- Thread starter VanillaGorilla
- Start date
Entering DR with a criminal record
Do DR immigration officers even have computers at their stations to even check your passport? I didn't notice last time I was there.
You should have no problems getting in or out of DR. You should worry about US BP who will see your conviction and will probably do an extra search of your bags seeing as you are coming from DR. I used to work at an airline in JFK and one of my passengers got arrested coming back from a trip to Asia with a group of friends. He had a warrant he was unaware of from an incident 20 years before he thought he had settled. This man was a doctor in his 60s and they led him out in handcuffs in front of his hysterical wife and friends.
You should have no problems getting in or out of DR. You should worry about US BP who will see your conviction and will probably do an extra search of your bags seeing as you are coming from DR. I used to work at an airline in JFK and one of my passengers got arrested coming back from a trip to Asia with a group of friends. He had a warrant he was unaware of from an incident 20 years before he thought he had settled. This man was a doctor in his 60s and they led him out in handcuffs in front of his hysterical wife and friends.
I work for a small firm that does criminal and other investigations in the U.S. A couple of weeks ago a guy came in and wanted to know why he was denied entry into Santo Domingo. Immigration told him to turn right around and get back on the plane.
His problem: trafficking conviction. He not only wasted the plane fare but he also had to pay for his rerouted, unexpected flight.
You have a 50/50 chance of gaining entry. Dominican Immigration officials know if you have had a criminal conviction in the U.S. Your attitude at entry probably makes all the difference.
Big Dan, your guy was black listed. Dom officials only deny entry when they are alerted by TSA or US officials. Your guy had a serious felomy and was traveling to a known drug smuggling destination. I know of people with felony DWI, assault and batteries and mistermeanor drug posession and they have been going to the DR for over 8 years many times a year.
I had seen the immigration agents at "El Cibao" Airport checking a thick book with a lot of names in it when they get somebody with a suspicious name. They check their computer and that thick book. I guess they are required to do it by the U.S.A
TSA check list. Scanning computers were paid for by TSA. I doubt the DR will ever go socialist like Canada denying entrance for a DWI conviction. There have been times that after a plane leaves a name shows up that is on the no fly list and they give the guy a hard time just because he has the same name as some meathead that sent nasty letters to Bush or Obama.
Every country has the right to decide whom they will let in to their country. Some countries take DWI very serious. I have a friend that had a marijuana possession charge when he was 18 in Ontario. He joined the Military and served for 25 years and IN 2005 he and his wife wanted to go to Las Vegas, a place where they spent their honeymoon and had travel to half a dozen times. US Custom at the airport in Vancouver denied him entry based on his marijuana conviction 32 YEARS EARLIER.
What surprises me more is the fact that he served in the Army with a drug record. I know some people that have not been accepted in the Canadian army only for admitting that they have tried marijuana (no charge, no conviction) when they were 15, 16 years old.
There are probably more reasons that the ones given on why they were not admited. I told the recruiters back in 1978 that I had tried pot - as did many of my friends.
As far as the misdemeanor on your record, FORGET ABOUT IT, it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with you being admitted to the Dominican Republic. The immigration officers at the airports in the Dominican Republic DO NOT have access to that information on their computers. It's that simple. Come on down and enjoy the DR!!!
Immigration officers in the Dominican Republic have electronic access to passenger manifests on international flights. I am certain that DHS includes other relevant information. Also, in case you are wondering, electronic information is also available at the Haiti borders.
A little more information for you, courtesy of Air Canada. Conviction information on passengers is also part of an international travel manifest.
Don't waste your time saying it isn't so. I know the process intimately. If you have been convicted of anything in one of the treaty countries, Dominican Republic immigration officers know. Again, your chance of entry is based upon an on view assessment of you by an immigration officer. Don't think for a moment that DR authorities don't know. Now, actual timely use of the program by Dominican immigration is a completely different subject, dependent upon the airport, network access, and professionalism of the immigration officer.
http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/APIS/apis.html
Don't waste your time saying it isn't so. I know the process intimately. If you have been convicted of anything in one of the treaty countries, Dominican Republic immigration officers know. Again, your chance of entry is based upon an on view assessment of you by an immigration officer. Don't think for a moment that DR authorities don't know. Now, actual timely use of the program by Dominican immigration is a completely different subject, dependent upon the airport, network access, and professionalism of the immigration officer.
http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/APIS/apis.html
Well seeing that I just had a friend denied entry based on exactly what I said, I guess I don't know................
Let me step you through this, based upon fact.
If you have committed a crime, either a misdemeanor or a felony, and your fingerprints are taken, your information is entered into an FBI database. If you were a member of one of the U.S. Armed Forces or civil service and you applied for a security clearance, your fingerprints were taken as part of that process and entered into the FBI database.
When you register your name on an international flight information about you from that database can be appended into the flight manifest. The information does not prohibit you from leaving the host country, with the exception of a want or warrant that is extraditional in the host country. The U.S. and Canada share access to that database and other databases, and INTERPOL shares information as well. Prior to your arrival to a foreign country, that country's immigration service is aware of information that on that manifest and any information that was appended from the databases to the manifest.
