Permanent residency renewal alert!

[bob saunders]

Move to Colombia and forget the DR.

I have been living in Colombia for eight months now, in Montenegro, Quindio.
I wish I had come here twenty years ago. Colombia is WAY more advanced on ALL levels. Colombia is extremely inexpensive compared to the DR also, for food, apartments, etc.
Compared to Colombia the DR is Latin America's anus.

https://www.expatexchange.com/ctryg...-Colombia-Pros-and-Cons-of-Living-in-Colombia Doesn't sound that much different that the DR in the way locals treat gringos. Colombians are also easily insulted and react very violently. I actually like Columbia and if my wife wasn't Dominican, didn't have a business and aging mother I think I could talk her into moving there. She lived in Colombia for 4 years while attending university so knows the country very well, at least Cartagena.

 

[Dr_Taylor]

Update on renewal requirements for Retirees:

Just heard from Guzman Ariza in Santo Domingo and they have been informed that I will be unable to renew my Retiree Residency due to not having enough US Dollars in an account in the D.R. First, they said that I needed $2000 in an account, then the amount changed to 10,000 US and now it's up to $10,500 US. This isn't fault of the Attorneys, but the in-office politics at Immigration. I make a LOT of retirement in the U.S...close to $90,000 per year, but I'm not putting another penny into any Dominican Banks.

This is regretful, and seems to depend upon the DGM official performing the review. When I interviewed several months ago, the DGM official asked about the amount in the account, although DGM was more interested that I have account activity each month. I simply explained that I recently deposited a US bank check to increase the amount, but the bank awaits the check to clear. The total amount still fell short of USD$10,000. Also, I explained that I simply write checks to the DR bank when I need more money. The DGM official was satisfied with the response. She also understood why I wanted to keep the funds below the USD$10,000 reporting floor, which surprised me. I will have to revisit this again at renewal time.

 

[franco1111]

Update on renewal requirements for Retirees:

Just heard from Guzman Ariza in Santo Domingo and they have been informed that I will be unable to renew my Retiree Residency due to not having enough US Dollars in an account in the D.R. First, they said that I needed $2000 in an account, then the amount changed to 10,000 US and now it's up to $10,500 US. This isn't fault of the Attorneys, but the in-office politics at Immigration. I make a LOT of retirement in the U.S...close to $90,000 per year, but I'm not putting another penny into any Dominican Banks. My condo is listed for sale, I'm going to sell my car (2016 KIA Picanto) with only 4900 km on the clock...May the 1st I'll be on the plane and never look back. The Dominican Republic DOESN'T really want North Americans and Europeans...they only want our money!

Just for the record, there is no requirement to have $10,000 in the bank to renew investment residency. I assume you have talked to Guzman Ariza attorney and gotten some sort of explanation. But, that requirement is nowhere that I know of.

I just renewed in January and that was not a requirement. I had an average of $2,000 USD in my account during the year.

I read what you posted before and suspect the people in the office may have an issue with whether you are actually a resident or not. You said you are in the country less than six months of the year? Or similar. If there is no activity in your bank account for months at a time, this might raise questions for them.

Also, the people in the office for investment residency are the same this year as two years ago. There are only two people. A man and a woman. So, I don't know who might be making different interpretations.

I wish you luck. Enjoy your next adventure.

 

[XTraveller]

Renewed Retiree Residence March1-2019

Just help a friend renew for the first time investor-Retiree Residence.

Uploaded all documents mid February and obtain Residence March 1.
Documents uploaded: Residence & Cedula card, police report, Bank letter & 6 months of previous transaction (Banco Popular),5 previous months of electricity bill, maricula and Condo title and Humano health insurance (which was not needed)

Tashisiu Dad,

You are unlucky, my friend did not have USD account and his pasts 6 months average balance in pesos was around 275000. Your problem I think might have been because you did not have any movements in your bank account. My friend was not in the DR for the complete past 6 months but still had movements in his Bank Popular account (Example: Condo fee's and electricity which he pays online therefor appears every month in his bank statements).

What I do not understand in your case is that Guzman did not advice you first before uploading your documents and also that they did not resolve your problem. In my previous experience they are usually on top of all the immigration requirements!

For others:
For investor-retiree renewal you do not have to wait inline at DGM, at reception area just mention Investor category and they let you in the back area (Behind the glass doors) where some one takes care of you, in my friend case even spoke french. You can not have anyone accompany you, but did see a few lawyers in main hall.

After you upload your documents and receive the print page, just go to DGM with the print page and all is done same day.

My Friend First time investor-retiree renewal: now valid for 2 years
Total cost: DGM 16500 pesos and Cedula at JCE 4000 pesos.

