Mailing Address: Corner of Calle Cesar Nicolar Penson and Calle Esq. Maximo Gomez, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
APO Address: Unit 5542, APO AA 34041-0008
Telephone: 809-221-5511 (voice mail); 809-221-5098 (nonimmigrant visas); 809-221-5511 (immigrant visas); 809-685-6959 (fax)
The post suggests using fax as your first choice for communicating. A one-page synopsis is preferred. And when sending packages, the posts encourages using a courier service and marking the outside of the envelope with “IV” or “NIV.”
The INS has an office at the US embassy. Their phone number is 809-221-5091.
Nonimmigrant visas
Interviews are required. Applicants must come to the embassy at 7:30 am on Monday, Wednesday or Friday with an unexpired passport and the visa fee of $20 or the local equivalent. The consulate will place a sticker in the passport listing the interview date and time. It is not unusual for the appointment time to be as long as a month later. This is extremely slow compared to other consulates. Interviews are extremely fast (less than five minutes) and if the application is approved, the applicant will be given a ticket to pick up the passport two to three business days later.
A special handling window is available for emergency cases as well as business visas and groups. To use this window, applicants must submit their passports before 10 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday. Interviews are scheduled on Wednesdays in the following week or the week after that. F-1 student visa applicants can use the special handling window if necessary to ensure that they can start classes on time.
Persons seeking the revalidation of a visa can use a drop off system for such applications and generally do not need to be interviewed. Applications must be submitted on a Tuesday or Thursday.
The consulate has a high nonimmigrant visa refusal rate largely due to inability to demonstrate sufficient ties to the Dominican Republic. Useful documents to include are letters of employment, bank statements and letters, car ownership, marriage certificate and birth certificates of children, property ownership documents and other documentation showing stability and ties to the country. Third country nationals are often denied due to inability to show sufficient ties to the Dominican Republic even if they have strong ties to their home countries.
Denied applicants normally must wait two years before reapplying in person. A written request to re-evaluate may be submitted. An in person resubmission should be submitted at the special handling window. It is important to set out clearly any information that has changed since the first petition was denied.
Immigrant Visas
Fingerprint appointments are generally set for four weeks after the Packet 3 is received by the consulate. The fingerprints are usually returned by the FBI three to four months later. Interviews are then scheduled for two months later. Budget at least a half year for processing.
Fewer than 60% of cases are approved at the consulate. The most common reasons for denial are failure to meet the public charge requirements, failure to prove a marriage is bona fide and failure to prove the required family relationship. Other reasons involve providing employment offers from non-existent US employers, entering in phony marriages and lying about the relationship with an applicant (claiming a nephew is a child, etc.). Fraudulent documents are rampant.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.