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Questions on Living in Jamaica

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Triniboy
  8/10/2022 08:55 EST

Possible ideas of where to live ?
Where is safe to shop?
School options for a 9 year old?
Cost to rent or lease a vehicle?
Fuel cost ?
Health Care?
Are there any other Caribbean food options available?

Iriestar68
  8/16/2022 08:39 EST

Possible ideas of where to live?:

where are you looking to live? North coast? South coast? Country? City?


Where is safe to shop?”

”Shop for what? Food? Clothes? You’re fine, that you’re going to import a lot of things because what you find here is extremely expensive and very very poor Chinese quality. I grocery shop every week at progressive… It’s safe. I shop in my local market once a week… It’s also safe.



School options for a 9 year old?

You have three options… Homeschool, public school, private school. Pick one. Just so you know, school is not free here… You have to pay for handmade uniforms and you have to buy all the books your child needs for the year… Even in public school.



Cost to rent or lease a vehicle?

They only do short term rentals for short term visitors… And there is no such thing as a leasing program here. You either buy a car or you hire a driver who picks you up as needed. It’s highly unlikely that you’re gonna get bank financing, so make sure you have enough cash to pay for a car… And know that no matter what you buy, used or new, it’s going to be 2 to 3 times the price of a US.


Fuel cost ?

What kind of fuel? Cooking fuel? Petrol? Cooking fuel varies by the size of a tank that you buy. Patrol is roughly 7.50 USD a gallon.



Health Care? Yes, there’s Health care… But unless you have an immigration status here and you won’t have access to public care. Not that you want it anyway… Go private. Use a private doctor and a private hospital and inquire about getting health insurance. Private care is expensive so you want to make sure you budget for that or have credit cards available because they want payment upfront.



Are there any other Caribbean food options available?

What other Caribbean foods are you looking for? It’s a Caribbean island… In the middle of the Caribbean… So yes you’re gonna find other Caribbean foods here too.


One thing I notice you’re not mentioning is employment… How do you plan on thundering you stay here? You’re going to need an income… Because you will not be able to work here unless you’re married to a Jamaican citizen and apply for an exemption. And even then, you won’t be able to live off of Jamaican salaries.

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