I am nearing the end of my fifth one-year residency (rt-9) and am contemplating application for permanent residency (rt-1). Everything that I read online including the Guzman website states that the initial permanent residency is valid for only 1 year. But the official government migracion website states that is it valid for 2 years. Can somebody with recent experience clarify this?
- Thread starter rhanson1
- Start date
First permanent residency validity
Just completed this process for a friend of mine. One Year Valid and than four.
Thank you for the clarification. How long did it the process take? I am seriously considering simply renewing my rt-9 temporary residency again instead of going through the permanent residency process. The temporary residency process is quick and simple and much less expensive. Also no medical required. Other than the dreaded trip to Santo Domingo, I can do everything myself online. I used a lawyer for my first temporary residency and it was a disaster. Never again. Opinions anyone? Is the permanent residency process really worth the hassle?
After uploading all the required docs it took pretty long (almost 3 month). But what do you care LOL. After submitting, you are covered and have no more late fees until they issue the new ID and only than the countdown starts again. Also no more stupid mandatory insurance. My advise; go for the permanent one. Only the first time they ask for all this BS. After the first one (for one year) the renewal is as easy as for the Temp. one. and than you have 4 years of Peace.
Good point about being done with the stupid insurance. But according to the migracion the website, renewal of permanent residency requires yet another medical exam. That's even more expensive than the insurance. And it seems unnecessary, particularly if it has only been a year since submitting to the last medical exam. I have the good fortune of being healthy and I have no concerns about passing any medical exam, but I don't like the inconvenience and the cost. The application fee for 1 year of permanant residency is also far more expensive than simply renewing temporary residency - 16,800 pesos versus 7,000 pesos.
One more question. Some have suggested that a person needs to have a Dominican 'guarantor' to qualify for permanent residency. I am assuming that a copy of the deed for my condo will be sufficient to guarantee financial stability. I do not have a Dominican bank account nor will I ever have one. I will not ask anybody to be a guarantor for me nor will I use a lawyer. According to the migracion website, a copy of the deed to my property should be sufficient to prove financial stability. But then again, the migracion website also says that the first permanent residency is for 2 years, so apparently none of the information on their website can be relied on. Will proof of ownership of property in this country suffice for financial stability?
Medical Examen is annoying but after you do it twice than you are good for 4 years and that's also worth a lot. Financial stability you can prove with a few bank statements etc. Never did hear about anybody being rejected for not having enough $. Send whatever you want, i doubt that somebody checks this.
Where did your friend do the medical exam? I assume it is not limited to SDO (I hope!) Being in POP, I would hope I could do the exam here, or in SGO if need be.
Good points. I agree that going for the permanent residency makes sense for long range planning. But in 2 months I will be 76 years old. And as stated earlier, I am still in good health but I am also not in denial about how fast Father Time creeps up on us. Planning ahead for my 10-year residencia definitiva is not on my list of priorities.
My thoughts exactly. I'm now on year 7 of temporary residency. It's just too much of a PITA for me to consider permanent residency. With the additional costs of the medicals(two) and the extra trips to SD for them, plus the extra cost of the permanent residency and it's only good for one year the first time, I can't justify it. For a brief period before I was eligible, they were doing medicals in Pto. Plata. If they ever do that again, I might consider it.
The medical can only be done in Santo Domingo at a designated hospital. The hospital is ancient and lost my medical results. I had to go back and do it again.
Dang, you guys just made a difficult decision very easy for me. Thank you. I had no idea that I would have to go to Santo Domingo for the medical. I assumed that it could be done in Puerto Plata. Temporary residency renewal - here I come. Quick and easy and cheap. Don't need no stinkin' permanent.
One more thing. I understand that they moved the location of the cedula office. I found the new location on GoogleMaps and it appears to be a terrible location accessible only by the most congested downtown Santo Domingo roads. I can see that it's going to take a lot longer to get there from the migracion building. Does anybody have any information on the parking situation there?
Just there a month ago. There's a large parking lot so parking was no problem. When you get to the intersection where JCE is, it looks like you should turn right for access to the parking lot. Just continue straight ahead for another 100 yards max. for entrance to the parking lot. Traffic was pretty bad on Av. Winston Churchill.
The new Junta location is 100% better. It took me 15 minutes to get there by Uber from Immigration. I was in and out in 20 minutes. Immigration building still sucks in my opinion.
That's very encouraging to hear. It looks like there are a number of different options to get there. Cavok suggested Av. Winston Churchill. Do you agree?
That was Google Map's suggestion mid afternoon. It showed the traffic was going to be very slow close to JFK. Google Maps is usually pretty good. It's offered me some good back street detours around traffic when possible. It showed Av. Lincoln just as bad. I think it took 20-25 minutes to get there(?).
No don't go back to Churchill. My driver turned right on the malecon from Immigration and then turned right again shortly after. We drove straight up that street with very little traffic. We came back to my condo via Churchill and the traffic was heavy as usual.
I, was there 2 weeks ago, it is really close to Agora Mall; you can walk from cedula to the mall, that close (Ikea is on the other side of the road)
That's a little confusing. It's on the north side of Ave. Kennedy (the same side as IKEA), and Agora is on the other side of the road. 1.4 miles.
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That's what I thought as well. It's quick by vehicle but walking it would be deadly trying to cross the highway.