Residency renewal problems

Bok

New member
Mar 13, 2004
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It's time for my biannual renewal of residency, so I made the trip to SD. Bought the 100 pesos application form at window 10, filled it in, handed it back and was told to wait until my name was called. All working as usual.

During the 40 minutes I waited for my name to be called I noticed how smooth things were rolling for the people in front of me. After their name was called they took their documents to window 3, paid the 1000 pesos renewal fee and most likely the 4000 pesos VIP fee, because they were called for photo session almost immediately after. "Good news", I thought, "I may be out of here in less than an hour if things go that way for me too." And why shouldn't they. I've done this before, no biggie.....

My name was called and I went to window 9 to pick up my form. "There's problem," the man said. "You are not in our system." Had I by any chance the papers I used to apply for residency in the first place. The answer to that was "No. That was 8 years ago. I'm pretty sure they are lost. But how come I'm not in the system? I have the residency card which I renewed 2 years ago without any problems." That he agreed to, then told me to come back in a month or two!

There was nothing more I could do so I went back home to Punta Cana. But now I'm thinking: If I'm not in the system today, what would make me show up in the system in a month or two? I would hate to make the trip again just to be told to wait another month or two.
Is there anyone here who had this experience?
 

Ringo

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Mar 6, 2003
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My wife and I renewed ours a couple of months ago. In the past we would send our residency ID, from Sosua, to our immigration attorney in S.D. and he would send back the new ones. However, the law has changed again requiring us to be there. We had no problem but we did have our attorney do all the running around. No problem other than the printer breaking down so we had to return several hours later. Ours had another month or so before expiration.

While waiting, we ran into a friend getting hers renewed. She has had her residency for over 10 years but it had expired a few months ago. She had used an attorney to begin with but had not for the last couple of renewals. She got the same story as yours. She is not in the system and was told that she needed to start from the very beginning OR get an attorney.

We then ran into another woman that got the same treatment as our friend. Her residency had not yet expired and had done this herself several times. She is not in the system and needed to start over.

Don’t know what to tell you. You asked so I answered with what I know first hand. Two at the same place and same time with the same problem. I don’t know what our friend did or if she got her renewed residency. I’ll try to find out and get back to you.

Good luck.
 

Caz

New member
May 15, 2004
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Bok and Ringo - a similar thing seems to be happening to us. After a number of renewals, we have now been informed that we are not in the system and that our file has been lost. Do I see a pattern here??? I would be VERY interested to hear how your friend resolved the problem Ringo.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
18,948
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That is funny! I have been in the system since '62 and they have my original photos there....!!!

I was worried once when they said that the files had been tampered with and lots of photos were destroyed, but nothing came of that.

I'll worry about it when I have to renew my residency in 2019...or so...

HB
 

Ringo

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Mar 6, 2003
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As I promised a few days ago; if I learned anything that I would get back to you.

Our friend could not get hold of her original attorney of over 10 years ago. He would/should have her original files with all renewals that he had handled.

She called another attorney and she was told that she would have to start all over applying for her Temp. residency. U.S. $1000 for the temp.

She then called our attorney and she was to send him a photo copy of her expired card and he would look into it.

Our attorney called us later as a thank you for the referral. He said that it was a big problem with false I.D.s in the last few years and the new head of the Dept. is trying to clean it up. One reason that everyone now has to apply in person now. We asked if this problem existed 10 years ago he said no and didn’t know why she has the problem.

Another problem is that the gov. has been taking all the paper files and entering/scanning the info into computers. With so many files to enter, how many have been entered incorrectly or with a page folded over? Not sure what happens to the original files but I’d bet that finding an individual one is close to impossible.

Though we have never had a problem using our attorney, we will request a full copy of our files of our own and put them in the safe.

Sorry that I cannot give provide you with any direct solution. If I learn more then I’ll let you know.

I think that Guzman Ariza handles immigration issues and since they are DR1 advisors, you might try them.

Good luck.
 

DR Mpe

Banned
Mar 31, 2003
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He said that it was a big problem with false I.D.s in the last few years and the new head of the Dept. is trying to clean it up. One reason that everyone now has to apply in person now. We asked if this problem existed 10 years ago he said no and didn’t know why she has the problem.

Last few years meaning? 3 6 8 years ago?Was this in the Hippo era? Personally I just think it is BS and they just need to collect some money before Hippo replaces them.
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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Last few years meaning? 3 6 8 years ago?Was this in the Hippo era? Personally I just think it is BS and they just need to collect some money before Hippo replaces them.

