New & Renewal Cedula, Residency Cards & Drivers License

I would like to see a sticky for the above. I have no doubt that within the various threads there is all the information required, but trying to find it **!! I have just spent 45 minutes wading through the threads and yes I have learned a lot but I'm still not clear. What I would like to see is 4 sections for personal applicants.
1) New Cedula.
2) Renewing Cedula.
3) New residency card.
4) Renewing residency card.

Each section to show the steps:
Where to go.
What documents to take.
Costs.
Hints & tips.

I presume it will have to be updated regularly.
The number of posters I have read all requesting this information and where to look whereas if it were all in one place life would be a lot simpler. None of the above to involve lawyers, please. No disrespect Mr Guzman.

I was just about to start to search for this and was delighted to find this new sticky...it will be wonderful when some of the answers can be provided. I know I have searched for it all before, and found it, but to have it all in one place would be extremely useful.

Thanks,
Linda.

Good idea....

CEDULA RENEWAL:

I did this today in TWELVE MINUTES !

Office hours: 8:00 am to 3:45pm, Monday thru Fridays. The busiest times are between 8 am and about noon. There was nobody else there when I went at 1:30pm on a Friday. If you have something to do down at Migracion, go there first, as Migracion closes at 3:00 pm, and then do your cedula in the afternoon.

They told me that the mornings are usually very busy and some days OOF, there are a ton of people there. For you out-of-towners, southbound traffic at the roundabout and south on Ave. Luperon is really heavy in the mornings with rush hour from about 7:00 to 9:15am.

Here's what you need to take along to renew your cedula at the JCE:
1. RD$1200 for renewals
2. Your old cedula
3. Your residency card (and it must be valid and not expired)
4. Your passport
5. A photocopy of your residency card which shows both the front and the back of the card on the same copy.
6. A nice smile and cheerful attitude.

JCE has a special office for extranjeros. It is located about 200 meters below the big roundabout located at the intersection of 27 de Febrero and Ave. Luperon. As you go south, or below, the big roundabout with the giant arch and Dominican flag, on Avenida Luperon, stick to the rightlane or the second lane from the outside so you don't fight traffic to get into the parking area.

You pass the big JCE offices on the right. Continuing on, next is a two story building with "PARQUEO" at the roofline, then a big blue warehouse-type building with a greenhouse-type addition along the front. After that is the JCE building for Extranjeros, with two tired looking flags in front. If you miss it and get to the intersection of Ave Betancourt with a stoplight, you went too far. Do a u-turn where you can and go back around the roundabout.

The parking lot is small, but just pull in. Most cars are for employees, but the watchyman will tell you where to park.

Inside the buildings front entry, take the steps to the second floor. Go left to the office with all windows and 4 or 5 employees and desks inside. Start smiling about 15 feet before you get to the door and they will be very welcoming. The boss will check your documents, give them back to you and then tell you to go across the central hallway to the cashier to pay your $1200. Tell the cashier you need to renew your cedula (they do other things too), and hand her your old cedula and $1200. She will give back your receipt and your documents.

Then go to the door to the right side of the first office and walk in (closed door with a sign that says "PHOTOS" but no need to knock). They will take your photo here. There are two (or more) people here to enter your data into the system. Sit down in a chair when invited and give them your documents and receipt.

They will enter the data and print out a proof sheet, and review all information with you to make sure it is correct. You then sign the proof, and then sign on an electronic signature unit. They will then direct you to first place your left index finger on a pad, and then the right index finger for entry into the system. Your new cedula will spit out in a minute or two.

Done ! Come back in 6 years.

Yes, I did mine on Wednesday, at around 3 p.m. and got through almost as quickly, about 20 minutes in total and a thoroughly easy experience with no-one else waiting.

One thing to bear in mind is that they will not and cannot renew your cedula until it has expired, i.e. you have to have passed your birthday on the year of expiry. I tried to renew mine earlier in the year, at the same time as my residency, but couldn't as it hadn't expired yet. However, they don't charge you for being overdue with it.

Unfortunately, my friends who were trying to renew their residencies did not have quite such a good experience and we spent nearly two days in Migration and still have to return, which isn't so great when you live on the north coast, but that's another story....the Cedula is by far the easier part of the process!

Well done Linda and el forastero! That's just what we want. Now all we lack is Residency and possibly, a secondary thought, Driving Licence. I know that this thread is not of much interest to holidaymakers and those interested parties who live abroad but all of us immigrants have to go through the nuisance of these targetas and licences and we all need help and reminders. Lets have a little more support from other ex pats.

