My dominican daughter wants to study

Fulano2

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Jun 5, 2011
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We have a situation with the authorities here and I wonder if they are right.
My daughter was born in the DR, went to Belgium when 8 years old. Had her basic school at 12 and almost finished high school in Belgium. She wants to study at a University or at least finish last year bachillerato if necesary. But No, they demand all kind of translations apostilles as if Belgium is in Afrika. In the meantime she hasnt had any schooling u till I go back to get the paperwork done .
My question is...isthis right. She is dominican and belgian, speaks both languages fluently. 
 

Auryn

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Apr 22, 2012
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It may be helpful to know where in the DR you are located, and also if this is a public or private school. There are several quality private schools here that follow strict policies and use American or even U.K. curricula. Regardless, they would likely request her academic record at least. As a teacher, having information about a student's background helps tremendously to determine how I can best meet their needs; be that high or low learning abilities.   If they didn't ask for this I may question the school administration.  What types of documents are they requesting besides her academic record? If her records were
 in English, they might not ask for the translation but I don't believe there are any Flemish, Dutch or German language based schools here hence that request. 
 

Fulano2

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She is 17 now and has 5 years of secondary education and would have started her last year las september. They demand her records from several years, translated a raison 1500 pesos a page, stamps from the DR consulate, apostille from the belgian ministery of education. 
 

bob saunders

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She is 17 now and has 5 years of secondary education and would have started her last year las september. They demand her records from several years, translated a raison 1500 pesos a page, stamps from the DR consulate, apostille from the belgian ministery of education. 

Yes and the records have to be taken to Santo Domingo and she has to be registered into the Dominican education database, given a student number...etc. We have had American kids, Spanish kids, A chinese kid....etc that all had to go through this process. Since your daughter already attended school in the DR ( I ASSUME THIS) only her records, translated and certified would be required.
 

sanpedrogringo

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Yes and the records have to be taken to Santo Domingo and she has to be registered into the Dominican education database, given a student number...etc. We have had American kids, Spanish kids, A chinese kid....etc that all had to go through this process. Since your daughter already attended school in the DR ( I ASSUME THIS) only her records, translated and certified would be required.

Senor Saunders, can you provide some insight into the Dominican education database, specifically regarding the student number you mentioned? Are all students entered into the system, and issued a number, and if so, at what age/grade do they begin doing this?
 

bob saunders

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Students are registered at age five so if a child from another country starts school in the DR they are registered into the system and given a student number. The school enters the child into the system on the computer. The student number sticks with you throughout your education, just like a Cedula. A birth certificate from a country is required to register.
We have a girl currently in grade six that was found abandoned ( new born) by Haitians. The woman that unofficially adopted her has never gone through the process of trying to officially adopt her/ lie about her birth...etc. The girl is very smart and uses the woman's last name but until this woman finds a way to register her birth she doesn't exist in the school system. I fear for her future but it's out of my hands.
 

santa110xyz

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Oct 25, 2005
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We have a situation with the authorities here and I wonder if they are right.
My daughter was born in the DR, went to Belgium when 8 years old. Had her basic school at 12 and almost finished high school in Belgium. She wants to study at a University or at least finish last year bachillerato if necesary. But No, they demand all kind of translations apostilles as if Belgium is in Afrika. In the meantime she hasnt had any schooling u till I go back to get the paperwork done .
My question is...isthis right. She is dominican and belgian, speaks both languages fluently. 

Yes it is right! they request all this. Not her nationality is asked here, her student history and grades. Anything what comes from outside of DR they request a translation and legalization of the consulate. All documents will be registered in SD at the Ministry of Education.
 

miguel james

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Nov 6, 2012
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I understand you have an issue to deal with! However, your Afrika comment lost me. Really?!  Anyone who just step of a boat realize instantly that Dominican Republic its "Paradise" even Dominicans.
 

Julia31

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I dont know your story but why the hell did u leave Belgium without her finishing her education? It would have only been a year more
 

bob saunders

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That's right Bob but my point is that she is Dominican not spanish or chinese

We have a numbers of children that have transitioned back and forth from the USA and Spain, as well as several other countries. The school records are required in all cases. I assume your daughter was already registered in school in the DR prior to going to Belgium. When we moved to Canada my stepson had to have his school records brought and translated as well.

I will ask my neighbour what process she had to do as her son was born in Italy, registered as a Dominican , but never attended school here until he was 17. I am sure she had to get all his records from Italy.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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I dont know your story but why the hell did u leave Belgium without her finishing her education? It would have only been a year more

A great question.

And to the OP: Get the records they want. You have to do that.
 

Dolores1

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As said above nationality has nothing to do with it. Follow the instructions by the Ministry of Education for her education here to be valid. 

My son, Dominican-born, studied all his life in the Dominican Republic until he did 10th grade in a "Scientific High School" in Italy as an exchange student. He had to bring all his school records from Italy, have them translated and approved by the Italian Embassy here and then he had to take missing subjects from the Dominican curriculum and pass tests for these at a public school for them to validate his year abroad. And that was about 10 years ago. 
 

Cdn_Gringo

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In this case as well as many other Dominican processes - I see no problem with suppling the necessary records or documents. School records, birth certificates etc. I can even understand the desire to have these records translated into Spanish. However, I do think that the DR has gone Apostille crazy. 

For the most significant processes such as citizenship, residency and foreign criminal record checks, sure, but for school records? How many budding geniuses are going to commit academic fraud to bolster their GPA to get into a school in this country? If it was easier to do for people already here in the DR I might not care quite so much. Getting something apostilled is a pain in the tush from within the DR. In some cases, it's just an unnecessary complication to an already onerous set of bureaucratic requirements that adds time, expense and needlessly complicates what could otherwise be a fairly straight forward process. Apostilled documents have their place and purpose, but not every document that originates off islands needs that extra level of certification just because...
 

bob saunders

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In this case as well as many other Dominican processes - I see no problem with suppling the necessary records or documents. School records, birth certificates etc. I can even understand the desire to have these records translated into Spanish. However, I do think that the DR has gone Apostille crazy. 

For the most significant processes such as citizenship, residency and foreign criminal record checks, sure, but for school records? How many budding geniuses are going to commit academic fraud to bolster their GPA to get into a school in this country? If it was easier to do for people already here in the DR I might not care quite so much. Getting something apostilled is a pain in the tush from within the DR. In some cases, it's just an unnecessary complication to an already onerous set of bureaucratic requirements that adds time, expense and needlessly complicates what could otherwise be a fairly straight forward process. Apostilled documents have their place and purpose, but not every document that originates off islands needs that extra level of certification just because...

Legalization is all Apostille is, and schools in Canada require sealed records to be sent from the institution you attended regardless of the county, even if you are going fom one province to another. If the DR government , which centralizes most government services and requirements in the capital there is nothing that can be done. It is just the hoops you have to jump through. I agree it is really frustrating , as I have just experienced the aggravation with aquiring Dominican citizenship. It makes one appreciate the professionalism of Candian civil servants.