Foreigner expats in Guadeloupe

Hello sonyael.

Welcome to Expat.com!

Your participation on the Guadeloupe forum can help you to make new contacts faster

Thank you,
Aurélie

Hi Sonyael,

How's it going there? I'm moving in late September to Abymes. I'm from London and have been living in California for the last several months. I look forward to meeting some locals and ex-pats soon.

hi

i am an english speaker living in gpe married to a native Gpe. would love to meet with you sometime. where in Gpe do you live

hi

have you moved to gpe since. how are you enjoying it. share your experience. maybe we coulkd meet up sometime.

Hi chinchin and ronny rambler. Unfortunately, I quit Guadeloupe. I wish you all the best there. In case you need some info, do not hesitate to send me an email.
Take care
Soninha

hi,

did you left, because you did not like it there or or other reasons? I have been there for 6 yrs, i am torn between liking living there & not. I do not have a choice because my husband has his job there & ill not quit to go on adventure. But no matter ho much i try, i guess if i did have the choice to choose, i would not have chosen to live & work there or inspite of its advantage over the rest of the carribean islands, it remains a hostile place for an expatriate or a foreigner.

expats just does not exist in this land.

regards

I couldn't agree more. It certainly is a hostile place for anyone who isn't Guadeloupean. I have found that the locals just aren't interested in much outside of their own lives. We're leaving for the mainland soon and I can't wait to be out of here.
It's a pity that such a beautiful island is full of people who have such ugly attitudes.
Best of luck to you.

In what way are people's attitudes "ugly"? I am moving to Guadeloupe soon for one year and now I'm kind of nervous...
I need to get a job to make a little money on the side of my teaching assistant job... is it easy to find a job as a waitress or as a private english tutor? Does anyone have ideas as to how to go about starting that search?

Thanks!

Hi im moving to Guadeloupe on the 29th July 2013 can any give advice on apartments to rent? My Fiance just got a job offer for a position there so we are leaving France and heading to the Caribbean for a few years of sunshine.

Hi guys,

I just want to tell you that Guadeloupe has a specific history which make some local people reluctant with outsiders.
It's not like Jamaica or  Rep Dom which are independent islands and take their own decision and rely fully on tourism.

The afro-guad have slave lineage, the indo-guad one have indentured labors forced to stay lineage. Some old french families have rulers lineage and god knows how bad it was in the past.

Guadeloupe fought a lot to get independence and never succeeded and after France put lot of money to make the people be quiet and be more dependent. But still, the people are fed up with the "white superiority".

4 years ago, there were big riots to get ride of France's behavior which created some awareness in France : no job opportunity, higher price from the French companies which have full monopoly, french regulations which make things difficult to create your own company and more than anything, no respect.

And it's a vicious circle, since they are not respected, why should they respect, and so on...
However many are just shy and don't know how to behave with outsiders.
Some people are coming to the island and behave like in the "good old colony time" and it's not acceptable.
They tend to exploit the people and Guadeloupean are very rebellious people, they won't accept it.
Hopefully, things are changing as in France, Guadeloupean are more recognized and some are part of the government.

But the economy is so bad that it has a social impact and some desperate people take money where they find it.

So before moving to Guadeloupe, it's better to check all this and see if you can adjust to it.

Also, they are educated by the french system and english language is not the strongest point.
So it can be difficult to interact with foreigners. Like everywhere in the world, they expect foreigner to speak their language.

Some people can succeed with time to get good friends and the difficulties of life that you may face are the same faced by the local people too.

The unemployment rate is really high and to find a flat, you need to show that you have good income. It's easy to find illegal job, i.e, not official job with no contract, no social security, etc..and sometime no payment on time.
Devanim, english being a weakness, I guess you could give private tuition but you have to target places where the people can afford it.

If you want to make some friends, in addition to french, try to learn creole, the local language, it can help to break the ice. If going where all the expat lives can make you feel more comfortable, maybe it won't help to get local friends and understand the local way of life.

My family lives there and can manage english so if you need any contact, let me know.
We are in a small town and people are welcome if they  behave with respect.

Many retired people come every year and have friends. Most of the time, when I come on holidays, I see them during our family gatherings.
So everything is possible :-))


Christelle

Hi! I'm British and I'm also new to Guadeloupe Living on La Désirade for the moment but I'll be moving to Basse-Terre beginning of December

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Thank you for the information Christelle

I am living in Pointe-à-Pitre now. Where does your family live? I am in search of a used vacuum, or an inexpensive new vacuum. Do you have any suggestions about where to find one for less than 50 euros?

Hello Christelle!
I am from guadeloupe and I'm helping out my friend who is moving back with her partner who is a British citizen, how did you proceed regarding work permit (if needed) and securité social and so on?
How did you start?
It would be very helpful if you could give any tips!!!

As being from the island I'm sad to read a few of the threads here concerning my fellow guadeloupeeans but I want to reassure you that there are plenty of people who are not relectant to meet people from abroad!!!

Thank you very much in advance for your response and hope to read from you soon!!

Sue