Dominican Nationality: Two Years for a Resident, and a Contested Birthright
For a foreigner who has got permanent residence, naturalisation is close: two years of continuous permanent residence under the migration regulation, or two years of uninterrupted residence under the 1948 statute, reduced to six months for someone who has founded and sustained an industry here or owns property, and six months for marriage to a Dominican. The executive may still refuse, and the grant is a decree published in the official gazette. Birthright is the harder question. The Constitution proclaimed on 26 January 2010 excludes from birthright nationality the children of foreigners in transit or residing illegally; the migration law of 2004 had already declared every non-resident a person in transit, and the 2011 regulation extended that to anyone residing without a lawful migration status. In 2013 the Constitutional Court applied the exclusion to a woman born here in 1984 and ordered an audit of the civil registry back to 1929. Ley 169-14 followed in 2014. We quote these and leave the characterising to the reader.
At a glance
- Residence before naturalisation
- 2 years as a permanent resident
The migration regulation counts from the grant of permanent residence; the naturalisation statute counts two years of uninterrupted residence without saying which kind.
- Shortened by industry or property
- 6 months
- Shortened by marriage to a Dominican
- 6 months
- Shortest realistic total from arrival
- About 7 yearsCALC (calculated by us, not published)
Five years of temporary residence plus two as a permanent resident, on the ordinary track. The investor and pensioner routes skip the five, which makes it about two.
- Absences that still count as residence
- Up to 1 year
Trips abroad of no more than a year with the intention of returning are counted into the residence.
- Executive discretion
- Retained even when all conditions are met
- Migration service certificate
- RD$4,000.00, 15 working days
The price and the turnaround the migration service publishes on its own service page. Neither is traced to an instrument.
- Dual nationality
- Permitted
Acquiring another nationality does not entail losing the Dominican one.
- Naturalised citizens
- Barred from the presidency and vice-presidency
- Birthright exclusion
- Children of foreigners in transit or residing illegallyas of 2010-01-26
- Civil registry audit ordered back to
- 1929-06-21as of 2013-09-23
The date the Constitutional Court named in the fifth paragraph of its order: 21 June 1929.
- Ley 169-14 window
- Births from 16 June 1929 to 18 April 2007
For the group already registered. A second group, never registered, had ninety days from the law's regulation to ask to go on the foreigners' register.
Figures marked CALC are our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument. Where the law states a threshold as a multiple of something else, the amount shown is that multiple applied - and it moves when the underlying figure does.
Requirements
- Two years of continuous permanent residence after the permanent-resident card is issued, under the migration regulation
- Alternatively, two years of uninterrupted residence under the naturalisation statute; six months if you have founded and sustained urban or rural industries or own real property here; six months if married to a Dominican
- A certificate from the migration service confirming the residence, which requires a permanent-resident card with at least six months to run
- A criminal-record certificate and a birth certificate with an official translation
- Application to the executive through the Ministerio de Interior y Policía
- Publication of the decree in the Gaceta Oficial, payment of the publication fee, and an oath of loyalty taken before the minister or the provincial governor
How the process runs
- Step 1
Hold permanent residence for two years
Dirección General de Migración
Counted from the grant of the permanent-resident card under the migration regulation, or two years of uninterrupted residence under the 1948 statute.
- Step 2
Obtain the migration service's certificate
Dirección General de Migración
A certificate of the residence, which requires the permanent-resident card and the passport to have at least six months left to run. Applied for in person.
- Step 3
Apply to the executive
Ministerio de Interior y Policía
Through the Ministerio de Interior y Policía, with a certificate of good conduct from the public prosecutor and the birth certificate officially translated.
- Step 4
Wait for the decree and pay for its publication
Gaceta Oficial
Naturalisation is granted by decree. The statute says that if the publication fee is not paid within six months the decree is treated as never issued.
- Step 5
Take the oath
Ministerio de Interior y Policía
Before the minister in the National District or the civil governor in a province, who hands over a certified copy with a photograph attached.