XTraveller

 

[Dr_Taylor]

Just for the record, there is no requirement to have $10,000 in the bank to renew investment residency. I assume you have talked to Guzman Ariza attorney and gotten some sort of explanation. But, that requirement is nowhere that I know of.

I just renewed in January and that was not a requirement. I had an average of $2,000 USD in my account during the year.

I read what you posted before and suspect the people in the office may have an issue with whether you are actually a resident or not. You said you are in the country less than six months of the year? Or similar. If there is no activity in your bank account for months at a time, this might raise questions for them.

Also, the people in the office for investment residency are the same this year as two years ago. There are only two people. A man and a woman. So, I don't know who might be making different interpretations.

I wish you luck. Enjoy your next adventure.

Agreed. As I stated previously, one can rationally explain an amount less than USD$10,000. While DGM desires this amount, it is not dispositive. However, as Guzman Ariza so advised me, there needs to be movement in the account every month. DGM may order a movement analysis from the bank that shows some movement each and every month. I had to provide this analysis. I once withdrew USD$15 from an ATM on the last day of a month because I neglected to have movement during that month. The fees from both banks annoyed me; however, the piper had to be paid.

 

[franco1111]

Agreed. As I stated previously, one can rationally explain an amount less than USD$10,000. While DGM desires this amount, it is not dispositive. However, as Guzman Ariza so advised me, there needs to be movement in the account every month. DGM may order a movement analysis from the bank that shows some movement each and every month. I had to provide this analysis. I once withdrew USD$15 from an ATM on the last day of a month because I neglected to have movement during that month. The fees from both banks annoyed me; however, the piper had to be paid.

Usually, the movement analysis is provided by the six months of bank statements. And, the letter from the bank. Both of these are required with your application. The amount they want to see in the account is not specified. XTRaveler explains a very good way to manage the account to show movement every month, what his friend does: "My friend was not in the DR for the complete past 6 months but still had movements in his Bank Popular account (Example: Condo fee's and electricity which he pays online therefor appears every month in his bank statements)."

 

[MelAlcantara]

As you all might be aware the requirements for the applicants with a residency permit under one of the Investment Programs are not the same than a regular residency. This type of residency permits have some benefits and is the DGM intention to see that at least part of the money declared to be qualified is being brought and consumed in the country.

The requirement of showing that you were receiving a pension in the local bank account was not too important before and by showing expenses and the bank account, you were able to renew easily.

The new policy is that if you cannot show monthly movements (around US$1,500.00 for retiree without dependents) you will need to deposit the total amount of 6 months to renew. If you maintain movements in the account and a that balance, you might be able to renew with no problems, because your account will show the same balance.

Unfortunately, at lot of policies are not announced to users with previous notice. You can complete the same process a day before and be changed the next day.

 

[rhanson1]

As someone who just obtained my residency status a month ago and will be faced with renewal in 1 year, I have been following this thread with interest. As a pensioner/retiree I was supposed to get permanent residency status. But my lawyer screwed up the application and I was given temporary residency status instead. It took her 9 months to get this done while my neighbor did the same thing himself without any lawyer in only 4 months. The lawyer that I used was recommended by a number of posters on this forum, so perhaps it is better that I not mention her name because I don't need the inevitable angry responses (and no, it was not Guzman). I could go on and on about the continuous frustrations, incompetence, lies, etc. of working with this lawyer, but suffice it to say that I will not use any lawyer to renew my residency status.

I have found the people working in the Puerto Plata Migracion office to be very helpful, and they explained that I can change my residency status from temporary to permanent at renewal time to correct my lawyer's screw-up by simply submitting a letter with my application to request the change. But after everything that I'm reading on this thread about the new Dominican bank account requirements and other ever-changing requirements for permanent residency, I'm thinking that perhaps I should just forget about the hassle of the permanent residency process and instead just do the relatively simple and inexpensive temporary residence renewals every year. Comments?

 

[cavok]

There is absolutely no need for a lawyer to do a temporary residency renewal. Very simple. I used Guzman for my initial residency and they made it so simple I thought it was well worth it. Took about 2 months.

I can't apply for a permanent yet, but I'm not sure I want to. Sounds like a real PITA. No bank info or medical required for a temporary residency renewal.

 

[rhanson1]

Is there a limit to how many times temporary residence can be renewed before requiring permanent residency? Or can that go on indefinitely?

 

[william webster]

Isn’t the current situation 4 yrs temporary before permanent?

Which isn’t really permanent... it too needs renewal

 

[rhanson1]

Yes, but is the 4 years just a minimum? Or is it also a maximum? And I thought it was 5 years.

