It’s very usual to consider that the visa and the residency are the same thing in the Dominican Republic, also it’s considered that if the applicant is already in the Dominican Republic he can request a visa and residency from the Dominican Territory, this is absolutely false.
The Dominican residency process consists of two steps, each one different and carried out with different documents, done before different government agencies. It’s important that applicants know that the approval of the visa does not imply the approval of the residency permit.
The first step is to c0mplete the visa process, which must be started at the Dominican consulate in: a) The applicant’s country of origin or b) in the country where the applicant has legal residence. Although our diplomatic representation is extraordinarily good and extensive, in some countries there are no Dominican consulates, therefore, the applicant must contact a lawyer to identify in the consular route, which country next to his location has a Dominican consulate available for these procedures.
Once is defined which Dominican consulate is going to be used abroad, it is essential to define which is the migratory category suits you and how to present the documents, because as we have already said, the approval of the visa with the pertinent documents does not guarantee that the formalities of the Immigration Office are required to be fulfilled, therefore, for guarantee the assistance of a specialist is required. Furthermore, if your visa application then your residency and retirement plans can be delayed for 6-12 months while the authorities accept an appeal to the visa rejection, sometimes a simple stamp can delay a process up to 6 months, you can avoid that by contacting experts. In our Law Office our mission is to support all foreigners in the Dominican Republic providing the legal services available to them with the highest quality and commitment.
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