In detail
The naturalisation statute is older than most of its readers
Ley 1683 was passed in 1948 and carries amendments from 1955, 1958, 1960 and 1962. It still describes the minister by the title the office had then, still speaks of a man who marries a Dominican woman, and still requires an oath taken before a civil governor. None of that makes it less in force - the 2011 migration regulation sends applicants to it by name - but it does mean that what the Constitution of 2010 says about equality and what this statute says about married women have not been reconciled by anything we could read.
What happened to birthright, in order
The 1966 Constitution excluded from birthright nationality the legitimate children of foreigners resident in diplomatic representation and those who were in transit. The migration law of 2004 declared, in the last line of its list of non-residents, that non-residents are persons in transit for the purposes of the constitutional article. The Constitution proclaimed on 26 January 2010 restated the exclusion and added, for the first time, foreigners residing illegally - and closed with a sentence sending the meaning of "in transit" to ordinary legislation. The 2011 regulation then defined persons in transit to include anyone residing, or who had resided, without lawful status. In September 2013 the Constitutional Court held that a woman born in 1984 to Haitian parents was the child of foreigners in transit under the 1966 text and so not Dominican, and ordered the electoral board to audit every birth register back to 21 June 1929 and to list the foreigners irregularly inscribed in them. In May 2014 Congress passed Ley 169-14, which told the board to restore the records of those born between 16 June 1929 and 18 April 2007 and already registered, and to accredit them as Dominican nationals; those never registered were to go on a register of foreigners and could naturalise two years after obtaining a migration status.
What Ley 169-14 does not settle
Its first chapter restores records and has no expiry. Its second and third chapters - the register for those never inscribed, and their route to naturalisation - are expressly in force only while the National Regularisation Plan is being executed, and that Plan was created for eighteen months from its entry into force. Whether the Plan's execution has ended is a question about administrative practice rather than about the text, and we did not find a document that answers it. The ninety-day window in article 6 for asking to be registered ran from the entry into force of the law's own regulation, which we also did not read.
Country-level policy
The authentic text of a Dominican law or decree is the one printed in the Gaceta Oficial, and the Gaceta is published by the Consultoría Jurídica del Poder Ejecutivo - the legal office of the presidency, whose head signs the gazette as its administrative director. The Constitution promulgated in 2024 closes with that officer certifying that the publication is official. The Consultoría also runs the public register of laws and decrees, and serves each instrument as the pages of the gazette issue it appeared in. That is the good news. The bad news is physical: issues from before roughly 2012 are page images carrying a recognition so poor that words like "año" come out as "aiio" and "los" as "10s", and some issues from 2010 and 2011 carry a broken font encoding that turns "República" into "Repflblica". For those instruments the authentic text exists and cannot be quoted from, and what is quotable is a transcription published by a ministry or an agency.
In most countries a migration category decides what you may do. In the Dominican Republic it also decides something about your children. The Constitution excludes from birthright nationality the children of foreigners in transit or residing illegally, and then sends the meaning of "in transit" out to ordinary legislation. Ordinary legislation has answered twice. The migration law of 2004 ends its list of non-resident categories by declaring that non-residents are persons in transit for the purposes of the constitutional article - which puts tourists, business visitors, seasonal workers, border habitants and students in the same box. The regulation of 2011 goes further and treats as in transit anyone who resides, or has resided, without a lawful migration status. Reading a Dominican residence category is therefore never only about the permit.
