Mango, you need to do this your way and after taking onboard the advice offered by as many people as you possibly can, don't listen to all of it, some is BS, I figure you've guessed this already.
A Guzman are a very good sound company but not the cheapest, here is an email recently forwarded to me by a friend going as you are right now, he was quite concerned by the costs involved as to other quotes he had.
On October 19th, 2011, the President of the Dominican Republic passed the Decree that establishes the regulations for the Immigration Law, which is supposed to be enforced immediately. The Immigration Law establishes a procedure that its different from the one described below; however, the process to obtain Dominican residency, as of today, remains as described below, but for the reason explained, the process might change or new documents might be requested at any given time.
Obtaining residency in the Dominican Republic usually is a two-step procedure. First, the foreign applicant must obtain provisional resident status, valid for one year from the date the applicant receives his or her residency card, renewable once every year for five years; then, upon expiration of the fifth year of the provisional residency, an application must be filed for permanent residence status. Once obtained, permanent residency must be renewed every two years. Given that Mr. Capayrou is married to a Dominican, he can obtain provisional residency and apply for citizenship directly after 6 months.
Requirements for Dominican residency are easily met by anybody in good health, drug-free and with a clean police record. The time involved in obtaining provisional residency is usually six months from the time the application is filed. This time estimate assumes that all required documents have been provided and authenticated.
Fees and expenses for the residency process are as follows: $1425 for provisional residency, payable 70% in advance and the balance upon obtaining the applied-for status. Legal fees in the Dominican Republic are subject to a 16% service tax, and US$750 plus 16%service tax for the naturalization. The fees are payable 70% in advance and the balance upon obtaining the particular status requested. For example, for the provisional residency, Mr. Capayrou would pay US$997.50 plus service tax upon retaining us and the balance (US$427.50 + service tax) upon obtaining your provisional residency. Total cost for this process is US$2,523.00 per person, including the 16% service tax. These fees do not include translation or legalization expenses.
To begin the residency process, the applicant must travel to the Dominican Republic with the following documents:
(a) Residency Visa, issued by the Dominican Consulate of the country of origin or from the closest country with a Dominican Consulate. You can't apply for this from the Dominican Republic. If the applicant is already in the Dominican Republic without this Residency Visa, he will have to fly back before you can apply for residency.
(b) Original or certified copy of the birth certificate, Apostilled in the country where it was issued or authenticated at the Dominican Consulate nearest to the place of issue of the document. If such country is a party of the Hague Convention, the authentication with the Apostille is mandatory.
c) Original or certified copy of the marriage certificate, Apostilled in the country where it was issued or authenticated at the Dominican Consulate nearest to the place of issue of the document, if two spouses are applying together. If such country is a party of the Hague Convention, the authentication with the Apostille is mandatory.
(d) Passport of the applicant (with the visa stamp, and the stamp of his entrance into the Dominican Republic).
(e) A certificate of no criminal record from the authorities in the applicant's country of origin or, if the applicant has been residing outside his country of origin for five years or more, from the authorities in the applicant's country of residence. The certificate should be Apostilled in the country where it was issued or authenticated at the Dominican Consulate nearest to the place of issue of the document. If such country is a party of the Hague Convention, the authentication with the Apostille is mandatory.
(f) Eight pictures (2" by 2"), four front and four profile, white background required, accessories such as earrings or sunglasses not allowed.
All documents issued in a foreign language must be translated to Spanish and legalized. If the translation was completed by you, then it must be Apostilled in the country where it was translated or authenticated at the Dominican Consulate nearest to the place where the document was translated. If such country is a party of the Hague Convention, the authentication with the Apostille is mandatory. On the other hand, if you request the translation from us, we will need approximately 5 working days (before the medical tests) to complete the translation and the required legalization of our translation.
All residency applications are done through our Santo Domingo office since the immigration authorities are based there. At the first meeting in our office, the applicant will provide our attorney or paralegal with the documents listed above. The passport will be returned to the applicant immediately after being photocopied.
The first phase of the provisional residency consists of medical tests (blood sample, urine sample and chest x-rays) at a government-designated location. The Immigration Department requires that these tests are preauthorized. Once the authorization has been granted, our firm will schedule the medical appointment for the following business day, when the applicant will meet a paralegal at our firm who will take him personally to the location where the tests are performed. The appointment time for residencies at our office is 8:30 a.m. At that time the applicant will meet a paralegal who will review the file with him. At approximately 9:00 a.m. he will depart with the paralegal for the medical tests, which take approximately three to four hours, including waiting and travel time.
As a part of these medical tests preauthorization, the same day scheduled we must provide the Immigration Department with the applicant's original birth certificate duly translated to Spanish and legalized. If the translation was completed by you, then it must be Apostilled in the country where it was translated or authenticated at the Dominican Consulate nearest to the place where the document was translated. If such country is a party of the Hague Convention, the authentication with the Apostille is mandatory. On the other hand, if you request the translation from us, we will need approximately 5 working days (before the medical tests) to complete the translation and the required legalization of our translation.
After the medical tests, we will prepare the documentation to submit your application to the Immigration Department. This phase normally takes ten to fifteen days. In addition to documents (a) to (e) listed above, we will file in your behalf:
1. A notarized letter of guarantee from a Dominican person or corporation.
2. A Power of Attorney.
3. An affidavit regarding the solvency of the guarantor backed by evidence of solvency such as bank deposits, property titles, etc.
4. A certificate of good behavior from the Dominican authorities.
5. Completed application forms.
It should be noted that all originals filed with the application become part of the government file and will not be returned to the applicant.
Once the application is filed, attorneys have no knowledge of the internal processing at the Immigration Department or at other entities (such as Interpol), unless the application has been approved or rejected, or more information is required on the applicant (for example, when an individual with the same name appears on a international criminal records database).
We will contact you promptly when a decision has been made on your application. If approved, your presence will be required in Santo Domingo in order to receive your residency card and c?dula (the Dominican national I.D. card). Upon obtaining the provisional residency, you will have a 6-month period during which you can bring your household goods into the Dominican Republic duty free.
As for translations and legalizations I can send you an authorised translators address in Gazcue, santo Domingo, they charge RD750 per document/birth certificate etc, which is next to nothing, you can take it to be legalised yourself, like I say, make a friends if you struggle with the lingo. A bi- lingual friend can save you a fortune in time and money.
Yes Guzman is not the cheapest option out there but they have a good reputation for getting things done. Even so, at that price it would certainly not be my choice, but I speak Spanish and my wife is Dominican, maybe if this was not the case, no Spanish and no Dominican wife I would consider paying the premium of Guzman, just to be sure it was done first time and correctly.
I'll give you my opinion about going to and from Sosua to do this process, seems bizarre, it usually works the other way. There are plenty of lawyers to help you out in Santo Domingo. You have plenty of time to sort this out once there, try and find some good solid people, you could do worse than people from here, most people are known through others somehow down the DR1 tree and so if they are fools and con artists you will find out at some point, and if they are idiots then you will be steered away by reputation. People will point you in the right direction, just take your time, never jump into anything involving finances, more so in DR than as you can bet your hat, something better will crop up, breath before parting with money, it doesn't go far in DR.
You'll be fine, so good luck and enjoy yourself, although for how long in Boca, hmmm?
