Remote workers welcome in Santo Domingo

[Dolores]

With thousands of accommodations in rental properties available, the city of Santo Domingo is welcoming digital nomads. The city is centrally located in the Dominican Republic, with weekend vacations to beach and mountain destinations easily accesible by traveling by good roads to the west, east, northwest, north and northeast of the country.

Travel Off Path reports that Santo Domingo has made it to a top position in the Nomad List, regarded as the most popular platform for tracking workcation trends globally.

Nomad List reports on Internet speed, attractive weather, nearby beach and cultural locations and cost of monthly living in US dollars.

Santo Domingo is the capital city of the Dominican Republic. It has great shopping, cultural and entertainment life. The city has thousands of places to eat outside home and many well-supplied supermarkets. It also has many neighborhoods...

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[josh2203]

Working remotely, I must say that the DR in general has advanced in an unbelievable way the last decade or so... I started working remotely in the DR in 2010 and at least how I experienced it internet connections were not what they are today. I recall living close to POP city center and having a huge Orange mobile router hanged up in a tree in our backyard to get some signal.... Codetel/Claro would have been worse... In the campos working was just a nightmare, first when we arrived with our routers, internet was a luxury, everyone being amazed, now it's the people that are from campo offering us their wifi passwords when we arrive.. Now, even my mother-in-law, close to being 70, is fluent on mobile things and has fibra optica at her place...

I don't know, maybe the posters (one in particular from Cabarete...), who say that water/electricity should be privatized to get those services to the same level as were telco industry is, are right...

 

[keepcoming]

I see many questions (on other platforms) asking how someone can work remotely in the DR without their company knowing. Seems like there is a lot of interest in working remotely in the DR, but some (many?) companies will not allow it.

 

[josh2203]

I see many questions (on other platforms) asking how someone can work remotely in the DR without their company knowing. Seems like there is a lot of interest in working remotely in the DR, but some (many?) companies will not allow it.

This is a very interesting topic. Also one very complicated one. There are usually also multiple variables involved...

Based on my experience, the only way to securely work for a company without them knowing where you are, is when they do not care where you are...

 

[cavok]

This should definitely answer the old question seen here many times as to whether one can legally be a digit nomad in the DR.

 

[CristoRey]

I see many questions (on other platforms) asking how someone can work remotely in the DR without their company knowing. Seems like there is a lot of interest in working remotely in the DR, but some (many?) companies will not allow it.

True.
One of the main reasons for this has to do with what they are liable for when it comes to employee safety and security.
Nobody wants to be sued and as an employee you have every right (as the laws are written) to sue your employer for any and all job related accidents.

 

[josh2203]

True.
One of the main reasons for this has to do with what they are liable for when it comes to employee safety and security.
Nobody wants to be sued and as an employee you have every right (as the laws are written) to sue your employer for any and all job related accidents.

Right to the point, this is one of the main concerns my employer has about me due to the fact that I'm an employee. Not so if I'm an independent contractor/freelancer. But I'm an employee by the law, and companies don't want trouble...

 

[SNH]

Working remotely, I must say that the DR in general has advanced in an unbelievable way the last decade or so... I started working remotely in the DR in 2010 and at least how I experienced it internet connections were not what they are today. I recall living close to POP city center and having a huge Orange mobile router hanged up in a tree in our backyard to get some signal.... Codetel/Claro would have been worse... In the campos working was just a nightmare, first when we arrived with our routers, internet was a luxury, everyone being amazed, now it's the people that are from campo offering us their wifi passwords when we arrive.. Now, even my mother-in-law, close to being 70, is fluent on mobile things and has fibra optica at her place...

I don't know, maybe the posters (one in particular from Cabarete...), who say that water/electricity should be privatized to get those services to the same level as were telco industry is, are right...

I agree the DR has came a long way in internet at least...I started working remotely from DR in 2008 in Cabarete and was paying $150+ usd for 3mb down/1 mb up per month. Not to mention the power outages, etc.

That story is misleading Santo Domingo is #1 in the Caribbean on Nomad List but #193 of places overall for nomads.

The few Coworking spaces in the capital either horrible and dated or decent space with terrible internet 10mb down. Paid for 3 different coworking spaces one was $350 usd a month and they had the nerve to say shorts are not allowed in the coworking space and had a dress code business casual.

The options working from DR.

1. Work for yourself remotely. Best
2. Work for a company that does not care where you work from. Better
3. Work for a company that does care where you work from, and try to hide using VPN. Which many companies can now detect. Worst

None of the options count are the same as if you were working for a Dominican Company.

So you do not need a work visa to be a digital nomad in DR nor file any taxes on that income.

 

[Sol09]

I agree the DR has came a long way in internet at least...I started working remotely from DR in 2008 in Cabarete and was paying $150+ usd for 3mb down/1 mb up per month. Not to mention the power outages, etc.

That story is misleading Santo Domingo is #1 in the Caribbean on Nomad List but #193 of places overall for nomads.

The few Coworking spaces in the capital either horrible and dated or decent space with terrible internet 10mb down. Paid for 3 different coworking spaces one was $350 usd a month and they had the nerve to say shorts are not allowed in the coworking space and had a dress code business casual.

The options working from DR.

1. Work for yourself remotely. Best
2. Work for a company that does not care where you work from. Better
3. Work for a company that does care where you work from, and try to hide using VPN. Which many companies can now detect. Worst

None of the options count are the same as if you were working for a Dominican Company.

So you do not need a work visa to be a digital nomad in DR nor file any taxes on that income.

This doesn't sound unreasonable to me.
The culture here is formal and appearance and presentation are important.

It's great that they enforce this standard and do not succumb to sloppy presentation.