Three of the numbers a reader most wants from this country are published twice, differently, by the Dominican state. A tourist stay is sixty days in the migration regulation and thirty on the tax agency's tourist-card page. The wait for permanent residence is five years of temporary residence in the regulation and "one year of residence" in the first paragraph of the migration service's own page - which then, four lines later, asks for the first card plus four renewals. And the famous forty-five-day residence for pensioners and investors is forty-five days in a recital of the 2007 statute and forty-five working days in the article that actually sets the deadline, with the regulation starting the clock later still. None of these is a rule that changed. They are the same rules written twice.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Todo Extranjero que haya adquirido la categoría de Residente Permanente de acuerdo a la Ley y el presente Reglamento, podrá optar por la naturalización luego de transcurridos dos (2) años de permanencia continua posterior a la obtención de la Residencia Permanente, siguiendo para ello el procedimiento previsto en la Ley sobre Naturalización No. 1683.»Our translation - not official
Every Foreigner who has acquired the category of Permanent Resident in accordance with the Law and this Regulation may opt for naturalisation after two (2) years of continuous stay following the obtaining of Permanent Residence, following for that purpose the procedure laid down in Naturalisation Law No. 1683.
The clock starts at the permanent-resident card, not at arrival.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The ministry migration sits under, and the body that receives naturalisation applications for the executive. Its marco legal library publishes clean digital transcriptions of instruments whose gazette originals are unreadable - most importantly Decreto 631-11, the Reglamento de Aplicación of the migration law, which is complete at all 144 articles and is the source of every Dominican residence threshold and period quoted here.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It publishes transcriptions, not the authentic text; where it and the Gaceta Oficial differ, the gazette is the law. Its own copy of Ley 285-04 is the gazette scan rather than a transcription and is unusable. It states no date on which any of its files was prepared, so there is nothing on their face to say what they are current to.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Que justifique una residencia no interrumpida de dos años por lo menos en la República;»Our translation - not official
Who proves uninterrupted residence of at least two years in the Republic;
About this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Que justifique seis meses por lo menos de residencia no interrumpida en el país, si ha fundado y sostenido industrias urbanas o rurales, o si es propietaria de bienes inmuebles radicados en la República;»Our translation - not official
Who proves at least six months of uninterrupted residence in the country, if he has founded and sustained urban or rural industries, or if he owns real property situated in the Republic;
A property owner's shortcut written in 1955, with no minimum value. It is the closest thing Dominican law has to naturalisation by investment, and it is a residence reduction rather than a programme.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Las interrupciones de residencia por viajes al extranjero de no más de un año de duración, con intención de retorno, se computarán en la residencia en el país.»Our translation - not official
Interruptions of residence by trips abroad of no more than one year's duration, with the intention of returning, shall be counted into the residence in the country.
About this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«el Poder Ejecutivo podrá abstenerse de conceder la naturalización cuando lo estime conveniente»Our translation - not official
the Executive Power may refrain from granting naturalisation when it considers it appropriate
About this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Las personas naturalizadas, de conformidad con las condiciones y formalidades requeridas por la ley.»Our translation - not official
Naturalised persons, in accordance with the conditions and formalities required by law.
The gazette sets “formalidades requeridas” without a space between the words at this line break; the quotation reproduces the text as published.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Senate's digital archive. It holds the Gaceta Oficial issue carrying the Constitution voted and proclaimed on 27 October 2024 - gazette number 11170 of 31 October 2024 - as a clean born-digital file, complete at all 278 articles and ending with the Consultor Jurídico's certification that the publication is official. It is the copy of the Constitution quoted here, because the Consultoría's own files 404.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is an archive, not a publisher of law: it holds what was deposited and does not maintain or update it. Its search covers parliamentary files rather than a statute book, and nothing in it should be cited as the current text of anything without checking the gazette number it carries.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Las y los extranjeros pueden naturalizarse conforme a la ley, no pueden optar por la presidencia o vicepresidencia de los poderes del Estado, ni están obligados a tomar las armas contra su Estado de origen.»Our translation - not official
Foreign men and women may naturalise in accordance with the law; they may not stand for the presidency or vice-presidency of the powers of the State, nor are they obliged to take up arms against their State of origin.
