Dominican Republic eases requirements for Venezuelans

(Credit: Martín Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

(CNN Spanish) - The

Dominican Republic will accept the expired passports of Venezuelans who are in the country and intend to start, continue or renew their immigration status under the Government's Regularization Plan, the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the General Directorate of Migration.

The measure is an exception to the country's General Migration Law "for humanitarian reasons."

Normally, the Dominican Republic requires valid passports duly visas to accept procedures for the regularization of legal permanence.

At the end of January, the Ministry of the Interior and the Police of the Dominican Republic issued a resolution that normalized the irregular migratory situation of Venezuelans in Dominican territory within the category of non-resident.

More than 5 million Venezuelans reside abroad as migrants or refugees, according to joint data from the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to figures from the Venezuelan Catholic Pastoral, currently more than 100,000 Venezuelans live in the Dominican Republic.

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Foreigners who have a tourist visa and remain in the Dominican territory beyond the authorized validity may be beneficiaries of an extension of stay, according to the new measure.

The resolution indicates that Venezuelans will be able to avail themselves of student or temporary worker permits for one year, which is considered a great step for foreigners.

From this resolution, the General Directorate of Migration will grant a period of 30 calendar days so that Venezuelans interested in benefiting from this extension can register their data on the agency's website.

Term and requirements

The deadline for requesting student and temporary worker permits will be six months from the date on which the start of immigration normalization is announced.

The resolution indicates that "the non-resident migratory category" will be applied to normalize "the migratory status of Venezuelan nationals who are in Dominican territory and who entered the Dominican Republic on a regular basis from January 2014 to March 2020, as well as their minor children, born or not in the Dominican Republic, who constitutionally do not have Dominican nationality.

Another requirement of the resolution is the payment of administrative fees for expiration of stay.

Similarly, the measure warns that Venezuelans should not have a "criminal record in the country or abroad," in addition to "not being subject to the status of asylee or refugee."

Nor should they be in the process of extradition.