Heads up for corrupt immigration officers at the Puerto Plata Airport!
My husband and I, plus our three kids were flying home to Canada last week after being in the DR for 10 months. When we came up to the immigration booth at the airport, a female immigration officer told us that we will have to pay a lot of money for overstaying, but she is too busy to deal with us now, so she will come up and find us in the waiting area, and we can pay her then. I asked her how much we will have to pay, and she said she will tell us upstairs.
A few minutes later, after clearing security and sitting down in the waiting area, the officer came up and signalled me to follow her. She led me to the restaurant and sat me down, where she ordered a drink for herself. Then she proceeded to explain that I needed to pay $ 3,000 RD per person and asked that I pay her directly.
I told her that I felt that was a lot of money to pay, and asked for proof of such figures, so she hesitatingly took a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket that had the fees on it. To my surprise, it stated $ 2,000 RD/pp, at which point I asked to see her supervisor. I explained to him what happened, but he did not seem upset with her, he just repeated that I have to pay $2,000 RD/pp and asked me to pay the officer the money, then he walked away. I asked the officer why was she asking me for so much more, and she told me she was new on the job and did not know the prices too well yet. She was quite apologetic at this point. After I handed her the correct amount of money, I asked her for a receipt, but she told me that her supervisor will come and give me the receipt in a few minutes. Of course, we did not see the supervisor or the receipt before boarding the plane after waiting for 30 more minutes.
Luckily for us, we had been advised of the proper fees by the Canadian Embassy at one of their get-togethers, but I really wonder how many other travelers did not question the penalty and got ripped off!
We reported the incident to the Canadian Embassy the next day, and to my delight, I was informed the same day that the female officer was fired from the airport.
I am very impressed with the fact that the Canadian Embassy and the POP airport authority took the matter seriously and acted so quickly. I encourage anyone experiencing such irregularities at the airport to report it to your country's embassy and perhaps collectively we can "clean up" the airport.
If you want to know what are the proper immigration fees for overstaying, go to this website: :::irecci?n General de Migraci?n::: Rep?blica Dominicana.
Thanks for reading my post.
My husband and I, plus our three kids were flying home to Canada last week after being in the DR for 10 months. When we came up to the immigration booth at the airport, a female immigration officer told us that we will have to pay a lot of money for overstaying, but she is too busy to deal with us now, so she will come up and find us in the waiting area, and we can pay her then. I asked her how much we will have to pay, and she said she will tell us upstairs.
A few minutes later, after clearing security and sitting down in the waiting area, the officer came up and signalled me to follow her. She led me to the restaurant and sat me down, where she ordered a drink for herself. Then she proceeded to explain that I needed to pay $ 3,000 RD per person and asked that I pay her directly.
I told her that I felt that was a lot of money to pay, and asked for proof of such figures, so she hesitatingly took a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket that had the fees on it. To my surprise, it stated $ 2,000 RD/pp, at which point I asked to see her supervisor. I explained to him what happened, but he did not seem upset with her, he just repeated that I have to pay $2,000 RD/pp and asked me to pay the officer the money, then he walked away. I asked the officer why was she asking me for so much more, and she told me she was new on the job and did not know the prices too well yet. She was quite apologetic at this point. After I handed her the correct amount of money, I asked her for a receipt, but she told me that her supervisor will come and give me the receipt in a few minutes. Of course, we did not see the supervisor or the receipt before boarding the plane after waiting for 30 more minutes.
Luckily for us, we had been advised of the proper fees by the Canadian Embassy at one of their get-togethers, but I really wonder how many other travelers did not question the penalty and got ripped off!
We reported the incident to the Canadian Embassy the next day, and to my delight, I was informed the same day that the female officer was fired from the airport.
I am very impressed with the fact that the Canadian Embassy and the POP airport authority took the matter seriously and acted so quickly. I encourage anyone experiencing such irregularities at the airport to report it to your country's embassy and perhaps collectively we can "clean up" the airport.
If you want to know what are the proper immigration fees for overstaying, go to this website: :::irecci?n General de Migraci?n::: Rep?blica Dominicana.
Thanks for reading my post.