Has anyone gone through the process? if so how long did it take? can you explain you experience of the process, your hiccups and where you stumbled along the way to becoming a Dominican Citizen. I have just completed 1 yrs perm residence and I am about to apply for the citizenship.
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Dominican citizenship through marriage to a Dominican anyone applied for it?
Yes I went through it. On the one hand it is not difficult but on the other the Ministry of Interior and Police is appalling at explaining, appalling at communication and excellent at stalling. They change the rules all the time, don't tell you and don't update the website. Having said that I have just checked and the website is updated and there are now even more requirements! http://www.mip.gob.do/images/naturalizacion/Requisitos/requisitos matrimonio.pdf
When I was there once, waiting for an interview, the receptionist was answering the phone constantly. She was obviously being asked about progress by applicants. She would say, please hold the line, go back to playing candy crush on her cellphone, not ask anyone and then say, we are still awaiting paperwork, call back in 2 months. Same answer to everyone.
There is a new director, who I don't know. It took me 3 years as waiting for an Interpol report which never arrived as it was never requested. When I was sworn in a year ago I was told they were back to a 6 month timeframe. Advice is to go through the list of requirements in detail and get them all exactly as needed.Don't do the foreign birth certs etc too far in advance as I think they still need to be under 6 months. The Ministry like to see both parties and from what I can tell are not very fond of Lawyers, preferring to deal with the actual applicants. If you have any specific questions feel free to pm me.
Matilda
When I was there once, waiting for an interview, the receptionist was answering the phone constantly. She was obviously being asked about progress by applicants. She would say, please hold the line, go back to playing candy crush on her cellphone, not ask anyone and then say, we are still awaiting paperwork, call back in 2 months. Same answer to everyone.
There is a new director, who I don't know. It took me 3 years as waiting for an Interpol report which never arrived as it was never requested. When I was sworn in a year ago I was told they were back to a 6 month timeframe. Advice is to go through the list of requirements in detail and get them all exactly as needed.Don't do the foreign birth certs etc too far in advance as I think they still need to be under 6 months. The Ministry like to see both parties and from what I can tell are not very fond of Lawyers, preferring to deal with the actual applicants. If you have any specific questions feel free to pm me.
Matilda
I am still going through it. I had to apply for a RS visa at the consulate and when I arrived in Santiago they say my documents are not sufficient, after I was assured at the consulate that they were. To make things worse the RS visa is only valid for one entry and I could not go back and get the documents. In this case the requested paper was a antecedentes penalesm a rap sheet. If anyone tells you that the state police one works, well they pulled that on me and it does not work once you arrive here. If you are USA you need the FBI one, and there is a cottage industry of channelers who you can pay to channel your request and get the document; then it must be apostilled, by the US State Department and they take forever to get off their asses and do work, unless the document is brought in by somebody, so guess what: another business opportunity http://www.usauthentication.com/index.php and you get the document in time before your RS visa expires. Presently I am fed up but if I give up, that is what they want. Check out my video about this: https://youtu.be/6fJilgPg4QY
I went through the process and am now a citizen. Like Matilda says the only real hiccup was the interpol police report. I ended up getting the RCMP police report from Canada and that was accepted, after getting it legalized/certified by the Canadian embassy and official translated and stamped by the Dominican Foreign Services ( in Santo Domingo).
The whole process is a big pain.. you know where. As Mathilda said it takes time and patience. You have to go to Interior & Policia, submit your documents based on the requisitos and they will tell you if it's ok or if there's something missing. When your file is " in process", it may take up to 6 months, maybe more. Then they call you for the interview and test. This is the government, cannot expect things to go smoothly or fast. Good luck.
