The Department of Immigration has announced that 37-year old Marie Etienne Desir is the second Haitian to whom a temporary residency card has been issued in compliance with Constitutional Court Ruling 168-13.
Desir admitted that she had obtained her Dominican identification papers irregularly, as although she was born in the Dominican Republic both her parents were Haitian. She says that the residency will enable her to take the next step towards obtain Dominican citizenship as she is married to a Dominican.
Immigration Department head Jose Ricardo Taveras emphasized that Constitutional Court Ruling 168-13 makes it possible to end the legal limbo that has affected many people in the Dominican Republic. He said that Desir had requested the annulment of her birth certificate, recognizing that her parents had registered her irregularly in the civil registry.
Desir, who works at a Santo Domingo city hotel, told the press she had sent a letter to the Central Electoral Board (JCE) and it was that entity that processed the granting of her legal residency permit.
The first permit was issued to Juliana Dequis Pierre, whose case was used as an example in the 23 September 2013 Ruling 168-13.
At the event, JCE civil registry offices coordinator Cesar Felix said that the entity has plans to complete in 15-30 days the list of who is eligible for Dominican citizenship and who is not in Dominican registry books dating from 1929 to 2007. He said this was just a first inventory, and not an audit. The inventory will indicate the number of people who are registered in the foreigner books, the number of foreigners registered in the civil registry and the JCE’s ID-cedula master list. Some 600 employees are working on the review of more than 60,000 civil registry books. He said that people of more than 70 nationalities are registered in the books.
JCE se propone auditar 60 mil libros de estado civil en 15 días