Round trip mandatory????

You will need a return flight to the US if you do not have residency. The best way is to book a return flight at the airport which you can cancell for no charge withing 24 hours. I just did this with Spirit. The cost of the flight was $121. Full refund after I called from Santo Domingo.

It depends where you are coming from and which airline. Two years ago I came on a one-way flight with American Airlines from Miami and last year came on Condor with a one-way flight from Frankfurt with Condor. This was to Puerto Plata on both occasions, but I wouldn't have thought it would be any different to Santo Domingo. At the time I didn't have Residency.

Buy a full fare fully refundable return flight (Business Class).
When you book the flight to RD refer to the full fair flight as your return.
When you get to RD cancel the return flight for a full refund.

One full fare Business class return ticket is cheaper than two discount return flights. One down and one back.

DS

I flew into the DR 20 times both into Santiago and Puerto Plata, always on a one way. No one ever asked for proof of a return ticket.

You can take the advice and book the refundable ticket OR do as I usually do which is create travel itinerary (usually I print it and have a hard copy that I pull out and present when asked). Obviously your return must be on a different airline. I take the time to get actual flight numbers/times plus costs. It has worked 100% of the time. I think the agents are just looking to fill in a field on the computer screen. I forgot once and had to do the refundable ticket purchase at the counter. Certain airlines never ask. Jet Blue and Spirit do ask.

As of April 12 2012 you must provide prove of onward travel in Dominican... Not a travel agent thing...

lifeisgreat said:

As of April 12 2012 you must provide prove of onward travel in Dominican... Not a travel agent thing...

Click to expand...

Just flew in to Santo Domingo a month ago.
No one asked for proof of round trip or return ticket.
I think it depends on which airline you fly and what
day/ hour your flight leaves.

When arriving in Santo Domingo, the only ?proof? they
were interested in seeing was 10 Euros, 10 Dollars or
10 English Pounds for my tourist card.

Just returned from JFK and JetBlue would not let me 'check in' on line or at the automated check in at the terminal, needed
to pass by an agent to prove I was a Dominican resident.
Their automated check in needs a section that says resident but it would be tough to prove to a machine.

I asked the agent and she said that the airlines were tired of paying to fly folks back after being refused entry into the DR with no
on-ward or return ticket. Seems immigration here is cracking down a bit or at least getting up to speed..

One time I had an unused return from Panama, and presented that. SHe asked me how I was going to get to Panama and I said we always take the ferry. She found that acceptable and let me by!
Der Fish

you could probably present a ticket printout for example from AA and dont buy the return ticket, just put it on 24hr hold, print it out, and never purchase. They will probably accept that. In Miami they have asked me for my return ticket, but usually the ticket agent not any authority.

"The rule" is that a return or onward ticket is required for tourist entry into the DR. Like every other rule here, whether it is applied to you is subject to a complex mathematical formula that is in part based on chaos theory and the alignment of Mars and Jupiter.

The airlines are responsible for enforcing this rule at checkin. If they don't, they may be fined and may have remove the inadmissible passenger at their own expense.

If you make it to the DR with only a one-way ticket, this is usually not a problem unless you are selected for some sort of secondary screening where they will look at your travel documents more closely.

If you have a return ticket, this will not be an issue for you obviously. If you do not, it's just one more thing you may have to deal with.

After reading this forum for more than two years, it never fails to amuse me, six posts in a row say, "you'll be fine, no one here knows how to read anyways". The seventh post always starts off, "I just did this... and I got caught and had to then do this."

Any time you try to create an exception for yourself you have to be prepared for things not to work out they way you envisioned or in this case, were assured by anonymous others that you will be fine. Maybe you will be, maybe you won't be. Let us know...

CG said:

Just returned from JFK and JetBlue would not let me 'check in' on line or at the automated check in at the terminal, needed
to pass by an agent to prove I was a Dominican resident.
Their automated check in needs a section that says resident but it would be tough to prove to a machine.

I asked the agent and she said that the airlines were tired of paying to fly folks back after being refused entry into the DR with no
on-ward or return ticket. Seems immigration here is cracking down a bit or at least getting up to speed..

Click to expand...

Immigration in the DR now has fingerprinting machines as you come in.. I did not remember that..

I just flew in on Spirit and had the same experience.. had to buy the ticket back or could not board

but they said I could cancel for no fee within 24 hours.. which i did

just make sure you have enough on your credit card to buy the ticket.. not so much $125 or so

(but I know one woman who was stranded in Miami with her daughter without enough $$$ to get here so..heads up) (and do not let me get started on how you can be so irresponsible as to fly around with a child with no money... geesh...)