I have a 26 year old brother with a very simple lifestyle. Wake up at 12 or 1, turn on Playstation, shower around 4, maybe 5. Find something to eat, get dressed, go out or to work around 8. Home and in bed by 4 or 5 in the am.
I do not fault him for his lifestyle. Hell I wish I had the same. He has no bills other than rent and car insurance.
He has always talked about wanting to move to the Carribbean (sp?) and tend bar (which he does now, amazingly well I might add), or sell trinkets on the beach. I think it is a wonderful idea.
My questions are the following:
How hard is doing such a thing?
What is required for him to find work there?
Is there a glut of Americans in these places trying to find work?
Are there jobs there that will afford a moderate lifetstyle that one can find with little of no professional skills? if there are such jobs are they all taken by locals that will work for less money than Americans?
What kind of paperwork is required?
I suggested the US Virgin Islands rather than Jamaica or the Bahamas, because he should not have any citizenship problems there. Is this correct?
Also I have heard that J and B are crime ridden and most people there never leave the resorts.
Please excuse me for being clueless in this matter.
*I hope this is the proper forum. Feel free to move it to GQ or MPSIMS if that is where it belongs.
Having lived in the USVI, I would say it’s not all paradise. Yes, it’s very fun. Yes, the beaches are beautiful. You’ve got to worry though, when the US Navy (in maybe 1992?) stopped making shore leave stops in St Thomas because too many sailors were getting robbed, killed, etc.
A friend of mine (a woman) had her throat slashed while sitting on the beach right next to the airport. It’s not as ideal as one would think. It really depends on where you live and what sort of work you do. It can be an incredibly dangerous place to live. The big joke is that most of the fugitives from justice are hiding out there and they should film FBI’s Most Wanted there, but if they did, they’d probably have to make it their final episode.
St John is quieter and safer, but more expensive and harder to find work. I’ve never been to St Croix, but there was a massacre of tourists there some years ago. (a .pdf file about this: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/3954/mcelroy.pdf )
Just to try to counteract Anahita’s frightening post…
Barbados has the lowest crime rate of any of the Carribean islands, we were told on our trip there last year.
And there was a man (American or Canadian) selling necklaces and bracelets on one of the beaches. And doing fairly well, I assume, if my mother’s purchases were any indication.
I’m really not sure about any of the other queries though…hope that helps a little…
I’d say if he’s going to try to get work as a bartender, the only chance he might have is at the Hard Rock Cafe or something like that. You haven’t a clue how many people have the same notions as your brother and wind up down there for a few months trying to find work.
Tell him to look up “Captains and Crews” when he gets there. They do charter trips which don’t earn much, but you get room and board. There are loads of people trying to get work. If he goes during high season, he’d have a better chance, or slightly before high season. Tell him to do a search of all the larger hotels and check with them directly if they have jobs.
If he waits to get down there, make sure he’s got enough money to stay until he finds work. There is very little in the way of ‘corporate’ work there.
He weould legally have no problem working in either place, but bear in mind that unless you are bi-lingual, work in PR would be hard to come by.
The USVI (St. Thomas, St. Croix & St. John), on the other hand he would have no problem finding some sort of service-oriented job. (I was a gemologist). It is a highly seasonal place tho’, so off-season he should be prepared for lean times.
I agree with Anahita - St. Thomas is beautiful, but pretty dangerous. I would never leave my apartment complex after dark by myself.
It would be a great experience for your bro’, but if he is anything like me, he would get bored with it after a year. Island fever.
Very interesting Harli. I know that my Bro has a few dollars (courtesy of a legal settlement from when we were kids that has recently matured), and might be able to start up something like that.
I am curious as to what the requirements are to work in a place like Barbados if you are an alien citizen. Would the government even regard selling trinkets on the beach as working?
Another thing I probably should mention. On top of drinking massive quantities of beer, he also smokes quite a bit of a. . . ah. . . certain leafy substance.
That being said, he is not some sort of rastafarian that wants to go find the spirit of Bob Marley. But the marijuana laws of of these places are of some concern. I would not want him ending up in a dungeon.