Border crossing and road 45

jonbon

New member
May 26, 2017
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Hi.

Sorry for my bad English.

I'm a swedish guy renting a car in Santo Domingo and then driving to Puerto Plata.

From Puerto Plata my plan is to drive to the Dajabon and leave the car there while I go to Haiti for a day trip.

My question is do I need to pay the Dominican exit fees and / or Haiti entry fees if I just go there for a day?

Or can you just simply walk across the border without any trouble?

Also after that I'm planning to take road 45 down to south, but the Google maps says it crosses thru Haiti and does not recommend driving it.

Is this the reason and how good shape the road is?


Thank you.
 

RV429

Bronze
Apr 3, 2011
1,574
1
36
So, first off I don't recommend driving there for you at all. Take the Caribe Tours bus from Santo Domingo to Cap Haitien and travel in comfort. If you do rent a car you cannot take it over the border. And yes, you pay to leave, enter and enter. Walking over puts you into a mass of humanity with nowhere to go but with an overprice taxi to Capo Haitien.
Taking the bus will save you a ton of money, time and grief.
http://www.caribetours.com.do/index.php/viajes/get_travel

Having said all that, it is not a day trip by any means, you will spend the whole day on the road and at the border to see not much. Take the bus from SD or Santiago and return to Puerto Plata on the same bus line switching in Santiago.
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
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Cabarete
I can't see any reason why you can't just cross the border on foot and spend some time there, just to add it to your list of countries visited. I think you have to pay a fee for a visa to enter Haiti, but it is not too much. If you have a valid Dominican tourist visa (not out of date) you should be able to leave and come back without paying more fees.

I believe Frank12, who is a regular contributor here, has driven the whole of Route 45, but he did it on a big, off-road motorbike. I think it would be very difficult in a normal car.
 

jonbon

New member
May 26, 2017
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I can't see any reason why you can't just cross the border on foot and spend some time there, just to add it to your list of countries visited. I think you have to pay a fee for a visa to enter Haiti, but it is not too much. If you have a valid Dominican tourist visa (not out of date) you should be able to leave and come back without paying more fees.

I believe Frank12, who is a regular contributor here, has driven the whole of Route 45, but he did it on a big, off-road motorbike. I think it would be very difficult in a normal car.




Yes.
I would just like to visit a new country. I don't need to be there for a long - maybe just few hour lunch.

About road 45 - I guess it's not an option as I have only a small Kia car.
This road 45 goes thru the Haiti according to the map. So there won't be any problems because of this ?
 

Salsafan

Bronze
Aug 17, 2011
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Just take the bus and visit Cap haitien for 3 - 4 days. Walking thru the border area ist surely an experience but I don't think one needs it.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
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As other's have said you cannot bring a DR rental car into Haiti. As others have said, take the bus there and save the potential pain.

I have lived in the DR for 14 years. I never had the desire to do what you want, but I understand the desire to visit different places. It is just that one of them for me is not Haiti.
 

Salsafan

Bronze
Aug 17, 2011
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I visited CH two years ago. Different, but no problems. Beautiful country side, Ch itself not so. All people friendly.
 

jonbon

New member
May 26, 2017
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Thank you for the answers!

I know most people say that it's horrible to cross the border by foot. I am just a kind of person who enjoys all kind of trouble and struggling with the things. So for me a little bit too many people at the border is just an enjoyment.
 

jonbon

New member
May 26, 2017
15
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0
I can't see any reason why you can't just cross the border on foot and spend some time there, just to add it to your list of countries visited. I think you have to pay a fee for a visa to enter Haiti, but it is not too much. If you have a valid Dominican tourist visa (not out of date) you should be able to leave and come back without paying more fees.

I believe Frank12, who is a regular contributor here, has driven the whole of Route 45, but he did it on a big, off-road motorbike. I think it would be very difficult in a normal car.


About the visa charges:

When I arrived to Santo Domingo I did pay 10$ for a tourist card.

Is the exit fee in Dominican republic a mandatory for all countries?

If I pay it at the land crossing , do I then need pay it again at the airport when I fly away?


About the Haiti. According to the internet I read that it's a visa free for swedish citizens.

Thanks.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Your (and every other country's that needs one) tourist card is good for 30 days.

The exit fee starts to kick in after 30 days and the exit fee depends upon how long you overstay. Less than 30 days should not incur an exit fee when leaving the DR.

A side point: People have said that going into Haiti and then re-entering the DR the same day does not "reset" that 30 day counter in the DR.
 

bigbird

Gold
May 1, 2005
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Your (and every other country's that needs one) tourist card is good for 30 days.

The exit fee starts to kick in after 30 days and the exit fee depends upon how long you overstay. Less than 30 days should not incur an exit fee when leaving the DR.

A side point: People have said that going into Haiti and then re-entering the DR the same day does not "reset" that 30 day counter in the DR.

The exit fee? Would not that be the overstay fee because regardless of the length of stay you pay a $20 USD exit fee. Over thirty days is when the overstay fee kicks in.
 

jonbon

New member
May 26, 2017
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Yes.This is what I am wondering also.

If I go to Haiti for a day, do I then need to pay exit fee 20$, and then buy another tourist card 10€ when coming back to DR from Haiti?

I know it is just a loss of 30$, but I would like to know if I am obligated to do this, or are the border guys scamming on me if they try to make me pay more.


