Beginning My Plans to Retire in the DR

Hi Remmy,

I am a snowbird from Victoria B.C. who has spent the last 8 winters down here in Casa de Campo / La Romana.  My advice to you is do not buy anything until you have lived here for a year. Find out if you are one of many expats who discover that life in a foreign country was a nice day dream but the realities are much more complex.

Language barriers, cultural differences, climate challenges ( hotter than hell down here in the summer) and the loss of your Canadian community back in Langley. You may come down with "Expat Fatigue", a condition that encompasses all the issues I noted above. You may discover that you may wish to live here part time like me. I am here 8 months of the year. I always look forward to returning to the cool blue north every June for 4 months.

Also, talk to B.C. Health. You may find out that you do not have the health coverage down here that you think. I have Dominican health coverage that I began paying for before I turned 65 to fill in that hole. B.C. Health will not cover all your health care costs down here. Just a fraction. Feel free to contact me privately if you want more details.

Buena suerte and start studying your Spanish!

Banking is easy. I use credit cards to pay my bills down here and my bank accts in Canada are automatically paid off each month. I use Scotiabank Canada to access ATM's down here for pesos when i need them at no extra charge. I pay rent here. It is half the price of Canadian rent.

@Remmy Sheda

Greettings and welcome to the forum. I am from Red Deer Alberta. I have been traveling outside Canada since 2011 and since 2018 have been going back and forth to my place in Moca DR where the lady Imet and married is from. I am now 73. First, to keep my Alberta Health active, I travel back and forth within every six months. Sometimes that stretchs but unless you need medical attention, who'll know!? As far as banking goes, i recommend keeping all your pensions etc coming into your Canadian bank as I do and likely many other Expats here. I have a bank account here in the DR and use Remitly (a Vancouver BC based company) to transfer funds each month using my debit card. Very easy! I then have a debit card from the bank here for purchasing things. Punta Cana is nice but as other will tell you, a lot more expensive than along the North Coast. I personally like Sosua/Cabarete/Puerto Plata areas. The Puerto Plata airport is handy to all three & WestJet flies into here during the tourist season (that's currently late Oct to late June). I'm not sure what the apartment/condo situation is like in Sosua but I do know there's a nice Expat community there. Others from these areas will have to give more information about accommodations - both rentals and buying. As I said, I maintain my AB Health because after age 65 purchasing health care here is expensive although there was, at one time, an option for those in our age range. Again, more info can/will be provided by others.  If you were a Canadian civil servant there is a company that provides out of country coverage for extended periods - it is Johnson Insurance & is Medoc Travel Insurance (retired civil servants get a price break but it's available to all). That's what info I have for you from what I have & do. Remitly is good but at first I used Western Union and sent myself money & went and picked it up. I frist dealt with Scotiabank here in Moca but they really aren't influenced by Canadian Scotiabank operating standards due to the DOminican Standards & I had issues so I changed to BHD Leon. My Immigration Lawyer in Santo Domingo, Lishali Baez, (I and others will highly recommend using her services) uses this bank as does my son-in-law who is a very successful electrical contractor here. Others will prove more information and if you search the threads on the Expat.com forum for the DR, you will find lots of information from starting to apply for your Visa with the Dominican Republic at the nearest Consuate or the Embassy in Ottawa to get your Temporary Residency and government Cedula cards (required if you are planning to stay the as you state) to finding and furnishing wherever you buy or rent.Good Luck

@Steverino7777

I like this advice very much.

@Steverino7777

Thank you for the great advice. This answers many questions and I appreciate you taking the time to share it with me.

@mocaman67

Thank you. This answers many questions. I have heard of Sosua and others in the north and was hoping to see these areas when I visit.

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@itsnuthinbfree123

I am going to ask one more time. Please stop posting in ALL CAPITAL letters. It's rude.

In addition it's harder to read!