grant Thornton, said: "If you put money into a trust when you are UK
domiciled, you will get caught under the new rules even when using an
offshore trust.
"You will be deemed to be UK domiciled for inheritance tax purposes for three years after you have left the country.
"However, if you are not UK domiciled when moving assets into an
offshore trust you will not be caught, as the assets will be classed as
excluded property."
Chris Bevan, director of Jersey-based Walbrook Trustees, pointed out
that if you intend to come back to the UK, you remain UK domiciled
regardless of how long you spend overseas.
He said: "You will only lose UK domicile if you intend to leave the UK
permanently, and then only after you have lived abroad for three years.
"People can also be deemed UK domiciled if they come to the UK from abroad, and live here for 17 of 20 years."
The main tax structures affected are accumulation and maintenance trusts and interest in possession trusts.
Interest in possession trusts are commonly set up to give a spouse or....
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Expats. Do you need
advice to set up an Offshore Trust?
Expats. Do you wish
full, active equity investment for your offshore savings with
guarantees against losses?
If yes to either question, contact us at Expat Investor.
E-mail your enquiry
to
iainw@expat-investor.com
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