Thank you for your interest in our services. We would be more than happy to assist you in obtaining your Dominican residency. Obtaining residency is a two-step procedure. First, the foreign applicant must obtain provisional resident status; then, after a year as a provisional resident, he may apply for permanent resident status. Requirements for residency are easily met by anybody in good health and with a clean police record. The time involved is usually six months from the time the application is filed for the provisional residency (same time frame applies to the permanent residency). This time estimates assume that all required documents have been provided and that applicants submit their application while in the Dominican Republic with a tourist card or tourist visa. Because of the deficiencies in our Consular Services abroad, applying from outside the Dominican Republic is not practical. The applicant does not need to stay in the Dominican Republic during the residency process, he would only need to travel down twice: first, for the medical check-ups, and second, to get his or her picture taken to obtain the final documentation.
I have copied your message to Mrs. Binell Roa (broa@drlawyer.com), associate attorney at our Santo Domingo office, who will be assisting you in obtaining your Dominican Residency. Mrs. Roa will contact you shortly in order to go over the details of the residency process and schedule an initial telephone conference if required.
Fees and expenses for the residency process are as follows: $1000 for provisional residency and $800 for permanent residency, payable, in both instances, 60% in advance and the balance upon obtaining the applied-for status. Legal fees in the Dominican Republic are subject to a 16% service tax.
Newly enforced administrative measures at the Dominican Immigration Department are now requiring all medical exams for residency purposes to be pre-authorized. To obtain the authorization for the medical exams you should provide us the following documentation:
a) copy of the first page of your passport (page with picture).
b) copy of the page of the passport that has the stamp of the entrance to the Dominican Republic.
c) copy of the page of the passport that has the stamp of the visa (if applies).
d) Document showing a connection with the Dominican Republic, such as a letter from a local bank stating that the applicant has opened an account (you would need to come down personally to the DR an open the account with your passport), a letter from an actual or potential employer, proof of ownership of property (a car or real estate), etc.
We will set your medical exam appointment once said authorization has been obtained. The documents you need to bring down to the Dominican Republic for the first appointment are:
(a) original of the birth certificate, authenticated at the nearest Dominican Consulate,
(b) original of your marriage certificate, if the spouses are applying together; authenticated at the nearest Dominican Consulate.
(c) passport and
(d) pictures (2" x 2": 4 front and 4 profile, white background required, accessories such as earrings or sunglasses not allowed).
We provide for you the rest of the required documents. It should be noted that all originals filed with the application may become part of the government file and may not be returned to the applicant.
All residency applications are done directly through our Santo Domingo office since the immigration authorities are based there. Once the medical test authorization has been obtained the application process takes only one morning. You should meet one of our attorneys at our Santo Domingo office at 8:30 am sharp with the documentation described above. He will receive your documents and take you to the Immigration Department and the government clinic for your medical tests, consisting of a blood sample, a urine sample and chest x-rays. Usually, the process will be over by noon.
Once the application is approved, you must return personally to Santo Domingo to receive your residency card and c?dula (a national I.D. card). Upon obtaining the provisional residency, you will have a 6-month period during which you can bring into the country your household goods without having to pay any duty.
We look forward to the opportunity to be of service.
Kind Regards,
Alfredo A. Guzman, Esq., MBA.
Guzman Ariza, Attorneys-at-Law
Dominican Republic
info@DRLawyer.com
Guzman Ariza Law Firm in the Dominican Republic
This is Crazy!!! Way too much money and I'm assmuming its in dollars not pesos. I guess this is something that i will do on my own over time because its very easy to do. I once did a visa for my ex Indonesian wife with no help from anyone. it took 6 months to get her into the states, so that being said, this looks real easy just a lot of time going to the police, doctor, etc. Great post though and info from other members, so i hope my post helps the creator of this thread some. Good Luck! Anthony
P.S great info from this email about the non-fee of duty when you move from the states to here. I have seen many posts asking about this. So please mods, copy and paste about the non-fee duty in the proper fourum or make a sticky so others will know, looks like we have 6 months to get it all here....