Why no immigration to the DR?

[Fred]

Why do immigrants flock to countries such as Canada and the US, bringing skills,ect to countries like the US and Canada.

These two countries are on top of the list of countries to immigrate to, however, with the cold climate ect, why is the Dominican Republic not a preferred choice of immigrants?

With the warm weather it should be a first choice of many but is not. Can anyone tell me why?

[AnnaC]

Fred. I think you live in Canada don't you? If so, other than the cold weather you should very well know why we all came to Canada.

[Fred]

I am not asking why people immigrate to Canada, but why more dont immigrate to the DR.

With skills wanting and great weather, there should be many wanting to immigrate there.

[MommC]

Wages are low, benefits next to none. The wealthy hold monopolies on business, business are difficult to start and even harder to maintain. Customs is corrupt so goods are hard to import,gov't is corrupt and for a foreigner the bribes necessary exceed the capital available for start up in many cases. Good Labour is hard to come by. Cultural differences are difficult for many to overcome.
If you note around the world the least "developed" countries tend to be the "hot" countries. Is it just the heat or the attitude?? Who knows? But in hot countries one does not have to worry about heating for the winter,storing foodstuffs for the "frozen" time or "digging out" after major snowstorms to have access to medical care.
I could go on and on but I'm sure many others on the board will be able to phrase the drawbacks much better than I (I'm linguistically challenged!)

[Jane J.]

That's funny Fred. Let me quote you directly from a previous post.

You can enjoy your stay as much as you like, but when you have to live there and confornt [sic] what the average person has to put up with everyday, you too will not want to stay.

Perhaps you can answer your own question?

[Helen]

Hi Fred,
My family immigrated to Canada from a country much like the DR...however, a tad more prosperous. The poor were dirt poor and the rich were rich beyond belief.
People come to Canada for the dream of the West. If you work hard you can make it good. In countries like the DR and where I come from, you could work until the cows come home, but, in the end you'll still be where you started from.
It's a sad fact of life in those countries.
Sure, the weather, beaches, etc are great but, living standards leaves a little to be desired. I'm not saying that people don't immigrate to the DR. They do! And the ones who did had been there a while...It's just that the numbers cannot compare to the numbers of people wanting to come to a First world nation.

[Fred]

The fact is that the DR has never accepted immigration. Only after WW2 some Jews immigrated to Sousa. Ironically very prosperous.


I am asking people's opinion, I wasnt looking to give you an opportunity to humiliate me.

What about the cultural and linguistic differences in Canada?

[Escott]

Hi Fred,

I think that the DR is a great place to move to but not while you at a time of your life that you need to build capital. Wages are very low and living is rough without capital.

On that note, a great place it is if you don't need to make money there. Then you can appreciate all it has to offer with a minimum of stress and worry about your social welfare. With a very small ammount of capital you can live there with full time servants if that is what you desire and still make more in interest than is spendable under most conditions.

In an argument with AZB he was ragging on me for living in NY State when he was living in the DR. Although I live in Woodstock NY which in itself is a beautiful mountain community that atracts probably more tourists than Santiago where he lives because of its beauty, my simple response was that he was working for Dominican wages, not living by the beach and had to work every day. Not trying to take a cheap shot at AZB and I am grateful we are not at each others throats, just trying to bring out a point I felt added to the discussion.

Even though he is a professional and is probably middle class there I do much better here which of course is an educated guess because I don't have a view of his bank account.

Another point is that the DR fails in every way to promote itself and the thievery in government makes for a place that is hard to understand to say the least. Of course I am looking at it from US standards and not DR standards like others claim but that in my opinion is what is holding the country DOWN along with its people.

[Meredith]

A not on Canada, free Health Care!!!!!!!!! And education is very good too and at high standards.

[Bugsey34]

Good one Jane J! I was wondering if the question was serious, which I don't think it is if he posted that before and other negative things about the DR, as I recall. The whole thing seems pretty obvious to me...