All ended well and the bottom line is: When ENTERING the country, always check your passport stamp before leaving migraci?n.
The story: I had gone with the plan to stay six months and pay the ?fine? when leaving. I happened to look at my passport about 3 weeks before leaving the DR and discovered that though I had arrived on March 3, 2010 the stamp read ?01 enero 2009.? I had not kept my incoming ticket, however, my passport was just issued in Feb 2010 and this was the ONLY stamp in it. I talked with airport staff and migraci?n at Puerta Plata. They gave me names and phone numbers in case I had problems at Santo Domingo when I left. Didn't need them but then I was at the airport at 5am - who would have been available???
When I got to migraci?n at SDQ, they sent me to a special desk, way back in the corner. The first thing I noticed was that the fees for overstaying were clearly posted ? a large sign on the wall and a smaller one on the counter. Much more ?open information? than I would have expected to find. They took my information then took my passport to check the computer? Couldn?t fine any evidence of my entering the country (on the computer) and after several minutes the final decision was one person saying to another: ?Es adulta madura, y necesitamos creerla? ? She?s a mature adult and we need to believe her. So I paid 1,000 pesos and kept on walking. Yes, pesos ? both dollars and pesos are posted and you can pay with either.
Susan
The story: I had gone with the plan to stay six months and pay the ?fine? when leaving. I happened to look at my passport about 3 weeks before leaving the DR and discovered that though I had arrived on March 3, 2010 the stamp read ?01 enero 2009.? I had not kept my incoming ticket, however, my passport was just issued in Feb 2010 and this was the ONLY stamp in it. I talked with airport staff and migraci?n at Puerta Plata. They gave me names and phone numbers in case I had problems at Santo Domingo when I left. Didn't need them but then I was at the airport at 5am - who would have been available???
When I got to migraci?n at SDQ, they sent me to a special desk, way back in the corner. The first thing I noticed was that the fees for overstaying were clearly posted ? a large sign on the wall and a smaller one on the counter. Much more ?open information? than I would have expected to find. They took my information then took my passport to check the computer? Couldn?t fine any evidence of my entering the country (on the computer) and after several minutes the final decision was one person saying to another: ?Es adulta madura, y necesitamos creerla? ? She?s a mature adult and we need to believe her. So I paid 1,000 pesos and kept on walking. Yes, pesos ? both dollars and pesos are posted and you can pay with either.
Susan