A Residency/Citizenship Legal Path Diagram

El Hijo de Manolo

It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous!
Dec 10, 2021
4,928
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Dominican Republic
This is where an editable graph might be useful... As things change there can be a change made on the graph and a notation made of the update.
A graph would be used to represent a rate of change. I think you mean a timeline diagram or flowchart for example where one would use tools such as Visio, Lucidchart, power point etc. A graph would be used to chart the peso/dollar over time. Just clarifying. Why do you keep mentioning this "chart". I think we're all waiting on you for this or are you sourcing this effort to the membership
 

Jan

Bronze
Jan 3, 2002
1,982
632
113
65
Santo Domingo Este
www.colonialzone-dr.com
This is where an editable graph might be useful... As things change there can be a change made on the graph and a notation made of the update.
Lots of work for the graph maker keeping up when all the info is on the government website. And if someone follows the graph and some info is incorrect who takes the responsibility? In 10 years when it's time to renew I will prefer to go to the original source than someone making a graph.

Enjoy making your graph.
 

cavok

Silver
Jun 16, 2014
10,276
4,505
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Cabarete
I think the most important time frame is the 60 days you have from the time you receive your residency visa until you get here and apply for residency. Some of the documents you have are time limited, also. This happened to a friend of mine. He used a lawyer here to apply for residency and, for reasons unknown, the application process dragged on so long that he had to fly back to the US and renew some of the documents. Not sure which ones. I'm guessing the FBI report and maybe the medical(?).
 

MoJoInDR

Banned
Aug 23, 2023
495
194
43
Austin, Texas
I think the most important time frame is the 60 days you have from the time you receive your residency visa until you get here and apply for residency. Some of the documents you have are time limited, also. This happened to a friend of mine. He used a lawyer here to apply for residency and, for reasons unknown, the application process dragged on so long that he had to fly back to the US and renew some of the documents. Not sure which ones. I'm guessing the FBI report and maybe the medical(?).

That 60-day deal was what caught my eye in Farmer's comment and why I referenced it in an earlier comment.
 

MoJoInDR

Banned
Aug 23, 2023
495
194
43
Austin, Texas
Lots of work for the graph maker keeping up when all the info is on the government website.

It'll be like a little checklist/cheat sheet for me...

And if someone follows the graph and some info is incorrect who takes the responsibility?

I would hope that anyone using the internet today would know the first rule for users... Never believe what you read on the internet... Go do the necessary research and find out for yourself... And if an online graph turns out to be helpful to that end... Wonderful.

In 10 years when it's time to renew I will prefer to go to the original source than someone making a graph.

As you, and others, including myself, should.

I used Post-It stickies as casual reminders... Not as legal documents.

Enjoy making your graph.

I will... If only as an exercise that I can learn new things from, as I always enjoy learning new things.
 

Farmer

Antiguo
Dec 2, 2003
248
113
43
I think the most important time frame is the 60 days you have from the time you receive your residency visa until you get here and apply for residency. Some of the documents you have are time limited, also. This happened to a friend of mine. He used a lawyer here to apply for residency and, for reasons unknown, the application process dragged on so long that he had to fly back to the US and renew some of the documents. Not sure which ones. I'm guessing the FBI report and maybe the medical(?).
Yup it was the FBI info I had to do over. So I go to the local PN office in Sajoma. Nope you gotta go to Santiago. There its nope you gotta go to Santo Domingo. Next I'm in the mayhem of the SDPN to find the one person in the DR who can roll my prints. That was no fun. My fault and it added time to 'el proceso". Don't make my mistake. Farmer
 
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El Hijo de Manolo

It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous!
Dec 10, 2021
4,928
3,186
113
Dominican Republic
Yup it was the FBI info I had to do over. So I go to the local PN office in Sajoma. Nope you gotta go to Santiago. There its nope you gotta go to Santo Domingo. Next I'm in the mayhem of the SDPN to find the one person in the DR who can roll my prints. That was no fun. My fault and it added time to 'el proceso". Don't make my mistake. Farmer
I think D'Mojo is looking for you to timeline this process. He keeps mentioning a chart but he's most likely mistaken something.
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
4,811
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Cabarete
I think the best way to start the Residency process is to come here for six months first as has been previously suggested to make sure you like it. While you are here, contact a Dominican lawyer who knows the process to explain what you need to do, and then, after the initial six months, go back to your country of origin to start the Residency process there. Get it all done as quickly as possible to avoid documents' validity expiring and then come back to the DR ASAP to complete the process, using the DR lawyer to help you.

