Croatia or other former Yugo provinces?

[Torg]

Is anyone established as an expat on their side of the Adriatic? Our daughter thinks it's the way to go, but I haven't researched the culture/english-speakers/real estate/economy or treatment of "outsiders" who may have immigrated there, much less any governmental programs for those who have verifiable incomes sufficient to sustain themselves as pensioners.

[k98_man]

Originally Posted by Torg

Is anyone established as an expat on their side of the Adriatic? Our daughter thinks it's the way to go, but I haven't researched the culture/english-speakers/real estate/economy or treatment of "outsiders" who may have immigrated there, much less any governmental programs for those who have verifiable incomes sufficient to sustain themselves as pensioners.

It's a beautiful place to be and it's not expensive at all. The culture is different depending on where you go LOL. That is one reason Yugoslavia had such a bitter fight only a decade ago.

A lot of them speak English. As is the rest of Europe higher education almost forces them to learn it. It probably will not be like Germany, but I think you could survive. You might want to learn a bit of Croatian and German will help too (it's a major part of Balkan teaching).

Treatment of outsiders depends on where you go. There is a lot of bitterness from American involvement in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. One city might have people who love Americans, where literally across the street or down the street to another village they hate Americans. The war was chaos.

I don't think you have much to be worried about though. It's a fantastic area to live...from what I hear. I've never been.

[Torg]

Thanks, K98man. I would also like to hear from someone who actually lives along the former Yugo coast, especially those further south in Montenegro, (given the legacy of political animus in Croatia & Kosovo environs.)

Originally Posted by k98_man

It's a beautiful place to be and it's not expensive at all. The culture is different depending on where you go LOL. That is one reason Yugoslavia had such a bitter fight only a decade ago.

A lot of them speak English. As is the rest of Europe higher education almost forces them to learn it. It probably will not be like Germany, but I think you could survive. You might want to learn a bit of Croatian and German will help too (it's a major part of Balkan teaching).

Treatment of outsiders depends on where you go. There is a lot of bitterness from American involvement in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. One city might have people who love Americans, where literally across the street or down the street to another village they hate Americans. The war was chaos.

I don't think you have much to be worried about though. It's a fantastic area to live...from what I hear. I've never been.

[k98_man]

A native Bosnjak friend of mine has been informed of this thread by me. Good luck.

P.S: I'll be visiting this or next year. If you haven't moved by then I'd be glad to tell you about it.

[Hayat]

Originally Posted by Torg

Thanks, K98man. I would also like to hear from someone who actually lives along the former Yugo coast, especially those further south in Montenegro, (given the legacy of political animus in Croatia & Kosovo environs.)

Hi,

I'm from Croatia.. if you wanna retire here, I'd suggest you to first spend some time all year round in Cro, so you can get idea about life here (weather, people, government etc.) before making final move.
In general croatians have very positive opinion about americans, and very probably you woldn't have any problems because of your nationality.

now economy..., it sucks, but if you have like your own place and $2000/month retirement, 2 persons can live pretty comfortably with that.
real estate is pretty expensive, better said - overpriced. but you can rent it over summer and get some additional income. and also I'm not sure if americans can buy real estate here.. I think EU citizens can, but I'm not sure for others..

another problem that comes to my mind is visa. as far as i know, it is next to impossible to get some kind of permanent residency here.
it's possible US citizens have some kind of privilege though..

croatian language is pretty tough to learn for foreigners, and even more - we have 3 dialects, even I cannot understand good part of dialect spoken on coast, mainly because natives there don't make effort to speak official one
english is spoken mostly by youth.. older people, unless highly educated, have no clue.

check everything out, and decide.. mediteranean coast has plenty of choices

[Hayat]

Check out this post by Xman.. LOT of this applies to Croatia also

expatforum DOT com/expats/rest-world-expat-forum/13010-good-places-live-eu.html#post159771

replace "DOT" with "." - it doesn't allow me to post links until I made 4 posts.

[daniellle]

Croatian coast is definitely worth living in!

[subhuman]

You can live fine as a pensioner there, im from serbia, but have some family in montenegro too,
but if u wanna work i dunno for that.

[A90]

Originally Posted by daniellle

Croatian coast is definitely worth living in!

Check out escapeartist.com they have plenty of info on immigrating, buying real estate, and living in croatia. (mainly the coast)

Also, Danielle if you don't mind me asking how did you find yourself in Burundi? This is the first time I have seen anybody on this forum living anywhere in Africa besides South Africa.