Cedulas only valid in the DR???

[Norteman]

Just came across a situation where a Dominican friend was applying for an international account of sorts. This fellow doesnt travel, hence does not have a passport.
He wasted a lot of time and courier costs just to find out his ID was not sufficient.
Why, you ask? The institution noticed the obvious (of which he felt was not relevant)-his Cedula is expired along with countless others in the Country. For curiousity I started asking other Dominicans I know and found all had expired cards.
The explanation they had was the country has been working on the revamped updated cards, and like most things, its on the "manana" program. My novia enquired on hers as is also invalid, and nobody can supply a solid ETA.
Nals- Is this the true definition of a "country in transition" as opposed to a 3rd world wild west.
"Bienvenido Banana Republic"

 

[Fiesta Mama]

My husband's cedula expired in 2006 and he has lived in Canada since 2005. When we were in the DR in 2006 and he wanted to get it renewed and we went and waited in line at the local office in POP to do so, he was told not to worry that it was expired because a new system was in place and he could come back the next year. A few years later, we again questioned the fact that it was expired and they told him that a new one was coming and not to worry. He has now lived out of the country for 5+ years and they don't seem to care and he is still able to use it at local establishments (as if it was valid).

 

[Norteman]

My husband's cedula expired in 2006 and he has lived in Canada since 2005. When we were in the DR in 2006 and he wanted to get it renewed and we went and waited in line at the local office in POP to do so, he was told not to worry that it was expired because a new system was in place and he could come back the next year. A few years later, we again questioned the fact that it was expired and they told him that a new one was coming and not to worry. He has now lived out of the country for 5+ years and they don't seem to care and he is still able to use it at local establishments (as if it was valid).

Wow i stand corrected, FIVE years!!! thats one hell of a "manana"
As you say it can be used in the DR of course, as its another one of the countries failures, but would be difficult to explain, and use it as your only ID in a developed country,No?
The real kicker is when a foreigner completes the residency process it comes with a valid cedula, so its mainly gringos who have valid cedulas in the DR, that makes sense.
Technology and advancements are wonderful things, especially when it comes to ID, the more difficult to forge the better.BUT if you do not have the intelligence to create it, leave it for the big boys, admit failure and just go back to the old system.

 

[Lambada]

My husband's cedula expired in 2006 and he has lived in Canada since 2005. When we were in the DR in 2006 and he wanted to get it renewed and we went and waited in line at the local office in POP to do so, he was told not to worry that it was expired because a new system was in place and he could come back the next year. A few years later, we again questioned the fact that it was expired and they told him that a new one was coming and not to worry. He has now lived out of the country for 5+ years and they don't seem to care and he is still able to use it at local establishments (as if it was valid).

According to the JCE website, Dominican cedulas expiring between 2004-7 were given extended validity up to December 2008 by Acta No. 12-2007 issued by JCE. See FAQs number 8
Preguntas Frecuentes de C?dulas.

However, it is now 2010 . They usually stop issuing cedulas in the immediate run-up to an election; it says here that next ones will be issued after 16th. May:
JCE exhorta dominicanos en NY a cedularse antes de este mi?rcoles

 

[Norteman]

According to the JCE website, Dominican cedulas expiring between 2004-7 were given extended validity up to December 2008 by Acta No. 12-2007 issued by JCE. See FAQs number 8
Preguntas Frecuentes de C?dulas.

However, it is now 2010 . They usually stop issuing cedulas in the immediate run-up to an election; it says here that next ones will be issued after 16th. May:
JCE exhorta dominicanos en NY a cedularse antes de este mi?rcoles

It seems they have consistantly missed their expected completion times to the point of unconcern. My spanish reading is only so so, but one would think they would have re-issued a legal letter stating this problem, therefore again extending the validity of the expired cedulas. I feel for the people who are cornered or prevented from entering into contracts abroad, when this is of no fault of theirs. Elections and false promises seem to be the most important things in the DR, but realizing even the simpliest of said promises usually never materialize.

 

[bienamor]

The real kicker is when a foreigner completes the residency process it comes with a valid cedula, so its mainly gringos who have valid cedulas in the DR, that makes sense.

Not only this, and I don't know on Cedulas, but if you let the renewal of your residency run over, there is a penalty of 250rd?? per month over. Last time I renewed cedula was the first time I had to pay for it, 2,000rd if I remember right. before that was free.

but yes if you find a dominican with a valid dated cedula, go buy your lotto ticket

 

[Fiesta Mama]

We will be in POP soon and I'll tell him to try and get it renewed AGAIN! The thing is, he has not really given it much thought because he has citizenship in Canada so it's really caused him no problems. However, for other Dominicans living abroad, in Spain for example, I know it can cause problems because one of his sisters had a similar problem with her cedula and she had problems renewing her residency in Spain because of it.

