Living Costs in the Dominican Republic

[Omar_NYC]

omar, i am polish so definitely a gringa in a dominicanland
i just wanted to point that once you live here you learn how to buy and what to buy. granted, a meal in mac will still be the same price, but you will be more likely to do an empanada with a juice instead.

Ha! Funny stuff. Sorry for misunderstanding you

I can definitely make do with empanadas and a juice. I don't do that in New York now because of how convenient it is to just pickup a lunch special from the local restaurant or pickup rice and chicken from the supermarket and cook it myself at home now that I'm learning how to cook.

My worry is to get stuck in a situation similar to the lady I'm talking to in DR; where her financial solvency stops the consular from letting her leave the country at all. And that is very possible with the way my finances are. I don't rely on residual income from stocks or anything, just cold hard cash from the job I have in New York for which I'm finding it harder to save from the living costs here as it is.

Question.... Once you become an expat from the country you were originally a citizen, are you permanently on that status? Or can you reclaim citizenship from your original country at a later time without the hassle that Dominican citizens have to go through?

 

[dv8]

omar: you are always a citizen of your country unless you give it up. which is not all that easy, apparently. so when you decide to become a permanent residents in DR and even obtain a dominican passport you will always be american too. all you need to do is to keep on renewing your american passport.

the biggest problem with moving to DR, i think, is this feeling of security you are talking about. i have very little where i came from: i had a low end job and rented a room. so nothing to hold me and nothing to lose. if you have a property in USA you may consider simply renting it rather than selling. you will have some addition income (no matter how little) and somewhere to come back to.

i think you may do well in DR. you speak spanish and have a great skill set. if you find a decent job you will have a decent life. some costs will be lower that in the states (fresh food, rent) and some way higher (travel, imported goods). once you learn how to balance that out it will be fine.

before i came to live in DR i had some money stashed. in case things would not work out well. i still do. this is my little security in case i needed to go back to europe. just about enough to get me there and keep me going before i find a job. it is always good to have contingency money like that. or at least a great backup from family and friends who will help you out with ticket and accommodation when needed.

 

[Omar_NYC]

Omar, you might not think that the small amount of money you send is very much, but multiply that by the 10 other guys who are also sending her money, and she is doing quite well!
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And for $500 dollars, you ain't gonna get much of an "Apartment In Santo Domingo"!

I respectfully disagree with you that she's doing that. From what I saw when I met her, and her lifestyle and her family, she doesn't seem like that kind of person. But you could be right, who knows. It's been a while since I've sent her money, and I don't think she will ask anytime soon.

I have no idea what the rental market is like. I looked up a real estate site from down there and there were many condos for sale. And the price range for these condos was very broad; starting at $20,000 for a very small unit to $500,000 for very cozy accommodations; in areas between SDQ and Santo Domingo.

 

[Omar_NYC]

omar: you are always a citizen of your country unless you give it up. which is not all that easy, apparently. so when you decide to become a permanent residents in DR and even obtain a dominican passport you will always be american too. all you need to do is to keep on renewing your american passport.

the biggest problem with moving to DR, i think, is this feeling of security you are talking about. i have very little where i came from: i had a low end job and rented a room. so nothing to hold me and nothing to lose. if you have a property in USA you may consider simply renting it rather than selling. you will have some addition income (no matter how little) and somewhere to come back to.

i think you may do well in DR. you speak spanish and have a great skill set. if you find a decent job you will have a decent life. some costs will be lower that in the states (fresh food, rent) and some way higher (travel, imported goods). once you learn how to balance that out it will be fine.

before i came to live in DR i had some money stashed. in case things would not work out well. i still do. this is my little security in case i needed to go back to europe. just about enough to get me there and keep me going before i find a job. it is always good to have contingency money like that. or at least a great backup from family and friends who will help you out with ticket and accommodation when needed.

I really appreciate all your insight into this. It's something I've been thinking about for some time, especially now that I have a love interest in DR. I don't want to burn down my bridges with the US in case things don't work out, but I don't know exactly how that works out where one could still retain US citizenship but still become resident of DR with sufficient rights to find and retain employment, etc etc.

I have an ex who's mother holds a US green card. In order to keep the green card, all she had to do is travel to the US once every six months before it expired and she got to keep it for another six months. It sounds like I would have to do the same with my passport I suppose.

