TBel
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My son recently finished OWSI and MSDT prep and wants to work in Roatan. Anyone familiar with inexpensive places to live? How's the job market?
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Thanks!
Living in Roatan
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Jobs come and go all the time. Once he gets there, go buy a cheap cell phone. Start making rounds to all the dive shops and pass out CVs that include the local number. Make it priority to go out and meet people. Everyone knows someone that works in diveshops. If he seems friendly and professional he will probably get a phone call every now and then for freelance work. Eventually one of those will hopefully turn into fulltime work.
For cheap living, use Facebook and subscribe to the Roatan Rentals Facebook page. Lots of long term inexpensive rentals get posted there. For short term check out one of the other active threads that list names and links to Roatan hostels. Chilis and Georphis are two of them...
---------- Post added November 16th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ----------
One other thing to take into consideration. Upon entry, US citizens are granted a 90 day tourist visa. After 90 days you are required to leave the country for 72 hours before coming back. It's Honduras, so there's no guarantee they will let you back in, especially if they find out you're working illegally in a dive shop. In the past there has been some slightly illegal but widely used ways around the visa law, but that seems to be coming to an end. Resident and work visas can take many months or even over a year to obtain and can cost $1800-$3000, and during that time you're still only allowed to stay for 90 days. So between the cost of visa runs every 90 days, and the cost of a work or resident visa, it can get pretty expensive, especially on a dive instructor's pay..
For cheap living, use Facebook and subscribe to the Roatan Rentals Facebook page. Lots of long term inexpensive rentals get posted there. For short term check out one of the other active threads that list names and links to Roatan hostels. Chilis and Georphis are two of them...
---------- Post added November 16th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ----------
One other thing to take into consideration. Upon entry, US citizens are granted a 90 day tourist visa. After 90 days you are required to leave the country for 72 hours before coming back. It's Honduras, so there's no guarantee they will let you back in, especially if they find out you're working illegally in a dive shop. In the past there has been some slightly illegal but widely used ways around the visa law, but that seems to be coming to an end. Resident and work visas can take many months or even over a year to obtain and can cost $1800-$3000, and during that time you're still only allowed to stay for 90 days. So between the cost of visa runs every 90 days, and the cost of a work or resident visa, it can get pretty expensive, especially on a dive instructor's pay..
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TBel
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Thanks Joe! That's exactly the kind of info we need. A long term visa seems unusually expensive given the limitations. And I'm guessing Honduras' president is no Barrack Obama so there's no turning a blind eye. I'm also guessing that they don't simply put you on a plane back to the States if you're considered an illegal alien. You might get to enjoy their penal systems' hospitality first.
So how do Americans go there and stay for extended periods of time? Do you just go, work as an illegal and take your chances. Aren't there a lot of Americans that spend extended periods in Roatan?
So how do Americans go there and stay for extended periods of time? Do you just go, work as an illegal and take your chances. Aren't there a lot of Americans that spend extended periods in Roatan?
When you start talking with people you find out that everyone has different circumstances. Some go there, ignore the laws and someday will deal with the repersussions when they get caught or decide to leave. In the past others would pay corrupt officials $$$ every three months for exit entry stamps in their passport, to avoid a more expensive visa run, but I have heard that no longer is possible. Some people spend the money and get resident and/or work visas and do visa runs until they get it. So anyway, my best advice is to just go there and see what the current state of affairs is after he's there. Just go there knowing that he might need to leave after 3 months for a 72 hr. vacation to Belize or other nearby country and budget appropriately for that expense.
DeepSeaExplorer
Contributor
Job sharing...
Find a buddy in Belize and every three months switch jobs, apartments, vehicles.
Find a buddy in Belize and every three months switch jobs, apartments, vehicles.
It is technically illegal to work in Honduras without the appropriate visa. If someone wants to do an unpaid internship on a tourist visa, that might be ok but full time paid work is different. I do believe there is a legitimate need for foreign instructors, particularly at the higher levels but it takes months to get legitimate work visas. It would be nice to see a more streamlined process. The same is true in reverse. If someone from outside the US wants to get a job in the US, it's very difficult to do it legally.
diver 85
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Our 19 YO(middle child) did that starting in '98.........We had a house @ that time(in Sandy Bay) & he was going to stay for about 6 months(1+ semester).......3 and a half years later he moved off the island.....He lived in West End most of the time & really enjoyed his time there....Got his DMs the 1st 2 weeks there with Ray(SDM) then 2 months later went to Guanaja & got his instructors......Worked @ Sueno del Mar(for Ray Lopez) for almost a year, Inn of Last Resort(now closed I believe) for almost another year then finished up @ AKR(Anthony's Key Resort)the last year and a half(in the photoshop).......Left out(age almost 23) with 3400 dives on the(a)Wind Star cruise ship as a water sports director(stayed with them for almost 2 years)...About 6 months after 9/11 he decided to 'come closer to home' & worked for Peter Hughes on 2 of his live aboards for over a year and a half(1st for almost a year in the Turks & Caicos then on to Grenada for about 6 months where they put that live aboard back into Grenada-it had been over 10 years since a live aboard was there).......
