Dominican Republic is a vacation paradise for vacationers only. Too many people visit Dominican Republic and then think their life will be one big vacation if they move down here. Well, I've got news for you. Dominican Republic is an OK place to vacation but a poor selection for living. When you vacation in Dominican Republic most of the Dominican's are very friendly but that's mostly because they want your money.
The following info is what I gathered over 2+1/2 years of living in Dominican Republic.
First, the Dominican Republic's single scene. Single men, doubly beware! I've heard too many stories of women marrying gringos just for a relocation to another richer country or for alimony payments once they divorce. It is the same with these women (maintly from Canada I do not know why) who marry Dominican man. Yes, Dominicans think of gringos as walking wallets. They really think we are all rich. I personally had a female friend who I'd known for 7 months and she took me for all she could the first chance she got. She cleaned out my checking account by forging my name and walked with RD$ 30,000. (1.5 years later she is still free after marrying a gringo and moving to the states. No justice exists in Dominican Republic.) Luckily I had more money elsewhere. But my landlord here (from Canada) says that happens all the time. They get your confidence over many months and then steal everything they can the first chance they get.
Seconf, Dominican's attitudes toward gringos. Since there's so much sex tourism in Dominican Republic most latinos automatically think you've come there just for cheap sex. So none of the middle or upper class latinos want much to do with you. Even though you can convince them you're not a sex tourist, they still don't want to associate with you for fear of what their friends might think. And the poor latinos will associate with you just to take advantage of you financially. Generally I found living there very lonely.
Third, Dominican Republic's quality control(?). Dominican peoples second biggest negative attribute is that they lie like crazy. They have no stomach for conflict and so will always tell you whatever you want to hear just to keep you happy in the moment. The Dominican people are very in-the-moment and don't (or can't) think about future situations that their present actions cause. They are also dull-witted and incompetent. Heaven help you if you try to run a business down here and want Dominican people as employees. You can tell them exactly what to do for 5 times in a row and right in front of you they'll still do it their way. There exists no stubbornness like what latinos possess.
Fourth, Dominican Republic's import situation. Import taxes here are 100%. Yes I said 100%, which means that all imported goods cost twice as much in Dominican Republic as in the USA. A VCR that costs $120 in the States will cost $240 here. And anything you have shipped to you has to be taxed which is almost never less than $100.
Fifth, Dominican's polluted food. The evil pesticide companies in the USA sell outlawed pesticides at a low price to the farmers here. They are outlawed in the USA because they are highly toxic to humans also and cause cancer. But the farmers here buy it because it's cheaper. They don't care if you get DDT poisoning. I've eaten vegetables here that caused an immediate reaction in my throat because they had so much pesticides on them. It seems the farmers spray too heavily or too frequently. Dominicans are typically very immature in their thinking and do things you'd only think children would be capable of. A friend of mine knows two people who returned from Dominican Republic after just a few months with pesticide poisoning from eating the food here.
Sixth, Santo Domingo's Zona Colonial. And then there is Santo Domingo, the most polluted city I have ever seen. Old buses and cars with all pollution controls taken off are continuously spewing out tons of dark exhaust fumes. I try to never go there but there are many essentials which are only available in Santo Domingo. If you like to wait a lot then you'll enjoy driving in Santo Domingo. Traffic jams galore and believe it or not there is no main highway loop around the city. You have to go right through the middle of it! And the roads have lots of potholes due to the government stealing most of the money designated for road repair. And parking, yeah right. This is a small town turned big (~1.5 million people) and there is little parking space to be had. And if you park somewhere that isn't guarded then you may return from shopping to find the car gone.Dominican Republic's thievery and lack of security. There's so much theft here it isn't funny. Women who go to Santo Domingo go without jewelry or they hide it in their purse. I know of a woman who had her earrings ripped right out of her ear lobes! Ouch! One time a friend of mine left her sweater on the back of a chair in front of Burger King on El Conde for 5 minutes. When she returned it was gone and no one knew anything about it. And you will never see so many security bars around houses and guards outside stores and banks with loaded shotguns in any other country
SUMMARY: if you like pollution, traffic, bad roads, thievery, high import taxes, high prices, incompetence, lack of security, parasites, and few friends if any, then Dominican Republic is the place for you! One time when I rode my motorcycle to the beach I was stopped by a police officer who required payment of about RD$ 100 to prevent him from writing a big ticket (for a fictitious charge according to my lawyer later) and impounding my motorcycle. You know things are bad when even the police rob from you. Further, Dominican Republic ranks high when it comes to overall corruption according to independent entrepreneurs (1).