 

[dv8]

you have an american passport? it is yours FOR LIFE. if you only have a green car then you will have to travel to the states every six months. but you can also go to PR, not necessarily mainland USA.

in order to work legally in DR you will need a legal residency (but some employers may not ask about it). this is going to be quite costly, unless you want to do it yourself. this and the rental deposit (or house purchase) will be your biggest starting cost. and a car, if you want that.

 

[Omar_NYC]

you have an american passport? it is yours FOR LIFE. if you only have a green car then you will have to travel to the states every six months. but you can also go to PR, not necessarily mainland USA.

in order to work legally in DR you will need a legal residency (but some employers may not ask about it). this is going to be quite costly, unless you want to do it yourself. this and the rental deposit (or house purchase) will be your biggest starting cost. and a car, if you want that.

Yes, I have a US passport. It's not exactly mine for life. It does expire in ten years, at which point I'd have to renew.

What do you mean about doing it myself? Doing all the paperwork and paying the fees? Is this something I could get started while I'm in the US?

 

[dv8]

omar, search button is your best friend here we talked about residency requirements lately. a lot. because the law has changed just last year.
yes, you start in the country of origin. lots of stuff can only be done by a lawyer (translation, seals and so on). but you can apply with the paperwork yourself and cut down on the costs. you speak spanish so it will be fairly easy. the only difference is that it may take more time (more visits to the immigration).

and passport IS for life, in a way. you can go back to your country even on the expired document, need be. but more importantly that this you are always a citizen. you can always ask your embassy/consulate for help. your passport expires, your citizenship does not

 

[Omar_NYC]

I have some reading to do then.

Thanks again. I appreciate it

 

[Richard Alberto]

omar, what do you mean when you said: "My worry is to get stuck in a situation similar to the lady I'm talking to in DR; where her financial solvency stops the consular from letting her leave the country at all. And that is very possible with the way my finances are." ?

Do you mean being able to leave DR to come back to New York if you decide to move there?

 

[Omar_NYC]

omar, what do you mean when you said: "My worry is to get stuck in a situation similar to the lady I'm talking to in DR; where her financial solvency stops the consular from letting her leave the country at all. And that is very possible with the way my finances are." ?

Do you mean being able to leave DR to come back to New York if you decide to move there?

User dv8 from this forum; a Polish resident in DR; said my US citizenship would never expire even if I were to consider moving to DR as a permanent resident of DR.

My fear with making such a move; if what dv8 said isn't true; is that if I can indeed lose my US citizenship by living in DR for a certain period of time, that I would be subject to the same immigration headaches that Dominican citizens face when trying to immigrate to the US. Based on what I've read so far, to immigrate to the US without sponsorship from a US citizen it requires financial solvency, clean criminal record and bill of health, and the usual vital records such as birth certificate, etc etc.

So yea.. My fear is with not being able to leave DR to the US after a certain period of time if things didn't work out.

 

[cjp2010]

If you are a U.S. citizen it will not be lost unless you officially ask to have it revoked or you are found to be doing something very bad like plotting terrorism or something. I was a U.S. citizenship and now have Dominican citizenship as well with a cedula and everything. My U.S. citizenship is still in tact. I wondered about losing my U.S. citizenship when I first started applying for my DR citizenship. Check this site out - US State Department Services Dual Nationality. Hope things work out for you down here.

 

[Bronxboy]

If you are a U.S. citizen it will not be lost unless you officially ask to have it revoked or you are found to be doing something very bad like plotting terrorism or something. I was a U.S. citizenship and now have Dominican citizenship as well with a cedula and everything. My U.S. citizenship is still in tact. I wondered about losing my U.S. citizenship when I first started applying for my DR citizenship. Check this site out - US State Department Services Dual Nationality. Hope things work out for you down here.

Excellent post.

See, you can definitely contribute other than wife stuff!!!!!!!

 

[MikeFisher]

yeah, it always from which country you come from.
above is the link for the requirements when a US american citizen wanna get dual citizenship/additionally get a Dominican Passport.
as for my own home country, Germany, it is very different, you can of course apply for the DR Citizenship which easily will be granted, but Germany requires that you request such double citizenship, and by experience(that is from the lady handling my own stuff at the german embassy since a longer while) Germany very rarely/almost NEVER allows the 2nd citizenship, so you would need to abandon the citizenship of the original country to finally get the new/DR citizenship.

always check with your homecountry's statedepartment about the applying rules/laws for such.

