Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

We often hear of people wanting to come to Barbados but would be really interested to what is making ex pats decide to leave..I seem to be hearing it more and more and even you making that comment Sunnie..people wanting to start the dream could really benefit from knowing the real deal and what can be difficult to manage once the dream is achieved.

Re: Shipping crats from Barbados to the USA
 

Not meaning to hijack this thread but after 22 years of ups and downs.. the downs seem to be winning. food prices are going through the roof.. I used to say things were all relative when someone would comment about the food prices (what I mean is.. we live here, we don't really eat "expensively".. but.. at this point.. EVERYTHING is expensive..). government has gone nuts with taxes and charges and fees etc.. when I used to pay 150.00 in road tax, I'm now paying over 400.00 (I just cringe and hand over the credit card). We don't have insurance because.. well we can't afford it.. we just pay the bill.. knock on wood it's not been an issue.. and we now have 3 cars on the road.. and the only saving grace is that gas prices having gone up in a couple of months.. but I'm not holding out hope that sometime soon it will jump again.. Tourism is down.. hotel plant isn't moving.. customer service.. well we will not go there.. .. lots of contributing factors..

Life is not always greener or brighter or better in the Caribbean for sure.. especially in Barbados at this particular moment..

Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

We often liaise with people who are planning/looking and dreaming to move to Barbados whether it be for a better lifestyle (for me it was a better work/play balance I sought) but increasingly on this site we are getting requests for advice/help from Expats who are selling up and leaving Bim ..Even Sunnie who is one of the very active members of this forum has voiced thoughts on this subject. I think it would be really interesting to hear from those Expats who have left/are leaving or its even just a thought, to feedback why so that those who are looking into the "paradise" dream have some realistic expectations of the difficulties and also as we know that the Bajan media do keep tabs on this forum it may help for "foreigners" to express why they are withdrawing especially if they are business owners or people who invest into the economy.

I happened to post this as part of another thread so I will try moving the post and response into here..Dips

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Folks are now seriously starting to worry about BBD currency devaluation, and the resulting impacts.

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

I don't think it's that people are "now" seriously starting to worry.. I don't think they think it will ever happen.. it's been threatened to many times.. I think much of the issue is that we go about our merry lives paying things at extortionate prices because.."we live on an island".. but yet our government can't pay their bills and are now turning to the people to make it happen.. one new tax at a time.. Free education at the university level is gone.. (and trust me, as an American I am well aware what it costs for a university education but don't try to talk to a bajan about it).. soon enough our Community College and 6th form schools will be requring some sort of payment, more than happens now, which is basically nothing.. but still more than some have.... I pay 320.00bbd per year for each of my daughters to go to the Community College.. however.. the cost of books, supplies etc.. go far and above that.. and being in the caribbean the items they need are at minimum 4 times what they would cost in the US. I saw a UNI text book required for a Travel and Tourism Class costing over 250.00bbd.. and there are loads of these students at present.. all trying to study to keep our tourism product alive...

Solid Waste Tax.. which we will not go into.. and all the other things that the government keeps coming up with to get your money. My car road tax has gone from 125.00 a year to 450.00 a year for a small car and that jump is in the last 10 years.. that's a lot additional per year..

but people still keep paying for parties, and paying for culture and paying .. whatever the cost is.. to make sure they have a good time.. you only live once and you can't take it with you.. and those of us who deal with charities also know.. charities are being ask for more and more things, food, items.. to feed, clothe etc.. and it's a drain on the rest of the country.. all around..

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

My husband and I left Barbados in July this year after 3 years there. We wanted to leave with a lasting positive impression so that we could look back on our time there fondly, not bitterly. For us, Barbados was a stepping stone to 'larger' things. We both managed to build on our careers during our time there, but we realise that we were quite lucky with our options and met the right people at the right time. We felt 3 years was sufficient as we were craving something new and challenging.

For us, Barbados is simply too isolated. Yes it's an island and yes it is expensive (extortionate at times), but it was the isolation and inaccessibility that got to us. We naively assumed that we would see other parts of the Caribbean, but that proved too costly. The fact that we both love to travel resulted in island fever frequently, but I love how different each area of Barbados is.

