Recommended Bank Transfer services?

I personally would not have your pay deposited to your RD bank account.  Unless things have changed, Migracion just wants to see some recent activity in your Dominican account to verify you have an account, and are bringing money into the country.  I would transfer a bit of money every month for a few months to satisfy Migracion, but not set it up permanently.  Only transfer what you need, as you need it from your US account.

I use Wise a lot, and the easiest way to get US$ here is to open a US$ account with your Dominican bank.  Once your peso account is opened, it should just be a very quick process to open that.  You will need between $300-$500 to deposit initially, and there are other stipulations depending on the bank.  If you transfer monthly from your US account to your Dominican US$ account and withdraw pesos at your Dominican bank, you will get the best rate, unless you take dollars to one of the street exchangers and get a couple pesos more.  It depends on your comfort level.  Or you can do that on the bank website, and withdraw pesos from the ATM.  Wise will tell you their fee upfront to send money, usually less than $5 for sending $2,000 and my bank here (Santa Cruz) charges me $10 to receive it, no matter the amount I send.

I agree with Uncle Buck - don't have your retirement sent directly to your RD bank. Let it hit your US bank and then transfer as needed to a local USD account.

I also bank with Banco Santa Cruz, but I have never been charged by them for a transfer into BSC. I typically use Remitly (USD to USD less than $2000 is $7.99) but have used international wires for larger amounts. (And if you use that Remitly link, you should get a $25 credit!)

We keep our funds in our USD account until needed, and then it's easy online or in the app to transfer to the DOP account for transfers or ATM withdrawals.

Thanks for the replies.  Unfortunately, I was told it was required for me to have my retirement pay sent here.  Maybe because I'm applying for the pensioner's visa?  Since everyone here trusts Lishali Baez as an immigration attorney, I assumed she would not steer me wrong.  I will ask her if this is absolutely necessary or if I can just make regular deposits to the account.

@ddmcghee

I've started a transfer on Remitly and now have a question.  When BSC set up my account, they put my Beneficiary Name as first name, middle name, last name.  On the Remitly page, it's asking for First Name and Last Name.  I recall hearing that some people had trouble with wire transfers going through because the names didn't match up.  So, on Remitly, will it expect to see my middle name on there somewhere?  It's only asking for First and Last.  If I don't put my middle name somewhere, it won't match my account name here.  Remitly has a line for "Second Last" name.  Do I put my middle name as the Last Name and my last name as the Second Last?

We are here on pensioner residencias. Our pension goes into our US Bank, and we then transfer the money to our DR bank. Our DR bank statements only show a deposit - there is no detail showing the source, so it would look the same regardless of whether the pension hit directly or I move the money.

Clarify that with Lishali - she handled our initial residency and renewal.

One thing that might be confusing is that for the pensioner VISA, you have to show that it is pension funds being deposited to your account

I just checked on Remitly - I only have my first and last name as the recipient at BSC. As long as those match, you’re good!

@ddmcghee  I just checked with Lishali and she confirmed:  I do NOT need to have my retirement pay direct deposited here. 

I will try a small transfer on Remitly with just my first and last name.  I'm still concerned because my BSC account shows my middle name as well, but we'll see how it goes.

Thank you and Uncle Buck for the advice.

My middle name is on my BSC account as well, but I've completed monthly transfers through Remitly with just my first and last name for almost 3 years with no issues!