Mike

 

[cjp2010]

Here is a summary of my current expenses. This is US Dollars and monthly. This is for me and my wife.

Rent - $600. Had to negotiate that a bit. Landlord advertised at $950 and we negotiated $725 the first year. When it was time to renew we negotiated DOWN to $600. I explained that rents are going down and we can get other places equal to his for $550 and even showed him an ad for one. He didn't want to do it at first but when we said we would move he came back the next day and offered $650. We said we still wanted $550 but ended up agreeing to $600. I really didn't want to move. It's a three bedroom house and furnished. Everything but the electric and internet is included. It's a nice house with a nice yard. It has A/C in the bedrooms but we don't use it. No major problems. Minor breaks here and there but the landlord gets everything fixed right away. If rental prices go up this year I'd actually be willing to pay him more rent but I'm not going to tell him that.

Supermarket - $300.
Electric - $50. We don't use the A/C.
Salon/Nails (wife) - $40
Internet Upgrade - $35. This is paid to the landlord. He pays the basic internet premium but we upgraded to a faster service and pay the difference.
Clothes - $30
Transportation - $30
Dominican Cell phones (me and my wife) - $25


Entertainment - $400. This is eating out and bar crawling on Saturday night. Usually a cheap restaurant but once per month somewhere nice. It also includes Sunday on the beach. Sometimes there is an event like St. Patrick's Day at Jose O'Shay.

So that is $1,510 per month. But there are a few things that aren't on the list because they aren't regular monthly things.

Health insurance. I pay $700/year for me and my wife.
Misc. Maybe about $500/year. This is to cover doctor visits, mail, emergencies, gifts, etc.
Vonage. I pay $30/month but I consider that a U.S. bill. When I stop working I won't need it anymore.
Vacation. Once per year my wife and I will take a vacation that will be about $3,000.

Maybe I forgot a few things but that is most of it. I know I'm under $25,000 for the whole year.

The only "perks" we don't have are A/C because my wife doesn't like it and I got used to not having it and a pool. But a pool is more work than it is worth if you aren't in it all the time. I do my own yard work.

 

[Omar_NYC]

When you say transportation, do you mean mass transit? Or I take it you work from home and the only monies spent are when you and your wife head out somewhere?

 

[dv8]

my guess is they do not travel much, not even locally. 30 dollars is very little. petrol depends on the use, but daily trips (work, shopping, salon) in a small jeep will send you to 200 dollars a month. add car insurance, oil change and maintenance and you are looking at 250 a month.

 

[Omar_NYC]

I was gonna say... The rental I used in DR was very good at stretching the gas, but even so a two-way trip to Boca Chica from the hotel where I lodged burned almost two gallons of gas, which cost me RD$500.

 

[cjp2010]

Yes I work at home and my transport costs are much lower than most here. I live where I can walk for almost everything and I do for the exercise. I got my wife doing it now too whereas in the past she would motoconcho for everything. We sold our pick up a bit back because we just couldn't justify it anymore. We weren't using it enough.

Now we just use the public taxi to go to Puerto Plata or Cabarete on occasion but it is not often. Within Sosua we walk. If we want to go somewhere further like the South Coast or Punta Cana I will rent a car but that is only once or twice a year. Sometimes if the trip isn't vacation related I will just use Caribe Tours.

I think my clothes cost are probably lower than most too. My wife does most of the shopping at the flea market "pulga" Puerto Plata.

My electric bill is probably low too. We don't use A/C.

My supermarket bill may be lower than some others too depending on how you want to eat and what you eat. I'm more attentive to that sort of thing lately because I did some harsh dieting and training over the past few years to get in shape.

I certainly don't feel like I am missing anything on the budget I'm using and if I had to increase the budget I could do easily with no problems. I just don't have any reason to at the moment.

I'd guess with what is probably a more common supermarket, clothing and transportation budget for other people I might be looking at maybe $35,000 for the year. Most of that would be the expense of owning a car with insurance, registation, gas, etc.

 

[cjp2010]

Forgot my $21/month gym membership! That is an important one.

 

[Omar_NYC]

Funny you mention gym membership.

I asked this gym in Santo Domingo at Diamond Plaza; Workout; how much it would cost for a one-day guest pass to use their treadmill.

I was told US$30!!!

Yeah... I didn't do much exercising that week unfortunately. I resorted to 300 jumping jacks in my hotel room. LOL