No, it has been known for some time that a lot of people were holding false residency cards. For the most part these are people who shopped around until they found the cheapest attorney available. If you look in the archives you will see posts going back for years warning people who wrote asking about an attorney not to use one of the cheapos because they would likely end up with a false residency.

People who used attorneys like Guzman paid more at the time, but they are not having to redo the residency process now.
 

DR Mpe

Banned
Mar 31, 2003
1,191
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No, it has been known for some time that a lot of people were holding false residency cards. For the most part these are people who shopped around until they found the cheapest attorney available. If you look in the archives you will see posts going back for years warning people who wrote asking about an attorney not to use one of the cheapos because they would likely end up with a false residency.

People who used attorneys like Guzman paid more at the time, but they are not having to redo the residency process now.

What is the definition of a false residency card? We went to the office in Santo Domingo, had photos, blood test etc. taken. Are you referring to people that did not go in person?
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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What is the definition of a false residency card? We went to the office in Santo Domingo, had photos, blood test etc. taken. Are you referring to people that did not go in person?

A false residency card is one that an attorney got without going through the proper process and paying all the fees, etc.

You have a card but there is no support for it in the official records.

This is not rare, unfortunately.

The attorney you pay to get your residency is responsible for getting you a valid residency, that is what you paid for.

Why not post in the Legal section, explaining that you paid an attorney to get your residency and now you find out that it is not legal, that you have to go through the process again, and ask what you can do to make the attorney you used get you the legal residency you paid for or return your money.
 

DR Mpe

Banned
Mar 31, 2003
1,191
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A false residency card is one that an attorney got without going through the proper process and paying all the fees, etc.

You have a card but there is no support for it in the official records.

This is not rare, unfortunately.

The attorney you pay to get your residency is responsible for getting you a valid residency, that is what you paid for.

Why not post in the Legal section, explaining that you paid an attorney to get your residency and now you find out that it is not legal, that you have to go through the process again, and ask what you can do to make the attorney you used get you the legal residency you paid for or return your money.

Well I do think I have a "legal" one (recently renewed my cedula), but really this is just BS. The need money now that they probably get kicked out of office. And "official records". Can it get more "official" than going to the actual office sitting in front of the camera, computer etc.
 

Bok

New member
Mar 13, 2004
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Ringo, thanks for the insights.

I'm just still wondering if anyone were told to come back after a couple of months and then: "Tadah! We found your record."

The scanning process could be the reason for the 'lost' record and somebody would need a couple of months to go through the old paper records to locate my file. I know, I know, I'm the eternal optimist......

However I do know that my residency is legal since I used Guzman & Ariza to get it. And I did renew it on my own without problems 2 years ago (guess you can't do that with a fake).
I'll try to call Guzman later to get their advice.
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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495
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Well I do think I have a "legal" one (recently renewed my cedula), but really this is just BS. The need money now that they probably get kicked out of office. And "official records". Can it get more "official" than going to the actual office sitting in front of the camera, computer etc.

What does the attorney you used say?
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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495
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However I do know that my residency is legal since I used Guzman & Ariza to get it. And I did renew it on my own without problems 2 years ago (guess you can't do that with a fake).
I'll try to call Guzman later to get their advice.

I would definitely call them as soon as possible. They may have papers in their case file that would be of help, perhaps even duplicates.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Sorry to hear about this, Bok. I would have a full blown gringo public meltdown if that happened to me.
 

Ringo

On Vacation!
Mar 6, 2003
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Our friend sent a copy to the attorney that we recommended. He admits that he did very little. He called us and said that he has worked very hard for many years building good relationships and trust. With so many new people at the residency offices he was having to do it again. So he did not want to show up with a possible fake ID and have suspicion on himself. I can understand his reluctance.

He advised our friend to find her original attorney, that seems to have vanished, or start all over again at the beginning.

I will correct one thing that I learned from our friend. This last time was the first time that she went to renew by herself. Her attorney always did it before.

I wish that I could be more encouraging, but that’s all I have.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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The question is - what are they going to do about it? Make everyone go through the expense and lengthy process again?
 

DR Mpe

Banned
Mar 31, 2003
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"My finger clicked on "Format C. It's not my fault, the finger did it". I do not recommend anyone to work with their residency now. Wait until Hippo and his people enters office. Hey if u do something now, it might be new rules in a year." No tenemos la culpa. e pa lante k vamos.