The big mistake...

[Adrian Bye]

In the DR most of the business man I mean the rich people never finish the elementary school. The professional works for them for a miserable salary.

Same in the US (except its highschool).

 

[Daniel10]

Living for 6 years in a country where emigration was the norm. (Ireland) The last 10 years, there was a big influx of Polish, Czech and Brazilian people. Most of them have left now bringing with them good money to start back home.
They worked hard, didn't spend 5 euro a pint in the bar until they got too drunk to walk out and left the Irish ashamed by their work ethic.
It can be happening, but most of them had the right attitude.
One evening I met a Polish guy, walked from the airport (20 km away) and was looking for his friend. He had a number scribbled in a book. I gave him my phone and his friend wasn't able to help him out, so late at night.
His response: "I spend all my money for the ticket to get here work in construction and now I'm homeless..." I gave him a second cigarette, couldn't help him much as well and as I walked off my phone rang. His friend. He was able to help his pal out. I explained him where he was and that was it...
Hope he did get to follow his dream that his friend was telling him about when he was back home.

Recently there was a story on Yahoo about self-made millionairs. Most of them unable to pay the bills and with the backs against the wall. Their change in live: Don't spend anything on what you do not need and invest in your education. They still don't spend anything on what they do not need. If you want to get rich, look at what you spend and invest anything you can in yourself!

 

[cobraboy]

Most folks in the states I know with actual wealth don't show it. They live very modestly, no McMansion, no fancy cars, no flashy clothes or jewelery.

 

[bachata]

The best way to get rich is making good money and living in low profile. My friend, ex taxi driver in DR. moved to NY together with his three daughters in a Permanent resident visa, his mother who became to be an American citizen submitted the petition for them, when he got his first tax return three months ago (single father of three kids) he was about to get crazy with all that money $ 5000. (that is what he said) he bought an iphone a laps top a lot of new cloths and went to DR to show up and came back with out a penny in his pockets.
This is one of the reasons Dominicans get drunk in the water of "el canal de la Mona" trying to reach Puerto Rico's shores.
Now he is back in NY washing dishes waiting for his next tax return.

JJ

 

[? bient?t]

Now he is back in NY washing dishes waiting for his next tax return.

JJ

Dish-washing is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

I have recently thought about it, and maybe when I return from my August trip to the DR, I may consider becoming a dish-washer for a while. It's an honorable job, and one that would give me freedom to think while I'm washing and scrubbing away. The one thing that could damper my enthusiasm would be the pressure to do it quickly, which may not be be conducive to deep thoughts.

I could do it for four months, then travel to the DR in December. Return, get another dish-washing job, work until May, go home, return, work until mid-August...

Again, the benefits: a clear head, and no commands to remember, no multiple platforms and their corresponding usernames, passwords, more commands, etc... and the only thing I would have to synchronize would be my watch, so I could be at work on time.

And while performing my duty, I could concentrate on my last sulfeggio lesson and/or on how best to disarm the arguments on the so-called "Framers' intent" on most things constitutional. And if I'm very disciplined, I may even alternate the above by re-living Chaucer and Proust reading experience. Oh, yeah, and there's every word The Hitch writes - I'll savored them during my off days.

Let freedom and dish-washing ring and shine!

 

[omegabear]

I recently watched the movie "Sugar". I don't want to spoil the movie for people, but it deals with a lot of these issues. I actually got it through Netflix because it is about a young baseball player, and I thought it would be good. Turns out I liked it for a completely different reason. More a brutally honest film, then a feel good Hollywood sports flick.

 

[turksman]

First factor that Dominican's do not take into account when moving here. Costs of living, they believe they will be able to live on the same US$400.00 a month they used to in the DR. But when they see in NY that they have to pay a US$1,000.00 a month for rent in a low level dump apartment, and after that they have to pay electricity, cable, gas while earning a 12 an hour wage doing hard labor then they start to appreciate what they had in the DR, that's the stage when some of not-so-good ones start messing around with illegal activities.

But there's some other cases when both husband and wife works and contain their costs intelligently & they can build a future for themselves.

In my case the move to the US has been positive as I snatched a good job in my area (IT, Networking) with a company that is growing real fast and is the leader on its market niche. My dilemma now consists on holding off temptations of spending money on useless stuff instead of saving it for something more important later on. I would never would have grabbed a job like this in the DR (at least the pay grade, I had far more responsibilities in the DR than I do here), but I came over here prepared, I know acceptable english, have a CCNA and working on a CCNP and over 5 years of experience working in the IT field in the Dominican Republic (which believe it or not, it is equally advanced as is it here, at least in the big private companies and banks).

