My partner and I came to Sal 11 years ago to buy a holiday home but after staying in it once it was built we decided to move here permanently. We fell in love with the island and the people and certainly have no regrets. However, for anyone wishing to come and live here I would certainly think long and hard before you come as I have seen many people come and go and mostly it is because they hadn't really thought about what they were going to do once they got here.
Where are you going to live? Owned or rented, how are you going to pay for it?
If you don't get work, what length of time will your savings last?
Do you have skills that would be of benefit financially.
The majority of people who I came to meet who left were for mainly the following reasons:
Ran out of money
Couldn't get work
Alcohol abuse (usually through not working, got into drinking culture as this is a tourist destination so lots of people to drink with)
Criminal activities (small island so bad reputation means trust is gone and again, no work)
We have been very fortunate but this is due to my partner being a skilled electrician and setting up his own business and I have had 5 jobs in 8 years (made redundant in 2 of them during recession due to developments closing down) but have never been out of work. If you get a good reputation for being a hard worker and honest you should have no problem.
Living in Cape Verde
Hi Tracy,
Just out of curiosity, as a native English speaker who has become fluent in Portuguese and lived for 13 years in Brazil now, just how much of a factor is the LANGUAGE BARRIER for expats in Cabo Verde???
I would guess that since the official language is Portuguese, which is not one of the easiest languages to learn that this would also be a major contributing factor to those unable to successfully make the adaptation to life there.
Is English (or any other language) widely spoken there? Can an expat get by in their day-to-day life without Portuguese or would that lock them into dealing only with other expats??? I find that is one of the main reasons that expats don't do so well here in Brazil.
Hope to hear your input soon.
Cheers,
James Expat-blog Experts Team
Hi James,
I speak Creole (with a VERY strong Yorkshire accent!) but English is widely spoken on Sal, more than other islands. I made the effort but many ex pats don't. It is really beneficial speaking the language as they do seem to help you more (police & beaurocrats) when you converse in their own tongue. Lots of ex pats rely on locals to go with them when sorting things out.
I work as a travel agent in a local agency and speak Creole with my colleagues all day. Even my partner 'the Sparky' has managed to speak enough and understand enough to be able to conduct his own business on a day to day basis without other peoples help.
My Portuguese is not very good. As you said, difficult to learn as it uses a lot more grammar than Creole. I did pass my driving test here. I was very proud that I was the first (and only) English person to pass my test as it is in Portuguese and the theory is also in Portuguese.
I would advise any person coming to at least try to learn the lingo. It does help in the long term.
Thanks for your posts. It was indeed helpful.
As a young single female, how safe is it to move to Praia alone?
I am finding it very difficult to get some information on salary expectations. Can you give me an idea of how much money covers average living expenses?
Racquel
Salaries are a lot less than European wages. Cape Verde average salary is about 300-400 euro per month. European tend to be able to get higher salaries due to their work experiences etc. Usually a salary between 600-1000 euro depending on the position.
I don't know how safe it is for a single female in Praia but I can honestly say that there is more serious crime there than here in Sal due to drugs.
I would recommend a visit prior to making a permanent move as you can then talk to people who can give you advice.
