Canadians considering move to DR

Hi two-zees!

Welcome to Expat.com!

Armand

Welcome!  My wife and I just moved from Vancouver to the Cabarete area.  Good luck and I hope someone here can answer your questions :-)

Good evening,
I am a canadian living in montreal, married to a dominicana, have a lot of info for you will write to you tomorow.

Hasta pronto

CL

Harleysrock - Can I ask you how you & your wife decided to move to DR??  My hubby & I are looking to do the move as well.  We're just in the beginning stages of "thinking" about it.  We're looking for any advice on making the move, best route to go, best location, finding work (are there any good, decent recruitment agencies) ??? Would love to hear from another Canadian couple!!!

Elcalvito is probably married to a Dominican girl and she does not have a visa (very hard to get for a Dominican) so she can not leave to go to Canada. Just saying but I certainly may be wrong.

Bob K

Unfortunately that is probably true!!  I wonder why it's easier to go to DR but harder to come to USA or CAN??

Bob K wrote:

Elcalvito is probably married to a Dominican girl and she does not have a visa (very hard to get for a Dominican) so she can not leave to go to Canada. Just saying but I certainly may be wrong.

Bob K

Hey kelway,
The location depends on what you like.  Do you like mountains, ocean, a big City?  We chose near Cabarete (North Coast) b/c it is close to Santiago but we can enjoy the Ocean and mountains as well.  I wouldn't suggest moving to the Punta Cana area.  The beaches are nicer there but from my understanding it is just a resort town and nothing more.
I don't know much about finding work here, we are retired.  I do know it is really hard to find a job especially one that pays well.
Feel free to PM me anytime :-)

I am a 33 yr old Canadian living in Halifax NS...i am considering moving to the DR to be with my boyfriend for a few years. Im hoping to talk to a Canadian who has relocated to the DR so that i can find out how living is up there...how hard it is to find a job...etc

IN love welcome to the forum.

Let me tell you moving here to "be with your man" is fraught with pitfalls and has a snow balls chance in hell of succeeding.

Did you meet him on vacation???

Are you fluent in Spanish

Have you applied for your residency and cedula.  You need you cedula to work here legally. Jobs here pay very little and you would be very lucky to make $400 a MONTH.

You need to come for  a few months (not living with your boyfriend) and determine if you can live here.

You are going down a very bad road I am afraid.

Bob K

Wow..that wasnt judgemental at all....a "snowball's chance of succeeding" that was kinda cruel...i know ppl personally that have moved to different areas of the world to be with their loved one and it has worked out to years of marriage.....anyone on here have any real advice???????....i am seeking advice minus the cruel judgements

Sorry to be so blunt but relationships here for those moving because they  are in "love" with someone they met here (man or woman) has snowballs chance in hell of succeeding.  The odds are 98% against you.

How many times have you been here??
How much time have you spent here???
How much time have you spent here without being with your love?
How are you going to support yourself??
Does he have a job?
Does he work at a hotel?
Do you speak Spanish?
What kind of work are you expecting to find?
Have you got your residency and Cedula (need to have these to work here)
Do you have money to support yourself?
Have you really thought this out?
How old are you and how old is he?

You need to answer all of these before you make the leap.

Again sorry to be so blunt but I have been here long enough to hear and see this story play out over and over and over again and almost all of the time it is pretty ugly

Bob K

-Ive been to  Dominican about four times
-the plan would be for me to first stay with him for like 5 months to triple check that we are meant to be
-he has a job in a hotel
-i do not speak spanish but am willing to learn
-i am a social worker in Canada...would love to try to get a job somewhat related. ...do you know of anything? I hope to support myself by working
-we are both 33

Inlove - first welcome to the forums.  I am a Canadian who has lived here 12 years.  I can answer your questions.

However much you do not like it -  Bob is correct.  MOST  do not succeed. It is really based on  years of watching and listening to what is going on -  Bob has about 9 years here as well.  We can only comment on HERE not anywhere else in the world, this place is different.

We have seen unbelievable things here.

My suggestion:  read the various threads on this forum.  Read and read and read. Then come back with some specific questions and some specific answers.  Meaning -  be real with us and we will be real with you.  We dont say anything to be mean but to try to steer you in the right direction. What you do with the information we give, is up to you.  All we can do is tell it like we see it.

Social work - almost doesn't exist here unfortunately.  It is needed though.  And if you do not speak Spanish then who will you work with?   

It is very tough to get a job here.  Go to the thread about residencia - you will need that process started to work here.

Those times where u say it nwvwr worked fr what u have seen...what  were the reasons. ..im concerned with what living  like there is like

It sounds like no  one has ever seen a relationship work between a canadian and a dominican living there for a few yrs...our plan was to marry and then move to canada in a few years......this is very sad

It is rare that an EXPAT and a Dominican tourism worker has a relationship that works.  How is that?  That is the absolute truth based on years of watching. It is very very rare.  The differences in culture alone make it hard, the language, the financial resources... the list goes on.

