How to get residency in the Dominican Republic and main difficulties to obtain it in 2024
How to get residency in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a state located on the island of Haiti. Its shores are washed by the Caribbean Sea and the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The republic boasts a mild climate. Despite the fact that it is territorially located in the tropical climate zone, there is simply no exhausting heat here.
The heat is softened by the refreshing winds from the ocean. Pure snow-white palm trees, exotic nature, and developed tourist infrastructure endow the region with the features of a real tourist paradise.
A number of the above and other positive characteristics encourage lots of foreigners to choose the Dominican Republic as their second home and apply for residency status. Let’s dwell on the advantages of a residency in the Dominican Republic.
Main advantages of a residency in the DR
- A temporary or permanent residence allows you to live in the Dominican Republic all year round and don’t worry about the visa renewal.
- The residence permit eliminates the risk of overstaying the visa and paying a fine for this offense.
- Resident status gives the right to officially work, study, and do business.
- Residence permit is the first stage in obtaining permanent residence, and then citizenship.
- Residency in the Dominican Republic is quite simple. Of course, if your immigration process is accompanied by a professional lawyer. But if you prepare the documents yourself, you may encounter a number of problems, and the process will be confusing and difficult.
What is a residence permit in the Dominican Republic?
A residence permit allows a foreigner to live as a citizen. Although you don’t have a right to vote in elections. It doesn’t limit the resident in anything, but on the contrary, it allows you to enjoy many of the privileges that were mentioned above.
You can get a residence permit on the following grounds:
- Proving origins from the Dominican Republic.
- The conclusion of a marriage alliance with a Dominican.
- Family reunification.
- Relocation due to employment.
- Setting up your own business.
- Making investments.
Residence permit – how to apply for it?
Have you decided to apply for a Dominican residence permit on your own? Get ready for a laborious procedure.
Firstly, obtain a resident visa. It is issued by the Embassy of the Dominican Republic. You need to go through a series of procedures. As a result, you need to have with you:
- A standard completed visa application form. Allowed languages are Spanish and English;
- The conclusion of a special medical board accredited by government agencies that you are not a carrier of socially dangerous diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, viral infections, and skin diseases;
- Original and copy of foreign passports;
- Standard photos for documents;
- Certificates of the absence of problems with the law;
- Birth certificate and its copies;
- A document confirming marital status;
- Provision of a letter of guarantee from a citizen of the DR, who vouches for you and undertakes, in case you violate any points of the law, to bear all expenses.
All the documents must be legalized and translated into Spanish!
Please note that the package of documents may change!
The term for consideration and execution of documents is from one and a half to two months.
Residence permit in the Dominican Republic
At this stage, you will have to receive two documents at once. The personal presence of the applicant in state institutions for migrants is required. Partially, the principle of a single-window system operates here: a common package of documents is collected and everything is handed over en masse to the migration service.
The term for consideration of your application, as well as the preparation of the necessary documents, takes six months or more. You will be notified personally of readiness. Then you have to visit the migration service. Within a week, you must pick up the finished papers and put the signature of the head of the department on them.
However, this is not yet the final result. You receive a package of documents for registration of cédula – an internal identity card. With it you must come to the Cedulación and get a Dominican ID.
The residence permit is valid for one year and cannot be renewed. During the validity of this document, you must either resolve all your issues in the country and leave or collect a package of documents and apply for permanent residence.
Permanent residence in the Dominican Republic
Permanent residence gives the same rights as the citizenship of the country, except for the right to vote. But this slight limitation does not affect the level and quality of life. To obtain a permanent residence permit, the same package of documents is required as for a residence permit. Will differ only:
- Application form, where you will ask to provide a permanent residence;
- The basis on which you are in the country. You will have to provide a temporary residence and its copy, as well as your cédula;
- Certificate that you have lived on a temporary residence for at least a year;
- Medical report on the absence of socially dangerous diseases.
Permanent residence doesn’t need to be renewed, but this document is required to be updated every two years. To avoid this, you have to try to complete their journey to the end and obtain citizenship.
Permanent residence imposes some restrictions. In particular, its holders can’t leave the country for one year. After 12 months they can freely cross the border of the country.
Benefits of obtaining Dominican citizenship
- There are several ways to complete the process of emigration and becoming a citizen of this country. These traditionally include the purchase of real estate, the presence of a business, a large investment project, as well as marriage. In addition to confirming the availability of these benefits, you must also reside in the Dominican Republic for at least the agreed period.
- At the time of marriage, you must be in the republic with the right of permanent residence for at least six months. The same period is needed when buying real estate or business. But the government’s permission to participate in the construction of housing stock on an area exceeding 30 hectares, gives the right to early citizenship. Investors who invest in the country’s economy have the same right.
Difficulties with registration without specialists
Having considered the approximate procedure for obtaining a resident visa and then a residence permit, we can conclude that when applying for a residence on your own, you may encounter:
- Queues in state departments.
- The reason for moving isn’t clear.
- Ignorance of changes in immigration legislation.
- Inaccuracies in filling out forms.
- Some documents are missed.
- Violation of the deadline for filing an application.
Below you can find the most common mistakes that immigrants make when applying for a residency in the Dominican Republic on their own, which again lead to the refusal of the migration service:
- Providing false information.
- An attempt to cover up a criminal record.
- Lack of confirmation of the legality of the source of funds.
- Forgery of documents confirming the grounds for moving.
Conclusion
The advantages of a Dominican passport will be fully appreciated by tourists and businessmen since they have new opportunities for traveling and developing their own businesses. The Dominican Republic has a very extensive network of diplomatic missions, and their work is noticeable not only in words.
In particular, the Dominican Republic has established visa-free bilateral relations with many states. This allows you to simply travel without additional costs and bureaucratic obstacles, as well as expand your business.
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