so this is how it went for me:
I am a permanent resident since 1999. I went to the immigration website, made an account. put in all the required information for the permanent renewal application. I was asked to pay for "no antecedente penal" or whatever they call it, basically its a police report, stating, I am all clean. I was not allowed to pay with an american credit card and options were only Dominican bank cards. So i went to banreservas and paid in cash. Now it was a waiting game for me. all documents were sent in digitally through web application on April 24th, 2020 and I finally i saw my application advance to the next stage on May 29th, payment for the residency (16,500 pesos, including fees for medical exam). basically it asks for a method of payment, cash in immigration office or credit card payment on the webpage. i chose immigration office because i assumed they would prefer dominican credit card, which i do not have. So i chose cash payment in person. I was given a form to print which will allow me to pay in cash. Then yesterday, June the 1st, i got a computerized call from immigration office to set an appointment. basically they gave me a date and time for the next day (june 2nd) and asked me to press 1 if i agree to that date. I pressed one and i got a text message with a code , confirming I got the appointment for 1pm. today, I went to immigration office and I was in and out in 20 minutes. not many people there. I paid 16,500 pesos and I was given 3 days to get my medical exam done at an approved place. no exact time was given, so i assume i would just go there and wait for my turn. then I will get a message on immigration webpage when my card will be given to me. i guess I will go to the office and get my picture taken and get my card. easy as that. the card will be good for 4 years.
oh, the list of documents asks for a 2x2 inch passport sized picture. do not take it. I was not asked for a photo. i took along a bunch of photos and he said, i don't need to give him any as they will take my picture when the card will be issued.