Temporary Resdidencia - first steps!

Depends what it is honey. Send me a private message and I will check for you.

And yup its a lot of information!

Ultimately the decision is made by the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Dominican consulate where you submit your visa application. In our experience those with non-recurring misdemeanors or with non-recurring felonies many years ago have been granted a visa.

I called the consulate in Ottawa and was told to send in the appropriate forms and they send it for translation and then the legalization which I'm assuming is same as apostilizing? As long as you send in the money.

Yes that is the legalization!  And welcome to the forums.

Planner,

Glad I made you laugh, great medicine. At what point do you suggest getting a highly over paid lawyer involved in the Residencia process?

Craig

Don't use an overpaid Lawyer honey!! Use a quality Lawyer with reasonable prices.

I would talk to them as you get your documents started at home.  They will help you get the right documents set up. Then when you get the 60 day visa get down here and actively work with them to get your filing done.

Do you have recommendations regarding a lawyer for a reasonable price? It doesn't seem too complicated to do yourself, I've been in contact with local consulate. Heard from other Canadians who have done it on their own, plus from a friend who did with a lawyer first time then ended up finishing themselves because lawyer made amess of it. The only thing I can see bring helpful is the translation of expectations in DR

I think I need a refresher on why we should get residency status if we only plan to live in the DR part time after we retire. I am hearing from some on this forum and other sources that many expats don't bother and just pay the fine for overstaying their tourist visa. We already own a condo in PC, but we are thinking of selling that and will be looking on the North Shore to perhaps buy a house. We could be staying for up to 6 months at a time. What would be the fine for staying 6 months? Or could we just do weekend trips to Puerto Rico or Haiti or other islands every 30 days to avoid the fines, and to avoid looking like residents?

I think I need a refresher on why we should get residency status if we only plan to live in the DR part time after we retire. I am hearing from some on this forum and other sources that many expats don't bother and just pay the fine for overstaying their tourist visa. We already own a condo in PC, but we are thinking of selling that and will be looking on the North Shore to perhaps buy a house. We could be staying for up to 6 months at a time. What would be the fine for staying 6 months? Or could we just do weekend trips to Puerto Rico or Haiti or other islands every 30 days to avoid the fines, and to avoid looking like residents?

Here is the reality -  just coming and staying, then paying the overstay fine works for now.

That will change.

We don't know when.
We don't know how.
We don't know what the new rules will be.

There you go.

Hopefully when things change, they will catch up with other countries and have longer temporary tourist visas of 5-6 months. But can anyone tell me for now
1) what are the fines to overstay 5 months beyond the tourist visa?
2) can you avoid the overstay by taking day trips to Haiti, or weekend trips to PR or other places? in other words, do they have a minimum time required to be out of the country before you can reenter under a tourist visa entry?

The overstay fine for 5 to 6 months is 4,000 RD that is about US 80.

No going to Haiti will not qualify and in fact will cost more than the US 80.

And I agree we need a longer stay tourist visa!  I am told that this is currently under consideration!  No idea if or when it could happen.

Thanks for your prompt and detailed reply! For us, retirement is still 5-6 years away and I know a lot could happen between now and then. we will keep our fingers crossed for a longer tourist visa stay.

Hello Expatlife4us,

You will find the overstay charges at www.puntacanainternationalairport.com. Click on
"Immigration" - go to the bottom of paragraph and Click on link to
'View Rates"
'.

Or you can apply for residency which will not negate your home residency

But you shouldn't be absent for more than 6 months straight

Hi Steverino, I clicked on the link you provided, but could not find "Immigration" listed anywhere on this PC airport site.

Expatlife4us -

Because he didn't tell you to click on Airport Services first. Then you will see the "Immigration" heading. The last sentence of the last paragraph has a link to view rates....

That is the problem with sharing websites. Its just confusing.  We posted the costs for you.

Planner -  I hope you didn't experience any issues or concerns with the earthquake yesterday. I watched it on the news here in Red Deer where it is currently -35 with the windchill overnight. In places further north like Edmonton and Fort McMurray it is -45....

No issues with the earthquake. Thanks for your concern!

