Once you are established with an account at any bank why would you have to be vetted for another account. This is ridiculous. My advice and I will eat the same breakfast tomorrow whether he follows it or not is to try again with a different manager or branch................
- Thread starter drstock
- Start date
Visiting Haiti to renew tourist visa
Sometimes who handle your request makes all the difference.
Not about opening an account, but a few years ago I needed to change some US dollars to pesos and since I was already in Ágora Mall, went to the Popular there. First, a long line. I stayed there because the other option was Banreservas and that one had an even longer line. Then, after being in that line for a while, my turn with the teller next to the wall. He tells me he can't convert the dollars since I don't have an account with them. There was no way I was going to be in that line just for you to tell me no, plus all the other banks were closed except Banreservas with an even longer line. After a few minutes he telling me he couldn't convert the money and I telling him I'm not moving from that spot until he changes the money, he calls someone else (assuming it was his boss) and stepped away from the booth to talk to him. He returns and says ¿cuánto quieres que cambiemos?
Mr I can't change your dollars open a drawer full of pesos and got the corresponding dollar amount in pesos.
Wasted all that time when the actual amount of time in changing the money took like 2 minutes, if that. Still no account with them, but I always get the US dollars changed with them. Show them the receipt when they first converted the money despite not having an account with them. 🤨
Not about opening an account, but a few years ago I needed to change some US dollars to pesos and since I was already in Ágora Mall, went to the Popular there. First, a long line. I stayed there because the other option was Banreservas and that one had an even longer line. Then, after being in that line for a while, my turn with the teller next to the wall. He tells me he can't convert the dollars since I don't have an account with them. There was no way I was going to be in that line just for you to tell me no, plus all the other banks were closed except Banreservas with an even longer line. After a few minutes he telling me he couldn't convert the money and I telling him I'm not moving from that spot until he changes the money, he calls someone else (assuming it was his boss) and stepped away from the booth to talk to him. He returns and says ¿cuánto quieres que cambiemos?
Mr I can't change your dollars open a drawer full of pesos and got the corresponding dollar amount in pesos.
Wasted all that time when the actual amount of time in changing the money took like 2 minutes, if that. Still no account with them, but I always get the US dollars changed with them. Show them the receipt when they first converted the money despite not having an account with them. 🤨
I think things have changed in banks considerably since the pandemic. Scotiabank took a while to open my new account, even with residency, even knowing the manager of the branch, even with every paper in my hand they could possibly need, it all had to be sent up to someone for checking as I was not born Dominican. She said new policies, everything was being tightened up.
And I don't think it's unreasonable for a bank not to open an account for someone who is not in the country legally do you? We have discussed many many times on here that if you are on an expired tourist card, you're not legally in the country, and here's an example of how that could be an issue. I can think of many many other things you can't do with an expired tourist card - for example you can't get health insurance here unless you're resident - but I really don't want to start that debate again.
Sometimes it doesn't though. I had a big problem with one of the banks here recently and my lawyer (who is from one of those families and knows everyone) called his sister / aunty / cousin who was a director of said bank (she also had one of those last names) who immediately got on the case. Everyone rushed around trying to help me but due to compliance issues it still took a couple of weeks to get sorted, and they all kept saying that things had changed massively since the pandemic. Changing dollars is one thing, but opening an account is another
I completely understand how tempting it is to do this. But I think you must have doubts and that's why you've posted on here. In reality you could / probably would be OK, but what would happen if you were kidnapped? I presume you are gringos and don't look Haitian, you're going to look like targets. And why would the UK government post that crime is particularly bad in areas near the Dominican border if it wasn't? Personally I wouldn't take the risk because if something goes wrong it will go very very badly wrong for you there.
I concur .especially when the government tells you to stay out of Haiti
I think it must be a long time since you have had to open or change an account here, because I can assure you things have changed. For example, a while ago I got a new passport with a new number, so the old one that I was using for bank ID was no longer valid. As I had obtained Residency since I first opened the account I decided to transfer to using the new cedula for ID. The process I had to do to make that simple change was a huge bureaucratic business.