My biggest and lasting qualm with Barbados is how the natural environment is treated, and how its animals are abused. Actively speeding up to hit a stray animal? Disgustingly commonplace and largely accepted. Throwing trash out of a moving vehicle onto the side of the road? Inexcusably ignorant and a daily occurrence.

Of course there are many, many things I love, respect and miss about Bim. But these are largely the negatives that I struggled with towards the end of our time there.

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Hi All ... your posts are interesting reading, thank you.

My husband and I are looking to move to Barbados during the early stages of 2015 for a work opportunity. We are British and have lived in Angola and South Africa. Our children have flown the nest so we are flexible.

For us, the comparisons of what things used to cost in Barbados are not valid, unfortunately we have to come in and accept it as it is. Luanda was the most expensive city in the world when we lived there, and with the weakening Rand the cost of living escalated in SA too.

What is difficult, Natalienoo, is seeing the same problems that you mentioned in Africa ... disrespect by the locals for animals, landscape, other people and so on. Unfortunately, these are not limited to Barbados.

Therefore my main questions are:

- Are there any unexpected surprises regarding additional living costs in Barbados that we don't have in the UK?
- What would your positives about living and working in Barbados be?

We are looking for a 2-3 year opportunity in Barbados and hope to enjoy a comfortable standard of living doing it.

Many thanks in advance

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Welcome Joanne....Cars were my biggest shock cost wise and availability!!

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

JoanneG16.. not to discourage.. but you can't legally work in Barbados without the right permits and this usually means a work permit, which is not easy to get and does take time, if you aren't a Caricom citizen or have Barbados Residency or citizenship. Moving here and looking for a job here will also likely not meet with favour with immigration, unless you have a boat load of money to do it with.... There are special permits for non-nationals to live here but it does require large bank accounts and backing..

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Having tried living in Barbados with my family I found the place to be a very weird and difficult place to live. It seems that people are still 'slaves' to slavery with a very big racially social divide. I would advise staying where you are and going to Barbados for holidays.

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Pasty: I would really appreciate it if you would expand upon your comments, both for my edification and that of other forum members. b_p

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Hi bajan_perspective, I will elaborate on the difficulties my family faced in more detail later this week. I could, probably, write a book on it so I will try to keep it as brief as possible.

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

I moved to Barbados from the UK in 2010, to be with (now married to) a Bajan woman.

There is no doubt the country is different to what you might expect if you came from the UK. Of course the experience of living here is vastly different to that which you find when you come for short holiday visits.

But .... difficult?

There is a bureaucracy of course, as there is in many places of the world where Governments have different ideas on what is best for there country. Indeed you could argue that the bureaucracy in the UK is growing and may well end up bigger yet post May's general election. However, I have found, if you play by the rules you get past the post fairly easily... It isn't my place to question the rules...even Bajans find some of the rules frustrating and hard work at times...

Social divide? I have made friends with a whole raft of Bajans from different backgrounds in terms of both race and economic status. Bajans are on the whole very friendly.. but yes they have their ideas of who they want to befriend... don't we all?

The island isn't as clean overall as pretty much everyone would like.. including those who make part of the mess..... that's both an educational issue and in time a business one when, for sure, supermarkets will start charging for plastic bags as they do in parts of Europe, and fast food outlets will have to become more responsible for the containers they give out...

Barbados is expensive.. don't come expecting some cheap as chips lifestyle.. but overall I love living here...

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

To elaborate slightly. i have three children. Two of them started in a 'good' State school, one of my daughters was beaten up on her second day and they had been bullied constantly since starting. we were advised that being bullied was a 'right of passage'. We had to put them in a private school where Teaching was still 50 years behind that of the UK; lots of copied notes from the board, sometimes no teacher in the classroom with children left to their own devices. Punitive punishments from teachers.
Low wages were a major issue along with extrotionate prices of second hand cars (£10000 for a car that would cost no more than £3000 in the UK). I could go on but will nave to leave it till later.

Re: Expats Leaving Barbados..Why?
 

Your preliminary work would have told you that cars are very expensive...but that agrees with my point that coming on a holiday is vastly different to coming to stay permanently....

I am very sorry about the experiences your children suffered, my wife has who children - one now finishing at UWI the other expecting to go into 6th form... they do not describe school life in those terms at all.....