Relocating a Dominican 101

[Saskia]

My husband now lives in the UK with me ...

Firstly i would like to say thank you to Trina for taking the time to share your experiences and encouraging others to do so its a great support to know others have survived this.

i have been with my partner for just under 2 years and gone through many of the emotions posted on this site . dating long distance is a test on any relationship . we have tried for a vacation visa with no joy as my partner is not one of the wealthy dominicans well not finanancially but i think that's what makes him a special person untainted by the greed of the western world i am going on now sorry ,and that was the reason the visa was declined on the bais of his bank account which as i guess you all know when pesos are transfered to ? or $ will never be much.

Our time together is dependent on my partner and i using vacation entitlement with me returning to DR which is not ideal.
since then we have decided that this is long term and would prefer to live in UK so in the mean time my partner returned to school to improve his english and get more qualifications to help him adapt to life here. but i am concerned as to how he will cope as he has never left DR with this in mind;
we decided to apply for fiance visa as this would give my partner the chance to experience the UK and for us to live together before making the final comittment .but this has been a nightmare i wont go into too much detail in case one of them is reading this but it certainly isn't aimed at being helpfull and is upsetting that all your personal life is being scrutinised by some guy who wont even come from behind his desk to meet you.

i am now looking into seeing if i can take time out to spend time there but not easy with work ,house commitments etc the system does seem to encourage you to get married as it seems the only way you can have a normal relationship together



any information regarding this would be really appreciated

and thanks again to all of you that have posted to date it is really helpful to read your accounts good and bad

Hi Katie

My husband came to live in the UK in August 2005, it is a culture shock for him but he has done really well, is working and adapting with ease. I know how difficult it can be, living apart from your partner, but from the heart I, can say it has all been worth it!

Feel free to pm me if you'd like to chat.

Emma x

 

[trina]

What is considered a reasonable amount of money RD, US?

The bank account isn't the only factor in being approved for a visa. In order for the government to issue a visitor's visa, they want to make sure the Dominican has strong ties to the DR in order to ensure they will return to the DR when the visa expires. Factors they may consider as qualifiers are:
(a) owning a business
(b) having family to return to
(c) having a very good job (not typical resort job like animacion or bartender) and contract for that job stating that they will have this job upon return
(d) lots of money in the bank, over a substantial amount of time (two years +)
(e) owning a nice house and land

 

[katie06]

thanks for all your replies

Hi Anna i only discovered this forum last week and have found Trina's posts very helpful and wondered if there was anyone from UK who had survived this. No specific questions on the laws at the moment but Trina's advice has been helpful as they didnt point all that out in the refusal letter .i have not relocated my partner yet but all these things have been going around in my head since we decided to live in uk and its good to hear how Trina and others overcame some of the obstacles.


Hi Emma
lovely to hear that your husband is with you in the Uk and settling in well wishing you both much happiness
would be great to chat more and share experiences
thanks for replying
kxx

 

[Saskia]

hola

Hi Katie

Just sent you a pm, speak soon

Em x

 

[ChicaBianca]

relocating to the Netherlands or other Sjengen countries in Europe

Hi
It is good to read some success stories after only reading this sankie stuff. And I do believe there are some good men in the Dominican Republic you just have to look further then the boys that jump infront of you the first minute arriving in the hotel.

I was wondering if there are success stories as well bringing a dominican over to a country in Europe. I live in the southers part of The Netherlands and there are no dominicans in my surrounding as far as I know. I know a couple in Switzerland and a boy in Germany (but he divorced after he got his German passport).

I do not have any specific questions. I just want to know if couples (european / dominican) succeeded in Europe.

 

[rellosk]

I was wondering if there are success stories as well bringing a dominican over to a country in Europe. I live in the southers part of The Netherlands and there are no dominicans in my surrounding as far as I know. I know a couple in Switzerland and a boy in Germany (but he divorced after he got his German passport).

Here's one about bringing someone to Holland.

 

[flordeluz]

Well I had written a lot of things here and I lost it!!!! I'll just sum it up.

I'm married to a dominican. In February we'll be 3 years. My husband has been living in the US with me for about 2 years now. When he got here things were so bad that it wasn't even a month and he left to Santo Domingo. He then came back months after (6 months or so) and he has been here since. Life has been hard. We have our ups and downs where I sometimes think that everything is going to end and other times when things are going really well but overall we have been doing better little by little (with our bumps and all).

I think it's important that you both have an understanding and acceptance of each other's differences (especially cultural differences). It also affects the family you marry into. Sorry to say but even though you marry the individual the family still helps make or break the marriage by making things easier or harder on the couple. I'm fortunate my in-laws are very understand that money does not grow on trees and they never ask for anything. I love them and it would never bother me to help them out. I would even make her a home if I could because she deserves it. They are very sweet and they have won me over. I think because of that it wouldn't bother me to give them a hand. They are not the type that would abuse from the help we could give them.

Righ now my husband is taking ESL courses at a local community college. He's able to understand English and defend himself. He just needs to work on his pronounciation and such but he's doing GREAT. He also works as a traffic controller; a pretty good job for someone with limited English. At the beginning though he was working long hours and with low pay at a supermarket. Those days were hard. He's a bit more independent now that he has his licence. Plus his job as a traffic controller has made him learn the road and he can get around pretty good sometimes even better than me. I think eventually he'll start to like this country when he knows good enough English to get him into a job in the computer field; something he enjoys doing...plus as a bonus he'll love the income. The type of job they are able to find has an influence on how they feel about the country. If it's too stressful you bet it will take them a while to like the country. They'll feel overworked and crappy if it's one of those jobs with long hours and low pay. On the contrary, they could feel very good if it's a job doing something they like.

I think the immigration process was the easiest part...really. The hard part is when you start living together. It helps a lot if you share a similar culture. It also depends on how well they can adapt, which I must say not all of them adapt that well. If it wasn't for the financial problems who wouldn't love to live in DR?

 

[trina]

Very well said, flordeluz. I think that many on this board will clearly identify with what you have written. You hit the nail on the head when you said the Immigration is the easiest part. Many won't believe you until they live it. It's a very tough adjustment, impeded by communication, cultural differences, and lack of "roots" for the Dominican spouse you've sponsored. It's been six years for us now, and I STILL don't have it all figured out! That's what makes life interesting, I guess.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.

 

[bob saunders]

I agree with you Flordeluz, cultural differences still cause some minor difficulties for us, and my wife has been in Canada for 6 years. I think that her educational level has both helped and hindered. She has several university degrees and her own private school in the DR. Coming here and having to start over, and having to rely on me was a real blow to her independance. Now that she has got a decent job, moneywise anyway, she feels much more independant and this of course makes life easier for me.