UK Visa requirements

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kirstyb

New member
Jan 11, 2004
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Will be visiting DR in June, and am a bit confused about the visa requirments.

Foreign office say you can get a visa before, or a tourist pass on arrival for $10.

so do I need to do anything before i go, or just sort it out when i get there?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
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Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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No need to get a visa, just buy the tourist card on arrival at the airport. Check with your tour company or airline, they might include it in the deal.

See also which vaccinations you need, but don't listen to them if they say you need malaria pills!

Buen viaje!

Chiri
 
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Dominican Babe

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Dec 9, 2002
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Whether you get it before you travel, or when you arrive, it is the same tourist card. It's perfectly simple to get it on arrival - just follow everyone else off the plane, join the queue and pay your US$10 per person, fill out the green card they give you, and away you go! Easy!

I think the current recommendation for jabs is Hepatitis A/B, Typhoid, Tetanus and Polio. You may well already be covered for Tetanus and Polio, but check with your doctor. None of the jabs are compulsory, they are merely recommendations. Unless you are travelling independently and staying off the beaten track you don't even need them. Lots of people I know have been without any jabs and no problems.

Your doctor will also recommend malaria tablets. Chiri is right, you don't need them.

Enjoy your trip.
 
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ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
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Vaccinations

Dominican Babe said:

I think the current recommendation for jabs is Hepatitis A/B, Typhoid, Tetanus and Polio. You may well already be covered for Tetanus and Polio, but check with your doctor.
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Remember Hep A and B is a 6 month program (the B part is 0,1 and 6 months as a series) , so if you are leaving soon and since the most likely infection is Hep A from bad hygiene, get that shot at least as it takes effect quickly (immune globulin is immediate but short lived).

Most adults' Polio vaccination is way out of date and there is a minor Polio risk in the DR so that's a must, plus Tetanus (regardless of where you are). Once per 10 years or so.

I think the risk of typhoid is close to non-existent in the DR and I would not do that one.

If you are easily bothered by Turista there is a new oral cholera vaccine that as a side benefit offers good immunity from E Coli. Which is the primary cause of diarrhea.

Makde sure you bring and USE a DEET based mosquito repellent as well. They are prolific at a level from the surface to about 18 inches above the ground and you'll get a lot of bites on the legs as a result, itchy as hell. Risk of Dengue frm the bites if minor.

I agree that unless you are going near the Haiti/DR border for a while the Malaria prophylaxis is not required.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Uhhhh, you must be tired

It is now $20 dollars thanks to our stupid idiot and his bunch of losers..

HB
 
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sococarolyn

New member
Jan 8, 2004
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Hi Kirstyb
I travel to the DR from the UK as often as I can, but not as often as I'd like! You can obtain a tourist card prior to leaving the UK and this is usually the best way to do it as there can be quite lengthy queues at the airport to purchase one. You need to send a ?10 postal order or bankers draft (only these two types of payment are accepted) payable to the Dominican Republic Embassy, 139 Inverness Terrace, London W2 6JF. You need to send a copy of the personal page of your passport and a stamped adress envelope to return them in. It says to allow 28 days for delivery but I have always had mine back within the week!
Enjoy your trip.
 
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ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
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Too much dough

sococarolyn said:
Hi Kirstyb
I travel to the DR from the UK as often as I can, but not as often as I'd like! You can obtain a tourist card prior to leaving the UK and this is usually the best way to do it as there can be quite lengthy queues at the airport to purchase one. You need to send a ?10 postal order or bankers draft
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Paying US$18 equivalent (10 quid) for something worth US$10 is not worth the small time saved in the queue.

I bought one once in person at the DR consulate in New York and they didn't try to overcharge me there, other than the postage I wonder why the DR Embassy in London justifies this cost? And why on earth they need a copy of your passport page is beyond me. The things are blank forms until you complete them.

NB: If you go that often why don't you buy the tourist cards a couple at once when you are there vs. paying the cost of 2 at once by mail and getting only one?I always have a spare so if there is no lineup I buy one more and in any case I've filled it out in advance.
 
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Dominican Babe

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Dec 9, 2002
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There doesn't seem to be any benefit in saving 5 minutes in the tourist card queue, just to have to spend that 5 minutes at the luggage carousel! You won't get out of the airport any quicker. And Rick is right, what is the point in paying almost double for it just to get it in England?:confused:
 
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ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
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My last few trips

Dominican Babe said:
There doesn't seem to be any benefit in saving 5 minutes in the tourist card queue, just to have to spend that 5 minutes at the luggage carousel! You won't get out of the airport any quicker. And Rick is right, what is the point in paying almost double for it just to get it in England?:confused:
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Had only a person or two ahead of me at passport control. I don't think I've spent more than 3 or 4 minutes in line in the last year even when the computers failed and they had to resort to these huge paper books of lists of undesirables.

Thus pay the 10 clams on arrrival and write fast.
 
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FireGuy

Rest in peace Amigo!
Aug 21, 2002
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Hi tired_boy,

Greetings from Atlantic Canada.

Departure Tax was increased to $20US effective sometime in July 2003. Cosc tof Tourist Card is unchanged at $10US (or whatever the local DR Consulate sells them for).

Gregg
 
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Paulino

New member
Jan 4, 2002
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Re: Too much dough

ricktoronto said:
I bought one once in person at the DR consulate in New York and they didn't try to overcharge me there, other than the postage
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Reading the above reminds me of the occasion when my Dominican wife & I visited "her" embassy in Stockholm to have her passport renewed (this was before she acquired her second citizenship). The staff at the embassy had the nerve to offer me a visitor's visa at the "modest" charge of 600 swedish kronor, equivalent of let's say 80 US$. And that was back in August of 1996, the staff (consular officer) wasn't even a perredeista, a Hippo man. Rather a PRSC dude - Leonel hadn't been inaugurated quite yet.
 
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tigre72

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May 6, 2003
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If you want to be really perdantic

Make sure you carry a pen to write out your tourist card otherwise you may be waiting.
Last year I bought a new suitcase as everyone else had black ones and it wasn't easy to identify mine on the carousel. So I ended up buying a khaki green one......guess what colour cases everyone decided to buy! yes...khaki green!
 
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sococarolyn

New member
Jan 8, 2004
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Maybe it depends where you are arriving from because the first year I came to the DR I didn't have a tourist card and was queuing for about 30 mins - maybe I was just unlucky!
 
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tired_boy

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Dec 4, 2003
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From joining the queue for the card to going through passport control has not been less than 20 mins for me, ever! (and its not because i make mistakes on the card before anyone suggests so, haha)
 
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