Dominican Republic: Caribbean naturalisation, after six months with property

For many Germans, the Dominican Republic is a holiday destination first and a place to live second. Yet the passport is closer than many think. The naturalisation law, Law No. 1683, dates from 1948; its Article 1 was rewritten in 1955 by Law No. 4063, and its waiting periods are counted in months and a few years rather than in decades. How the country compares with other naturalisation countries is shown in the overview Citizenship by naturalisation abroad. For the Dominican Republic, the order is simple: residence first, then the application to the Interior Ministry, then the test and the oath.

How do you get Dominican citizenship?

Article 18 of the 2015 constitution lists who is Dominican. As a German, you have four possible routes, and only one of them is open to everyone.

The law also provides for the Naturalización Privilegiada: by decree, the President can naturalise foreigners who have distinguished themselves through outstanding service to the Republic or to humanity, with a cap of five people a year. It is an honour, not an application route you can plan for.

The route through an investment runs in two steps. From USD 200,000, property included, you receive permanent residence as an investor from the start under Article 55 of Decree No. 631-11, and land ownership in the country cuts the wait for naturalisation to six months. The passport itself is always granted through the naturalisation procedure. Investment, residence and family at a glance are on Dominican Republic.

How long does naturalisation in the Dominican Republic take?

Article 1 of Law No. 1683, as amended in 1955, sets out five cases in which an adult foreign national may apply for naturalisation. The waiting periods are short, and they depend on what ties you to the country.

Case b is the standard one: two years of continuous residence. For investors, case c is the one that counts: if you own property or have built and run a business, six months are enough. In 1955, lawmakers drafted case d only for men who had married a Dominican woman; the 2015 constitution opens the marriage route to both sides, and the Interior Ministry runs a separate procedure for it.

What "continuous" means

Here the law is generous. Under Article 1, paragraph I, trips abroad of no more than one year that you take with the intention of returning count as residence in the country. So you do not have to stay on the island without a break for two years. What you need is a real home base on the island that you keep coming back to.

What comes on top of the waiting period

The waiting period only marks the point from which you may apply. Then the procedure begins: the Ministerio de Interior y Policía quotes 4-6 months, counted from the day you handed in your originals and had your fingerprints and photo taken. And Article 7 of the law applies: the government decides on naturalisation at its discretion, by presidential decree, even if you meet every requirement. How other countries' waiting periods compare is shown in The fastest naturalisations.

The first step: residence as a Rentista, Pensionado or investor

No residence, no application. For ordinary naturalisation, the Interior Ministry requires a copy of your Dominican Cédula de Identidad, and Migration Law No. 285-04 only issues this cédula to foreigners with Residencia Temporal or Residencia Permanente. As a tourist, you build up no time towards naturalisation.

The migration law distinguishes two kinds of residence. Under Article 33, Residentes Permanentes include investors, retirees, pensioners and Rentistas with a regular income from abroad, as well as the spouses and minor children of Dominicans or of Residentes Permanentes. Residentes Temporales include skilled professionals, entrepreneurs and managers who are in the country for their work.

To get started, the Foreign Ministry issues the Visa de Residencia (RS), a single-entry visa valid for 60 days. After that you have 30 days to report to the Dirección General de Migración and formalise your residence. The three routes the Foreign Ministry lists for this visa:

For every family member who comes with you as a Rentista or Pensionado, the Foreign Ministry requires an extra USD 250 of monthly income. For investors, Law No. 171-07 refers to the Programa de Residencia por Inversión, which grants permanent residence within 45 days. What each residence route means in daily life, how long the cards run and which documents the migration office wants to see is covered by VidaLibrePlan on Dominican Republic residency. The Rentista residence as a Plan B without moving is explained by PlanB Projekt on the Dominican Republic (in German).

For naturalisation, one thing matters above all: residence on its own is a permit to stay, while naturalisation demands that you actually live there. If you want the passport, build time on the island into your plans from day one and keep the evidence. How to prove your years of residence properly is shown in Proving years of residence.

The application to the Interior Ministry: documents, test and oath

The competent office is the Dirección de Naturalización at the Ministerio de Interior y Policía in Santo Domingo. You apply either online through the ministry's portal or in person at the counter. The fee is 29,200 pesos and, according to the ministry, covers the review, the application, the test and the oath ceremony. It is due in one payment at the start.

The documents

The ministry's list for ordinary naturalisation includes, among other things:

• a CV covering your education and career, no longer than two pages, with supporting evidence
• an apostilled birth certificate, no older than five years
• a colour copy of every page of your passport, which must be valid for at least one more year
• a copy of your Dominican cédula
• an apostilled and translated criminal record certificate from your country of origin if you have lived in the Dominican Republic for less than five years, and one from your last country of residence if you lived there for more than five years
• if you are married, the apostilled marriage certificate
• if you are employed, a letter from your employer; if you are studying, a certificate of enrolment

The notarial declaration of solvency

The core of the file is a sworn declaration made before a notary as an Acto Auténtico. In it you state your actual domicile in the country and, if you are not in permanent employment, your financial solvency. To do so, you pledge assets as security: property with a land register extract, vehicles, bank accounts with statements for the last three months, financial investments or shares in a Dominican company. If you cannot show such assets, you need a Dominican guarantor who stands surety with their own assets for your maintenance and, if necessary, your repatriation. You first submit the draft declaration for review and only sign it once it has been approved.

