RESIDENCIES NOW $500,000. PESOS(+-US$31,250)??

Just in case not everybody read the letter from Lic. Fabio Guzman in regards to Starting a Business please note concerning residencies an excerpt from his letter:

Posted By: Fabio J. Guzman (pri-130-b5.codetel.net.do) Date: Tuesday, 7 December 1999, at 4:24 p.m.

Thank you for the testimonial. Unfortunately, residencies are going to become more difficult. Today most law firms dealing with residencies were invited to a meeting with an officer from the Cancillería (Foreign Office). At the meeting it was announced that from now on any applicant for a residency must make a RD$500,000 pesos deposit (approx. $31,250 US) in a Dominican bank. It was further announced that the new regulation will be applied to all those applicants who have not yet received their residency visas. The annnouncement caused an uproar among the lawyers present and petitions will be submitted for reconsideration.