Do you want to report "Interested in immigration from United States"
I have recently visited Jamaica on a trip with my family, and I fell in love with the island and the community. I visited Montego Bay primarily, of course I know the tourist experience and the residential experience must be different. I’ve done some research on the topic, as in cost of living in certain areas and how to go about getting a work visa, and I know about the recent spikes in crime rate, but I want to know what else I should know. Pros and cons, the perfect place to pick, jobs accommodating to American immigrants, anything you think I should know or think about before I make up my mind. Thank you all!
I was looking in to becoming an Au Pair. I’m young but I have 3 years of experience in child care in American through a previous job at a daycare. If that works out it’ll be enough for a work visa application. I know there are some live-in options, that would be ideal for the beginning, but I’ve also looked into one bed apartments in Portmore, Ocho Rios, and Kingston. I’m just not sure how easy it would be for me, a very white cultured American man to get an Au Pair job in Jamaica
I honestly can’t tell if you are trolling, but there is absolutely no way that is going to work.
First, the average full-time helper/childcare job in Jamaica pays J$10k per week. Think about living on that.
Second, the work permit will cost quite a bit. If a Jamaican or even another Caribbean national can do that job, it would be much less expensive for a family to hire them.
Third, Jamaicans are suspicious of men working in childcare. Most Jamaicans would prefer a woman to do this job.
Basically, it seems very unlikely that anyone would hire you, and even if they did, I don’t think you would like trying to live on the salary they would pay you.
I can assure you I am not on here trying to troll, I am genuinely curious and want to know this kind of information. That was my first dive into a job that I have experience in, the Au Pair websites I looked through for Jamaica had offers from people that were in USD 300-500 a week. I could have read it wrong of course, or have mis-remembered the information. Although I figured I wouldn’t be trusted much being an an immigrant and a man, I just wanted confirmation, and I appreciate that. What lines of work do you think would work for someone of my age and background? I also have 3 years of food service/management experience and 2 years of graphic design schooling.
Oh okay, I guess I understand that. I wouldn’t be moving there to try and get rich or to move my way up into the world. This might be some fairytale point of view, so forgive me because like I said, I only it visited for a week, and really didn’t wander much from the tourist areas. But, I like the idea of being a part of a real community and living a simple life. I know there will be struggles, there will be things that I didn’t prepare for, or honestly I’ll be hit with a brick wall of reality and it wouldn’t be what I truly expected. I’ve made no real plans for this, I just wanted perspective
My suggestions: visit a few more times, staying each time longer. 1 week or even 3 weeks isn’t long enough to “know” a place. Talk to others who’ve done similar moves. Plan it out over a few years. Get to know people locally. Just for starters.
Jobs in food service or graphic design are likely to pay around US$5000 a year. Maybe you could manage a restaurant or get a good graphic design job for double that, but highly unlikely to be more.
And again, you have to think about the work pernit, which costs the employer about US$1000 per year, making hiring you as opposed to a Jamaican rather unappealing.
