Overstay fines

Well we arrived in DR. Puerta Plata, on the 16th Jan and left on the 20 March.

I set my dollars aside or pesos if you wish to pay for my overstay.  To my my total astonishment instead of paying 800 pesos per person I was asked to pay 2500 per person.  I was threatened that if I did not pay I would not be allowed to board my flight and go to jail..  As they don't have cash machines airside I had to leave my wife there and go back to landside and get the dosh.  One of the 2 ATMS were not working.  What a dreadful exprience. Well they will loose customers.  With the President building 2 new massive complexes in the South, no wonder the North is suffering, particular with lack of flights.

Having worked in the airport business both in US and the UK, they don't have clue about security..  When we went through with our passports and embarkation cards, we were told 3 times NOT to cross the red line which I found intimidating, we were the only people.  This happened again in security., which turned out to be very poor. They searched through my hand luggage but failed to open one of my zips, which contained several items.

We came here with a view of maybe living here but after that I am not sure we wish to.  We will be back next year for how long I don't know.  We love the people, the climate and the fruit, albeit the climate this year has not been great.

Buying a place in DR for us is totally out of the question now.  Everyting is for sale and if you want to rent long term there are clauses in the lease, giving the tenant 60 days notice ,should the owner be in a postion to sell.  We want to keep our roots in Europe and be able to have the freedom to fly like birds when we wish.  I met a French lady who runs a good pharmacy just after Super Pola.  She told me if she knew what she knows now she would do 6 months in Europe and 6 months in DR.  That would be good for us.

Our concern now is these overstay taxes.  It is clear this will continue to go up and the alternative is to go for "Residencia".  I am not sue bearing in mind what I have mentioned whether we should consider this anymore. If 3-6 months VISA were available we would sooner go for that.  I know when I used to go to OZ a VISA like that was never a problem.

Any advice please guys.  Ta

Ducketts