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(1) Corruption is perceived to be among the three most important obstacles to conducting business in all developing countries that were surveyed, according to a 1997 World Bank study. Exceptions to these findings are Asia (India, Fiji, Malaysia) and one transition region (Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine). The World Bank grouped the countries into regions and sub-regions.
The survey asked 4000 entrepreneurs in 69 countries to rate 15 obstacles by how seriously they obstruct business. The list included taxes, corruption, inadequate supply of infrastructure, policy instability, labor regulations, crime and theft, price controls, foreign currency regulations, financing, foreign trade regulations, regulations for starting a new business, general uncertainty on costs of regulations, terrorism, safety or environmental regulations, and inflation.
Tax regulations and/or high taxes were among the four top obstacles in 20 out of 22 regions. They were the number one obstacle in 13 regions. This obstacle encompasses not only high taxes, but also tedious tax regulations, unclear tax laws and corrupt tax officials.
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Countries Rank of Corruption
South Africa, Mauritius 1
Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Dominican Republic 1
Benin, Mali, Nigeria 1
Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru 1
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal 1
Cameroon, Chad, Congo 1
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia 2
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan 2
Jordan, Morocco, West Bank and Gaza Strip 2
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia 2
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic 3
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 3
Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe 3
Albania, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Turkey 3
C?te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo 3
Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico 4
Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine 6
Fiji, India, Malaysia 6
Italy, Portugal, Spain 6
Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland 9
Canada, United States 12
Ireland, United Kingdom 13
Source: "How Businesses See Government," IFC, Discussion paper 33, 1998.
WHO STILL WANT TO MOVE TO THE DR ?
The following info is what I gathered over 2+1/2 years of living in Dominican Republic.
First, the Dominican Republic's single scene. Single men, doubly beware! I've heard too many stories of women marrying gringos just for a relocation to another richer country or for alimony payments once they divorce. It is the same with these women (maintly from Canada I do not know why) who marry Dominican man. Yes, Dominicans think of gringos as walking wallets. They really think we are all rich. I personally had a female friend who I'd known for 7 months and she took me for all she could the first chance she got. She cleaned out my checking account by forging my name and walked with RD$ 30,000. (1.5 years later she is still free after marrying a gringo and moving to the states. No justice exists in Dominican Republic.) Luckily I had more money elsewhere. But my landlord here (from Canada) says that happens all the time. They get your confidence over many months and then steal everything they can the first chance they get.
Seconf, Dominican's attitudes toward gringos. Since there's so much sex tourism in Dominican Republic most latinos automatically think you've come there just for cheap sex. So none of the middle or upper class latinos want much to do with you. Even though you can convince them you're not a sex tourist, they still don't want to associate with you for fear of what their friends might think. And the poor latinos will associate with you just to take advantage of you financially. Generally I found living there very lonely.
Third, Dominican Republic's quality control(?). Dominican peoples second biggest negative attribute is that they lie like crazy. They have no stomach for conflict and so will always tell you whatever you want to hear just to keep you happy in the moment. The Dominican people are very in-the-moment and don't (or can't) think about future situations that their present actions cause. They are also dull-witted and incompetent. Heaven help you if you try to run a business down here and want Dominican people as employees. You can tell them exactly what to do for 5 times in a row and right in front of you they'll still do it their way. There exists no stubbornness like what latinos possess.
Fourth, Dominican Republic's import situation. Import taxes here are 100%. Yes I said 100%, which means that all imported goods cost twice as much in Dominican Republic as in the USA. A VCR that costs $120 in the States will cost $240 here. And anything you have shipped to you has to be taxed which is almost never less than $100.
