The next thing I did was send my
birth certificate to a translator and got the translation signed by her and
stamped by a Notary Public. Later on, you might have to translate your birth
certificate in the Dominican Republic but it is always good to have a back up
before you leave.
Once you’ve
done that you can go ahead and send the birth certificate to your state’s
apostille so it can get an official seal pretty much saying that the document
is real and legal. Before you send the documents make sure to check your state
apostille’s website and call them for requirements and other details. For
example, I had to send a cover letter with my name, address, number of
documents, credit card information, and where the documents were going to be
used. I will tell you now, and this is extremely important, do whatever you can
to pay extra money to have it sent and returned with a tracking number!
True
story, I sent about 7 documents to the apostille through regular mail and they
were sent back to me three times because I had some errors to correct. Well,
the last time I sent them back to the apostille was the last time I saw those
documents. It’s been over a month and a half now and the documents still have
not shown up. I’ve called the apostille and they said they sent it to my house
and that there’s nothing they can do to locate it because I didn’t put a
tracking number on it. The man said, “It’s like trying to find a needle in a
hay stack and the only way to get them back is if for some reason they get
marked as “return to sender”, which will take about a month to get back to us.”
So please save yourself the stress and worry that someone may have your
documents and possibly take your identity, and make sure that you send and
return your document(s) with a tracking number. How do you return your
documents with a tracking number you ask? Well, when you go to UPS (for example
this is where my parents went), you tell them that you want an air bill. An air
bill is a form that you will fill out that will be placed in your envelope so
that it can be sent back to you and you can track the location of those documents. I also paid US$40 per document for expedited mail. If you pay for
regular mail it will be US$25 per document but it takes about 2 weeks to get
back to you. Expedited on the other hand will take about a week. The documents
that I sent were not only pertaining to getting my Dominican citizenship but
also applying to UNIBE, which is the school I am trying to transfer to. So
imagine, losing all those documents, worrying about where they ended up,
waiting each afternoon to see if they came in the mail, loosing time to apply
to the school you want to go to, and paying all that money for nothing. *Disclaimer:
You can send the documents any way you want. I am just advising you that you
pay extra for tracking numbers. Also, this is the process I had to follow for
the apostille in the state of New Jersey. It may be different in another state.
When you
get your birth certificate back, it should be stapled with a page from the
apostille with a seal. Do not remove this page. Now its time to travel to the
Dominican Republic, where the party really starts. Luckily I had a family
member who guided and helped me through this part of the process. First, if you
were not able to get your parent/parent’s birth certificate in the states, you
must find it in the Dominican Republic. You can get it at La Junta de Distrito. First, you will ask for the birth certificate and then, they will
send you to La Procuraduria to legalize the birth certificate. If they can’t
get the birth certificate of one of your parents, you will have to go to the
place of birth of your parent(s) and get it there and then go to La Procuraduria to legalize it. In my situation, I could only locate my mother’s birth
certificate. I also translated my birth certificate and in La Procuradoria, I
had to legalize the translation. I am not sure why I had to translate my own
birth certificate if it was already translated but I just followed orders. *Note:
you don’t have to translate your parent’s birth certificate because it is
already in Spanish.* I wrote down how much I paid for this whole process and it
came out to about US$100-US$150 so just be prepared.
After you have your birth
certificates and translations in order, it is time to take a trip to the Junta
Central Electoral (JCE). The first time I went to the Junta it was so
beautiful. In front of the building they have what they call La Plaza De Las
Banderas. It's a monument with about 50 Dominican flags surrounding it. I never got to go up and see it but from far it was amazing. Once you enter the Junta, you go straight to the side of the building on the right (depending what side you’re on). I forgot the name of the
department we went to but, if you see the cafeteria, to the right of it you
will see stairs. Go up the two flights of stairs and you will see a lot of
people. I went twice and there was less people at 10 in the morning than at 1
in the afternoon. Get in line and give the person at the window your documents.
Be aware that they will tell you to take a number and sit down. DO NOT DO THIS!
You will end up spending the whole day there, trust me. Also, the number
machine where it tells you what number they are serving doesn’t even work. I
can guarantee you the number is still 60. Stay in line until they help you. They
will also ask you where you want your documents sent to and here you will have
to find out what place is closer to where you are. For me, my family member
chose La Plaza Naco, which is a plaza that has small stores in it and the
department I will need to go to after my papers are ready. It is very quiet and
not too many people go there. Once they check that everything is okay, they
will send you to the windows towards the entrance of the room and here you will
pay about RD$500 for them to look over your documents and give you the green
light. They will give you a slip and a receipt of your payment. The white slip
will have a bar code on it and the receipt will be pink. Do not lose these
because you will need it when you return. I waited about a month before they
told me that the papers were ready. Keep calling them to ask what’s the status
on your papers. One way to speed up the process is if you get a letter from the
school you are transferring to saying the date of the application deadline. If they see that you are in urgent need of your citizenship, they’ll speed
up the process and you can get your “cedula” faster. A cedula is like a social
security card in the states and is very important. With this number you can
apply as a Dominican and be treated like one (tuition and all). Technically you
don’t even have to become a citizen to apply as a Dominican because all you
need is one of your parent’s birth certificates but, having a cedula has a lot
of benefits. Now, all you have to do is wait.
When you call them and they tell
you that everything is ready, return to the Junta and go to the left side
window. Give them the slip and receipt they gave you last time, and they’ll scan
and look for your papers. They will tell you to sign and write your passport
number then give you your documents. Outside of the Junta there will be a guy
who makes copies. He has a small hut with a copy machine in it and charges you
RD$5 for each copy and RD$10 for a folder. Make sure you make copies of your
documents before you move on to the next step.
Arrive to the place where you
wanted your documents sent to, like Plaza Naco. In Plaza Naco you just have to
keep to your right on the first floor. You will see that on the window there is
the JCE (Junta Central Electoral) logo. Enter and don’t even grab a number, go
straight to the window and tell the person why you are there and what documents
you have. He/she will direct you inside and you will give another person your
papers. They will look them over and ask for a copy of the apostille page and a
copy of your birth certificate, which is why it’s important to make copies
before you get there. Then, they will keep those documents and give you back
your original birth certificate. After that, they’ll send you to the front
window again and you’ll pay RD$400 for your Dominican birth certificate. They
won’t give you the birth certificate right away but, they’ll tell you to come back in a couple days and pick it up. At the same time you can get your cedula.
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| This is la Junta Central Electoral (JCE). If you go to the right of the building, facing this way, you will pass the cafeteria and go up the stairs i was talking about. Click here for the picture link |
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| The many people you will see sitting down when you arrive. Click here for the picture link |
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| This is La Plaza de las Banderas. Bring your camera! It's beautiful! Click here for the picture link |
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| Junta Central Electoral (JCE): This is the logo you will see on the doors in Plaza Naco. Click here for the picture link |
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| Dominican with his cedula. Click here for the picture link |
Click here for "How to Become a Citizen of the Dominican Republic - Part 2"
ANY QUESTIONS CONTACT ME
@ mydominicanjourney@gmail.com
or comment below : D
I'm here to help!
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