I was planning to have my 15 year old stepson (DR citizen, US resident) travel to the US by himself. His mother (my wife) would be accompanying him to the airport for his flight with his birth certificate and the permiso from the father that she uses on the occasion when she has accompanies them into the US.
I read on the govt website that official policy is that his mother has to provide a permiso as well and that her physical presence and proof that she is his mother is not enough for official permission to leave. However, last summer his sister left the DR to the US by herself as a 16 year old and she was never asked to show anything.
Numerous times in the past my wife has traveled with her children/my stepchildren along with our daughter and she doesnt have any problem even though she only has permisos for the two with their father and never had a problem bringing in our daughter traveling only with mom and no permiso from me. I didnt have a problem when I left with just me and my daughter and even though she was traveling on a US passport the law states that permission is still required for a minor to travel out of the DR with only one parent (I think that the law makes an exception if the minor entered with only one parent but I dont know how they would know that or how I could prove that I entered the country without her mom).
It seems like the enforcement of this law is sporadic only invoked when there is some suspicion (or a migration official wants to get a shakedown). According to my wife, it cost $10K pesos and four business days to obtain the required documentation so I really want to avoid doing this. Also, my stepson is six feet tall and speaks English so not really the type of minor that one would be concerned is being kidnapped by one parent.
Maybe it is worth taking the chance because even the JetBlue agents seemed to think he could travel without it before researching the legal requirements more in depth. Given that the permiso document costs almost as much as the plane ticket, it may be worth it to take my chances in the hope that the worst that will happen is they will ask my wife to pay something like $2K pesos to "expedite" an exception to this requirement at the airport.
I read on the govt website that official policy is that his mother has to provide a permiso as well and that her physical presence and proof that she is his mother is not enough for official permission to leave. However, last summer his sister left the DR to the US by herself as a 16 year old and she was never asked to show anything.
Numerous times in the past my wife has traveled with her children/my stepchildren along with our daughter and she doesnt have any problem even though she only has permisos for the two with their father and never had a problem bringing in our daughter traveling only with mom and no permiso from me. I didnt have a problem when I left with just me and my daughter and even though she was traveling on a US passport the law states that permission is still required for a minor to travel out of the DR with only one parent (I think that the law makes an exception if the minor entered with only one parent but I dont know how they would know that or how I could prove that I entered the country without her mom).
It seems like the enforcement of this law is sporadic only invoked when there is some suspicion (or a migration official wants to get a shakedown). According to my wife, it cost $10K pesos and four business days to obtain the required documentation so I really want to avoid doing this. Also, my stepson is six feet tall and speaks English so not really the type of minor that one would be concerned is being kidnapped by one parent.
Maybe it is worth taking the chance because even the JetBlue agents seemed to think he could travel without it before researching the legal requirements more in depth. Given that the permiso document costs almost as much as the plane ticket, it may be worth it to take my chances in the hope that the worst that will happen is they will ask my wife to pay something like $2K pesos to "expedite" an exception to this requirement at the airport.