Fifth, Dominican's polluted food. The evil pesticide companies in the USA sell outlawed pesticides at a low price to the farmers here. They are outlawed in the USA because they are highly toxic to humans also and cause cancer. But the farmers here buy it because it's cheaper. They don't care if you get DDT poisoning. I've eaten vegetables here that caused an immediate reaction in my throat because they had so much pesticides on them. It seems the farmers spray too heavily or too frequently. Dominicans are typically very immature in their thinking and do things you'd only think children would be capable of. A friend of mine knows two people who returned from Dominican Republic after just a few months with pesticide poisoning from eating the food here.
Sixth, Santo Domingo's Zona Colonial. And then there is Santo Domingo, the most polluted city I have ever seen. Old buses and cars with all pollution controls taken off are continuously spewing out tons of dark exhaust fumes. I try to never go there but there are many essentials which are only available in Santo Domingo. If you like to wait a lot then you'll enjoy driving in Santo Domingo. Traffic jams galore and believe it or not there is no main highway loop around the city. You have to go right through the middle of it! And the roads have lots of potholes due to the government stealing most of the money designated for road repair. And parking, yeah right. This is a small town turned big (~1.5 million people) and there is little parking space to be had. And if you park somewhere that isn't guarded then you may return from shopping to find the car gone.Dominican Republic's thievery and lack of security. There's so much theft here it isn't funny. Women who go to Santo Domingo go without jewelry or they hide it in their purse. I know of a woman who had her earrings ripped right out of her ear lobes! Ouch! One time a friend of mine left her sweater on the back of a chair in front of Burger King on El Conde for 5 minutes. When she returned it was gone and no one knew anything about it. And you will never see so many security bars around houses and guards outside stores and banks with loaded shotguns in any other country
SUMMARY: if you like pollution, traffic, bad roads, thievery, high import taxes, high prices, incompetence, lack of security, parasites, and few friends if any, then Dominican Republic is the place for you! One time when I rode my motorcycle to the beach I was stopped by a police officer who required payment of about RD$ 100 to prevent him from writing a big ticket (for a fictitious charge according to my lawyer later) and impounding my motorcycle. You know things are bad when even the police rob from you. Further, Dominican Republic ranks high when it comes to overall corruption according to independent entrepreneurs (1).
____________________
(1) Corruption is perceived to be among the three most important obstacles to conducting business in all developing countries that were surveyed, according to a 1997 World Bank study. Exceptions to these findings are Asia (India, Fiji, Malaysia) and one transition region (Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine). The World Bank grouped the countries into regions and sub-regions.
The survey asked 4000 entrepreneurs in 69 countries to rate 15 obstacles by how seriously they obstruct business. The list included taxes, corruption, inadequate supply of infrastructure, policy instability, labor regulations, crime and theft, price controls, foreign currency regulations, financing, foreign trade regulations, regulations for starting a new business, general uncertainty on costs of regulations, terrorism, safety or environmental regulations, and inflation.
Tax regulations and/or high taxes were among the four top obstacles in 20 out of 22 regions. They were the number one obstacle in 13 regions. This obstacle encompasses not only high taxes, but also tedious tax regulations, unclear tax laws and corrupt tax officials.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Countries Rank of Corruption
South Africa, Mauritius 1
Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Dominican Republic 1
Benin, Mali, Nigeria 1
Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru 1
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal 1
Cameroon, Chad, Congo 1
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia 2
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan 2
Jordan, Morocco, West Bank and Gaza Strip 2
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia 2
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic 3
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 3
Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe 3
Albania, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Turkey 3
C?te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo 3
Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico 4
Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine 6
Fiji, India, Malaysia 6
Italy, Portugal, Spain 6
Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland 9
Canada, United States 12
Ireland, United Kingdom 13
Source: "How Businesses See Government," IFC, Discussion paper 33, 1998.
WHO STILL WANT TO MOVE TO THE DR ?