I agree with the others.  The chances are definitely against you.  I consider myself to be in a successful expat-Dominican relationship.  But my circumstances are (1) I was already living here when I met her, (2) I did not meet her at a bar or a tourism business, (3) I knew her for six months before we started dating, (4) We dated for two years and I met her entire family before we got married, (5) We have been married for three years now. 

So I am happy.  No I don't think my wife is the only good Dominican in a relationship with an expat.  But it is hard to find.  90% of the people looking for relationships here are looking for money and/or visas.  Many of those are bar workers and hotel workers and anything related to tourism.  Point is 9 out of 10 people that try to talk to you are not really interested in you but only what you can give them.  So finding the 1 out of 10 that is not is not an easy thing to do and is not something that usually happens on vacations or short visits.

Honestly, 5 months does not seem like enough time to triple-check the situation.  People can blow smoke up your butt for five months and tell you whatever you want to hear.  Remember I dated my wife regularly for two years before we got married.  I did a lot of triple checking during that time and was very skeptical in the beginning.  Meeting the family is very important.  You should meet most of the family. 

Speaking Spanish is also a must in my opinion.  You need to understand clearly what he, his friends and his family are saying all the time.  I spoke Spanish very well when I started dating my wife. 

I'm not saying your situation can't work.  Obviously mine did so others can too.  But I am saying you should probably invest more time than you are thinking into making sure it is right before you take on any major expenses and complications.  If it were so easy I'd say you need to come live here for 18 months to 2 years but I don't know how you would have income to do that if you are still working.  Luckily for me my work is done over the computer so I can live anywhere.

Thank  you very much for the reply...i have already met his entire family.  I work for the govt so i am able to take a deferred leave where i could go for one year whilst still being paid fr here...i was thinking of doing that for half a year or a full year. This is the toughest decision  of my life.  My  concern in moving  there is the way of life, financial stuff -will i be able to get a job and of course health care

And your suggestion of living there for up to 2yrs is exactly what i am trying  to do..just worried about the health care...will i get a job etc

Work is very hard to find here.  Harder if you don't speak Spanish.  And it pays very little unless you have a special trade and can work for and overcharge other expats in things like home repair and construction for example.  Many expats try to open a business but the truth is most fail and lose money. 

I would not recommend planning to live here if you had to work here to support yourself.  I only live here because I am able to get my full U.S.-based income from my business.  If I had to trade that I wouldn't have been able to make the move. 

Health insurance and medical care like anything service related is cheap.  However, quality suffers in most areas.  For anything major my wife and I always go to a higher-end clinic with specialists, usually in Santo Domingo and sometimes in Santiago.  I find that the thoroughness, accuracy and knowledge is just not as good where I live in Sosua, even at the very popular hospital that many other expats like.  Its a night and day difference in comparison.

I would go to the local hospital for a cold, broken bone, cut, etc.  But recently my wife encountered a non-harmful myoma that was causing some pain.  Nobody could figure it out.  Everyone kept saying it was just an infection and giving her antibiotics.  She had x-rays, MRIs, etc.  All negative according to the local doctors.

She is always slow about going to Santo Domingo but I told her on day one she needed to go see the obstetrician specialist in Santo Domingo.  After all the mis-diagnosis in Sosua and Puerto Plata she finally went and they nailed it on the first day (well the second after they got the results from the x-rays or whatever imaging they did).  Got her on a simple pain reducer and anti-inflammatory for a week and she is fine for now.  And she knows what she has in case it becomes a problem again.

My point is that medical care can be good but you might have to look for it.  Good medical care isn't going to be available at every little clinic and in every little town.

The cost of specialists is low, but you just have to make the trip unless you will already be living in Santo Domingo anyway. 

It is a big decision as you said.  My experience is that big, important decisions are best made slowly and with as much information as possible.  So if you can afford to be away from work for a full year I would plan to do that route.  You need as much time as you can get to spend with him and his family and friends if you want to consider making a go of it.  And learn Spanish ASAP.  It won't be perfect but learn what you can as fast as you can and learn more as you talk to him every day.

Yes i could live there for one year with pay from Canada..but my prob is what do i do after that year if i want to be with him....id have to move there for a few years.....is that even doable?

Do-able, but not easy.  Your primary concern is where will the money come from?  As mentioned getting work and good work at that is very challenging here.  Opening a business can be even more challenging from what I've heard and seen though I have no real firsthand experience in running a business here.  I wouldn't even want to try it. 

