Remittances are not a side line in the Caribbean. By World Bank figures, personal remittances were about 16% of GDP in Jamaica in 2025, about 17% in Haiti in 2024 and nearly 10% in the Dominican Republic in 2025. Numbers like that mean the corridors are crowded, competitive and closely watched. They do not mean they are cheap.
Three countries, three quite different monetary arrangements, one dominant source of money: the United States. The details below are about where a sender’s cost actually sits, and what changes when the receiving country does.
The scale of the flows
Start with size, because it shapes everything else. Bank of Jamaica data, reported by the Gleaner in March 2026, put 2025 inflows at about US$3.49 billion, up 3.8% on 2024. In the Dominican Republic the central bank reported US$11.87 billion for 2025, a 10.3% rise by the figures we saw (the report that carried it contained an obvious typo in the 2024 figure, so treat the percentage as approximate). For Haiti, the Inter-American Development Bank projected about US$4.9 billion for 2025, with the United States supplying roughly 63% and Canada about 11% (figures as reported by HaitiLibre from IDB data).
Bank of Jamaica data for a single month, December 2025, gives a flavour of the mix: the US at 66.6% of that month’s inflows, the UK about 12.5%, Canada about 8.9%. One month is a thin basis for a pattern, so take it as a hint that Jamaica has a real British and Canadian diaspora alongside the American one, not as an annual split.
Why does size matter for you? Large, regular flows attract many providers, which tends to improve choice. It also attracts regulators, and sometimes politicians. In May 2026 the IMF named potential shifts in foreign immigration policies as a risk that could slow remittance inflows to Haiti. That is a macro point, but one a family planning around a fixed monthly amount should keep in mind.
Where the cost sits: a tale of two margins
The World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database publishes average costs by corridor and quarter. For the third quarter of 2025, sending $200 from the US to the Dominican Republic averaged a fee of $8.54, an exchange-rate margin of 0.84% and a total cost of 5.11%. Sending $200 from the US to Jamaica averaged a fee of $6.10, a margin of 3.01% and a total cost of 6.06%. (We could not retrieve the US-to-Haiti page at the time of writing, so we are not quoting a figure for it.)
Notice that Jamaica’s fee is lower than the Dominican one and its total is higher. The margin explains the difference. A smaller headline fee can sit on top of a larger concealed cost in the exchange rate, which is the reason comparing fees alone is a poor method. Our guide to spread, markup and hidden fees shows how it works.
Work it through with illustrative numbers. Say the mid-market rate is 160 Jamaican dollars to the US dollar (a round figure chosen for the arithmetic, not a current rate; our USD to JMD page has the live one). Your $200 should be worth J$32,000. With a 3.01% margin, the rate you are given is lower, and the family receives J$31,037. The margin cost you about $6.02 in value, or J$963. Add the $6.10 fee and the all-in cost is $12.12, which is the 6.06% in the survey. The same arithmetic with the Dominican figures gives $10.22.
| Corridor (US, $200, Q3 2025 average) | Fee | FX margin | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Dominican Republic | $8.54 | 0.84% | 5.11% |
| To Jamaica | $6.10 | 3.01% | 6.06% |
These are survey averages across the providers sampled, not quotes. Individual providers sit well above and below them, and the database is refreshed quarterly.
Three currencies, three arrangements
Dominican pesos float, within limits. The IMF’s 2024 review of the country advised keeping the exchange rate more flexible and limiting central-bank intervention to shocks that disturb the market. In practice that means the rate moves, and a transfer quoted this morning will not be worth the same in six months. There is nothing sinister in that, but it changes planning. A family that depends on a fixed US-dollar amount arriving each month will find the peso value of it drifts.
For Haiti, the IMF reported in May 2026 that the nominal exchange rate had been stable, though inflation, in its words, “has eased recently but remains elevated”. Stable and elevated together make a point about real value: a calm rate can still go with prices rising underneath. If the money is meant to cover food and rent over several months, what it buys matters more than what the screen says today. Our guide to inflation and your currency has the mechanism.
Jamaica’s distinction is institutional. Its central bank licenses the businesses that pay out remittances, and lists nine approved primary agents on its website. That brings us to the practical side.
Who is allowed to pay out, and how to check
In Jamaica, the Bank of Jamaica licenses and supervises remittance companies and runs fit-and-proper tests on owners, directors and compliance officers. The list of approved primary agents is public. If you are about to use a pickup network you have not used before, look the name up. It takes a minute.
For the Dominican Republic and Haiti we did not verify equivalent public lists, so we make no claim about them. The advice generalises, though: confirm with the provider, ahead of sending, which payout partner will be used in the receiver’s town. Payout partners and locations change, and in Haiti conditions can alter what is open and reachable quickly. If the answer from the sender’s app is vague, that is information.
Cash, bank, wallet: what suits whom
Usual options are cash at an agent, a deposit into a bank account, or in some cases a mobile wallet. The sensible way to choose is by looking at the receiver, not the sender. Does she live near an agent, or a bank branch? Does he have an account that takes deposits in the currency being sent? Is an ID in hand that matches the name on the transfer?
Our guide to choosing a delivery method sets out the trade-offs. Two caveats specific to these corridors. First, a payout in US dollars rather than local currency, where offered, shifts the exchange-rate step to the receiver, who then has to exchange at whatever the local counter offers; this can be better or worse than the sender’s provider, and nobody can say in advance. Second, ask in which currency the receiver will actually be paid, and write the answer down.
If you are paying in cash from the US
Since the start of 2026 the US charges senders a 1% excise tax when the money they hand over is physical, meaning cash or a paper instrument. Funds taken from a bank account, or loaded by a US-issued card, are exempt under the statute. You owe the tax and the provider adds it at the counter. Treasury and the IRS published proposed regulations in April 2026, so details may still shift; ask your provider how it handles them. The mechanics are covered in our US to Nigeria guide. For a Caribbean sender the takeaway is small: paying from a bank account or card sidesteps it, and a $300 cash transfer carries $3 on top of everything above.
A short list before you press send
- Compare the local-currency amount the receiver will get, not the fee.
- Confirm the payout currency and the payout location in writing.
- Match the name to the receiver’s ID exactly.
- Check how you are paying, since the method can change both the price and the tax.
None of this predicts where any of the three currencies will go. Nobody knows. What a sender can control is the price of the crossing and the clarity of the instructions. For anything involving tax or large sums, check with your provider or an adviser.
Sources
- World Bank indicator: personal remittances received (% of GDP)
- Jamaica Gleaner: remittances rebound to a record US$3.49 billion in 2025
- Acento: BCRD, US$11,866 million in remittances in 2025
- HaitiLibre: status of diaspora remittances to Haiti (IDB data)
- World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide: United States to Dominican Republic
- World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide: United States to Jamaica
- Bank of Jamaica: supervision of remittance services
- IMF press release: third review of Haiti’s staff-monitored program (May 2026)
- IMF: Dominican Republic 2024 Article IV consultation
- 26 U.S. Code section 4475: excise tax on remittance transfers
Checked: November 2026