 

[rhanson1]

According to the DGM website, the fee for renewing permanent residency is 12,000 plus 4,500 for the medical exam for a total of 16,500. Compare that with the fee for renewing temporary residency of 5,000. The more I think about this, it seems like temporary residency is the cheapest and most hassle-free way to go. Yes, it requires more frequent visits to Santo Domingo, but I can handle that as long as it's only 1 time per year.

 

[cavok]

Yes, but is the 4 years just a minimum? Or is it also a maximum? And I thought it was 5 years.

There's been some confusion on that, but the way I understand it is that you have to be a temporary resident for 5 years before applying for permanent. So, 4 renewals and at the end of your 5th year as temp, you can apply for permanent - which has to be renewed in 4 years.

As far as I know, there is currently no limit on the number of years you can maintain temporary residency. It is not mandatory to apply for permnent residency.

 

[rhanson1]

There's been some confusion on that, but the way I understand it is that you have to be a temporary resident for 5 years before applying for permanent. So, 4 renewals and at the end of your 5th year as temp, you can apply for permanent - which has to be renewed in 4 years.

As far as I know, there is currently no limit on the number of years you can maintain temporary residency. It is not mandatory to apply for permnent residency.

I'm hearing that the 4-year renewal period for permanent residency is now applicable only to investors, and that for retirees/pensioners like me the permanent residency has to be renewed again after the first year, and after that every 2 years. If that is true, then it's another reason why it may make more sense to simply do annual renewals for temporary residency and continue doing that indefinitely. Of course I realize that this could all change by the time my first renewal is due in February of 2020, so I will stay tuned.

 

[cavok]

I'm hearing that the 4-year renewal period for permanent residency is now applicable only to investors, and that for retirees/pensioners like me the permanent residency has to be renewed again after the first year, and after that every 2 years. If that is true, then it's another reason why it may make more sense to simply do annual renewals for temporary residency and continue doing that indefinitely. Of course I realize that this could all change by the time my first renewal is due in February of 2020, so I will stay tuned.

This is one of the problems that is causing a lot of confusion. There are several different types of residencies, "rentista" is another one, they all seem to have different requirements, and many posters don't clearly specifiy exactly what type of residency they are renewing.

I have a friend that retired and moved down here and qualified for permanent residency, jubilado/pensionado, right from the start. He should be finishing soon. It's taken him well over 6 months so far. Even with a lawyer there has been a lot of confusion as to what was needed, some documents expired in the process and he had to get them again. Two flights back to Miami DGM adding to the cost. Once he gets his residency, I'll post how long it is good for.

 

[windeguy]

Just an observation that I have had since I moved here. There is no such thing, really, as "Permanent Residency". There are just versions of temporary residency of different duration. They can call it Permanent or Definitiva if they want to and apply special conditions to getting those, but no version of residency is permanent since they are all subject to renewal. I can only conclude that the word Permanent must means something different in Dominican Spanish that I have yet to discover after living here since 2003. I would never subject myself to having to renew what they now call temporary residency annually. That is how much I hate going to Santo Domingo.

Also keep in mind that any such residency renewal can be denied based upon either your circumstances not meeting their criteria, new rules for residency, or a screw up by DGM. And alas and alack, no more residency for you. One poster just put up his condo and car for sale and announced his DR departure on DR1.

As a few others will point out in various threads on this topic, the only thing you can do that is permanent is to become a citizen. That is my next step after going through a great deal of nonsense with DGM recently.

 

[cavok]

Couldn't agree more about going to SD - torture, pure unmitigated torture. I wouldn't live in SD if you gave me a rent free apartment. Different strokes for different folks.

DGM is trying to "streamline" the process as evidenced by allowing documents to be deposited in their substations as well as doing medicals there and making payment, and now specific dates to go to DGM in SD are being given to try to control how many applicants and renewals show up each day.

Friends and spouses are no longer permitted inside DGM in SD. All of this is a result of tens of thousands of additional residencies that were handed out in the PNRE. I'm hoping that they will be forced to be able to process everything in some few other select cities like Santiago. If that happens, I may never go for permanent residency. For now, I'm just going to wait and see.

 

[william webster]

Friends & Relatives...

t the Citizenship swearing in y"day...
there were as many or more guests than participants...

DGM etc are family events...it seems

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

I have investor residency. It was classified as permanent residency from the outset.

1st year validity for only one year. Renewed every two years after that. The validity period does not appear to increase beyond 2 years.

Can apply for citizenship after six months. Medical only required the first time.

If I was planning on living here for 20 years (I'd probably investigate a classification that progresses from 2 to 4 years and up over time). I'm definitely only here for perhaps one or two more renewals and then we will be leaving. Full coverage health insurance gets quite expensive when one hits age 70 and the DR just does not have the geriatric care that we could potentially be looking for at some point. I am not interested in living in a large population centre so healthcare availability and mobility issues become more of a factor in smaller towns as time goes on.