Thanks :)
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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The exit fee? Would not that be the overstay fee because regardless of the length of stay you pay a $20 USD exit fee. Over thirty days is when the overstay fee kicks in.

This would be my error. Overstay fee and exit fee are indeed two different things.

When you pay an overstay fee, you are making up for staying illegally in the DR over your visa period. (A legal aberration in the DR migration system.)

I suppose I have never paid an exit fee that was not buried in the cost of an airline ticket. So, there may indeed be a $20 exit fee whenever you leave and a $10 tourist card on the way back in.

On that point I stand to learn what happens.
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
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Your (and every other country's that needs one) tourist card is good for 30 days.

The exit fee starts to kick in after 30 days and the exit fee depends upon how long you overstay. Less than 30 days should not incur an exit fee when leaving the DR.

A side point: People have said that going into Haiti and then re-entering the DR the same day does not "reset" that 30 day counter in the DR.

Sorry you are wrong talking about every other country and thirty days. Colombia and Panama both ar 90 days I know for sure and my memory says the same for Mexico and all of central America
Der Fish
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
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Sorry you are wrong talking about every other country and thirty days. Colombia and Panama both ar 90 days I know for sure and my memory says the same for Mexico and all of central America
Der Fish

I am wrong again!. Oh well. It is good to learn.

Where is the cry about discrimination that other some countries are treated differently?

Oh wait, a country can pick and choose how they want to deal with vairous people crossing their borders. What a novel concept.
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
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I am wrong again!. Oh well. It is good to learn.

Where is the cry about discrimination that other some countries are treated differently?

Oh wait, a country can pick and choose how they want to deal with vairous people crossing their borders. What a novel concept.

While in Panama people rode the bus for 8 hours to the border with Costa Rica calling it a visa run. This was acceptable for 3 times and after that one was required to return to their own country before returning. The law required one to stay on the other side of the border for 72 hours, but if you knew the right name they back date your arrival and send you back across. $20.00 tip aka una bendicion (Blessing)

Also the overstay fee in Panama is (or was) a flat $50 per month. No ambiguity at all.
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
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I have not traveled to Haiti from the DR as a tourist so I have no idea how it works. I have left other countries as a tourist with the intention to return after a short period and in all of those instances, I needed to let immigration know that I was returning, so that I didn't have to pay another fee upon reentry. I usually got a different exit stamp in my passport than someone who was on their way out for good. If you go, please come back and let us know what happens at the border. You should expect to pay some sort of exit tax to the DR (you are after all exiting the country). You will certainly have to pay the exit tax at the airport when you fly home. The $20/$25 cost at the airport may or may not be included in the price of your airline ticket.

Now for the practicalities of a trip such as this. You need to remember where you are. You are not in Sweden any longer. It is not a forgone conclusion that you can undertake this type of a trip risk free. These two countries are rife with institutional corruption. The border region is very much an isolated frontier. You will be a long way from help and the support systems offered by your country's diplomatic mission in the DR. The "criminal element" is omnipresent and this risk is heightened somewhat the further away from "civilization" you go. If you go, at the very least I would inform your embassy here in the DR that you are traveling to Haiti, that you expect to return on such and such a date and you will advise them when you reenter the DR. Not a good idea to put yourself in a situation where you can just disappear off the map and no one knows where you were going or the route you were taking to get there and back.

If you were to park a rental car in the DR and then crossed the border, whose to say your rental car will still be where you parked it when you get back? Since this trip will take more than a day, anything you take with you and leave in the rental car may not be there when you get back to it. Having lots of money with you can allow you to "buy" your way out of a bad situation but can also make you a more likely target for inflated corruption and robbery. Both countries have a well founded reputation for foreigners encountering difficulties of one type or another.

I'm not saying you shouldn't go, if that is what you wish to do. I'm not saying that you will be accosted or become the victim of crime or corruption. I am saying that these things do happen from time to time and the probability of something like this transpiring is much greater on this side trip than travelling between say Sweden and Norway for a day or two. This trip by its very nature, involves an elevated level of risk to your person and property. Malaria is endemic in the border region as is cholera. Just by going you will exposing yourself to circumstances that you may not be anticipating. I can't tell you to go or not to go. That's up to you. Potentially, a trip of this nature, in this political climate, between these two countries at this time, is not an easy and necessarily straight forward adventure. It can turn into a really big fiasco on either side of the border without a whole lot of forewarning. "Your eyes need to be wide open."

Good luck whatever you decide.
 

bigbird

Gold
May 1, 2005
7,375
163
0
Yes.This is what I am wondering also.

If I go to Haiti for a day, do I then need to pay exit fee 20$, and then buy another tourist card 10€ when coming back to DR from Haiti?

I know it is just a loss of 30$, but I would like to know if I am obligated to do this, or are the border guys scamming on me if they try to make me pay more.


Thanks :)

From the FAQ section of Capital Coach Line.

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http://www.capitalcoachline.com/index.aspx


Maybe I missed something but are not your plans to visit Haiti more so just to say been there and done that? If so I don't know why some dr1ers are going off on a tangent thinking this trip is to reset you DR tourist visa.

Either way enjoy the trip and report back. Something I have been considering for awhile. Just to say, hey I have been to Haiti.


Sorry about the picture failure but go here and read question #3.

http://www.capitalcoachline.com/faq.aspx