The whole process can be done without using a lawyer and you will save some money, but for me it was a worthwhile investment. After the initial application, I then did the following years' applications online without needing a lawyer, only using a lawyer again when it was time to upgrade to so-called "Permanent" Residency.
 

daisypolanco

New member
Jan 11, 2024
25
14
3
Santo Domingo
My wife and I are considering a move to the DR within the next five years, possibly sooner rather than later. I've been spending some time on this website trying to glean all the wonderful relevant information regarding our move... Including anything to do with gaining residency/citizenship as an end goal.

But it's not been so easy, as so far I have not been able to find one thread that clearly lays out a path for this matter.

I'm a creative/visual person, so I thought about building a type of graph that would be easy to look at and gain a fairly clear, general understanding of the various steps that are required to accomplish our goal. I realize that there are many details that may require the professional services of lawyers and will not try to go into those details — I may just indicate a "lawyer needed at this point" suggestion. My thought is to just produce a layman's quick-view reference guide related to a residency/citizenship legal path for moving to the DR.

This type of diagram will certainly be helpful to us, and hopefully, I can share it on dr1 for others to use.

Here's a link to a Google search results page for images of various generic timeline diagrams (non-DR specific, but hopefully will be recognized as related to the context of this thread :)).

Appreciate any and all help.

Thanks.


Navigating immigration processes can be extensive and confusing. A lot of the information online can be misleading as well. But there are four main categories: https://drlawyer.com/nationality-citizenship-immigration/
 

daisypolanco

New member
Jan 11, 2024
25
14
3
Santo Domingo
I think the best way to start the Residency process is to come here for six months first as has been previously suggested to make sure you like it. While you are here, contact a Dominican lawyer who knows the process to explain what you need to do, and then, after the initial six months, go back to your country of origin to start the Residency process there. Get it all done as quickly as possible to avoid documents' validity expiring and then come back to the DR ASAP to complete the process, using the DR lawyer to help you.

The whole process can be done without using a lawyer and you will save some money, but for me it was a worthwhile investment. After the initial application, I then did the following years' applications online without needing a lawyer, only using a lawyer again when it was time to upgrade to so-called "Permanent" Residency.
Residency process begin at the applicant's home country by requesting a residency visa at their closest Dominican Consulate. To be eligible, you must qualify under one of the following categories: https://drlawyer.com/nationality-citizenship-immigration/
 

Farmer

Antiguo
Dec 2, 2003
248
113
43
Recap. Started the process back in the home country. The only way to do it. Gathered all the requirements for a "retirement" temporary visa and submitted them to the nearest DR consulate. Financials, medicals, criminal, birth certificates, marriage license Waited months while all of that was translated and sent off to the DR. Came down here thinking process must surely be close to completion. (That's where we screwed up cause the sale of my business and staying just a little longer to spend another Christmas with the grandkids bit us in the behind as our FBI background checks got too old and we had to redo them. Translation: act quickly). We then had to resubmit all that info to a Migracion rep. Nice guy. I texted him back about a month later and he wrote we still had to come in for an interview and medical physical. Did that. Expected a quick ok, all's good, here's your residency and cedula. Nope. Instead we were told we were now in "el proceso" and that would take 90-120 working days. We got a text from the rep last week to be back in the capital two days later. Back to Migracion on the Malecon and another site up on 27 de Febrero and we had our residency and cedulas. Whew. In all we've probably been at this for 3-4 years. The original gathering of info had nothing to do with the Dominican bureaucracy. During submission as I mentioned, we added to the delay. I'm thinking that once you submit your info to the Dominican consulate abroad and keep the process moving forward promptly, you are looking at a two year process easy. I don't have any idea whether an attorney would have helped. I was quoted $1500/ea for the Dominican part of it. And I'm not gonna bash the timeframe it took because I think the immigration process into ANY country is long and patience is your friend. Farmer (new Cibaeno)
 
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