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Update: On 27 September 2018 my lawyer contacted Migración in Santiago and was told the residencia would be available in Santo Domingo de Guzmán, so we went there on 28 September 2018, hung around until finally they gave us the expediente for the cédula and we jumped into a taxi and rode across town to the Junta Central Electoral and I got my cédula! and we returned to Migración and hung around until after 16:00 closing when they said the expediente for the residencia temporal still was not signed and so they could not take my photo again, but at least I get to show off my cédula proudly, and my lawyer says the number never changes. BTW unlike Social Security numbers, the cédula number also gets broadcast publicly. A USA person probably would not like it if a newspaper legal notice about him or her also included the Social Security number, because unforgivably sloppy bank practice allows people to rattle off your details to a banker over the telephone or internet and get mailed a credit card with you name on it.
Thanks for your response to my post, Could you tell me what were the questions you were asked in the interview regarding your knowledge of Spanish and the history of DR, how many questions were asked?
The questions and answers are on a sticky in the Residents forum https://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/154985-Citizenship. Not sure if you have to ask for access. However, it used to be on the website but now it isnt so it may be different. Can't see it will be that different though. The exam was oral and is now written.
if you want the old list of 40 odd questions and answers pm me your email - when you have 10 posts!
Matilda
if you want the old list of 40 odd questions and answers pm me your email - when you have 10 posts!
Matilda
I don't know if things have changed but when I applied four or five years ago, I hit a problem. I passed all the questions and the language test only to discover that the cedula would have to be issued in the last name on my birth certificate i.e. my father's name. As I had been married before I married my Dominican husband and still use that last name, this would have caused me to have to change my name back to my maiden name (the name on my birth certificate) in order for all my documents to line up. There may have been a way to do that it but I abandoned the process as it just seemed too complicated. Just be aware of this if you use a last name that is different to that on your birth certificate.
I am a little confused about this discussion. I have been married to a Dominican for about ten years now. We have a home in Santo Domingo. I have been a permanent resident long enough to be about to have to renew my cedula for the third time now. Can I become a D.R. citizen simply by submitting paperwork without having to go through a lengthy naturalization process. I am familiar with the process of dispensing the proper "propina" to help move the process along.
Theres really no short cuts. You just need to go through the process. As the requirements are always changing go to the Ministerio de Policia y Interior thats in the Huacal and speak to the lady there. They will indicate what you need. Its then a case of getting the documents together and submitting. I did it without a lawyer and I had to get some original documents from the UK but in the end it was not too difficult. Probably took me a year total. Best to do it when your Residencia is valid or you will be charged over stay when you go out.
The various Ministries in this country do love their processes. If you wish to obtain citizenship you will need to apply and go through "the process" just like everyone else.
The propinas and shortcuts of yesteryear are little more than avenues leading to complications further downtown road these days. Current accounts suggest irregularities in immigration files (like missing documents) can be flagged when checked later on such as when you apply for a DR passport - then you'd have to start again.
If you are going to start such a process, it's probably best to buy piece of mind by withholding the proprina(s) and just jump through the hoops. Purchasing VIP service these days doesn't seem to have much effect on the overall time required start to finish.
The propinas and shortcuts of yesteryear are little more than avenues leading to complications further downtown road these days. Current accounts suggest irregularities in immigration files (like missing documents) can be flagged when checked later on such as when you apply for a DR passport - then you'd have to start again.
If you are going to start such a process, it's probably best to buy piece of mind by withholding the proprina(s) and just jump through the hoops. Purchasing VIP service these days doesn't seem to have much effect on the overall time required start to finish.
Well I guess what I'm really asking is can I become a citizen by virtue of my marriage without having to become expert at Dominican culture and history and be able to answer all those questions in Spanish. Can I skip the interview? I am retired and my ultimate plan is to become a citizen but there is no urgency, I am just always looking for the easy way out.
You don't have to be an expert just learn the questions and answers in Spanish. You do need to submit all of the required paperwork which is on the Ministry of Interior and Police website - I can't give you the link as the page is down atm.
The questions they ask you are a joke. One of the questions was who is the president of the DR. You are given possible questions before so its easy to be prepared. Basically they are general knowledge questions of the DR. No prob there. If you own assets here and have basic spanish then you should be OK.
