There are no serious short cuts on driving licenses anymore it appears...........there is a process and you go through it...........what really surprised me was that during the time I was at the centre in Santo Domingo I saw no other gringos applying........ mindful of the very serious consequences of having an accident and of not having a Dominican license if you have been here continuously for more than 90 days driving. Perhaps there are a lot driving illegally then.
looking on friends around myself, long time and mid term expats all around, a surprising high number did not care about the drivers license til around spring last year, then some kinda new thinking set in and one after the other went to get the permit. i am still suprised to find long term expats without any paperwork done, no cedula or residency, no drivers license but wife and children and own property. of course a illegal immigration status(like no residency) can get you deported, thats always been that way, it was just not forced. the fact that you have a dominican wife will help a lot, you can even become a DR citizen fairly quick then(some countries like for example germany will take your original citizenship away then), even not married, to have children declared by you as a parent here will help to maybe not get deported on a quick run, but otherwise why should it help to own property if you are illegally here?
are you sure it is 90 days of driving for everybody?
not all countries citizens's are allowed to stay 90 days on a visitor/tourist Visa, and once your visitor visa time is up means your immigrations status switches from cool to illegal, and so does validity of drivers licenses and all that related stuff.
my best buddy is now awaiting to get his residency finally in hands, after years of me crying in his ears to get his stuff done. almost 20 years here, married, daughter, fantastic job, very good monies, but he never bothered to do a thing for the papers, he even had for years his foreign passport expired which became a lil trouble thingy to be done to be finally able to apply for the residency under the Pardon Act for foreigners who are illegally here since a loooog time. he did not need to start the process for residency back home in europe, he could do everything from here.
i dont see where the rules would get any smoother in the near future, the opposite, i would await them to go more strict on finally enforcing their DR rules and Laws, there are always some left at the end who will have a nightmare awaking and then cry out loud for something lost.
i say, if you dont wanna get send back to your country of origin to look for a job and a roof over the head there, then you should have your papers here in the country in orden to be allowed to stay by the DR rules, what ever those rules tell.
Mike