How to Get Dominican Republic Citizenship by Naturalization

You can obtain Dominican Republic citizenship by naturalization after holding permanent residency in the country for two consecutive years, under Law No. 1683 of 1948 and Article 18 of the 2015 Constitution.¹ Marrying a Dominican citizen shortens the wait to six months, and the President can grant citizenship by decree for exceptional service. Dual nationality is permitted, so you do not have to give up your existing citizenship to become Dominican.²

Who Qualifies

The law creates two tracks. Ordinary naturalization, under Article 1 of Law No. 1683, requires you to be at least 18, hold a certificate of domicile for at least six months, and have lived in the country for two consecutive years.¹ The two years count from the day you receive permanent residency, not from your first entry.³

Privileged naturalization shortens or replaces that timeline in three situations:

You marry a Dominican citizen and reside in the country for six consecutive months. The 2015 Constitution recognizes this path regardless of the spouses’ genders.¹²
The President issues a decree granting citizenship for exceptional service to the nation or to humanity, bypassing the ordinary requirements.¹
You are a Latin American national by birth. The residency requirement is unchanged, but the fees are reduced by 50 percent.¹

A clean criminal record is effectively a prerequisite. The statute doesn’t list every disqualifying offense, but outstanding legal issues in your home country or in the Dominican Republic will typically sink an application.

The Investment Route Is a Residency Route, Not a Citizenship One

The Dominican Republic does not sell citizenship. Investors putting at least $200,000 into the Dominican economy can obtain permanent residency through the General Directorate of Migration, and that residency starts the two-year clock.⁴ You still have to live in the country, file the naturalization paperwork, sit for the interview, and wait for a presidential decree. Marketing that promises a Dominican passport in exchange for an investment check is misrepresenting the process.

Documents You Need to Gather

Ordinary applicants should expect to submit:

A birth certificate, apostilled in the country of issue and translated into Spanish by a certified judicial interpreter.
A certificate of good conduct from your home country and one from the Dominican National Police.
A photocopy of your permanent residence card (RP-1) with at least six months of validity remaining.³
A photocopy of your passport data page, also with at least six months of validity.
The application form issued by the Ministry of Interior and Police, with detailed personal history and residency dates.
Five recent 2×2 passport-sized photographs on a white background.

Every foreign document has to be legalized by the Dominican consulate in the country that issued it before it can be used in the application, and any non-Spanish document needs a certified translation. Certified legal translations typically run $30 to $60 per page.

Watch names and dates carefully. A minor spelling difference between your birth certificate and your residency card can hold the file up for months. Fix any discrepancy through legal correction before filing, not after.

Filing, Fees, and Processing Time

The application is submitted at the Ministry of Interior and Police in Santo Domingo. Migration issues the certification confirming your residency, and the Ministry handles intake.³ You can file in person or through a legal representative holding a notarized power of attorney.

Administrative fees run roughly $1,500, varying with your category. Spouses and children filing alongside a primary applicant pay less, and Latin American nationals by birth get the 50 percent reduction.¹

After the file is accepted you get a receipt with a tracking number. Administrative review, where your submitted information is cross-checked against government records, routinely takes six months to over a year. You can check status through the Ministry’s portal or in person, and files do stall in the queue, so periodic follow-ups help.

The Interview and the Presidential Decree

Once the file clears review, you sit for an oral interview in Spanish covering basic language ability and general knowledge of Dominican history, geography, provinces, founding figures, and constitutional principles. There is no published question bank; the examiner is gauging whether you have genuinely integrated.

Passing sends the file to the executive branch. The President signs an executive decree granting your naturalization.¹ That signature is not automatic, and the timing depends on the backlog. Once signed, you attend a formal Oath of Allegiance ceremony and receive your naturalization certificate.

Do Not Miss the Gazette Publication Deadline

Your decree is not final until it is published in the Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial), and publication only happens after you pay the publication fee. Law No. 1683 is direct about the consequence: if six months pass without payment, the decree is considered invalid.¹ Two years of residency, a presidential decree, and an oath ceremony can all be wiped out by a missed payment. Pay the fee immediately after your ceremony, and confirm it yourself rather than assuming anyone else is handling it.

Cédula and Passport

With the certificate and Gazette publication in hand, two practical steps finish the process:

Obtain your Cédula de Identidad from the Central Electoral Board (Junta Central Electoral). It is the national ID and is required for voting, banking, and government transactions.
Apply for a Dominican passport through the General Directorate of Passports (Dirección General de Pasaportes). Fees generally run $150 to $200, with expedited processing available at extra cost.

Keeping Your Original Citizenship

Article 20 of the 2015 Constitution says acquiring another nationality does not cause the loss of Dominican nationality, and this works in both directions.² You can hold a Dominican passport alongside the one you already have; naturalizing here does not require you to renounce your original nationality.

The one carve-out concerns the presidency. Running for President or Vice President requires renouncing any foreign nationality at least ten years before the election and residing in the country for ten consecutive years before taking office.

What Naturalized Citizens Can and Cannot Do

Naturalized citizens have most of the rights of Dominicans by birth, with a few specific limits set by the Constitution.

You cannot vote in presidential or vice-presidential elections. Article 19 makes this a permanent bar, not a waiting period.² You can vote in every other election.

Public office comes with waiting periods:

Senate or Chamber of Deputies: ten years after naturalization, plus five years’ residence in the jurisdiction you want to represent.²
Minister or vice minister: ten years after naturalization.²
Municipal offices such as mayor or alderman: five years of residence in the jurisdiction.²

A Tax Note for U.S. Citizens

If you are a U.S. citizen naturalizing in the Dominican Republic, two tax systems overlap. Dominican tax is territorial: only Dominican-source income is taxed during your first three years of residency, after which foreign investment income and financial gains become taxable while foreign employment income generally stays outside the Dominican tax base.

The United States and the Dominican Republic have no income tax treaty.⁵ Because the U.S. taxes citizens on worldwide income, no automatic mechanism prevents double taxation on the same Dominican-source income. The Foreign Tax Credit and Foreign Earned Income Exclusion can offset part of the overlap, but treaty-based reduced withholding is not available.

If the combined value of your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, you must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) on FinCEN Form 114. The FBAR is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15, is filed electronically through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System, and is separate from your tax return. Civil penalties for failing to file are steep, and willful violations carry criminal exposure.⁶

1
Refworld. Dominican Republic Law No 1683 of 16 April 1948 Relating to Naturalisation
2
Constitute. Dominican Republic 2015 Constitution
3
Dirección General de Migración. Naturalización Ordinaria
4
Dirección General de Migración. Investment Residence in Investment Quality
5
Internal Revenue Service. United States Income Tax Treaties – A to Z
6
Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)