I could not figure it out for the life of me when he tried to renew it twice and was told not to worry. I never cared or worried about it because in Canada, his cedula is of no use anyway. Also, to answer someone's question about valid ID, no I do not think it would be valid in any country outside of the DR if expired. In Canada they wouldn't even know what it was.

 

[PICHARDO]

Not only this, and I don't know on Cedulas, but if you let the renewal of your residency run over, there is a penalty of 250rd?? per month over. Last time I renewed cedula was the first time I had to pay for it, 2,000rd if I remember right. before that was free.

but yes if you find a dominican with a valid dated cedula, go buy your lotto ticket

My Cedula expires in 2018 right on my BD!

So... Should I go buy a loteria slip?

 

[PICHARDO]

My wife and step daughter both have cedulas that are only a couple of months old. I am not sure if these are the new Biometric cedulas.

By the way, my step daughter is only 16 and she has a cedula. What you say? That is not possible? Yes it is and it has her valid birth date. I wanted to point this out for those of you that think anyone with a cedula is at least 18 years old. It is the Dominican equivalent of "working papers" in the US for a minor.

As an foreign resident I will have to go all the way to Santo Domingo to get my cedula since the DR is incapable of linking the computers so that I can get it at any local JCE office. Although I had my biometric data taken at the JCE office in Sosua, I bet that I will have to do that all over again in Santo Domingo and they will probably have run out of the plastic needed to print it or the machine will be broken, etc.. That would be my bet.

LOL!!! Great post there Mike!

Nope! No Cedula issued or being issued is the Biometric one yet!

That will be way after the elections and some more time atop that!

There's some negotiation going on as how much data and what levels of reading will be afforded for several gov and public sources.

There's also the ongoing work to adopt portable readers (both the cards and the finger prints) for the police.

All cedulas currently expired in the DR held by citizens are 100% legal and in force, no need to worry about that. I do have a biometric passport issued to some people in the DR, these passports are not to be confused with the regularly issued ones.

My Cedula has an extra set of encrypted bars on it, that are not present in the regular ones I come across in the DR of others, but apart from that it's 100% the same.

Good things come to those who are patient!!!

All the data in the JCE's archives have to be 100% digitized before the first Biometric Cedula is given, and that's after they finally decide on one model from four potentials now (from as many as 25 others before they got narrowed to the present #).

 

[bob saunders]

Not only this, and I don't know on Cedulas, but if you let the renewal of your residency run over, there is a penalty of 250rd?? per month over. Last time I renewed cedula was the first time I had to pay for it, 2,000rd if I remember right. before that was free.

but yes if you find a dominican with a valid dated cedula, go buy your lotto ticket

My mother-in-law had to renew her Dominican passport here in Canada- so she went to the DR Consulate in Toronto. They took her passport and expired Cedula and sent them off to the DR Embassy NYC. A week later she received her new passport and renewed (new) Cedula.

 

[Norteman]

My Cedula expires in 2018 right on my BD!

So... Should I go buy a loteria slip?

Pichardo, I believe you are a Dominican National, si?

You have a current cedula, what are your thoughts on why most others do not? Is there supporting legal docs that deem these cedula legal, therefore can be used for out of country use.
Thanks!

 

[Fiesta Mama]

My mother-in-law had to renew her Dominican passport here in Canada- so she went to the DR Consulate in Toronto. They took her passport and expired Cedula and sent them off to the DR Embassy NYC. A week later she received her new passport and renewed (new) Cedula.

That's a good idea for my husband. His Dominican passport will expire next year and we live in Toronto so he can just take it there with his cedula and get them to renew both at the same time. Now that he has a Canadian passport, does he even really need to keep renewing his Dominican passport because he can go many more place with his Canadian passport?

 

[La Mariposa]

For those with a Canadian passport, I don't see an advantage of keeping a Dominican Passport updated. For those with US and Dominican passports, they could use a Dominican Passport to go to Cuba.

And they could use a US passport to go to Cuba

 

[PICHARDO]

Pichardo, I believe you are a Dominican National, si?

You have a current cedula, what are your thoughts on why most others do not? Is there supporting legal docs that deems these cedula legal, therefore can be used for out of country use.
Thanks!

I'm a born in the DR citizen, about those with expired Cedulas, during the elections no new Cedulas are issued 100%. The reason why some Cedulas were not being issued (renewed) with a new plastic before the election cycle, was due to the fact that their data was still out of the digitized databank (the biometric data). That doesn?t mean their single data but their parents and grand parents. To weed out fakes and frauds, the JCE is employing a data mining system that red flags those with broken links up the stream.

Outside of the DR, expired DR Cedulas are only valid for proof of ID in a DR consulate/embassy. That's to say that any legal process can be carried out until the elections with your expired cedula, until the elections are done with. But keep in mind that the Cedulas that are under these special circumstances are not all that are expired, but some sequences already known to have fallen in that cycle.

