Beware: state police check not good enough

NOTE: THIS IS ABOUT U.S.A. CITIZENS NEEDING A VISA FOR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC not the other way around.

First, the consulate in Boston assured me that my documentation was complete, as my visa was issued. I arrived and they told me my state police background check needed apostille. I was able to FedEx that to my son and get that done quickly, but the translation by the consulate would take at least a week.

!! IMPORTANT !! The translation does NOT have to be done by the consulate. It can be done by an authorized translator in the Dominican Republic, and that can be faster and cheaper, quicker and less expensive, more rapid and less costly, you get the idea. Wish I had known. I returned to the USA and had to get another RS visa because the RS visa is only valid for one entry to the country.

I get here and now they’re telling me they don’t take the state police background checks at all, it has to be the FBI check AND it has to be apostilled.

There are two services that can help. http://nationalbackgroundcheck.com/ says they will get the background check. http://www.usauthentication.com/ can take your FBI background check you already have, and bring it to the State Department to get the apostille. If you got stuck in this trap one or both of these private companies might un-stuck you.

I phoned the consulate in Boston and the lady put the call on speaker so the consul could hear it, because there were other callers complaining about the same sudden change in policy. They are preparing a formal complaint letter to DGM and maybe DGM will change its policy after the harm is done.

More hassles

Okay, so first in July they told me my State background check was no good because it wasn't apostilled, and of course the RS visa is only valid for one entry, but when I got a new RS and arrived with an apostilled State background check, they told me that it has to be the F.B.I. form; which I had on me but it wasn't apostilled. I lost ten days waiting for the apostille and translation, which had to be legalized and their system was down. I lost patience and returned to U.S.A. and now the Boston consulate says that they have suspended issue of RS visas. NYC still issues them but only renewals, and traffic Wednesday in Manhattan was brutal. Now the NYC consulate requires more documentation, which means the clock would run out on my U.S. passport expiration date.

I wrote up a complaint letter and printed hundreds of copies, one for President Medina and one for each member of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and mailed them a couple of weeks ago.