How is life in Europe? What country do you live in? Are there many Dominicans? Is it easy to get Dominican products? How is the Dominican community were you live?

Life in Europe is just like anywhere else, so your prosperity depends on what type of education background you have, what type of social network, and most importantly what type of job you have.

Most immigrants are low-skilled workers with low wages. Some are keen on not working or simply don't find a job and stay in welfare programs. Governments try to tackle that because it is a bad thing for society. Immigrants in general have higher criminal activity rates (drug-related, human trafficking or prostitution).

Life is hard in Europe especially for immigrants since they mostly lack a social network to help them out. It is virtually impossible to get a residence permit and for the ones that do, it is hard to find a good job.

Most things are very expensive and low-skill labor wages in general are too low to be able to afford living in the good neighbourhoods. So people tend to stay in clustered urban zones where immigrants mostly watch TV from their own countries and live quite separately from general society.

There is a way out of all that misery, and that is integration, education and resilience. If you work hard and get a degree, engage in society and try to build a social network with successful Europeans in it, you probably will succeed at finding the job that will help you advance in life. But that is the same as everywhere. Taxes are very high here though, so unless you are an entrepreneur, it is improbable that you will make millions by just working for a company or government institution.

Excellent post Buenoha,


I agree with everything you've stated and would like to add that integration is the principle key of making it for any immigrants. Also that each country in Europe is somewhat different regarding there immigrant communities. Netherlands was very lax before but the immigrants lack of learning the language and not caring to integrate cause the natives to become strict.

Also not related to Europe but America where the hispanic population seem not to care about integrating and creating countries within the USA which will cause friction in the near future. I see a riot of some sort when hispanics are cut off from milking the cow and will rebel and cause problems in the USA.

That's not true Jabao. Hispanics are integrated well in the U.S. especially the ones born in the country.

That's not true Jabao. Hispanics are integrated well in the U.S. especially the ones born in the country.

Thanks for responding to the post. I agree with our asessment of the immigrant life in Europe. When I got the opportunity to travel to Europe, I was able to go to Paris, Nice, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and within in my travels I randomly saw Dominican people along the way. I saw Dominicans in Paris, Amsterdam, and Florence. I was surprised and delighted to see my fellow Dominicans over there. How united is the Dominican community abroad? It must vary from country to country. You live in Amsterdam do you speak Dutch, I know they speak English over there too. I find it to be a great challenge to live anywhere outside of SPain b/c those languages are quite challenging (French, Italian, Portuguese) are different since they are romantic languages and are similar to Spanish but even those can be a bit challenging.

I had great moment while abroad. My favorite moments was meeting and seeing Dominicans which quite honestly I did not expect. I figured Spain would be the only place to find them but I was happy that I meet others elsewhere. I remember being in Florence, a beautiful little city, where the Italian Renaissance all started. I went to a bar called the "Fish" near the plaza by the Duomo of Florence and to my surprise the owners where Dominicans. I had a blast! I drank brugal and listened to my Dominican music as well as other english music as well. I remember I met an Italian woman of DOminican descent who worked at the bar. She new little Spanish and talked mostly Italian. I was blown away by that.

Buenoha, How are Dominicans doing in the Netherlands? Where do most Dominicans live?

The first generation of Dominicans arrived to the Netherlands in the early 70´ies. Now the second generation is in their 20-30ies. The third generation is small, and they are mostly
(pre-)teens. Dominicans live everywhere around the country. There are about 12.000-15.000 Dominicans in The Netherlands. They are mostly concentrated in three of the biggest cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. There is also a vast community of Dominicans in Groningen. Dominicans here are just like Dominicans in barrios and villages of the DR, which is where many of them are from. A big part of the Dominicans came here after living in the Dutch Antilles (Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Saint Martin) for many years, and for this reason they and their offspring are ethnically and culturally very much influenced by the Antilleans. An important part of Dominican women are married with Dutch men, procreating mixed offspring.

There are not many Dominican entrepreneurs here due to lack of information about the Dutch system and low skilled background of Dominican immigrants in general. In the biggest cities there are in total less than 10 Dominican entreprises (hair salons, bakeries, restaurants, bars, long distance call houses, logistics company-for sending containers to DR). Dominicans in general enjoy gathering in evangelical churches or Latino nightclubs. They do “cherchas” in houses, which are after parties after the nightclub for the hardcore party animals. In the summertime groups of Dominicans gather in parks or playfields (canchas) and play baseball or basketball.

