Not currently a viable retirement destination. We include it because people ask, and the honest answer matters.
Advisory: this country carries the U.S. Department of State’s highest travel advisory level. Read the country page below in full before considering it.
Comfortable budget, couple
$1,800 / mo
Lowest visa income bar
$1,200 / mo
Typical time to residency
0 months
Document route
Apostille
Currency risk
Yes (USD)
Cost index (U.S. = 100)
30
The honest summary
Venezuela appears on many lists of Latin American retirement destinations, largely because those lists were written before 2014. It should not appear on one today, and we would be doing you a disservice by presenting cost-of-living figures as though the decision were a lifestyle question. The U.S. Department of State maintains its highest advisory level for Venezuela, advising U.S. citizens not to travel there, citing wrongful detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local law, crime, civil unrest and poor health infrastructure. The United States suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas in 2019, so there is no U.S. consular presence in the country and the U.S. government cannot provide emergency services to Americans there. Several million Venezuelans have left the country. Healthcare infrastructure has deteriorated severely, including shortages of medicines and unreliable electricity and water in hospitals. We list Venezuela here so that this page exists and says so clearly, rather than leaving a gap that a more optimistic and less careful source will fill.
What makes it work
Venezuela has extraordinary natural beauty, from Caribbean coastline to the Andes to the tepuis of the Gran Sabana, and Venezuelans are among the warmest people in the region.
Historically it was a significant destination for foreign residents and retirees, and many Americans have deep family ties there.
For Americans with Venezuelan family, the questions on this page are real and are worth answering accurately rather than avoiding.
What to weigh against it
The U.S. Department of State advises U.S. citizens not to travel to Venezuela, citing wrongful detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local law, crime, civil unrest and poor health infrastructure.
The United States suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas in March 2019. There is no U.S. consular presence in Venezuela and the U.S. government cannot provide emergency consular services to Americans there.
Healthcare infrastructure has deteriorated severely, with widespread shortages of medicines and medical supplies and unreliable electricity and water in hospitals.
U.S. sanctions affect financial transactions with Venezuela, and moving money is difficult and in some cases prohibited.
Americans have been detained in Venezuela and held for extended periods.
How Venezuela scores
Affordability8
Healthcare1
Safety1
Visa ease3
Climate7
Expat community2
Tax treatment4
Infrastructure2
VenezuelaEach axis runs 0 to 10. Scores are our editorial assessment, not a survey, and they are the inputs the matching wizard weights against your answers.
Residence routes
Each route below has its own page with the full document list, the step-by-step process, government fees, the common reasons applications fail, and the official source.
The people already living there will answer a process question faster and more accurately than any guide, including this one. These are the places worth joining before you move.
redditReddit r/vzlaThe main Venezuelan community, in Spanish and English, and the best place to hear directly from people currently in the country.
newsCaracas ChroniclesLong-running English-language analysis of Venezuela.
Official sources
These are the authorities. Where anything on this page disagrees with one of them, the official source is right and we are wrong. Tell us and we will fix it.
Because many of those lists were written before 2014 and have never been revised, or because they were assembled from older sources without anyone checking. Venezuela was a genuine destination for foreign residents for decades. It is not one now, and a list that still presents it as a lifestyle option is telling you something about the list rather than about Venezuela.
I have family in Venezuela. What can I actually do?
A great deal, and none of it requires relocating. U.S. documents for Venezuelan civil registry, inheritance, property, power of attorney and family matters are apostilled in the ordinary way, because Venezuela is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. That work is routine. What is not routine is travelling there, and the U.S. Department of State advises against it.
Would you tell me not to go?
We will tell you what the U.S. Department of State says, which is that U.S. citizens should not travel to Venezuela, and that the United States suspended embassy operations in Caracas in 2019 and cannot provide emergency consular services there. Those are facts rather than opinions, and they are the ones that matter most for someone considering a permanent move in retirement. The decision remains yours.
The document chain, in the only order that worksDestination: Venezuela —
Hague Convention member: apostille
1Obtain the recordOrder certified copies from the issuing authority. Do not use photocopies, scans or hospital souvenir certificates.
2Notarise if requiredLetters and affidavits need a notary acknowledgement before any state can authenticate them. Government-issued vital records do not.
3County clerk (some states)A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
4AuthenticateState-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the issuing state. Federal documents go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
5Apostille or legaliseHague Convention destination: an apostille finishes the chain. Non-Hague destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate for legalisation.For Venezuela the apostille ends the chain.
6Certified translationTranslate the document together with its apostille. Translating first means paying twice.
7File with the consulateBook the appointment at the consulate with jurisdiction over your state of residence and bring originals plus copies.
The expensive mistake: translating before the document is authenticated. The apostille or legalisation certificate is itself part of what the receiving government reads, so it has to be inside the translation. Do it the other way round and you pay for the same translation twice.
This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal, tax, immigration or financial advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Immigration rules, income thresholds, fees and processing times change frequently and often without notice, and consulates apply them differently. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific consulate that has jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence before you act. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
Applying for the visa itself
Every residency route on this page starts with a visa application. The visa navigator walks through the exact category, the forms, the fees and the appointment steps for each country.
Federal Apostille & Notary Processing is a private document preparation and processing service and is not a government agency. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal, state, or local government authority.
