Working Visa

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Tammy

Guest
I am relocating in the next couple of weeks, I have my immunizations, passport, airline ticket the "Living in Santa Domingo 1998" book and I have visited numerous times. Although I am still a little confused about working visas. Are they enforced? Can I work while waiting for approval? I have talked to many Europeans while visiting the DR and they enform me that it is not an enforced practice to obtain a working visa.
 
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Grahame Bush

Guest
Hi Tammy, I am an Ex-Pat. Brit & I have helped quite a few Europeans to settle in to the D.R. If you want help & advice - specificaaly regarding visas - get back to me on the attached e-mail address. The service is free but I would like to know where you are coming from, age group, work &/or leisure experience & where you intend living. The more you tell me, the more I can help. - Grahame.
 
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Fabio J. Guzman

Guest
As in any other country, tourists in the Dominican Republic are not legally allowed to work during their stay. If you come into the D.R. with a tourist card and start working without obtaining a work permit or residency, you are violating the law. Beginning with the new administration in 1996, there have been several raids by Dominican immigration authorities on foreigners working in tourist areas. Generally, the authorities are very lenient with white illegal workers, in many cases just forcing them to apply for residency immediately, while extremely abusive of black illegal workers (mostly Haitians) who are hauled at gunpoint into an army truck and taken to the border.
 
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Norman

Guest
Many foreigners have been working here for many years without a "residencia" which permits you to extend your stay beyond 90 days and to work here. Still it is illegal to do so. You can hire a lawyer to help you get your residencia at a cost of about $1,000 US, or you can do it on your own by visiting the Immigration offices in Santo Domingo.

If you do it on your own, the cost is a few hundred dollars for medical exam, police report, translation of birth certificate, etc. My last friend who went that route calculated that it took hom 15 trips to Santo Domingo, and cost almost as much money as using a lawyer. It took him one and a half years from start to finish.

You will then have to repeat the process within 2 months, or one year, to get your "definitiva" or permanent residency. The important thing is that once you file your papers you will get a "comprobante" which will permit you to stay while you are waiting for the process to be completed.

Unless you have unlimited time and patience, I recommend that you use a lawyer. Not just any lawyer, but one specializing to some degree in that area who can supply references of foreigners you can contact that got their residencia through him.

Norman
 
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Norman

Guest
Many foreigners have been working here for many years without a "residencia" which permits you to extend your stay beyond 90 days and to work here. Still it is illegal to do so. You can hire a lawyer to help you get your residencia at a cost of about $1,000 US, or you can do it on your own by visiting the Immigration offices in Santo Domingo.

If you do it on your own, the cost is a few hundred dollars for medical exam, police report, translation of birth certificate, etc. My last friend who went that route calculated that it took him 15 trips to Santo Domingo, and cost almost as much money as using a lawyer. It took him one and a half years from start to finish.

You will then have to repeat the process within 2 months, or one year, to get your "definitiva" or permanent residency. The important thing is that once you file your papers you will get a "comprobante" which will permit you to stay while you are waiting for the process to be completed.

Unless you have unlimited time and patience, I recommend that you use a lawyer. Not just any lawyer, but one specializing to some degree in that area who can supply references of foreigners you can contact that got their residencia through him.

Norman