Bachata, I saw that you took the first step on certificating yourself on auto mechanics and I commend you for that, and your english has gotten better which should be enough to work on the field and fill reports. Once you get your certifications and get a job based on that, you just start working again based on you experience in the DR and I will assure you everybody will be impressed.

Just curious, how much is the average pay in DR for someone in IT who has a CCNA?

 

[JohnnyBoy]

Heres the difference. THERE IS WORK. It might be menial In the US you actually can save money if you stay off of booze drugs women and bling. I had a group of busboys in my restaraunt who came to work for a year or two saved every penny and brought it back to El Salvador. Life was not easy for these guys but they appreciated the opportunity to earn. Immigrants who are lazy dont last here. There is no free lunch anywhere. I know many successful Dominicans in NY and they all hustle.

 

[Criss Colon]

No," Women", and JUST WHAT do you expect me to DO all day?????
I will saty in the DR!!!!!

 

[DominicanBabe]

Agree 100%

We have to look at HOW Dominicans do learn:

1. Movies - good old Hollywood makes it look easy - the USA is the land of opportunity. Other countries same story...........

2. Returning Dominicans go out of there way to show the people at home how successful they are! It is expected. So all those neighborhood kids look up to the visiting heroes. And often it is not real - it is illusion as well.

3. Ex pats - we make it look easy. We are rich and we choose to come here to live - we have air conditioners and jeeps and a nice life style. How did we get that - by living outside the DR.

4. Tourists - if you can afford to come on vacation and spend 1,000's of dollars on a vacation you must be rich. And where do you live - not here. So the lesson is to get rich you have to live somewhere else.

Is this based on fact? Of course not. It is an illusion. Those who come on vacation may have worked their asses off for 2 years to afford this. Yes it costs a lot to live in US or England or wherever but Dominicans do NOT see this.

Some expats who retire here have worked their whole lives to be able to retire here. It is not something locals can really relate to. They only see the expat as the HAVES.......

And they do not get the truth about Dominicans living abroad. It is NOT easy.

It is the old - The Grass is Always Greener ..............

 

[mountainannie]

The way for a Dominican to make money is to come to the US for a summer and stay with three other people in some tiny room and bust their butts for about 20 weeks. If they work 60 hours a week or more they will not have time to spend their money and they can go back to the DR and take the rest of the year off.

I worked on a farm several years ago and they had a dozen or so Jamaicans working the fields on an guest visa exchange program. It's been around since WWII when the US farm boys went off to war. Now, no one in the US wants work that hard for the wages they pay. They put them up in a common house, they live on pidgeon peas and rice with a little meat and not allowed to go to bars. But they made $8/hour tax free and worked up to 80 hours a week starting with planting peas and finishing with picking apples and pumpkins.

When they go home at the end of the 20 week season, they can buy a small house, start their own business or both. But it's brutal work most days and it takes more skill than most people give credit. The farm owner had tried to hire farm local kids at times but they all quit or got fired after a day or two. Most of the Jamaicans were in their late 30's early 40's.

I know that there are Dominicans doing agricultural work in Puerto Rico but I never heard of them doing migrant work in Nueva Yol. And I certainly never heard of migrant farm work being portrayed as a path to quick wealth but rather a dead end trap of misery........ but... well... you sound like you actually KNOW these guys so I maybe have to change my mind? Migrant farm worker to riches? a new spin

 

[dv8]

MA, i think you see too much of the extreme and too little of average. i know many polaks who got through the uni by working on farms in the summer. for three months they'd be picking fruits and veggies in western europe and scandinavia. this gave enough money to live for the rest of the year. of course we are talking student's living: beer and chinese soups eaten in dorms but nonetheless. those who lived with parents could easily buy a used car.

 

[SantiagueroRD]

Good Morning, an aspect of emigration from a Spanish speaking Caribbean location is the 5 million + Puerto Ricans with birth right US citizenship who choose to stay in PR with a lower wage structure and standard of living. Why?

 

[AlterEgo]

Good Morning, an aspect of emigration from a Spanish speaking Caribbean location is the 5 million + Puerto Ricans with birth right US citizenship who choose to stay in PR with a lower wage structure and standard of living. Why?

You can't compare PR and DR, if only because welfare and food stamps are available in PR. Few Puerto Ricans live like the poorest Dominicans. AND the Puerto Ricans know they can leave any time they want, just a plane ticket is all that's needed. If I had the choice of living with federal assistance in NYC or Puerto Rico, my decision would be easy.

