The Dominican Republic’s Retirement Visa | A Complete Guide

What is retirement visa?

Retirement visas are a type of passive income visa that has been popular worldwide since the 1980s. Typically, they are issued to retirees who have sufficient retirement funds or stable income.

In general, global retirement visas have the following characteristics:

1. Applicant Qualifications: Typically, retirement visas require applicants to be retirees, reach a certain age, or have retirement funds.

2. Restrictions on Employment: Visa holders are usually not allowed to work locally.

3. Path to Permanent Residency: After residing in the destination country for a certain period, retirement visa holders can often apply for permanent residency or even citizenship.

If you’re interested in retirement visas or passive income visas, you might want to read our informative article: ‘Global Passive Income Visa | An Incomplete Guide‘.

The Dominican Republic’s Retirement Visa:

The Dominican Republic Retirement Visa (Pensionado Visa) is an income residency program issued by the local government for retirees with sufficient pension income. Currently, to apply for a Dominican Republic Retirement Visa, you need to have a lifetime pension and a monthly pension income of at least $1,500. If there are dependents accompanying the main applicant, the monthly income requirement for the main applicant increases by $250 for each additional dependent.

In addition to the pension requirement, applicants must also meet basic conditions such as being in good health, having no criminal record, purchasing local health insurance, and opening a bank account in the Dominican Republic.

Application Process:

The application process for the Dominican Republic Retirement Visa can be divided into the following steps:

1. Preparation: Generally, to apply for the Dominican Republic Retirement Visa, you must first enter the country with a legal visa, open an account at a local bank, and prepare a valid Dominican address along with all other necessary documents.

Required documents for this program include:

• Applicant Identification Documents: This includes passports for all primary and secondary applicants with a validity of more than 18 months, 4 passport-sized photos, and proof of relationships such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc.

• Pension Proof: You need to provide sufficient documentation proving your pension income, a local bank account, and proof that your pension income can be transferred to a local bank.

• Criminal Record Certificate: All adult primary and secondary applicants must provide a criminal record certificate issued within the past five years from the areas of residence.

• Health Insurance Purchase: You are required to purchase valid Dominican health insurance for each primary and secondary applicant annually.

• Medical Examination Certificate: All primary and secondary applicants need to undergo a medical examination.

All non-Spanish documents must be translated into Spanish, and all documents issued outside of the Dominican Republic must be notarized and submitted in their original form.

2. Online Application: Once all documents are prepared, you need to go to the online application platform of the Dominican Republic’s Immigration Department (DGM), register an account, fill out an application form, submit the application, and pay an application fee of approximately $280.

3. Visa Issuance: The processing time for the Dominican Republic Retirement Visa can take up to 90 working days. Once the visa is issued, you need to visit the Immigration Office in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, within 60 days of the visa issuance to obtain your residency status.

Dependents:

For the Dominican Republic’s Retirement Visa, the main applicant’s spouse and children under 18 can obtain the visa as dependents.

Visa Validity:

Although the Dominican Republic Retirement Visa is a permanent residency card, its initial validity is only one year. After one year, visa holders can renew their Dominican permanent residency every two years under the same conditions.

After holding permanent residency for ten years, you can switch to a permanent residency card that is valid indefinitely and does not require renewal.

Retirement visa holders who have resided in the country for two years can apply for Dominican citizenship through a fast-track process.

Official Links:

The DR’s retirement visa: https://migracion.gob.do/en/servicio/residence-for-investment-in-quality-of-retired-or-pensioned/