They mostly do their shopping at open air markets, which are a place where many immigrants gather for the cozy atmosphere and cheap groceries/clothes etc. The new generation of Dominicans in general is very much fond of Reggeaton, Hip Hop and R&B music and identifies itself with Afro-Americans due to overexposure of North American MTV-culture on TV. Bachata and Merengue are a big part of their lives as well. Dominican groceries products like avocado, bananas or coconuts are sometimes found in markets/supermarkets, but not recurrently, as they are inter-exchanged with other tropic origins like Colombia, Ecuador, etc. From the late 1990ies to the early 2000s, there was a low quality Dominican tv show on regional TV, that mostly showed Dominican music videos. There is a Dominican radio station in the Hague and there is a Dominican Carnival group that participates in Rotterdam’s yearly Caribbean Carnival Summer parade, and even provided a Carnival queen a few years ago. There also is an association of Dominicans in The Netherlands. Dominicans are aloud to vote for Dominican presidential elections through their consulate in Amstelveen. Dominicans in Holland keep close ties with their motherland and send a big part of their income as remittances to their relatives in the DR. Not many Dominicans get a mortgage in the Netherlands as most dream of gong back to the DR one day and of buying a house back there.

Although some Dominicans engage in not too ethical activities (drug trafficking, prostitution), others try making it in the music industry. Getto Fow or Jose Bueno are notable examples of the latter group. There is a continuously growing number of Dominicans from the second or third generation that pursues college degrees and even masters. In Holland´s kind of excluding education system it is harder for immigrant children to get to Universities as there are several different highschool degree levels. Children are tested at age 10 or 11 and based on that test, they are sent to get the fitting highschool degree. Many Dominican children do not know the Dutch language good enough at age 10 and that obviously influences their test results. Therefore they are sent to get highschool degrees that don´t grant permission to higher education, but solely train students for low skilled labor (carpenter, hair stylist, nurse assistant, etc). That is a worrysome situation, although for smart kids that were placed in lower highschool levels it is possible to pass on to get a "higher" highschool degree level once they have fully completed the lower level. The Dutch education system has very good and internationally reknowned universities like the Erasmus University of Rotterdam for instance, and except for the highschool degree barrier, they are easily accessible and subsidized for students with less means, whom also get a national scholarship/loan.

That is worrisome about the exam at the age to determine the career path you will eventually thave to take. That's very interesting and difficult at that age to put so much pressure on a child which will decide what type of life he/she will live. Very interesting to know that Dominicans have been living in Holland since the 70's!!! When I was in Amsterdam I bumped into a Dominican there. Your story sounds typical of a Dominican immigrant in the U.S. only that it seems like there is more oppt and its easier with the rules in the U.S. to create businesses and have access to higher education.

A Dominican is Dominican and patriotic to his homeland wherever he goes! I'm pretty sure that children born in Holland or in the Antilles are taught and grow up with the Dominican culture (language, food, music, customs, etc) The essence of being Dominican is never really lost but the most important thing is integrate into the society at hand.

Holland is a very green country. I liked Amsterdam when I went. Despite all the liberty it has with drugs and all, it's actually a very nice city. I ended up going to Vandels Park (I think that's how you spell it) that park was the model for Central Park in NYC. New York is a dutch name and this city was influenced heavily by the Dutch.

Take care Buenoha. I hope to make another European trip some time in the future.

It is called the Vondel Park. It is beautiful. Amsterdam is a lovely city, I have lived in Paris, Brussels and Rotterdam, but the atmosphere of Amsterdam is unmatched. Soft drugs' acceptance (read: marijuana) policy is really not a big issue here. If you don't involve in that world, you generally don't really bump into it in public spaces or anything and when it does occur, it is an insignificant event.

New York state used to be a Dutch Colony, which the Dutch passed on to the English in exchange for Suriname (South America). The names of NYC boroughs Brooklyn and Harlem come from the Dutch villages of Breukelen and Haarlem respectively.

This is very interesting Buenoha and shows that the USA has been the best place for immigrants whether from upper class or lower class. With ambition and vision they can achieve alot within the first generation where as in europe it takes the third generation to start creeping to mainstream. A couple of years ago, i forgot her name, I believe a somalian woman was making some strides for the immigrant population there. I dont recall her name. Your story sound very interesting and I hope you the best there.

NY4life, I don't know but I have seen alot of hispanics that haven't intergrated well. Places where rent signs are in spanish, stores that have attendants that can't speak english and little boys that are more comfortable with spanish than english. I dont know but I think alot of hispanics are making strides but more are caught up in the ghetto mentality where they fall into a vicious cycle. Don't get me wrong many hispanics have made strides in the USA but it appears this new group is changing america into mini third world pots. I hope I don't offend anyone. Going into hospitals where translators are needed and bi-lingual classes are taking the resources from teh american kids and legal residents. I think USA is going to become like Europe as far as policies towards immigrants. I recall when the amnesty was drafted illeglas were complaining that the fine was too much. I mean compared to this guys stories immigrants of all latin america got it real good.


Netherlands although seldom mention in the history books to have there hands dirty in slavery they were one of the big dealers of slaves. Buenoha did you live in the ABC's before getting to Europe.