Now, before anyone starts screaming that I'm painting all Puerto Ricans as poor and on welfare, I'm only comparing apples and apples: poor people in both countries.

Because let's face facts, the rest of Dominicans can get a visa and buy a plane ticket too. They're not the ones in the yolas. They go to the US and vacation and then go back to DR. Back in 1981 when Mr. AE became an American Citizen he asked his 5 siblings if they wanted him to sponsor them. Only 2 said yes, and one of them later turned in the 'green card' for a 10 year visa because he doesn't want to live anywhere but SD. The one who came and stayed is a US citizen herself now, living in Philly.

So, like Puerto Ricans in PR, there are many Dominicans in DR who CHOOSE to live there.

 

[Ezequiel]

Good Morning, an aspect of emigration from a Spanish speaking Caribbean location is the 5 million + Puerto Ricans with birth right US citizenship who choose to stay in PR with a lower wage structure and standard of living. Why?

Puerto Rico only has 3,700 millions living in the Island. 5 millions Puerto Rican live in the continental USA. There are more Boricuas in the USA than in the Island.

 

[NotLurking]

Puerto Rico only has 3,700 millions living in the Island.

Ezequiel, that would be 3.7 million, 3,700 millions equals 3.7 billion or about half the population of the world.

NotLurking

 

[JMB773]

Good Morning, an aspect of emigration from a Spanish speaking Caribbean location is the 5 million + Puerto Ricans with birth right US citizenship who choose to stay in PR with a lower wage structure and standard of living. Why?

Good morning to you as well, you can find this answer out yourself and you might have fun in the process. By your user name I take it you live in Santiago, so you understand how obbsessed people from Santiago is with status. Now if you visit Puerto Rico second city Ponce is NOTHING like Santiago as far as believing they are the cream of the crop like people from Santiago believe. Class and status is very important to Dominicans more then Puerto Ricans.

Puerto Ricans will not run off to the USA to work for a mediocre job just to return to the island to show up other Puerto Ricans. It maybe a lower standard of living to some, but Puerto Ricans do not live their life in the eyes of the world like other nations.

You have two type of Puerto Ricans those that choose to live in Puerto Rico and those that choose to live outside of Puerto Rico trying to ANALYZE this is a waste of time. Many of people on this board chose to live in DR over PR and being Americans moving to PR would have been a much easier transition, but their heart was in DR no since fighting where your heart want to be.

 

[amstellite]

i wish you would translate this into Spanish for me to read to my fiends down there, as I have many times tried to explain this but never seem to get the message across. you explain it perfectly. I work hard and save and that s how I get to the DR. But as you say, they see only the fact that I can travel so I must be rich.. far from it....................

We have to look at HOW Dominicans do learn:

1. Movies - good old Hollywood makes it look easy - the USA is the land of opportunity. Other countries same story...........

2. Returning Dominicans go out of there way to show the people at home how successful they are! It is expected. So all those neighborhood kids look up to the visiting heroes. And often it is not real - it is illusion as well.

3. Ex pats - we make it look easy. We are rich and we choose to come here to live - we have air conditioners and jeeps and a nice life style. How did we get that - by living outside the DR.

4. Tourists - if you can afford to come on vacation and spend 1,000's of dollars on a vacation you must be rich. And where do you live - not here. So the lesson is to get rich you have to live somewhere else.

Is this based on fact? Of course not. It is an illusion. Those who come on vacation may have worked their asses off for 2 years to afford this. Yes it costs a lot to live in US or England or wherever but Dominicans do NOT see this.

Some expats who retire here have worked their whole lives to be able to retire here. It is not something locals can really relate to. They only see the expat as the HAVES.......

And they do not get the truth about Dominicans living abroad. It is NOT easy.

It is the old - The Grass is Always Greener ..............

 

[Aguaita29]

Someone with a high school diploma in the US can make more money than someone with a High school Diploma in the DR, and sometimes even more than someone with a Bachelor's Degree. For example, a taxi driver, or someone who takes care of the elderly in the US can make more money than a Teacher in the DR.

There's also plenty of jobs in the US that require years of college but which wouldn't pay the rent in the DR. For example, being a Nurse or a software engineer would be considered good jobs in the US but not in the DR.

This is something that a lot of people don't understand and it is evident when young foreign people decide to move to the DR and start looking for work. They'll tell you something like "I'm a registered Nurse" like if it was a big deal. They think that, as "everything is so cheap in the DR", they'll be able to find a job that will allow them to make a living, but the reality is different.

When Dominican People move to NY, besides the better paying jobs, as there is usually no cultural rush inside the family for Children to move out , even if they are adults, this also allows people to save more money.