Residency Renewal

My wife and I are presently cruising in the Caribbean in our sailboat. We are residents of the DR and have been since l986. According to our carnets, they expired in December, l998, and permission to reenter expires this month. However, our cedulas are valid until 2002.

We don't want to lose our residency. We own property outside Samana, which we are trying to sell so that we can buy an apartment. We've reached an age where we think that makes more sense for us. However, we aren't planning to return immediately. We'd like to finish our cruise, seeing some of the other islands before we get any older.

How much grace period do we have on residency? Can residency be renewed by a third party acting in our behalf?

Hope someone will be able to help us with this info.

No problem. If you don't make it in time to enter this month, you will need to enter purchasing a US$10 tourist card. Once in the DR, visit Migración in Santo Domingo and just pay for the renewal of your residency. You never lose your residency, was told in Migration. You just have to pay the money that would have been due had you been renewing it regularly. The fee for 1999 per person is RD$600, which includes the fee for the photo ID. A third party cannot renew your residency, as a photo needs to be taken.