Can I open a bank account in the DR without being a resident?

Yes, but your bank may request to see your passport to ensure you are in the country legally - meaning within 30 days of your last arrival. If you've got an extension of your 30-day tourist card, then I'd suggest having proof of that when you go to the bank,

My experience is that it is cumbersome to get the account open and once  they tend to sit on matters that would be routine back home. It took two months to open an account at Banco Popular. That includes verifying my identity and satisfying themselves that I wasn't money laundering. The money laundering piece is imposed by US government and it does not take two months.  Here's another example. They took two weeks to deposit a US dollar wire to my own account. From me to me. Wires are electronic and aside from some manual operations they travel at the speed of light. So a day is plenty of time depending on the time of day wire is sent. Two weeks means to me the bank was sitting on finds earning interest for two weeks. I put a trace on it after a couple of days and the funds received by the bank next business day.

And don't get me started on Edeste the electricity utility. I tried to pay off.tje previous owners electric bill to get ontoy name. They said no it wasn't my responsibility. Next day they called and said I had to pay the previous bill or they would shut off electricity immediately. I rushed by taxi to office on San Pedro got it paid and was assured everything is fine. But they shut off the electricity anyway!?. Had a Spanish speaking friend try to resolve and after two of his attempts the electricity on the condo still doesn't work. Everyone was giving a different story. It will be Tuesday no Friday. After continuing to dig around for someone inside the company we found out the they had run out of meters and cable to do the installation and didn't know when it was gonna be resolved. Luckily for me the condo allowse to use their internal generator until Edeste gets organized. They are a big company and have monopoly on electricity here. How could they possible not have cable and meters on hand. I am told there are five other units in my building have the very same issue. God knows how many more there are out there.

So just learn that things don't work here the way we are used to. And that to put it mildly is an understatement. When we embark on an adventure there are things we like and don't like. In DR the people are great, the weather is too, the infrastructure to run modern economy is still on development. In Canada people are nice too, the weather sucks bit everything works. I'll take sand and sun over minus 10 degrees and two feet of snow any day. I can get used to the inconvenieces..

TomasDivertido wrote:

I would like to be able to wire money to myself from my USA checking account. I'm not a resident or citizen of the DR. Can I open up a checking account here in the DR to accomplish my objective?

Yes-you don't need to be citizen or resident to open a bank account. If you're American there are a few extra forms that you'll need to fill out as required by the US gov't, but that's it.

Would being married 30yrs to a Dominican Republic Citizen(now a U.S. Resident) make me an automatic Resident, should both of us decide to move and live there??

Joe it qualified you for residency but you must go through the process of applying.  I invite you to read the pinned post on residency.

Let's keep this thread on topic please, bank accounts

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Yes I open 2 accounts about 4 years ago always ( open 2 just in case ) one for USD$$ and one for pesos , it took 2-3 days ,
You have to show passport , SS card , and where the future money  (income) is coming from
Like social security or pension account  , the day I opened the account I handed the women a few thousand USD$ and  some RD$ and I think  2 day later I went in to sign some paperwork and it was finalized I went to the bank of BANRESERVAS , not hard no lawyers involved just make sure you have everything with bring your drivers license, birth certificate everything just in case … good luck

Tippj wrote:

Yes I open 2 accounts about 4 years ago always ( open 2 just in case ) one for USD$$ and one for pesos , it took 2-3 days ,
You have to show passport , SS card , and where the future money  (income) is coming from
Like social security or pension account  , the day I opened the account I handed the women a few thousand USD$ and  some RD$ and I think  2 day later I went in to sign some paperwork and it was finalized I went to the bank of BANRESERVAS , not hard no lawyers involved just make sure you have everything with bring your drivers license, birth certificate everything just in case … good luck

Do NOT give any bank money with an application for an account! Once you are approved and the account is open, then, and only then, should you give them the opening deposit.

Does anyone know a bank here that does not ask too many documents ? I went to Banco popular and Scotiabank and both ask for last taxes statement which is document that I don't have ?

Pretty much all the same now!

I opened my two accounts, one peso and one dollar, back in August with Santa Cruz Bank.  They needed a reference letter from my bank in the US as well as a reference letter from a well-known Dominican business person.  I used my attorney in the DR.  Past bank statements for 6 months.  Be sure you get the online banking working quickly, since they said they would send me a password via email, which I never got.  Still 8 months later can't check on anything, even though I have emailed the bank several times but just getting ignored.  Banking is not fun down there.