PERMANENT RESIDENCE APPLICATION (RP-1)

Change of immigration status to Permanent Resident (RP-1). It is an extension of the residence permit, for five (5) years, granted to that foreigner who has fulfilled the condition of Annual Renewal of his Ordinary Temporary Residence Permit (RT-9), during five (5) years of residence.

TO WHOM THIS SERVICE IS INTENDED

Foreigner with Ordinary Temporary Residence, whose intention is to settle and reside permanently in the Dominican Republic.

DEPARTMENT: Immigration Department / Evaluation Unit.

CONTACT INFO

Dirección: Autopista 30 de Mayo, Esquina Héroes De Luperon, Santo Domingo República Dominicana

Teléfono: +1 (809) 508 2555

Email: [email protected]

 REQUIREMENTS

• Passport valid for a minimum of 18 months. According to the application regulation 631-11.

• Temporary Residence Card, original, current.

• Personal identity card, only for verification.

• Four recent photographs, of the same set: two in front and two in profile, size 2×2, white background.

• Certification of No Criminal Record, issued by the Attorney General’s Office.

• Documents that guarantee your own financial solvency (bank letter, car registration, title deed, investment or savings certificate, etc.).

• Medical examinations, in one of the institutions authorized by the DGM.

PROCEDURE TO FOLLOW

1. Enter the DGM service portal.

1.1. register in the system (if you are registered, enter your username and password)

1.2. Choose the “application list” option, from the list of available services, choose the one you will request, and complete the required information on the forms.

1.3. the system will notify you about the status of your request

2. the scanned documents must be in .jpg format for the application via web.

3. the applicant has thirty  days to deposit all the original documents after having entered Dominican territory, otherwise, he must pay a penalty (see stay payment table). submit to the DGM with the original documentation plus a complete set of copies.

4. all documents in another language must be translated into Spanish, by the Dominican consulate in the applicant’s country of origin or by a judicial interpreter in the Dom.

5. At the end of the deposit of the required documentation, the authorization to carry out the medical examination and the approval of the payment of the services, the “document receipt form” for the withdrawal of the requested temporary residence will be delivered to the applicant, in case of being approved.

6. The medical examination must be done within three days after payment ( including the day of payment ), otherwise you must make the payment again. you must wait ten days to know the results of them.

7. all documents deposited in the DGM must be original and must be duly notarized, legalized and apostilled as appropriate.

Hours of service:M-F | 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Fees: Permanent Resident Application – RD $ 12,000.00 (Download attachment below)

Processing time: 90 working days

Dominicans may acquire nationality through birth or naturalization.

• By birthright

The 2015 Constitution specifies in Article 18, Section 1, that those entitled to birthright nationality are:

- Those born within the territory of the Dominican Republic, who are not children of diplomats, illegal aliens, or foreigners in transit;

- Those born abroad to a Dominican parent, who upon reaching their eighteenth birthday choose Dominican nationality and renounce their former nationality or obtain dual citizenship; or

- Those who had birthright citizenship according to the laws before the current constitution entered in to force.

• By naturalization

Naturalization requires completion of an application of request that is supported by the requisite documents to establish eligibility. These are submitted to the Ministry of the Interior and Police (Spanish: Ministerio de Interior y Policía) for processing and approved by the Directorate of Naturalization. Requirements, detailed in the 1948 Law #1683, include that applicants must be adults who have attained the age of 18, or 16 if married or authorized by a legal guardian, who have established a residence within the territory for a minimum of 2 years.

The 2015 Constitution in Article 18, Section 1, and Law #1683 specify that those who can naturalize are:

- Foreigners who have established legal residence in the country for two years.

- Foreign men who have had legal residence for six months and who are married to a Dominican woman;

- Foreign women who are married to a Dominican man may obtain a waiver to residency requirements at the discretion of the President of the Dominican Republic

- Adoptees of Dominican parents;

- Foreign wives and minor children obtain automatic naturalization through the naturalization of their spouse without meeting residency requirements;

- Foreign-born adults of naturalized Dominicans who have established residence for one year; or

- Persons who, at the discretion of the President, are deemed to have provided exceptional services to the nation.

You can start with the immigration process as soon as you have arrived in the Dominican Republic. You can come to the Dominican Republic as a tourist and apply for residency right away. Make sure that you have prepared and brought with you all the required papers (notarized copy of passport, notarized copy of birth certificate, original police clearance certificate). All the three documents must contain apostles. Translations into Spanish, medical examinations, photographs can be done on the spot with assistance of a local lawyer we can recommend. All the documents must be submitted to the Immigration Office. Once your application is submitted, you will be assigned a registration number. This is usually a four-digit number and once you have it, you can officially and legally work and/or do business in the Dominican Republic. The immigration process typically lasts 3 to 4 months but in case you do everything with assistance of a lawyer it takes two months. After two months of expectations you get a temporary residence permit (ID-card for 1 year).

Citizenship law stipulates that foreigners will be expected to live in the country with a temporary residence permit for 5 years, then for two years with permanent residency. And only after 7 years of legal residence they can apply for citizenship.