I haven't found a lot of information on here about Rentista visas, so I thought I'd share my experience.
This visa comes under the Investor Residency category - there are other sub-classes within Investor including an Investor who is setting up a business, and Pensioner with retirement income from abroad. To get the Rentista, you need to show that you get a monthly income from abroad for renting out property. In my case I have a few buy-to-let properties in the UK, so this visa made sense.
There is a team of really helpful (yes seriously) staff in immigration who look after you if you're interested in this visa. I would recommend that you go and see them for advice. You just go to immigration, hand in your ID to get an entry card, turn right and head for the glass doors. tell the security guard you are going to see Inversionistas and he waves you through, then its the second door on the right. Very comfortable office, never anyone waiting, nothing like the mayhem in the rest of the building.
To get the visa initially, I had to supply a copy of a rental agreement for a property, a statement showing that I had received the rent from the letting agent, and a bank statement. The first two had to be notarised and then apostilled in the UK before they could be used - this just involved going to a notary with the original of these documents, getting them notarised and then sending them to the apostille service to have them legalised. The first time you get this visa you need a medical - at least I did, but this may have changed.
Renewing this visa is extremely easy. All you need is a standard letter from your bank (here) saying you have an account, no information on balances or income required. You need a buena conducta from the Procuraderia which I got from their office on Gomez and Bolivar. This is literally all you need to renew. There is a very basic form you fill in, you stay in your seat and they go backwards and forwards to the Caja to handle the payments. Then they take your photos and you're renewed for 2 years. The whole renewal took one single visit and I was there for exactly one hour and walked out with my residency. I paid RD$7,500 for the renewal. Best of all there is no medical for renewals of these visas. I had been quoted US$1400 by a lawyer to handle the renewal, but I'm pleased I went myself, the process was very very easy and certainly nothing that you need to pay someone to help you with.
There are quite a lot of advantages of this type of residency over "standard" residency, especially if you have assets abroad. With normal residency, you can be taxed here in DR on foreign investment income, but with the Rentista visa you are only taxed on Dominican income. And there are additional tax breaks on properties you purchase here. So I'd thoroughly recommend this type of residency as something to think about if you think you qualify.
This visa comes under the Investor Residency category - there are other sub-classes within Investor including an Investor who is setting up a business, and Pensioner with retirement income from abroad. To get the Rentista, you need to show that you get a monthly income from abroad for renting out property. In my case I have a few buy-to-let properties in the UK, so this visa made sense.
There is a team of really helpful (yes seriously) staff in immigration who look after you if you're interested in this visa. I would recommend that you go and see them for advice. You just go to immigration, hand in your ID to get an entry card, turn right and head for the glass doors. tell the security guard you are going to see Inversionistas and he waves you through, then its the second door on the right. Very comfortable office, never anyone waiting, nothing like the mayhem in the rest of the building.
To get the visa initially, I had to supply a copy of a rental agreement for a property, a statement showing that I had received the rent from the letting agent, and a bank statement. The first two had to be notarised and then apostilled in the UK before they could be used - this just involved going to a notary with the original of these documents, getting them notarised and then sending them to the apostille service to have them legalised. The first time you get this visa you need a medical - at least I did, but this may have changed.
Renewing this visa is extremely easy. All you need is a standard letter from your bank (here) saying you have an account, no information on balances or income required. You need a buena conducta from the Procuraderia which I got from their office on Gomez and Bolivar. This is literally all you need to renew. There is a very basic form you fill in, you stay in your seat and they go backwards and forwards to the Caja to handle the payments. Then they take your photos and you're renewed for 2 years. The whole renewal took one single visit and I was there for exactly one hour and walked out with my residency. I paid RD$7,500 for the renewal. Best of all there is no medical for renewals of these visas. I had been quoted US$1400 by a lawyer to handle the renewal, but I'm pleased I went myself, the process was very very easy and certainly nothing that you need to pay someone to help you with.
There are quite a lot of advantages of this type of residency over "standard" residency, especially if you have assets abroad. With normal residency, you can be taxed here in DR on foreign investment income, but with the Rentista visa you are only taxed on Dominican income. And there are additional tax breaks on properties you purchase here. So I'd thoroughly recommend this type of residency as something to think about if you think you qualify.