There are a lot of variables that occur in the foreign country prior to the arrival of an international flight:
1) Ongoing investigations of travelers who may be involved in activity in the country of arrival, or of known investigations concerning certain crimes in the country of arrival to which a traveler may or may not be involved.
2) Evaluation of information that is included in the flight manifest.
3) Guidelines written by the country of arrival's government to determine how to admit or deny entry based upon several disqualifying and mitigating factors.
4) Evaluation of previous travel to that country.
4) An interview process at the port of entry (What is your purpose for travel, where will you be staying, etc.. as well as an evaluation of your demeanor during the process).
The "blacklist" being referred to is a result of information taking the flight's manifest and other country of arrival specific evaluation into account. DHS does have a list of suspected wrong doers who are subject to more scrutiny prior to boarding a flight, and immediately upon entering the country when a flight lands. Foreign countries may and do share a similar process.
It is not possible for a foreign country to know who is traveling to one of their ports until the flight manifest is received. Any special list being referred to is based upon information in the flight manifest and local country guidelines. The origination of the process of being placed on any list is the origination of booking a flight, cruise, whatever, and if there is a "blacklist" for DR, it is created by the DR based upon their evaluative processes. One cannot know the criteria set by a foreign country to approve or deny entry, because of the number of variables involved. The process is very fluid, but once you have been denied entry chances are very good you will continue to be denied.
Example: You could be a feloniously convicted drug traveler taking a cruise or traveling with a tour group and be admitted. You could be that same person traveling alone, and recent activity at the port of entry has resulted in arrests at that port that are similar in nature to your conviction, and you are denied entry.
Example: The flight manifest was not evaluated and you are admitted.
Example: A guideline in the foreign country states that no one will be admitted based upon a conviction of X and you are denied.
Example: You enter a foreign port and appear suspicious, nervous, dodgy at the entry interview...entry denied, even with nothing on a flight manifest.
Again, any special list is based upon, or originates from, flight manifests, country specific guidelines, and interviews at the port of entry.
If you have committed a crime, either a misdemeanor or a felony, and your fingerprints are taken, your information is entered into an FBI database. If you were a member of one of the U.S. Armed Forces or civil service and you applied for a security clearance, your fingerprints were taken as part of that process and entered into the FBI database.
When you register your name on an international flight information about you from that database can be appended into the flight manifest. The information does not prohibit you from leaving the host country, with the exception of a want or warrant that is extraditional in the host country. The U.S. and Canada share access to that database and other databases, and INTERPOL shares information as well. Prior to your arrival to a foreign country, that country's immigration service is aware of information that on that manifest and any information that was appended from the databases to the manifest.
There are a lot of variables that occur in the foreign country prior to the arrival of an international flight:
1) Ongoing investigations of travelers who may be involved in activity in the country of arrival, or of known investigations concerning certain crimes in the country of arrival to which a traveler may or may not be involved.
2) Evaluation of information that is included in the flight manifest.
3) Guidelines written by the country of arrival's government to determine how to admit or deny entry based upon several disqualifying and mitigating factors.
4) Evaluation of previous travel to that country.
4) An interview process at the port of entry (What is your purpose for travel, where will you be staying, etc.. as well as an evaluation of your demeanor during the process).
The "blacklist" being referred to is a result of information taking the flight's manifest and other country of arrival specific evaluation into account. DHS does have a list of suspected wrong doers who are subject to more scrutiny prior to boarding a flight, and immediately upon entering the country when a flight lands. Foreign countries may and do share a similar process.
It is not possible for a foreign country to know who is traveling to one of their ports until the flight manifest is received. Any special list being referred to is based upon information in the flight manifest and local country guidelines. The origination of the process of being placed on any list is the origination of booking a flight, cruise, whatever, and if there is a "blacklist" for DR, it is created by the DR based upon their evaluative processes. One cannot know the criteria set by a foreign country to approve or deny entry, because of the number of variables involved. The process is very fluid, but once you have been denied entry chances are very good you will continue to be denied.
Example: You could be a feloniously convicted drug traveler taking a cruise or traveling with a tour group and be admitted. You could be that same person traveling alone, and recent activity at the port of entry has resulted in arrests at that port that are similar in nature to your conviction, and you are denied entry.
Example: The flight manifest was not evaluated and you are admitted.
Example: A guideline in the foreign country states that no one will be admitted based upon a conviction of X and you are denied.
Example: You enter a foreign port and appear suspicious, nervous, dodgy at the entry interview...entry denied, even with nothing on a flight manifest.
Again, any special list is based upon, or originates from, flight manifests, country specific guidelines, and interviews at the port of entry.
I agree pretty much with what you just posted above. But I can say with certainty that the DR has certain individuals on a blacklist of their own with regards to entering the DR. Yes, they would need the manifest to check against this list. But the list does indeed exist.
A friend of mine found this out the hard way a few weeks ago.
A friend of mine found this out the hard way a few weeks ago.