The Dominican Republic is a tropical paradise that thousands of tourists from all over the world visit every year. A soft and moist climate, endless beaches, and a vast number of hotels provide ideal conditions for relaxation.
The Dominican Republic is located in the Caribbean and it occupies the best part of the island of Haiti that is in the Greater Antilles. In addition to the large island, you will find multiple small islands and islets on both sides of Haiti.
Thanks to its geographical position and mild climate, the Dominican Republic is a highly popular tourist destination. This is good news for the country indeed, because there are few natural resources there that could serve as sources of income for local people. The tourist sector is the main sector of Economy in the Dominican Republic.
If you walk away from sandy beaches and find yourself inland, you will see that many people in the country are actually rather poor. No industry, no natural resources, and a rapid growth of the population (that already exceeds 10 million people, according to estimates) contribute to the increase of poverty level in the Dominican Republic.
The constant flow of refugees from the neighboring state of Haiti that occupies the other half of the island only makes things worse. Haiti is one of the poorest and one of the most troubled countries in the world.
Apart from the tourist sector, there are few jobs in the Dominican Republic. People survive by selling small items in the streets or offering private services.
The average salary in the country is 200 to 300 dollars and a great number of people find it hard to get by. After 20 years of work, a Dominican citizen is eligible for retirement. The pension is only 100 to 150 dollars, however, which means that elderly people in the Dominican Republic have to do some work to survive.
Life is more expensive at the beach than it is inland but you do not have to have a lot of money to live comfortably in the Dominican Republic anyway. The figures above serve to illustrate this fact.
Legal residence in the Dominican Republic
The legislation of the country reflects the friendly nature of the local people. The Dominican Republic welcomes all foreigners regardless of their reasons for visiting the country: for pleasure, business, or retirement. It is also possible to acquire a residence permit in the Republic and apply for citizenship of the country after living there for only a couple of years. Needless to say, all the formalities have to be dealt with and all the application documents have to be in perfect order.
Temporary residence permit in the Dominican Republic
A foreign national wishing to stay in the Dominican Republic for a year or more has to apply for legal residence in the country. Residence can be acquired on different grounds: retirement, business, investments, job, study, and so on. Acquiring residence of the Dominican Republic by investment is one of the fastest ways of legalizing your prolonged stay in the country.
When you become a legal resident in the country, you will be issued a personal identification document called Cédula de Identidad Personal in Spanish (Spanish is the official language in the Dominican Republic). The applicant for residence has to be in good health, be solvent, and have a clean police record.
Normally, you have to acquire a temporary residence permit first and then a permanent one. However, certain categories of people are eligible to apply for a permanent residence permit immediately thus skipping the temporary residence permit. The following foreigners can qualify for immediate permanent residence in the Dominican Republic:
- Investors who put at least US$ 200,000 in the local economy. It can be a business company, a state contract, or some financial instruments available in the country.
- Retirees whose foreign pension exceeds US$ 1,500 per month. US$ 250 per each dependent has to be added to this amount.
- Foreign nationals who can confirm having a passive income (from rent, for example) of at least US$ 2,000 per month. They have to confirm having had the income for the last five years.
- Foreign nationals who have spouses or children among Dominican citizens or legal residents.
Theoretically, residence permits should be issued within 45 business days from the application date.
Eligibility criteria for applicants for Dominican residence
Real property owners letting it on a lease, investors, and retirees can obtain what is referred to as ‘investment residence’ in the Dominican Republic. However, obtaining the status can be a challenging task. Not only do you have to meet the requirements but you also have to prove that you meet the requirements. This means that you will have to supply various confirmation documents and what is very important, these documents need to be verifiable.
Eligibility criteria for rentiers
- The rental property can be located anywhere in the world.
- The income from rent has to be at least US$ 2,000 per month. If the applicant has dependents (children, spouse), an additional income of US$ 250 per each dependent per month is required.
- All the documents confirming the income such as rent agreements, for example, have to be translated into Spanish, notarized, and apostilled. The Immigration Department of the Dominican Republic will not accept documents in languages other than Spanish.
Eligibility criteria for investors
- The investment amount has to be US$ 200,000 or more.
- The investment can be direct or indirect. You can purchase a piece of property in the Dominican Republic, make a deposit in a local bank, or invest in a business project in the country.
- The investment has to be registered with The Dominican Republic Export and Investment Center (CEI-RD).
The CEI-RD will issue an investment certificate in approximately a month. The certificate has to be extended on a regular basis, which means that you cannot withdraw from the investment if you want to keep your residence permit. The investor can also sponsor his/ her family members or his/ her company employees if the investor sets up a company in the Republic. Sponsorship means faster legal residence acquisition for family members/ company employees.
Eligibility criteria for retirees
- The pension should be paid by a state or a private pension fund.
- The pension amount has to be at least US$ 1,500 per month plus US$ 250 per dependent.
- Confirmation documents from the pension fund need to be supplied. The documents have to be translated into Spanish and translations legalized.
Application processing time and residence permit validity term
Even though the applications for legal residence have to be processed within 45 business days by law, in reality, the application processing period will depend on how much time the government officials will take to verify your documents. You also have to go through a medical examination and this process takes time too.
The residence permit is valid for one year. After six months of living in the Dominican Republic on a residence permit, you are eligible to apply for citizenship of the country. You don’t have to do it, however, unless you want to withdraw from investments: residence permits are extendable.
Application for citizenship of the Dominican Republic
An investor can apply for Dominican citizenship after living on a residence permit for six months while other categories of residence permit holders can apply for citizenship after two years. Becoming a full-fledged citizen of the Dominican Republic makes sense if you have made a bank deposit, for instance, and you want to ‘free’ your money. When you have a Dominican passport, you don’t have to have any ‘security deposit’ any longer.
In other cases, acquiring citizenship of the Republic should hardly be your goal. The social security system is not very strong in the country and you can keep on living on a paradise island by simply extending your residence permit.
