About wgoodej1

Status:

Expatriate  

Gender:

Male

Currently Lives:

San Salvador, El Salvador

Citizen Of:

United States

Some Forum Posts:

El Salvador: Moving to El Salvador:

Your best bet may be with one of the many call centers in San Salvador.

El Salvador: putting my child in local school:

I spoke with my girlfriend's sister, who is a teacher here in El Salvador, telling her about your desire of putting your children in public school. She suggested you reconsider. She said there are private schools that are an alternative to the higher priced American, French and British schools. Your children would have the opportunity to learn the language and get a better quality education than offered by the local public schools. As for introducing them to the culture, I recommend doing that yourself as a family. It'll benefit all of you.

El Salvador: wireless internet el salvador:

An IT friend of mine suggested you try Tigo. He considers their service the best. However, check with them about their coverage in El Zonte before signing up.

El Salvador: Health Insurance:

I am fortunate that my company provided me with health insurance as part of my employment package. We've changed carriers a couple of times in the 3 years I have been here due to rising insurance costs which are likely to only get worse if the left wing wins next year's presidential election. The two big companies here are SISA and Mapfre if you want to research them before you arrive. If your employer is not going to provide you with coverage, I recommend having coverage before you get here. You can always change it later. As for coverage, you want a policy providing you with coverage both in the States and ES since local doctors sometimes recommend their patients go to Miami or Houston for serious surgeries and second opinions. Overall, the level of health care here is very good and not terribly expensive in comparison with the US.

El Salvador: Residency Requirements:

I assume you are speaking of permanent residency. I recommend applying for temporary residency first. It may help. The hassle about temporary residency is you have to reapply every year up to 3 years. After that, you only have to reapply every 2 years. By that time, you can apply for permanent residency.

Haiti: moving to Haiti:

I lived in Port-au-Prince from Aug. '04 to Aug '05. I stay in touch with friends I made while living there and have kept my eye on recent developments. The security situation has deteriorated rapidly in the last 6 months. The number of daily kidnappings (an average of 12) is no worse than it was while I was there, but it has taken on a new wrinkle. Where it had been mostly a Haitian-on-Haitian phenomenon, the kidnappers are now grabbing anyone foolish enough to wander into one of the many dangerous areas in the city, including journalists. I had the opportunity to speak to many of the missionaries that worked in Haiti's rural provences. They all told me that they never felt they were in danger and that the villagers always seem to make an effort to keep their visitors safe. If your work will keep you out of the cities, particularly Port-au-Prince, I think you may not have too much to worry about from a security standpoint. However, if your work requires you to be in one of the cities, especially Port-au-Prince, I leave you with the first words that were said to me when I arrived...trust no one. In fact, I recommend that you seriously reconsider traveling to Haiti. You may be safer in Africa.

Date Joined:

5/12/2004

Total Posts:

10

Posts/Day:

0.00