Hello everyone!
I'm writng you from Slovenia (EU). With my family (Dad, mom & dog), we've been thinking about leaving this cold (both for the weather and the people) country for some time. First, we were thinking about the Fiji islands, but we then somewhat felt it's a bit too far away. So, our next bet is DR. Actually, I'm convinced about moving there.
Here I am, asking questions that have been probably asked thousands of times, but I hope there's gonna be some good persons out there that will help Or at least try to
Both my parents are retired. We would send about 100,000 - 120,000 US dollars for a house and about $50,000 to set up a business.
The business would be mine, while my parents would only invest with me. It's gonna be a digital graphic design studio, everything from 2D graphics to 3D animation, digital photography, technical CAD drawing, digital video production and so on. I would mainly work for other countries, but if I'd find any clients in the DR it would be cool too.
Now, after this intro, here are my questions:
Location & Real estate:
- Where do you think is the best place to move? Which city, place, etc..? I'd need mains electricity & internet access (DSL, preferably). I've been studying Fiji islands for a year, and now starting all over again for the DR is not my best scenario. Any advice to help me out? Oh, also I'd like to be in the less-humid & less-hurricane-visited area, if possible
- The house. Could I find a decent (say 3-4 bedroom) house in a nice neighbourhood (I have to admit, some posts on the "legal" forum scared the hell outta me... There seem to be places when you need to carry an automatic rifle... but I doubt it's like this everywhere) for the amount I said? More? Less?
- Is it possible to run the business in my own residential property? Say I find a two storey house... would it be difficult to convert the lower flat to a company and have the upper one as our home?
- Can we buy our property as tourists?
- Do I need to have armed bodyguards taking care of my equipment (lame question, but as I said earlier, I read some posts that look really... uhm, well, not that exciting)
Residency/Citizenship:
I know I need a lawyer. I'll find one (seems Guzman is a really good one, so I'll try him), but:
- Since I'll be running an international business and have clients from worldwide... is it better to have a residency permit or a citizenship? From what I understood, citizens would have to pay (more?) taxes than residents...
- How would starting the business & buying a property "interact" with our residence permit process? Positively? Negatively?
Business:
- I'd like to import the equipment I'll use in my company from the US. Mainly computers, cameras, and stuff like that. Will I encounter any serious problem? Taxes?
- I'm planning to have about 15-20 DR employees after about 5 years (maybe even sooner...). Is IT trained labour available?
The rest:
- Anything else I should know?
I apologize for the long post, and thank everyone that will try to help me in advance!
Sebastian
I'm writng you from Slovenia (EU). With my family (Dad, mom & dog), we've been thinking about leaving this cold (both for the weather and the people) country for some time. First, we were thinking about the Fiji islands, but we then somewhat felt it's a bit too far away. So, our next bet is DR. Actually, I'm convinced about moving there.
Here I am, asking questions that have been probably asked thousands of times, but I hope there's gonna be some good persons out there that will help Or at least try to
Both my parents are retired. We would send about 100,000 - 120,000 US dollars for a house and about $50,000 to set up a business.
The business would be mine, while my parents would only invest with me. It's gonna be a digital graphic design studio, everything from 2D graphics to 3D animation, digital photography, technical CAD drawing, digital video production and so on. I would mainly work for other countries, but if I'd find any clients in the DR it would be cool too.
Now, after this intro, here are my questions:
Location & Real estate:
- Where do you think is the best place to move? Which city, place, etc..? I'd need mains electricity & internet access (DSL, preferably). I've been studying Fiji islands for a year, and now starting all over again for the DR is not my best scenario. Any advice to help me out? Oh, also I'd like to be in the less-humid & less-hurricane-visited area, if possible
- The house. Could I find a decent (say 3-4 bedroom) house in a nice neighbourhood (I have to admit, some posts on the "legal" forum scared the hell outta me... There seem to be places when you need to carry an automatic rifle... but I doubt it's like this everywhere) for the amount I said? More? Less?
- Is it possible to run the business in my own residential property? Say I find a two storey house... would it be difficult to convert the lower flat to a company and have the upper one as our home?
- Can we buy our property as tourists?
- Do I need to have armed bodyguards taking care of my equipment (lame question, but as I said earlier, I read some posts that look really... uhm, well, not that exciting)
Residency/Citizenship:
I know I need a lawyer. I'll find one (seems Guzman is a really good one, so I'll try him), but:
- Since I'll be running an international business and have clients from worldwide... is it better to have a residency permit or a citizenship? From what I understood, citizens would have to pay (more?) taxes than residents...
- How would starting the business & buying a property "interact" with our residence permit process? Positively? Negatively?
Business:
- I'd like to import the equipment I'll use in my company from the US. Mainly computers, cameras, and stuff like that. Will I encounter any serious problem? Taxes?
- I'm planning to have about 15-20 DR employees after about 5 years (maybe even sooner...). Is IT trained labour available?
The rest:
- Anything else I should know?
I apologize for the long post, and thank everyone that will try to help me in advance!
Sebastian