Yesterday 84f!

Planner - That is great news.  I want to ask you something please and thanks of course.    Actually, I would like to copy and paste a document I recently received from the Dominican Embassy in Ottawa regarding Residencia. In particular, I would like you to comment and reply on specific paragraphs for me. Would that be possible? Would you prefer that I PM you the document and you can reply in this forum?

Let's do it by PM and then I can post it as needed honey.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for being so helpful! I am sorry to reply so late, but I have been swamped at work.

What do I do after I have all the required documents?  Do I bring them to the Dominican consulate closest to me?  I tried calling them, but got bounced around a lot and eventually sent to voicemail.

I'm interested too, we have been trying for our temp visa from Canada getting the complete run around. Because we are just retiring now so have been receiving employment income and now will be receiving a monthly amount which meets the requirements and have a notarized letter from our investment company. They said we have to have been receiving this amount for six months and send bank statements to show that. So frustrated because we've been trying to do this legally and now my husband is on the way Tuesday and it's still not straightened out.

The 'first step', is to try to evaluate whether it's evne worth it.  Many have decided it isn't.

Once you have documents translated etc you send them to your closest consulate with the application and fee for your residency letter.

If you do not yet qualify you have 2 options.  Wait at home until you have the 6 months, or, come here overstay the tourist visa pay the fee on exit, go home in 6 months and submit then. Understand much of your paperwork is time sensitive.

'Time sensitive'?  How can that be since it doesn't correspond to real life in the dr at all.  If they take YEARS to settle other things, what's with time sensitivity on this one?

Col;onel. the FBI document of antecedentes criminales, for example, is considered valid in the DR if it has a date of execution of 6 months or less. Some of the financial documentation has time sensitivity as well. As you have noted previously, each immigrants' results may depend on what kind of day the immigration examiner is having. Suerte

Ahhhhh glad to know that it's as usual.......it depends......it's arbitrary, etc.

planner wrote:

Once you have documents translated etc you send them to your closest consulate with the application and fee for your residency letter.

If you do not yet qualify you have 2 options.  Wait at home until you have the 6 months, or, come here overstay the tourist visa pay the fee on exit, go home in 6 months and submit then. Understand much of your paperwork is time sensitive.

Gracias.  Do I need a work visa in addition to residency in order to work?

Colonel - the doctors report expires in 60 days meaning it must be submitted to the consulate for residency visa within that time. So it's not arbitrary at all.

Residency includes the right to work honey.

planner wrote:

Residency includes the right to work honey.

Gracias 

Siempre!

1- Your birth certificate- translated and apostilled - 2 copies

2- A Certificate of Good conduct from the police- also translated and apostilled. - 2 copies

3- A medical certificate confirming your current health status- emphasizing you do not suffer from any infectious or contagious diseases, translated and apostilled - 2 copies

4- A letter from your bank confirming you are are solvent and a client in good standing, translated and apostilled.  - 2 copies

5- A letter explaining the reason for wanting to apply for residency in the DR, translated and apostilled. 2 copies

6. 2 full copies of your passport, good for at least 18 more months, apostilled.

Questions:
Is this updated?

Ive gone through the thread and cant find the answers, it states "2 original copies for each document" or can it be a photocopy of the original document (birth certificates, medical letter, police check)?

Apostilled is the same as notarized?

Copies of each passport page in your passport book? each page apostilled?

Thanks

Those are still the required documents.  Two full copies honey of the passport.  All documents and copies are apostilized. It is usually a fee per document not per page.

Apostille and Notarized are not the same thing. You can log onto your state or province's web site to find locations that will provide you with an Apostille

I ordered 3 copies (with raised stamp) of both my husband and I's birth certificate and our marriage certificate and then sent out to be aposilled over a year ago. I have it all waiting for when I apply for visa. My question is....do I have to now do it all over because they are not translated into Spanish??

I thought I could get that done later because I read that when you hire a Dominican lawyer they would take care of the translating of documents.

OR do I need to take our birth certificates and marrige license to be translated somewhere here in US and then send to be Aposilled again... then bring all copies (3 English and 3 Spanish) to apply for visa?