No JCE's office abroad issues Cedulas, they simply take your documents and make sure to identify the person before sending the encrypted data to the DR via computers, where there's more work carried out on the data history and veracity. After the data is verified they issue the new Cedula and are sent via a diplomatic courier to those offices abroad and into your hands.

There's no charge for birth certificates at the JCE's offices abroad, or the Cedulas themselves but for Passports.

 

[La Mariposa]

Not legally for anyone without special permission.

This is true because the Cubans won't stamp it. BUT it could mean you have an exit from the US followed by an entry back without a country in between.

And where have you been in between ???

Not only US passport the Cubans won't stamp

 

[Norteman]

I'm a born in the DR citizen, about those with expired Cedulas, during the elections no new Cedulas are issued 100%. The reason why some Cedulas were not being issued (renewed) with a new plastic before the election cycle, was due to the fact that their data was still out of the digitized databank (the biometric data). That doesn?t mean their single data but their parents and grand parents. To weed out fakes and frauds, the JCE is employing a data mining system that red flags those with broken links up the stream.

Outside of the DR, expired DR Cedulas are only valid for proof of ID in a DR consulate/embassy. That's to say that any legal process can be carried out until the elections with your expired cedula, until the elections are done with. But keep in mind that the Cedulas that are under these special circumstances are not all that are expired, but some sequences already known to have fallen in that cycle.

No JCE's office abroad issues Cedulas, they simply take your documents and make sure to identify the person before sending the encrypted data to the DR via computers, where there's more work carried out on the data history and veracity. After the data is verified they issue the new Cedula and are sent via a diplomatic courier to those offices abroad and into your hands.

There's no charge for birth certificates at the JCE's offices abroad, or the Cedulas themselves but for Passports.

No cedulas during election times, is there not an election every 2 years of sorts, and therefore always some type of campaigning. Is this why people have been waiting 5 years for cedulas because there is always some sort of excuse preventing the completion of such an important matter like legal ID recognized by all...This is what we refer to as a "country in transition" rather than 3rd world. On another note, I see the International ratings orgs have bumped the DR, which is still 4 levels below investment grade an now equal to the likes of Mongolia, Lebanon and Suriname..
Pichardo, appreciate your post as your availibility of info is impressive and informative!

 

[william webster]

And they could use a US passport to go to Cuba

US citizens are permitted to hold multiple passports BUT MUST use the US passport upon entry into the US

 

[MikeFisher]

why foreigners make a hype out of a locals effecting cedular system?
nobody of the dominicans who did not get their cedula renewed since summer 2004 is without a legal cedula, because all those cedulas due to renewal since summer 2004 are still valid, they are worth exactly the same than if they would show a newer renewal date, point.
for a dominican aboroad a cedula is not worth more than any other picture ID like a driver's license etc, to make legal business abroad a valid and renewed dominican passport is required.
new cedulas to dominicans who never had one before are still done like always, my wife's cedula been issued in february 2008 and is valid for 10 year til her birthday May 15th 2018.
foreigners get their cedulas renewed like always, no inconvenience on that. my own last cedula renewal been in september 2004 and it been issued for 6 years, so this year 2010 on my birthday september 18th i have to renew mine and it will be done at the office of the Immigrations in St Domingo(been prior always at the JCE in St Dgo, now they have their place at the immigrations office).
still no Biometric cedulas issued like Pichardo stated, but now when foreigners renew their cedula they need to provide the Biometric Foto for their cedula to be in the system, they do not use the prior in the system old fotos anymore like they did in prior years on renewals.

but the fact that all dominican cedulas due to renewal since summer 2004 show a expired date is in no way any problem, because they are the same valid than a new one would be.
for business abroad a passport has to be used.
cheers
Mike

 

[La Mariposa]

Let's say you are a US Citizen and you live in Florida. You cannot go to Cuba from the US. So you go to the DR (passport is stamped exiting US and entering the DR) . You leave the DR on date X (passport is stamped) and you go to Cuba (no stamp). You exit Cuba (no stamp) and you re-enter the DR (passport is stamped) on date Y.

You then return to the US and immigration happens to ask you, "Where where you during the time you left the DR on date X and re-entered the DR on date Y?

I was in the US but the authorities forgot to stamp my passport

 

[La Mariposa]

AH, so the US authorities forgot to stamp your passport both leaving and re-entering the US for the same trip? I think you would have some explaining to do.

Has anyone ever left or entered the US without getting their passport stamped? (Aside from those on official government business)

When I wrote I, I meant (i was a US citizen living in Floride.....)

The US authorities never stamp Canadian passports when we, Canadians, enter the US by car from Canada. On our way back to Canada, we don't have to stop to the US custom so no stamp either.
It happened to me a few times to cross the CDN-US border by car and go back to Canada by plane no problem, no question either from the US authorities.