Mi hijo, el ilegal?

Chirimoya · Oct 22, 2003

I wonder if you can help with this situation. I am British, my husband is Dominican. Our son was born on British territory, we registered him there, and returned to the Dominican Republic three months later. When we tried to register him here in Santo Domingo we were told that as he was born abroad we should have registered him at the nearest Dominican embassy/consulate. The following year we were on holiday in the UK and called the Dominican embassy in London. The person we spoke to said that we could have registered our son there, but only up to six months after the birth.

What do we do now? We live in Santo Domingo, I have permanent residency, and our son has been entering the country as a tourist, paying the relatively small penalty for overstaying his visa each time we have left.

We would like him to have dual nationality if possible. Are there any drawbacks to this?

Thanks,

Chiri

Hillbilly · Oct 22, 2003

Do you still have this weeks papers?

I am sorry but in one of them there was a box with all the things you need to do to register a child. I would not worry, by his Dad he is dominican under the constitution.. I'll bet Fabio agrees..

HB

hansbert · Oct 23, 2003

He may opt for the Dominican nationality at the age of 18

As far as I know sons or daughters of Dominican mothers or fathers according to the constitution if with their birth they acquire the citizenship of another country they may opt fot the Dominican citizenship after having reached the age of 18 years.

Chirimoya · Oct 23, 2003

Hillbilly, I definitely missed that information. If anyone has it could they please contact me?

Hansbert, does that mean that by registering him as a Brit it means we will have to wait until he is 18 before he has the option of Dominican nationality? Even if this is our permanent home?

Thanks for all your replies. More information welcome.

Chiri

Escott · Oct 23, 2003

What a screwed up situation! Sorry!

Ken · Oct 23, 2003

Fabio should be back from his vacation soon.

Chirimoya · Oct 23, 2003

Thank you for your concern, Escott! Don't worry though, I am not losing any sleep over it! I was just curious and wondered whether there were any drawbacks to the situation.

If, as hansbert said, he won't have the option of DR nationality until he's 18, where does that leave us now? What status other than eternal tourist or illegal immigrant is open to him?

Chiri

Chirimoya · Nov 10, 2003

I was hoping Fabio would be able to help with this question... or at least give us some pointers on where to go next.

Chiri

Limburger · Apr 2, 2004

Chirimoya, I appear to be in getting into the same situation as you are. Did you get to resolve this problem in the meantime? Then I would really like to hear what I should do!

PICHARDO · Apr 3, 2004

hansbert said:
As far as I know sons or daughters of Dominican mothers or fathers according to the constitution if with their birth they acquire the citizenship of another country they may opt fot the Dominican citizenship after having reached the age of 18 years.

Indee that is the age at which he can claim his Dominican citizenship or you could opt to declare him now in a remote interior province, like many other parents still do most of the time because they lack the few bucks to pay the registry bill, there you can't mention that he was born in the UK rather a delayed registration of a child born at home, it will be very simple always that you can have a "Partera" and several eye witnesses sign an affidavit to that.

Now the big question is: Why don't you let him grow up and decide were he wants to plead his mother land to be, either way he can't go wrong with neither of them!

To become a citizen Dominican law requires that you are of legal age to understand what you're doing, therefore 18 is the age to which it's known to be of legal age in the DR.

Chirimoya · Apr 3, 2004

Limburger, there has been no change in the situation. Fabio never posted in this thread so I am assuming the information from other posters is all there is to say about this situation.

I still need to know - If we are to leave things as they are, will the only disadvantage be that we have to buy a tourist card (and pay the fine for overstaying) each time we enter and leave the country?

Are there any other things (mainly to do with education) that as a tourist he will not be entitled to living in the DR between now and the age of 18?

Pichardo, once he is 18, naturally he will be free to choose whether he wants to be British, Dominican, both or neither! I am just concerned with the practical aspects now.

Chiri

Limburger · Apr 4, 2004

Thanks for responding to my previous question, but, like Chirimoya, I still haven't got a solution.
Both my children have the Dutch nationality, wich is a great convienience when traveling. But does that mean that they have to apply for residency untill they reach the age of 18, or stay in the country illegal? Does anybody know which consequenses that can bring?
B.t.w. at 18 can they get a dual nationality or do they have to choose between the two?

PICHARDO · Apr 4, 2004

Yes they must apply for residency until they become 18yo at which time they can request to become Dominican citizens with full rights as if they had been born in Dominican soil(well actually all but one: to become President of the DR you must had been born in Dominican soil).

What consequences could it bring? none, since two of my sisters were born in the US and later became Dominican citizens by claiming their parental given rights, that states any person born to Dominican parents, mother of father has the right to claim his or her citizenship as soon as they become of legal age(18) also since Dominican law allows double nationality it shouldn't be a problem to keep their Dutch papers at all.

Hillbilly · Apr 4, 2004

If the children were born here

They can get Dominican Birth Certificates, Passports and cedulas.

Mine have them.

HB

PICHARDO · Apr 5, 2004

Hillbilly said:
They can get Dominican Birth Certificates, Passports and cedulas.

Mine have them.

HB

Hillbilly:

Chirimoya said:
I wonder if you can help with this situation. I am British, my husband is Dominican. Our son was born on British territory, we registered him there, and returned to the Dominican Republic three months later.

You bypassed the main reason of the posting, the kid wasn't born in the DR, but to a Dominican parent overseas...

Porfio_Rubirosa · Apr 5, 2004

I like Pichardo's idea

of going to the JCE office where your husband (or his family) is from and seeing if they will allow him to declare a child born overseas. The only issue may be that it would require a small modification to a standard form to accomplish it - which can be difficult in the wonderful bureaucratic system left us by the Bourbons.

I'd also be curious about Dr. Guzman's thoughts.

Hillbilly · Apr 5, 2004

Chiri: I knew your illegal son was born in the UK, I was referring to

Limberger. She doesn't say where they were born, just that they have Dutch citizenship...

Oh well...whatever...here they can do just about anything they want.

HB

Chirimoya · Apr 5, 2004

HB, I know that you know, it was Pichi who thought you didn't know.

But if you read my post carefully, you will notice that I never said he was born "in the UK", but "on British territory". Not exactly the same thing... but totally beside the point here. The point is he was not born in the DR.

Chiri

trina · Apr 7, 2004

Sorry I can't help you on this, Chiri, I will be going through the same thing as you sometime with my children. Hope everything works out!

Dolores1 · Apr 7, 2004

No problems there. Because he was born to a Dominican, your son has the right to DR citizenship regardless of his age and when he applies. The procedure of applying abroad was just an expedite way to do it.

I can see no disadvantage to having dual citizenship, or triple citizenship in these global days. There are hundreds of thousands of Dominicans with dual citizenship status. Having different citizenships is about having different doors open to opportunities. As a Dominican, for example, he will have access to different educational scholarship programs, cultural exchange programs...

I believe you will be dealing with the Ministry of Interior & Police and the Central Electoral Board in getting provisional citizenship. In the best of my understanding, it is true that until the person is 18 years old final citizenship is not granted.

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