Quit Worrying
Mickey79 said:
Hello, I am looking to go down to the dominican and travel for 4-5 months (I have friends and so forth down there as well). Now i know that to go on a tourist visa you need a return flight. I also know tourist visas only last 3 months however you can legally renew them once (or pay the penalties). My question is this, does the return flight have to be dated within 3 months because tourist visas only last that long? Or is it fine that to have a return flight 5 months after arrival? If it helps to know I will be flying continental.
Thanks in advance
Mike
Assuming you mean a tourist card they last for 15 days not 90 days and have been that way for a while since some idiot in the ministry of gouging people for tiny little taxes came up with the idea that you could get a whole 68 pesos from about 1% of tourists who stayed over 15 days. Instead of the smart thing which would have been to leave it at 90 and increase the price to $12. Since the "fine" if you want to call it that, for overstaying YEARS is no more than $20, why they did a 15 day limit is beyond imagining. My friend left after 2 years and paid about $8 and came back 10 days later so even paying the "fine" which is really a tax, amounts to revenue not immigration control.
Another important point is unless you look like a penniless beggar the odds of them looking at your ticket (to see if it is for more than 15 days, actually) are between slim and none and slim left town.
Buy your ticket, don't bother with the airline or a travel agent who won't know dick anyway.
Note: Since you don't travel to "the Dominican" (which means a person in the Dominican Republic, the actual name of your destination), you need to say you are looking to go down ON a Dominican, or to go TO the DR, or Dominican Republic, from your place there in "the United".
