Tourist Card Extension (I Got It, but Have a Question)

[Cdn_Gringo]

Congrats on the extension. One small step forward...Now we need to see if the result can be duplicated.

To be useful, tourists wishing to stay longer than 30 days should be able to:

1) Deposit their letter of request, any forms and pay any fee at the airport when they arrive.
2) Be given a paper with a phone number they can call in three weeks to see if extension is ready to be picked up.
3) DGM offices in Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, La Romana , SDG and Santiago should be capable of issuing extensions.
4) Every civil servant should be barred from telling clients something will take 15 days, it always takes longer.

 

[william webster]

I understand it that way too...Chris.   ......driving

Valid if legal on a visa or tourist card

 

[windeguy]

If this is true..this would be great for snowbirds!!

And that unicorn of an extension for 60 more days only requires two trips to Santo Domingo about three weeks apart. Easy? Not at all if you are on the north coast. More like 20 hours on a Caribe Tours/Metro bus and at least two wasted days.

Come up with a snowbird visa for 6 months and be done with such nonsense.

 

[windeguy]

Congrats on the extension. One small step forward...Now we need to see if the result can be duplicated.

To be useful, tourists wishing to stay longer than 30 days should be able to:

1) Deposit their letter of request, any forms and pay any fee at the airport when they arrive.
2) Be given a paper with a phone number they can call in three weeks to see if extension is ready to be picked up.
3) DGM offices in Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, La Romana , SDG and Santiago should be capable of issuing extensions.
4) Every civil servant should be barred from telling clients something will take 15 days, it always takes longer.

They would have to figure out how to network their computer systems AND train their staff properly. Not a likely situation here. Just create a 6 month snowbird visa paid for up front and it will magically fix the problem.

Now for those that deny the OP was able to get a visa extension since nobody else ever did before. Or maybe that was granted because they actually are changing their enforcement policy on those who overstay and are using actual laws and not an administrative outside the law work around on those that overstay ? Nah, that would be 2 +2 equaling 4 and we know that is not true here. Just a question. Seems to be some renewed concern on that point as well.

 

[bigbird]

..........Come up with a snowbird visa for 6 months and be done with such nonsense.

Has anyone ever thought maybe, just maybe the DR government doesn't really care one way or another if the snowbirds come. I guess the north coast gets a fair share of snowbirds but here in Santo Domingo snowbirds just don't exist. Bottom line as always, it is their country and let them do as they please. I just don't buy into this snowbird theory they will be missed if they pack up and leave.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

Maybe AE is a sucker for punishment and will try to extend again the next time she does a grocery run into SD. We'll just have to wait for the next report on DR1 of someone successfully getting a tourist card extension.

Agreed, expecting tourists from all over the island to travel to SD twice for this process is a bit unrealistic. Yet 2 days effort out of 90 to avoid any future immigration difficulties, might be worth it for a few.

 

[william webster]

Just treat it as a 'favor' from the Tourism office

As noted here - the group needing this extra time is so minuscule that they deserve little attention

Cab/Sos are impacted more than most....but ....

As Gringo says.... 2 days to get 90 isn't a bad deal

 

[drstock]

Just treat it as a 'favor' from the Tourism office

As noted here - the group needing this extra time is so minuscule that they deserve little attention

Cab/Sos are impacted more than most....but ....

As Gringo says.... 2 days to get 90 isn't a bad deal

The total number of snowbirds here may be relatively small compared with the short-term tourists in Punta Cana, but during the months they are here they contribute a lot to the economy on the north coast. I can't see why introducing 3 or 6 month snowbird visas would be so difficult in terms of administration. It should also bring in more money for the government as it would eliminate the immigration officials pocketing the "fines" they receive as people leave.

 

[cavok]

One only has to look at all the countries that offer 90 and 180 tourist stays, with no requirement for a visa or any extra charge, to see that these countries understand that, regardless how small the number of tourists that might stay that long, having that money come into their economy is a benefit they want to take advantage of.

Apparently, the concept of "free money" coming into country is lost on many posters here. Whether or not it is lost on the DR remains to be seen.

 

[chs1986]

Everyone - Please keep in mind that it remains unclear if this extension is for 30 days or 60 days. One of two answers I got at Migracion was that it was only for 30 days. I am returning today to try and perhaps get my hands on the document to take a few photos of it while they fix the incorrect date on it.

 

[Riva_31]

Everyone - Please keep in mind that it remains unclear if this extension is for 30 days or 60 days. One of two answers I got at Migracion was that it was only for 30 days. I am returning today to try and perhaps get my hands on the document to take a few photos of it while they fix the incorrect date on it.

