NY: Consulado RD assures that it has strengthened its services

Julio César Mateo
- By THE EDITORIAL
- Date: 01/13/2024
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SANTO DOMINGO.- The vice consul in the city of New York, Julio César Mateo (Yulín), assured here that the administration of President Luis Abinader has invigorated the General Consulate of the Dominican Republic in New York and strengthened its services to the community.
He reported that daily between 200 and 300 people come to the consular headquarters located on the fourth floor of 1501 Broadway Avenue, in the iconic Times Square area, in Lower Manhattan.
He indicated that branches of the Ministry of the Interior and Police, National Directorate of Passports, National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant), General Directorate of Customs, National Health Insurance (Senasa), Technical Office of Titling and Project operate at the consular headquarters. Happy Housing. Non-governmental offices belonging to the Central Electoral Board (JCE) and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) also operate.
He added that the Dominicans are going to carry out the most diverse procedures, most related to passports, route letters, birth certificates, driver's licenses, use of firearms in the DR, validation of school grades, legalization of documents, etc.
He highlighted the reduction applied at the initiative of President Abinader to payments for services. “For example, renewing a passport for six years we found it at 190 dollars and first we reduced it to 130 dollars and now it is at 125. Renewing the passport for ten years we found it at 295 dollars and now it is at 195. Obtain a power of attorney to Materializing any transaction cost $160 and now it is $100. And the so-called route cards, which are used by people with passport problems, used to cost $100 and now only $50.”
Mateo, who is also president of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) in New York, cited as a bright point the installation of satellite consular offices in upper Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens that allow Creoles to receive the same services without the need for go to the central office in Times Square.
“Many people believe that the Consulate is a simple piggy bank to collect money from the Dominican government and that is not the case. The Consulate is also a center of social assistance for the Dominican community, without taking into account political affiliations." To support this criterion, he noted: “support is offered to the elderly, to sports groups, to people who need to transport bodies to Santo Domingo and even to Dominicans who emigrated and want to return permanently to the country and do not have the resources to do so.” he explained.
He recalled that “when the current government took office, there were 57 people performing the functions of vice consul, several of them residing in Santo Domingo and receiving salaries in dollars. Now we are only five vice-consuls, which gives an idea of the change registered. And the employment mania in general is 220 people.”
One aspect to which he attached great importance is the promotion of Senasa insurance, which allows Dominican purchasers and residents in New York to receive medical assistance when they are in the Dominican Republic.
NY: Asegura Consulado RD ha fortalecido sus servicios
SANTO DOMINGO.- El vicecónsul en la ciudad de Nueva York, Julio César Mateo (Yulín), aseguró aquí que la administración del presidente Luis Abinader ha vigorizado el Consulado Genaral de la República