Quote:
Originally Posted by nycgirl
I think 1000. a month is alot there. I know people there that live on like 500 or 600. I own my apartment there free and clear. maint. is like 1000.pesos. and bought the apt. with the thought of eventually retiring, but I'm more afraid of being bored there.I am a born and bred new yorker of Dominican descent . Well traveled and well read, have an open mind and a variety of colorful characters I call friends.And I feel kind of sad when I am there, that most Dominicans just love their merengue and mofongo and don't really care to know about not much else.I like these things too, but only "in addition to".
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good points NYCgirl,
i agree and just wanna add to the info.
most Dominican Citizens do by far not have $500.-US per month,
they live in average on much less.
and they do not care about savings,
it is typical to live from payday to payday,
to run out of funds 5 days after payday isn't out of the ordinary.
could a expat live that way?
NO!
that expat would not have backup funds after the money is spent to buy food or pay transportation to go to work til the next payday, and he would be completely down at the moment he looses his job.
in such case a local labourer has a huge backup which is named Family, fiao al colmado aso.
to by a cheap appartment like you did, to have a place to stay or rent it when not in the country yourself, is a good idea,
but here we are talking "Moving on a Budget", i doubt that the typical budget-expat-visitor has the inicial money to purchase own property/appartment/house.
1.000.- pesos monthly maintenance for a appartment sounds a bit cheap too me calculating electricity, sometimes a new paint, replace damaged accessoiries like a ceiling fan or fridge aso, but possible of course.
somebody above mentioned to know a expat who is here since 15 years and still has no legal papers like residency and never had a problem.
that's right,
the list of such people is very long,
but keep always in mind that times are changing once in a while,
and in developing countries some changes come often in very drastic ways.
what such expat would have or could do if deported back home on his own costs after a long time on the island as a low budget 'visitor' without any backup savings?
they typical situation back home in germany for such person would be on the streets without big help from the gubmin, and to forget to find a job to pay for simple things like food.
actually the Dominican gubmin is discussing about actions on the immigration laws.
some even plee for a amnestie of long term illegals to get them a residency, but just the long term ones of at least 5 years permanent illegally residing visitors and just for the temporary residency for 2 years. after those 2 years they would need to pay for the permanent residency or get a flight on own costs.
if such amnesty will be done we can be sure that not long afterwards the immigrations authorities will do massive sweeps to get the ones who did not apply for the offer and on that sweep the short term illegals would be on the same truck to the airport.
the fact that an average dominican labourer lives on funds which would be named a very low budget in many other countries does absolutely NOT mean that a foreigner without real family on the Island can survive the same way for a longer time period.
Mike
(578)