In my understand of Dominican spanish if you arrived with a turist card that gives you 30 days of stay and you go asking for an extention and they give you 60 days the first 30 days are not included in the extention period because you already get it and you are looking for aditional days not counting the days that the tourist card already gave you.

Based on my personal experience with visas I think the best option for you guys is to come with a turist visa and will explain why.

I visited Argentina last october with VISA, when I arrived my visa expiration date was 25 days after I arrived, the agent made the normal questions where you will stay and how many days, I went for 11 days and she wrote next to the stamp 20 days. 5 days after I arrived I went to Paraguay side passing the border with Iguazu stayed one night there and when I returned to Argentina my visa expiration date was within 19 days and the argentinean agent after check the security on my visa to see if is not fake one and read for a while in her computer and said correcto she finally stamped my passport and wrote on it 90 days even my vista expiration date left 19 days being valid.

So coming with visa will be the most easy way to get straight when you arrive how many days you can stay. Same process apply for people from countries where we ask visas that are not too many but there are some still. if they give you 60 days and you want to stay for 90 so then apply for an extention.

 

[william webster]

The total number of snowbirds here may be relatively small compared with the short-term tourists in Punta Cana, but during the months they are here they contribute a lot to the economy on the north coast. I can't see why introducing 3 or 6 month snowbird visas would be so difficult in terms of administration. It should also bring in more money for the government as it would eliminate the immigration officials pocketing the "fines" they receive as people leave.

Couldn't agree more... a mechanism for longer stay is very necessary.

Just that it is so low on the priority list - it may need to wait to get any attention
If it ever will get that attention

 

[windeguy]

Has anyone ever thought maybe, just maybe the DR government doesn't really care one way or another if the snowbirds come. I guess the north coast gets a fair share of snowbirds but here in Santo Domingo snowbirds just don't exist. Bottom line as always, it is their country and let them do as they please. I just don't buy into this snowbird theory they will be missed if they pack up and leave.

I indeed have thought that snowbirds don't matter at all. And in the scheme of tourism in the DR, they are insignificant, no matter how many of us on the north coast see our friends coming here for the winter as being significant, compared to the short term tourists going to Punta Cana and even the North Coast. I have come to the conclusion that I agree that the government just does not care about the snow bird situation. It is out of sight and out of mind with respect to a government located in Santo Domingo.

Joke: What snowbird in their right mind would choose Santo Domingo to winter over?

 

[bigbird]

...............
Joke: What snowbird in their right mind would choose Santo Domingo to winter over?

Exactly and SD is where the decisions are made so the concerns of snowbirds are not even on the back burner.

I know you don't like SD windy but for people who like big cities and all the things to do SD is a great place. Some find it hard to believe but not everyone wants beach and sand everyday.

 

[bigbird]

Essentially have a miracle granted.

Or marry a Canadian.

So maybe la rep dom can settle the whole matter and make those the requirements for a Canadian to come to la rep dom for six months.

 

[bigbird]

I have residencia by choice because I frown upon illegals in my USA and would not want to be one myself, personal choice.

What is so difficult about getting the 30 day Visa extended to 90. After 90 days take the ferry boat to Puerto Rico for a weekend then return for another 90............?

Truth is i don't think none of this will be necessary as I believe the whole thing will just go away on it's own.... but i could be wrong

 

[william webster]

Just throwing this out there but what does a Dominican have to do in order to go to Canada and stay for six months? ......... i guess a "heatbird", escaping the brutal hot summer of la rep dom

In July Bird....
My house in the DR is cooler than on Lake Huron

90+F almost very day there --- same to less here

Tradewinds here help - on north coast

and BTW... Lake huron days in Jan Feb were warmer than SD nights
Did it break 60F the odd night ... up there -- high in the sky !!??

 

[windeguy]

Just throwing this out there but what does a Dominican have to do in order to go to Canada and stay for six months? ......... i guess a "heatbird", escaping the brutal hot summer of la rep dom

One of the reasons I hate Santo Domingo is the brutal summer heat, yet there are many other reasons. The heat is not so bad on the north coast as others have pointed out.

Having to go to Santo Domingo twice to extend a tourist card is likely to remain the only option for those wanting to legally stay more than 30 days on a tourist card. I am now firmly in the camp that the DR is very unlikely to ever grant longer term snowbird visas. There is just not enough demand for them to create that category of visa.

 

[chs1986]

So I made a copy of the extension letter. Can anyone explain to me how to upload photos that are not URL images?

 

[ju10prd]

So I made a copy of the extension letter. Can anyone explain to me how to upload photos that are not URL images?

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