Canadian couple looking to move

Two things to understand - 1) You have to have your cedula (US green card equivalent - not sure what that is in Canada) before you can legally work in DR. 2) Your wages will be much lower than what you make in Canada! The cost of living is lower, but not as much lower as the wages.

If your company has a branch there, ask about their wages to compare to what they are in Canada.

Not trying to discourage you, but setting expectations. If you are wanting to live a simple life in a beautiful place, go for it!

Hi
Thanks for the reply. We want harsh reality of it lol . We are both in our 40's looking for simple life. We have started to look into all paperwork needed to do the move legaly. I work Security so i want all on the up and up.

We will plan on having a job set up. We have been there 3 times. Going back soon and plan on meeting with a realastate agent to show us potential areas to look for to rent. Kinda just to get a feel.

We are more worried about the fact that we are gay females and my wifes tattoos.  Lol thats why we are looking for resorts area. 

Thanks again for ur reply

Jax

Welcome to the forums.

Okay some reality. Gay is tolerated. This is a Catholic country and that gets pulled out as an excuse.  As long as your choices are not in people's faces you should be fine.

Tattoos are tolerated. Only low class people have tattoos. That is the attitude. The culture is more lenient with expats.

Punta Cana is more expensive to live. You will need to qualify for residencia and almost no jobs are available without it.

In some ways the culture is 30 or 40 years behind North America

Thanks!

I don't pretend to be an expert, and I don't wish to rain on anyone's parade, but seriously - you expect to get work as a security guard and hair stylist?  You don't think Dominicans can do those jobs?  And why would the DR government permit you to come into their country and compete for jobs against DR citizens?

In my experience, in developing countries, half the women want to work in the beauty industry - from hair to nails to massage.  And they have a clue about local tastes and needs.  As a foreigner, you had better have a pretty unique take on these services to differentiate yourself and make it worth a premium to hire you - because the locals will work much more cheaply than you could possibly afford to.

In my view, an ex-pat has to offer a level of expertise beyond what is normally available locally, and their market has to be other ex-pats or tourists.  So you can imagine an accountant or web-site designer or management consultant finding a niche (but I bet it is not easy).  Better still to bring in a product or service not currently available in the market and sell it to tourists (which is what I am trying to do).  And you better be creating jobs for locals, not competing with them, if you want to get a work permit!

But just selling ordinary, low (or moderate) skill services, with no significant barriers to entry?

Good luck with that!

I can't argue with any of that.

Plus wouldn't the DR Gov require that they have a monthly income of $1,500 + $250 for wife as they require of people wanting to retire there?