Bottom line, move to Roatan & you never know what'll happen next......Wish him all the best in his endeavors...
Bottom line, move to Roatan & you never know what'll happen next......Wish him all the best in his endeavors...
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The owners of Reef Gliders - the Montgomery's - are also recent (2009) U.S. transplants - from my area actually. Learn about Roatan diving with Reef Gliders Resort So they may be able to help.
Much of the inexpensive housing seems to be in the West End. Not necessarily along the main road where the smaller resorts are but behind it. Several of the shops have their DM houses in that area.
The advantage the West End has is that basically everything except the airport is walking distance. There's probably a dozen plus dive shops, lots of restaurants, bars, most of the nightlife is in that area. A couple of small food stores but more of that is in French Harbour. http://www.roatanisland.net/grocery.htm
He definitely doesn't want to live in Coxen Hole - or even go there at night. Should he need it the chamber is at Anthony's Key - five minutes by cab from the West End. The doctor there also runs a clinic for locals and there's a doctor about 2 blocks from the main road into the West End. Another hostel while he's looking for something better is Buena Onda
Some of the other AI dive resorts are more isolated - for example, Barefoot Divers is located on their own Cay. The dive operation also does some training but their DM candidates live in the West End and take a 20min. daily shuttle to work there. RJ mentioned Chillies above, the same people own Native Sons - a dive operation in the West End. http://www.nativesonsroatan.com/index.html
It's sort of tourist focused but there's some good general area information here: Roatán, West End
Have your son contact Gay at Coconut Tree Divers also. Their staff is from all over North America and she seemed to know everybody in the area.
Dive Crew | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI
Some friends stayed in a small apt. near the West End a few years ago while doing their DM/Instructor at CTD. I'm pretty sure it was around $500/mo. I've lost contact or I'd ask them where it was. It might've been: http://www.magda-apartments.com/
Just for reference since IMO this place is too far removed from most things - here's an example of what $800/month buys. Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras Long Term Rental Home - Green House
Much of the inexpensive housing seems to be in the West End. Not necessarily along the main road where the smaller resorts are but behind it. Several of the shops have their DM houses in that area.
The advantage the West End has is that basically everything except the airport is walking distance. There's probably a dozen plus dive shops, lots of restaurants, bars, most of the nightlife is in that area. A couple of small food stores but more of that is in French Harbour. http://www.roatanisland.net/grocery.htm
He definitely doesn't want to live in Coxen Hole - or even go there at night. Should he need it the chamber is at Anthony's Key - five minutes by cab from the West End. The doctor there also runs a clinic for locals and there's a doctor about 2 blocks from the main road into the West End. Another hostel while he's looking for something better is Buena Onda
Some of the other AI dive resorts are more isolated - for example, Barefoot Divers is located on their own Cay. The dive operation also does some training but their DM candidates live in the West End and take a 20min. daily shuttle to work there. RJ mentioned Chillies above, the same people own Native Sons - a dive operation in the West End. http://www.nativesonsroatan.com/index.html
It's sort of tourist focused but there's some good general area information here: Roatán, West End
Have your son contact Gay at Coconut Tree Divers also. Their staff is from all over North America and she seemed to know everybody in the area.
Dive Crew | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI
Some friends stayed in a small apt. near the West End a few years ago while doing their DM/Instructor at CTD. I'm pretty sure it was around $500/mo. I've lost contact or I'd ask them where it was. It might've been: http://www.magda-apartments.com/
Just for reference since IMO this place is too far removed from most things - here's an example of what $800/month buys. Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras Long Term Rental Home - Green House
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TBel
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Wow! Thanks so much for all of the information. I'm sure this will help a ton.
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One more thing, if I was living on Roatan, I'd want a place with some security features. At least gated/fenced maybe someone on-site all the time. A house I rented 5 mins. walk from town had it's own 24 hr. watchman since it was a little isolated. Otherwise I felt pretty safe in the West End - there's people moving around till pretty late at night.
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