Do your own residency !!!!

I just got my residency (permanent) last Thursday and I've got to tell everyone thinking of it to DO IT YOURSELF ! I started late last summer, on my own, by going to migracion and they gave me a list of things to do and were very helpful in all aspects. Of course I made a few blunders, wrong addresses, etc., but it was really a simple process. I've met numerous other people in the government offices who told me all kinds of horror stories that they were going through with their lawyers they had paid to do it (most over $ 1,500.00 usd!!!!) making it complicated with delays, need a new this or that (extra money of course), and still they had no idea where they were in the process and none that I met were near completion and had started much earlier than I. What a scam!! If you think by using a lawyer or other person saves you time, think again, as you still have to be present at the same stages as I (or anyone else) did. Don't believe it when people tell you it is too difficult (like I almost did!) and that you need an attorney or other such person, it is just another way to gouge the inexperienced.
P.S. I speak almost no Spanish but had my dictionary. The people in the offices where extremely patient and helpful with me. This is not the obstacle that I was told it was.

Thanks for the info! I got this info from a company that wanted $2500 US for the same thing. I'm glad I read your message before I wasted my money on it.

Reyna

Dear Dwight, please e-mail me I have some questions? E-mail address is cari.rhythms@codetel.net.do

U$ 2500,00 is truly overcharged.of course any paperwork you can do your self.in general speaking "no problem".if you live in santo domingo everything is a "lot easier" as if you come from puerto plata or other places.you have to ad the time and travelexpenses but therefore gain the intersting insight on buerocracy here.
on the other side giving it to a laywer saves you time and injects a bit of money into the industry and may secure a job or two.also the lawyer has expenses as he has to share it with a colleague in santo domingo.so it's not all profit!!what's the hourly wage of a lawyer in your country?
in any case very important is to really go ahead and process the residency as it legalizes your status and therefore gives you a little bit of protection.
the good old times are leaving as modernisation with all it pros and cons is coming along.

Any chance you could outline the steps in the residency process for everyone on the board who wants to know?

I live in Canada, my husband lives in Sosua. Being married to him, it is supposedly a very simple process to obtain residency. Is it possible to have DR residency while still holding my Canadian citizenship, i.e. holding both Dominican and Canadian citizenship at the same time???
Thanks

Residency and citizenship are two different things. By all means you can have Dominican residency and Canadian citizenship. However, I don't think you want to give up your Canadian citizenship for Dominican citizenship. Travelling with a Dominican passport is much more limiting than with a U.S. or Canadian one.

The Dominican government now recognizes dual citizenship, but I know the U.S. government does not, in most cases, accept this as standard. The Canadian government might have a different perspective. I can only vouch for the U.S. government. My wife is a naturalized U.S.citizen. She has not given up her Dominican citizenship in the eyes of the Dominican Republic and still has a cedula and Dominican passport as well, but when she became a U.S. citizen she had to renounce all ties with other governments and sovereigns. She really has the best of two countries, with all rights and privileges in both, even if Uncle Sam views it differently.

We get to remain Canadians as long as we keep an up to date Canadian Passport. The canadian goverment doesn't care if you keep another citizenship as long as when you are in Canada you obey the laws and pay lots of taxes.

The only to lose your Canadian citizenship is if you renounce to it to become citizen of another country.