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07-01-2009, 11:24 AM
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English Teacher in Japan
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Japan
2,339 posts, read 1,225,550 times
Reputation: 488
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Macau, for living?
I've heard a lot of people considering a lot of places for retiring, living abroad, expat abroad, etc.
Curious if anyone has considered Macau...and why or why not?
I've been to quite a few places in Asia, but haven't been to Macau yet - I will visit this summer though. Seems like it could be a real comfortable city - european flavor, asian flavor, next to Hong Kong, etc.
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07-02-2009, 03:23 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Jan 2008
26 posts, read 14,708 times
Reputation: 16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer
I've heard a lot of people considering a lot of places for retiring, living abroad, expat abroad, etc.
Curious if anyone has considered Macau...and why or why not?
I've been to quite a few places in Asia, but haven't been to Macau yet - I will visit this summer though. Seems like it could be a real comfortable city - european flavor, asian flavor, next to Hong Kong, etc.
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It's *really* crowded, and the old Portuguese flavor is being drowned out by recent mainland immigration and casino development. It's still a very interesting/charming place to visit, but I think it would be hard work to retire there.
For one thing, residency visas are now much harder to obtain than they were a few years ago. There used to be a special category for real estate investors, with a fairly low minimum investment level, but that path has been cut off. Cost-of-living is another issue; real estate is much cheaper than in Hong Kong, but other expenses seem comparable.
However, it does retain one very strong attraction for expats: personal income tax rates are the lowest in the region, even lower than in Hong Kong or Singapore.
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07-04-2009, 07:03 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lake Forest, CA
1,300 posts, read 1,435,181 times
Reputation: 1053
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I took the fast catamaran ferry from Hong Kong to Macao for a short visit in 1995 or so, before it became a autonomous zone of China and before the casino and immigration invasion took off. At that time it was still a far away colonial enclave of Portugal, very unique and quaint. Macao's few old casinos that were there in the 1990s reminded me of a James Bond film in the 1960s. Macao is a small place. I walked through most of the city. Every time you want to get out of town for a change of pace, there are only a few easy choices, take the boat to HK or head north into China.
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09-22-2009, 09:49 AM
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English Teacher in Japan
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Japan
2,339 posts, read 1,225,550 times
Reputation: 488
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I just spent a week in Macau...and love the city!
I wish I'd gotten over to Zhuhai or Hong Kong...but was having such a wonderful time in Macau, didn't make it.
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