Test and oath

Once your file is complete, you hand in the originals and the ministry takes your fingerprints and photo. After the review it invites you to the Examen de Ciudadanía, a test in Spanish on general knowledge, geography and the history of the Dominican Republic, which every adult applicant sits (resolution MIP-RR-0005-2026). The ministry can also invite you to a personal interview. At the end comes the Acto de Juramentación: you swear allegiance to the Republic and receive your originals back, together with the Certificado de Naturalización. What language tests and oaths other countries require is covered in Citizenship test, language and oath of allegiance.

Dual citizenship: German and Dominican

For Germans, this is the most important point: you do not have to choose. Neither Law No. 1683 nor the Interior Ministry's list of requirements asks you to give up your existing nationality. The constitution even respects your old bond: under Article 19, naturalised citizens cannot be required to take up arms against their country of origin. For Dominicans themselves, Article 20 recognises the right to acquire a foreign nationality without losing Dominican citizenship.

On the German side, the question was settled by the reform of nationality law. Since 27 June 2024, acquiring another nationality on application no longer costs you your German citizenship, and the retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung) has been abolished. So you become Dominican and stay German. The obligations this brings in Germany are covered in Dual citizenship in Germany.

With residence, and all the more with the passport, the tax question arises too. When the Dominican Republic treats you as tax resident and how it taxes foreign income is set out in the Steueratlas on the Dominican Republic (in German). How a second passport fits into your tax planning is shown in Tax and a second passport.

What applies after naturalisation

With the oath you are Dominican, but Law No. 1683 attaches conditions to naturalisation that you should know. Under Article 12, paragraph II, the government can revoke a naturalisation if the naturalised person, among other things:

• moves their domicile abroad within the first year after naturalisation,
• goes abroad after naturalisation and does not return within ten years,
• accepts an office or post with a foreign government in the country without authorisation,
• obtained naturalisation by deception.

For your planning, this means the first year after naturalisation still belongs to the island. After that you can travel freely and live elsewhere, as long as you do not let the connection lapse for more than a decade.

The constitution also sets some political limits for naturalised citizens. You cannot become President or Vice President, you can only sit in the Senate ten years after naturalisation, and the same ten years apply to a ministerial post. For your daily life and your passport, none of this matters.

For your family, Article 4 applies: your unmarried children under 18 become Dominican by operation of law when their father is naturalised, and when their mother is naturalised if she has custody or there is no father. Once they come of age, they can renounce Dominican citizenship within one year. How families plan second passports as a whole is shown in Family.

Dominica is not the Dominican Republic

The two names sound almost the same, but the countries have nothing to do with each other. Under Article 9 of its constitution, the Dominican Republic covers the eastern part of the island of Santo Domingo, and it grants its passport through naturalisation. Dominica is a separate, small island state in the Caribbean, and Dominica grants its passport quite officially through a citizenship by investment programme.

So if you are looking for a passport with no residence at all, Dominica is the right address. The figures and conditions of that programme are on Dominica, and the comparison with the other Caribbean states is in Programmes compared.

Will your child be Dominican by birth there?

Being born in the Dominican Republic does not automatically make you Dominican. Article 18 No. 3 of the constitution excludes children of diplomats, children of foreigners in transit and children of foreigners living in the country illegally. Who counts as in transit is defined by Migration Law No. 285-04: under Article 36, all No Residentes are persons in transit, including tourists, business travellers, students and people passing through.

For you, this means a birth on holiday does not give your child a Dominican passport. If, on the other hand, you live in the country with residence, none of the constitution's exceptions applies to you. And once you are naturalised yourself, your child is Dominican anyway under Article 18 No. 1, wherever it is born. Which countries grant the passport at birth without such conditions is shown in Birth tourism.

Planning naturalisation and a second passport side by side

The Dominican Republic is a naturalisation country for people who genuinely want to live in the Caribbean. Yet if you have six months or two years of island life and a procedure at the Interior Ministry ahead of you, you are still without a second passport until the oath, and the government decides on your application at its discretion.

That is why it pays to combine both routes. Naturalisation is the low-cost route and, in the end, the stronger one, because it rests on real life in the country. A citizenship by investment programme buys you the time until then: within months it gives you a second right that no visa and no residence card can replace. Why this is not an either-or is explained in CBI and naturalisation. If you are weighing Latin America as an alternative, Naturalisation in Panama compares a second residence country in the region, and the costs of the investment routes are gathered under Costs.

A passport is a right, not a permission. The Dominican residence card has to be renewed; citizenship belongs to you. Start early, document your time on the island carefully and secure a second right for the waiting period, and in the end you have both: life in the Caribbean and the citizenship to go with it.

Frequently asked questions