RESIDENCY RENEWAL:

What you need:
1. Your old residency card
2. Your passport (you need to enter your passport number on the form)
3. If you are married to a dominican, you need to know your spouse's cedula number, although I got my new card without this information.
4. a ballpoint pen
5. Patience.

Where to go:

This is done at the main offices of Migracion located in Santo Domingo, at the intersection of Ave George Washington and Calle Heroes de Luperon. (This is the first intersection with a stoplight west of Ave Enrique Jiminez Moya (the bottom end of Winston Churchill) and Ave George Washington (the Malecon). They are open from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm, BUT they will only accept your paperwork for residency renewal until 11:00 am.

There is a large parking lot located behind the building, or you can park along the street. Lots of guys trolling the parking lot to "help" you and "watch" your car while inside. Lots of others hanging around the entrance offering to "help you" with your work inside.

Entering the front entrance (facing the sea), you need to go into the right side offices. The other side is for Passports only.

Buy the application form ("Formulario para la renovacion de mi residencia") at Window #9 for RD$100. A good place to fill it out is at the large counter in Reception outside in the main entrance., as long as you go off to one side, and tell the girls behind the counter how pretty they are.

The form asks for your first and middle names, ("NOMBRES" = your first and middle names), your last name(s) - ("APELLIDOS" = last name(s),) each of your parents names, your Dominican address, your passport number, your country of citizenship *"NACIONALIDAD"), and if it applies -your dominican spouses name and cedula number, etc.

Fill it out, turn it back in at Window #9 along with your old Residency card. Take a seat and wait about 45 minutes for them to review it and give authorization.

They will then call your name and you will pay the RD $2500 fee (and RD$2000 more for VIP service if you want fast service) plus any late fees if you are late in renewal, at Window #9. They will give you a numbered ticket and your paperwork.

You then then take the approved form and your receipt to Window #3. After about another 45 minutes they will call your ticket number for the photos. They usually call 3 numbers at the same time.

Go into the central hallway leading away from the center of the building and go to the first door on the left in this hallway. There is someone at this doorway who will direct you down a short hallway to wait in the hallway outside of the last door on the right side. If you don't speak Spanish, just hold all of your paperwork in front of you and they will point the way.

Queue up in the short hallway, and they will call "proximo" from the small room. They will take a front and side view, and then you go back out into the waiting area and take a seat (pet peeve = instead of hanging out in front of the hallway and gumming up the way for people to pass. There are a lot of people coming and going, and it doesn't help anyone trying to get through if there are 50 people standing around in the way.) Your new residency card will be ready in about 30 minutes and they will call your name.

A gentleman will come out of the central hallway with the latest batch of cards and will start calling names to come and collect their cards. If it's been about 30 minutes and you don't speak Spanish, just walk up to this area when the guy comes out, he will see your face and match it to the card and hand it to you.

CHECK THE INFORMATION ON YOUR NEW CARD BEFORE YOU LEAVE. Sometimes they do screw it up, and it needs to be correct. They used to have a hard time with using only three names and not four, and get them out of order.

I came in at 8:45, and walked out at 11:25. About as efficient as they can make it I guess.

I renewed my residency two months before it was due for expiration, and had no problems. The only difference was that I lost the two valid months remaining. The residency is good for 2 years, but after you have had residency for 10 years, they give you the option of longer renewals.

[QUOTE=windeguy;881890]Twelve minutes and 10 hours of driving would be about the best that I could do to renew my Cedula. Perhaps some day in the future they could actually renew our Cedulas at the closest JCE office if they could ever figure out how to tie their data bases together and the government could get a clue. I know, wishful thinking. At least it doesn't have to be done often.
.............................................

Windeguy, Dominicans can already get their cedulas renewed now in some of the Oficilia offices. Due probably to pressure from other countries, they force foreigners to come to one central office to get a cedula.

A cedula is a government issued primary form of identification. Just imagine what could happen if someone from Al Qaeda could bribe a JCE employee to give them a cedula and then they somehow fast-talked their way into the US while carrying a dirty bomb. The horror, and the fault would lie on the JCE's head. Or so they imagine.

By centralizing things at the JCE Extranjero offices, they can also watch out for scumbags, child molesters, Chinese people trying to sneak illegally into the US, etc

suarezn posted a great cartoon from Cristian Hernandez on this issue.

I put the blame on other governments pressure, and not the JCE for this one.

Lets end this here and keep on topic. Take it to PM's.

New & Renewal Cedula, Residency Cards & Drivers License, that's it, nothing more.

Now a "real" sticky :)

Just one little extra bit of info to add, at present the cost for each month overdue with a residency renewal seems to be 250 pesos although I'm not sure if that also applies to part months.