I agree and disagree...after 10 years here, I tend to disconnect my brain and go with the flow. In the beginning I got upset, I tried to change DR and dominicans, but now I usually take a cold one and smile.
sounds like from my own bloodline, ha ha.
correct, thins are like they are, in eachh country, and we foreigners have no right to cry for changes or such.
during the first years down here i had no cedula or residency, it was just the common way to not need that, with the foreign passport you could do any kind of business, immigrations at the airport PUJ never asked for visa overstaying fees or similar, back in that time i passed through that airport quiet often, so many staff members knew me, said hello, til one day long back one lady from immigrations took me aside and explained me that in the near future the documents will be required. that was around 13 years ago. she even offered phonenumbers and direction to get the paperwork done. and she let me leave for my flight and also no hassle to come back in a week later. i contacted some people to get knowledge about the requirements etc and did my first residency with a Lawyer Lady in santo domingo who is til today my lawyer for all kind of things, private and business wise.
time change steadily and everywhere, we alsways should go with the flow and by the way rules are handled in our host country.
in case of residencies that means clearly we have to do that paperwork since a while and there will come the soon day whenthe visitors without a clear visa/residency status will get in trouble for those viaolations.
the DR is handling such very smooth compared to other countries, they start the rules, they handle it flexible, they advise far ahead of time what has to be done and hey,, as long as not getting caught doing something illegal they are still really not forcingly after visa overstayer.
that's nice and friendly and easy,
something i don't wanna see to change, b/c i like it.
cheers from sunny skies at the Majestic Elegance,
the first real sunny day since a week on the east,
ready for mothers day here at the hotel tomorrow.
Mike