Chile, land of opportunity

[mountainannie]

[QUOTE=AnnaC;502790]Taken from another thread, thanks JC171

As of July 23, 2006
Countries Dominican Citizens Can enter VISA FREE
Paises Un Dominicano Puede entrar sin Visa
In/En

South America/Caribbean
America Del Sur/Caribe
Argentina
Bermuda
Chile
Colombia
Dominica
Ecuador
Montserrat
Peru
Uruguay

Asia/Pacific
Asia.Pacico
Cook Islands
Hong Kong
Korea
Japan
Malaysia
Micronesia
Neuie
Philippines
Samoa
Tuvalu
Palau

Middle East
Medio Oriente
Israel

Visa Obtained upon arrival
Visas Disponible en el Aero Puerto
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cuba
Egypt/Egipto
Gambia
Georgia
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Laos
Macao
Maldives/Maldivas
Nepal
Togo
Zambia
Zimbabwe

I am very surprised by some of the countries on this list,.. specifically Chile and Argentina and Uruguay.All would, I think, be prime destinations for Dominicans. Chile is set to enter the G 9 next year and has a thriving economy. Much bigger countries, much sounder economies, and one would think much more opportunities ... plus the advantage of being Spanish speaking.

I guess the issue is what happens AFTER a tourist visa, in that how hard is it to immigrate?

I assume that Hong Kong and Japan and Israel and any of the eastern European or Arab countries would be very tough if you did not have the language or connections. Plus, of course, many of those countries treat any sort of migrant worker the way that,,, well, migrant workers are treated everywhere...

But would not the developing nations of SA be destinations? All three countries are on MY list!


Can anyone speak to Dominican immigration to South America?

[AnnaC]

Mountainanne, I have moved your post into a new thread because you bring up some good questions for discussion.

[bob saunders]

There are plenty of Dominicans in Venezuela, and when my wife lived in Colombia in 1990-2 there were quite a few Dominicans in her city.

[las2137]

I have no hard data on immigration to Chile, but I did live there for slightly over a year and have some opinions on why it might be less attractive for a Dominican to immigrate there.

First of all, the overall level of education in Chile is very high compared with most countries in Latin America. (Again, haven't looked up any stats, just going on what I've seen.) The Chilean public education system functions for more than 3 hours a day and the students come away with knowledge, for the most part. The university system in Chile is one of the best in Latin America also. So I would imagine that especially the educated Dominican immigrants would have stiff competition from locals.

Second, Chile already has a steady supply of migrant labor with Bolivians and Peruvians. From what I understand, this labor pool is very cheap and abundant, with strong communities in-country. So I imagine it would be hard for Dominicans to integrate without a particular demand for their labor or existing network of compatriots.

Third, in terms of culture, Dominican and Chilean cultures are polar opposites! Chile is not at all tropical- very cold in terms of weather and, at first, people. And although they do dance the occasional salsa, the sabor that one finds in the DR is not found in Chile on the same scale. Plus, no platanos.

I'm sure there are Dominicans in Chile, but not in a strong presence like in the US or Spain. Perhaps it is also because the Chilean peso doesn't have the same weight as the dollar or euro?

[PICHARDO]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY7pJK5oFYA

[PICHARDO]

Now watch this:

YouTube - Discriminacion el Chile

[windeguy]

I have a friend who will be retiring and moving with his wife to Chile sometime within the year. He looked at the DR as a possible location but ruled it out because the temperature range, humidity and mosquitoes were a problem for his wife who has advanced arthritis.

He is an exhaustive researcher. If I start talking to him about this the conversation will not end until his telephone battery runs out. He settled on Chile and explained his decision to me like this: Chile is like California before all of the people overpopulated that state. It has coastal areas ( cool to cold water, like California), it has mountains with great skiing, it has a wine country producing good wines. It is a long thin country and therefor has a wide range of temperatures from a Mediterranean climate as he described it in the area just north of Santiago to a cold climate to the south. It is definitely not like the DR.

Unlike most Latin countries it actually has a thriving economy and a substantial middle class. There is crime, especially in Santiago, but there is less than in many Latin American countries. My friend plans to live in an area north of Santiago normally used by the Chilean middle clause for their summer vacations. During that time it will be busy, but the rest of the year will be rather quiet.

The drawback to immigrants is that it is very hard to become a resident/citizen.
I believe he will end up renting to avoid property ownership issues.
What he told me is that every year he will take a "vacation" through the mountains into Argentina and then return to Chile since they cannot stay continuously for an entire year. Just a simple exit and re-entry of the country will work. In other words, they really don't make it easy to immigrate into Chile.

I don't know why Dominicans don't think more often of Chile. I have never heard a Dominican mention Chile. Dominicans don't have an issue staying illegally in a country regardless of the laws, so I don't think Chile's policy regarding immigration is an issue in that case.

[Robert]

Chile is light years ahead of the DR when it comes to developing start ups or attracting internet based businesses.

Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses, Your Tech Entrepreneurs

I wish the Cyber Park here could get it's act together and offer super incentive's and really work at attracting tech companies.

[windeguy]

Indeed the racism described in those YouTube videos would help to explain why Dominicans, or other people of color, do not flock to Chile.

[las2137]

Originally Posted by PICHARDO

YouTube - discriminacion en chile por xenofobia

Yes, this was going to be my next comment. There was not a large African slave presence in Chile, so people of African ancestry are very rare.

I will never forget some of the rubbish comments that came out of the mouths of my supposedly liberal progressive friends who donned Che t-shirts and belong to the socialist party. (Don't even get me started on the conservative ones...) At the university were I studied (in Concepcion, which is a large city), there was one professor who was Colombian, I believe, but was of African heritage- dark skin, African hair, etc. I was with a friend when the professor happened to cross our path and my dear friend there said to me, "Mira, aqui viene un mono." I thought it was some weird Chilean phrase and was crushed when I realized what she meant. She truly didn't see how it was offensive.

My boyfriend at the time would literally stop what he was doing and stare at someone of African heritage if he saw one in person. He rarely saw them outside of TV so it was a big deal.