Level 3 Travel Advisory to Dominican Republic?

Welcome to the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips on moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• US Travel Advisory to DR Upgraded?

• Update on the Larimar and Cruise on Land Projects

• The REAL Truth About Living in Dominican Republic

Have you subscribed on YouTube? So many people ask if I can talk about this topic or that and I often reply ‘I have a video on that’. While nearly 30,000 have subscribed which is amazing, I’m looking to grow the channel to 100,000 by the end of the year. If you don’t mind sharing with friends, subscribing yourself and please email if there are topics of interest you haven’t found on the channel!

Also, HAPPY DOMINICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY! 🇩🇴

Was the US Travel Advisory to Dominican Republic Upgraded?

Recently, a few subscribers sent me an article indicating that DR was upgraded from level 2 (exercise increased caution) to level 3 (reconsider travel).

You can see the whole article here - but I’ll do my best to summarize succinctly and get to the ground truth.

Here’s how the article outlines the updated travel advisory:

If indeed the advisory was elevated citing specific neighborhoods in Santo Domingo, then I’d say ‘sure’ haha.

For anyone who has heard me make the case for safety in DR, it boils down to the crime being concentrated heavily to a few Santo Domingo neighborhoods.

The issue, however, is the US State Department’s website shows no such upgrade happened!

In fact, the ‘country summary’ confirms some things I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters.

• The availability of a robust 911 program

• Politur (Tourism Police) in high tourist areas

• The crimes of robbery and assault are usually reserved for ‘passport bros’ or other individual domestic issues

For many countries like DR, Colombia and others, a family traveling and spending time on beaches and dinners at local restaurants don’t face issues.

It’s the guy making the trip with Tinder in hand (or whatever app is popular these days) looking for that hook up!

But it raises the question, why do so many people still feel like DR is incredibly dangerous?

Some of it is perhaps stories from family or friends, some is negative news coverage, and some is the language of a level 2 advisory ‘exercise increased caution’. 

Doesn’t sound like a place you’d like to go!

With that, I wanted to provide some perspective using the United States own travel advisory program to get a sense of how they rank all LATAM nations.

Here’s what I found:

I’m not surprised by a ton here. I mean Haiti and Venezuela as level 4 makes sense. Jamaica as level 3 feels a little high from personal experience and Cuba feels a little low - probably because of my American conditioning.

My wife has been to Cuba and she found it to be safe but she’s also Spanish speaking and Dominican.

I love Colombia so level 3 there I’m sure applies in some places but not all - at least based on my own time there.

But ‘increased caution’ still seems a bit strong for DR as far as I’m concerned.

So then I wanted to take a look at Europe to see the US advisory level there:

Interesting findings here.

Did you really think Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium would be the SAME warning level as Dominican Republic?

If anything, that list sounds like an epic 2-3 week European itinerary!

I know the UK has had migration issues, protests and some violence in their cities so I guess that makes sense.

France’s page on the State Department site warns of ‘terrorist attacks’ and ‘violence aimed at tourists’. Sheesh!

The DR page isn’t even that explicit!

A few points to sum up:

• Don’t believe everything you read

• Even the US says safety concerns in DR are limited to specific Santo Domingo neighborhoods (like this gringo has been saying for a while now!)

• And for those who say DR is so dangerous .. would you say the same for France and Spain?

Update on Larimar and Cruise-On-Land Projects

Last week, I reported on a political dispute causing a halt to 4 projects in the Otra Banda area including these two very well known developments.

If you didn’t see, here’s a YouTube video summarizing it all for you.

In my reporting, I shared an image of one permit for each of the projects to show that the narrative these projects were not permitted was false.

What I was unclear on was if all permits were obtained.

I don’t have a photo of them, but from talking to 3-4 sources, I’m told all permits for Larimar are in place and it seems the same may be true for Cruise-on-Land.

I’m not associated with either project to be clear. My interest is the narrative the halt to construction created on the heels of Novasco and the perception of instability in DR real estate.

As of right now, both projects are developing full steam ahead.

There are challenges to the legal authority of Higuey to order these projects to stop construction and it appears this is getting resolved.

Another question I’ve gotten a bunch is about Boardwalk, which is a development company I have invested with and I can say with certainty that all permits are obtained for their projects.

If you have any interest in the Boardwalk properties or Maple Suites where I’m buying, feel free to complete this form and they’ll reach out.

The REAL TRUTH About Living and Investing in Dominican Republic

My most recent YouTube video answers a TON of questions from all of you about living and investing in Dominican Republic.

• Cost of gyms

• School tuitions

• Best places to invest

• What’s missing from Punta Cana

And so much more.

Would appreciate you liking, commenting and subscribing to the channel if you haven’t already!

That’s all for this week folks! Coming up is an investigation into Barrick Gold in Cotui, some amazing YouTube content that’s yet to be released, and I’m gonna lean in on my carinvore diet including how I’m implementing in DR and how I’m making sure it’s healthy for me. Stay tuned!!