Add to that the fact that you are trying to work on a relationship that is new.  That will be challenging enough and then if you add other major difficulties in your life it will certainly put stress on the relationship. 

If you have a year you can be flexible with the best thing to do is get your feet on the ground for a year here.  You may find that you don't even want to pursue it after some time.  You can always go back early but if you plan for the full year at least you will be able to stay as long as you possibly can. 

During that year you will really need to be looking into what you can do here for money and how much you can make.  Lots of people work in tourism, bars, restaurants, hotels and call centers here and that includes expats.  Most (but not all) can speak a fair amount of Spanish.  The biggest caution is that you won't make Canadian money here.  So you need to understand what you will be able to make and how much it will cost you to live here with him. 

Also consider how long you and he could survive if you or he lost your job because it is something that might happen.  For the most part I find the cost of living much cheaper here.  It is one of the reasons I left the U.S. if not the primary one.  But again, I am still making U.S. money while living here.  My lifestyle would be reduced dramatically if I had to live here on a Dominican income. 

You are lucky enough that you have the opportunity to test the waters and explore for up to a year so that is worth taking advantage of.  If for nothing else you will walk away with a lot of life experiences.  I'm sure you'll have tons more questions once you actually have your boots on the ground and are doing things here so we can all help with answers then too.  But nothing beats your own experience. 

The biggest fears I would have if I were in your shoes are (1) is the relationship as real for him as it is for me and (2) where will our income come from?  Everything else can probably be worked out with a little effort.  I had some challenges when I moved to the country and even more when I relocated to Sosua (because there isn't much here) but all things were able to be worked out eventually. 

You can't answer either of those questions without putting a lot of time here in person.  You have to get your residency taken care of so you can legally work here but I'd suggest planning to do that and planning to try to find work while you are here for a year so you can experience how easy or hard it will be to find work, what type of work you can get and how much you will be able to earn in case you do decide you want to stay here longer.

Hello Inlove

Welcome to the forum where almost everybody is right, and where Dominicans get demonized on daily basis unfairly.

It has worked out very well for me, and I'm very grateful . As we are of the same generation and more open minded, etc.  my advice to you is, do the big move, live your life now. If it works, AMAZING!, if it doesn't, take it as a lesson. Either way you win because you can go back to Canada and do it again there. The advantage is that if you are planning to get married with your bf, you can get residency and work permit right away. Get some Spanish lessons and don't leave it for later : ))) Of course the Spanish here differs a bit from the real Spanish, but you will catch up.

I don't find fair when someone generalize about a certain nationality. As someone said before, >>the true is that generalisations are seldom if ever true and are usually utterly inaccurate<<

Best of luck, and congratulations!

Can u maybe send me a little private msg of ur story? Im very interested in talking to you more....thanks

Oh my darling please read, read, read, and then read some more.  Before you make the biggest mistake of your life

Bob K

drtuttle you are clearly the only one here who knows anything.    And you are the only one who truly loves the Dominican people,  which is why the rest of us live here and have for years.

Give it a rest already!

Praise the lord & pass the ammunition! Thank the heavens for intelligent, cogent & precise replys from the few.  Mp, tuttle & cip come to mind along with a couple of others to whom I look forward to reading.  It is tiresome to see basically the same posts again & again.  You know what they are going to say.  My best friend met & married a local girl almost 30 years his junior.  Everyone advised him against the  girl.  Five years later they have 2 daughters & are very happy with their marriage. I'm fortunate to be the godfather of the oldest one. He will be retiring soon & plans to move  back to the DR. It is a rare indeed success, but do not despair, just take a long slow journey with your life. Do as suggested, spend the time, it is a slow learning process. Take the chance & live with the adventure.  Always be prepared for an ending not to your liking. Timid souls abound yes, but the strong will survive to plunge again into the maelstrom of life.  I wish you well however you decide to go.   Just remember that reality has a way of impinging on fantasy.    Good traveling from the Tinker.

I feel the love Planner, thanks! 

Hahahaa   

My wife is actually 9 years older than me.  Age was never a huge factor to me but there are far too many of the 60 year old men with 20 year old girlfriends and wives down here that say they are in love.  If they are just having fun and that is what they want to do then good for them.  But if they all think they are in love give me a break.  I'm not saying a 60 year old and a 20 year old could never find love together but it isn't going to happen as often as we see it here.

Thankfully my boyfriend and i are both 33 lol

And that makes a difference. 

cj it is the delusion that drives me nuts.  Really does Trump believe that these women love him.....LOL   It doesnt just happen here.....

As some of them like to say>>>"me love you long time" 

Bob K

Ella quiere llevarse el sazón dominicano para el norte para que le sigan bailando bachata bien pegao lol

Funny  and it is possible but English please honey.... so the rest can enjoy your comment.....