Travel requirements to enter the DR?

Requirement of an onward ticket and tourist card validity

It is compulsory for any foreigner entering the DR through an airport to have at least an onward ticket out of the country although migration officials at the airports do not always ask for it. To avoid any problems to that respect I would buy in advance and bring it with you a round trip ticket from the DR to Cuba since any away you are planning to travel there. If you buy it in another country it might even be cheaper that to buy it over here since most probably they will not charge you the 20% sales tax.
You can travel over land or by air to Haiti and come back the same day and will again be allowed to stay 3 months on a tourist card (if you qualify for that depending on your nationality) A tourist card entitles you to stay for 3 months. If you overstay you will have to pay a surcharge (fine) when you will leave at the airport depending in its amount on the time you overstayed but the surcharge is relatively small. Even paying it you may come back the same day and stay again for three months or more.

Pretty long odds they ask...........

ronks said:

Thank you Hansbert for your information. I would like to know if anyone has found a way around this requirement of an onward ticket? I would find it too expensive to waste the money on a return ticket, especially since the open returns tend to be more expensive, and moreover since I must use it over and over as I am coming and going from the DR. Could I enter the country with an itinerary voucher (reservation without the ticket) and would the immigration accept this? Is it proper or acceptable to discreetly offer a $10 gratuity in my passport to smooth the transition?
And does anyone have any experience crossing the border into Haiti, getting your passport stamped and turning right around and returning to the DR? I was thinking of crossing at Dajabon the DR town west of Monte Criste. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Ron

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Hansbert said this: It is compulsory for any foreigner entering the DR through an airport to have at least an onward ticket out of the country although migration officials at the airports do not always ask for it.

Translate "do not always" as "never ask for it". I go 6-7 times a year and in the past 2 dozen trips the immigration/passport control people haven't said ANYTHING let alone ask for the ticket.

As for leaving and coming back every 90 days that is the type of activity that people have to do in Thailand as the fines are severe.

The fines in the DR, shall we say, not so severe. I think the maximum I have heard of for a 22 MONTH overstay is 300 RD$, or about ten dollars.

They have a booth for this express purpose at the airport so they must "expect " this a bit. You plan to come and go to Cuba on a 2-3 month cycle anyway so you won't be staying past the tourist card limit of 90 days anyway. It is not a visa per se, it is just a tourist card.

For the immense hassle and risk of going over and back to Haiti, just overstay and pay the fine. Put $10 away now for the future.

As for bribes you bribe the customs guys when you get your luggage if you have a lot of swag you don't want to declare. I haven't heard of anyone trying to bribe the immigration guy. And since HE WON'T ASK (don't talk in Spanish when you get there BTW) the bribe angle is moot.

I know several people who in recent years have been asked for an onward ticket

I would not say such things (onward tickets are sometimes required by the immigration officials) if I was not sure what I am talking about and if I did not hear from trustworthy sources that it is like that. So, you may always take the risk !

I know several hundred that haven't

hansbert said:

I would not say such things (onward tickets are sometimes required by the immigration officials) if I was not sure what I am talking about and if I did not hear from trustworthy sources that it is like that. So, you may always take the risk !

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By and large if a white tourist arrives from the USA or on a charter flight with a gaggle of other white tourists they are not thinking , hey this guy here has a one way ticket. They take the passport, type in the name, hand it over the glass to the other preson, she or he stamps the TC and the page and hands it to the tourist.

Not a word spoken other than the 3000 words per minute between the front and back booths to each other.

If you are a Dominican then they yak all the time but if this guy was a Dominican he'd not need a tourist card.

Even when I have been to Cuba they didn't say a word or ask anything either, not that they would have that many people sneaking in vs. sneaking out I suppose.

I don't disagree you are SUPPOSED to but you are SUPPOSED to leave at the 90 day point and lots don't to the tune of that kiosk to pay the fee.

The odds have to be 5000:1 against for a gringo to face this issue - he wants those odds he can come. Frankly a round trip ticket where you throw away 1/2 of it is cheaper than a one-way ticket anyway so that might not be such a bad idea.

I think if they DID ask, you'd say, no, I am going to Cuba next and will buy a ticket to Cuba here at SDQ then if I come back I will buy a ticket home in due course. What would they do if you didn't have a return ticket? Leave you in passport control ?

just an extra note

Ive always just bought my ticket to DR, and since Im from the US, I buy the return flight to San Juan Puerto Rico. So as to stay in DR as long as I want and not have a definate date as to return to th US. It is not as expensive as buying to whole return ticket back to where you live, if you know that you are never going to use it.
Just a thought
Ammy