As for going to another branch or bank, I suggested this to my friend yesterday and he informed me that he has visited every bank that he knows of in the Sosua/Cabarete area with the same result. No current passport stamp, no new account. Get a new stamp and away you go.
So I suggest you start eating a different breakfast because you obviously don't know the way things are now. Also, please stop saying what I post is ridiculous as if you are the only one who knows anything here.
Thank you for your input which I am sure you mean sincerely and with the best intentions. However, I think that while it may be very dangerous near the border in the south, I have been told by people with recent first hand knowledge and families in the area of the northern crossing is that it is completely different there.
Anyway, don't worry, I don't think my friend will be trying it now, because as we can't seem to get a definitive answer as to whether it is possible to get a new stamp in this way it is not worth the maybe wasted effort.
When I activated my Dominican Residence Visa that I received via FedEx from the Dominican Toronto consulate, I flew to San Juan and back in the same morning using Jet Blue. I looked into Haiti but then the thought of safety and also uncertainty of immigration process disused me from that “option”.
When was this ? I also did that but I think since the US introduced the Esta visa waiver program it got complicated. In the Esta you provide the information of where you have residency apart from citizenship. Since they introduced the Esta I had DR residency when I traveled from the DR and provided that info. If not US immigration might have asked about it.
It was after the ESTA thing was introduced. But I don't see what an American programme would have to do with the DR tourist entry system.
I apologize. I didn’t really read the thread properly. My example was just an example for why it can be important to have legal residency in the DR. For travel to the US and internationally. It was one of my reasons to have it.
Yes, it's one of my friend's worries about quickly visiting another country to renew his tourist stamp. Many places and airlines insist that you have an onward ticket out of the DR if you are flying back. Last year I had to show my Residency card when coming here from Ecuador and the UK.
A friend of mine uses this site all the time. Pays $12 for a "valid' reservation and no problems ever......
Onward Ticket - Verified Flight Reservation within 5 Minutes
Best verifiable onward ticket for visa application and Airport proof of return with Valid PNR.
verifiabletickets.com
Thank you. Very useful.A friend of mine uses this site all the time. Pays $12 for a "valid' reservation and no problems ever......
Onward Ticket - Verified Flight Reservation within 5 Minutes
Best verifiable onward ticket for visa application and Airport proof of return with Valid PNR.
Because sometimes it is just easier to have a local bank account,I find it interesting that this is even a thing. If someone is here on a Tourist Card that is only valid for 30 days and ONLY for TOURISTS who is here to do TOURISM. Why would a TOURIST want to open a bank account if he's not here for BUSINESS but for TOURIMS? So even allowing someone who isn't a resident or in the process of (i.e. entering the country with a Residence Visa) should be illegal. So what's the difference between allowing someone to open a bank account who has overstayed or someone who is supposed to be here as a TOURIST?
I used to come to RD two or three times a year as a tourist, but did keep an apt, electric, etc.
It was just easier to pay bills from a Dominican bank account.
By the way, I ran into the same issue when my passport expired and I got a new one.
For some reason both BHD and Orange (now Altice) could not understand my passport number had changed and refused it as ID.
In the end I kept showing them my old expired passport with punch holes in it and they were fine with that because the passport number agreed with what was in their computer
.Kricke87 said:
I find it interesting that this is even a thing. If someone is here on a Tourist Card that is only valid for 30 days and ONLY for TOURISTS who is here to do TOURISM. Why would a TOURIST want to open a bank account if he's not here for BUSINESS but for TOURIMS? So even allowing someone who isn't a resident or in the process of (i.e. entering the country with a Residence Visa) should be illegal. So what's the difference between allowing someone to open a bank account who has overstayed or someone who is supposed to be here as a TOURIST?
Good point Kricke87, but there are different laws among Migracion, INTRANT and the DR banking industries that have only weak relationships to each other and are not well coordinated to make sense. For example that pesky 30 day limit while a tourist card country person is legally in the DR which seems to catch almost everyone here trying to open a bank account on day 31 or later, but then we have the 30 day out of country driver's license validity which is never enforced, while it is now impossible for a tourist to get a valid motorcycle license while tourists used to be able to drive motorcycles on their car driving licenses legally.