Dominican Citizenship Anyone?

[Drake]

Below is some advice I found on the Net on how to do it and the advantages of becoming a Dominican citizen.



You can apply for the Dominican citizenship normally after two years of obtaining the permanent residency in the country but the substantial advantage consists in the fact that you do not need to be physically in the country all the time. There are also some exceptions determined by Dominican authorities, for example in case of foreign investors, when you can apply for the Dominican citizenship practically after one year.

What you will get with citizenship?

* Full citizenship and not only so called "economical" citizenship which is offered in most of Caribbean and Central American countries
* Same rights as native Dominican with only one exception - you can not be elected as president of the country
* Free travel visa for example to Israel, Japan, South Korea, Uruguay, Argentina, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador and others
* Your Dominican ID card "cédula de identidad" will be changed for new one, the same as any native Dominican has
* New Dominican Birth Certificate
* Your Dominican travel passport


Anybody know any other advantages besides the above? Its appears not to offer much more than the permanent resident status.

[Black Dog]

If anyone is intending to take Dominican citizenship I would advise them to consider very carefully and discuss the idea with their own embassey. I can't speak for other countries but if a UK national takes Dominican citizenship they then have dual nationality. There are advantages but there is one major draw back, if you have ANY problems in your 2nd country ie DR and this could be criminal charges, civil unrest, natural disasters, outbrake of war etc you get absoloutly NO assistance from the British embassey. I heard this from Ian Worthington (British Ambassador) direct!

[Drake]

It sounds like its more of a disadvantage than advantage unless your Haitian. Do you know if you can vote in national elections?

[Black Dog]

You would be able to vote in DR elections with full citizenship and you are still eligible to vote in UK general elections.

[Black Dog]

Just to confirm that I am only speaking for British nationals, if you are from somewhere else you would need to check further.

[Matilda]

Originally Posted by Black Dog

Just to confirm that I am only speaking for British nationals, if you are from somewhere else you would need to check further.

It is the same for other nationalities. If you have dual citizenship and you are living in the country of one of the nationalities then the other country takes a back seat.

One of the main advantages is that you can vote and you can take part in political activities and you can hold government office - apart from President!!!

[coastlineconstruction]

If you stop becoming a u.s. citizen, then the u.s. can no longer tax you on foreign assets earned

[windeguy]

Originally Posted by coastlineconstruction

If you stop becoming a u.s. citizen, then the u.s. can no longer tax you on foreign assets earned

You would have to renounce your US Citizenship, and I believe they will still tax you for 9 years if I recall correctly.

With only a DR passport, you will be able to go just about anywhere you want to, as long as it is in the DR

[GringoCArlos]

Why would one who has lived their entire life according to the prevailing laws, suddenly go berzerk and get in "trouble" simply because they added another citizenship????? As a US citizen and DR resident for many years, the LAST people I would call for assistance would be the US Embassy - they are nothing but tits on a bull as far as I am concerned. (the final nail in the coffin for me was their meeting the day after 9/11).

If I have problems, I will take care of it myself, I won't go looking for some bureaucrat in a cheesy polyester suit on a 3 year tour to the DR (before his next assignment to another small country), to help me out.

A US citizen is only liable for continued US taxation if their renunciation of citizenship is deemed to be for the purposes of evading US income taxes, but if one has established ties to the DR, family, etc they aren't going to push this issue.

As far as not being able to travel with Dominican citizenship, give me one example of any dominican with money and no police record who has been denied a visa to countries other than the US....it's abig world out there, and there are far more interesting places to visit and nicer people to meet.

[Gringo]

Originally Posted by Drake

* Same rights as native Dominican with only one exception - you can not be elected as president of the country

Dam, no longer Interested then...