About this source
The Senate's digital archive. It holds the Gaceta Oficial issue carrying the Constitution voted and proclaimed on 27 October 2024 - gazette number 11170 of 31 October 2024 - as a clean born-digital file, complete at all 278 articles and ending with the Consultor Jurídico's certification that the publication is official. It is the copy of the Constitution quoted here, because the Consultoría's own files 404.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is an archive, not a publisher of law: it holds what was deposited and does not maintain or update it. Its search covers parliamentary files rather than a statute book, and nothing in it should be cited as the current text of anything without checking the gazette number it carries.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Se reconoce a dominicanas y dominicanos la facultad de adquirir una nacionalidad extranjera. La adquisición de otra nacionalidad no implica la pérdida de la dominicana.»Our translation - not official
Dominican women and men are recognised as having the power to acquire a foreign nationality. The acquisition of another nationality does not entail the loss of the Dominican one.
About this source
The Senate's digital archive. It holds the Gaceta Oficial issue carrying the Constitution voted and proclaimed on 27 October 2024 - gazette number 11170 of 31 October 2024 - as a clean born-digital file, complete at all 278 articles and ending with the Consultor Jurídico's certification that the publication is official. It is the copy of the Constitution quoted here, because the Consultoría's own files 404.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is an archive, not a publisher of law: it holds what was deposited and does not maintain or update it. Its search covers parliamentary files rather than a statute book, and nothing in it should be cited as the current text of anything without checking the gazette number it carries.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Las personas nacidas en territorio nacional, con excepción de los hijos e hijas de extranjeros miembros de legaciones diplomáticas y consulares, de extranjeros que se hallen en tránsito o residan ilegalmente en territorio dominicano. Se considera persona en tránsito a toda extranjera o extranjero definido como tal en las leyes dominicanas;»Our translation - not official
Persons born in the national territory, with the exception of the sons and daughters of foreigners who are members of diplomatic and consular legations, of foreigners who are in transit or who reside illegally in Dominican territory. A person in transit is considered to be any foreign woman or man defined as such in Dominican laws;
The text as it stands in the Constitution published on 31 October 2024. The same numeral, in the same words, was proclaimed on 26 January 2010; the closing sentence is what sends the definition of “in transit” out to ordinary legislation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Senate's digital archive. It holds the Gaceta Oficial issue carrying the Constitution voted and proclaimed on 27 October 2024 - gazette number 11170 of 31 October 2024 - as a clean born-digital file, complete at all 278 articles and ending with the Consultor Jurídico's certification that the publication is official. It is the copy of the Constitution quoted here, because the Consultoría's own files 404.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is an archive, not a publisher of law: it holds what was deposited and does not maintain or update it. Its search covers parliamentary files rather than a statute book, and nothing in it should be cited as the current text of anything without checking the gazette number it carries.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Los No Residentes son considerados personas en tránsito, para los fines de la aplicación del Artículo 11 de la Constitución de la República.»Our translation - not official
Non-Residents are considered persons in transit, for the purposes of the application of Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic.
Written in 2004 against article 11 of the then Constitution. It is the statutory definition that article 18.3 of the 2010 text refers out to.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«los Extranjeros No Residentes y los Extranjeros que ingresen o hayan ingresado y que residan o hayan residido en territorio dominicano sin un estatus migratorio legal al amparo de las leyes migratorias son considerados personas en tránsito.»Our translation - not official
Non-Resident Foreigners and Foreigners who enter or have entered and who reside or have resided in Dominican territory without a lawful migration status under the migration laws are considered persons in transit.
The 2011 regulation extends the definition beyond the statute's non-resident categories to anyone without lawful status, and does so in the past tense as well as the present.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The ministry migration sits under, and the body that receives naturalisation applications for the executive. Its marco legal library publishes clean digital transcriptions of instruments whose gazette originals are unreadable - most importantly Decreto 631-11, the Reglamento de Aplicación of the migration law, which is complete at all 144 articles and is the source of every Dominican residence threshold and period quoted here.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It publishes transcriptions, not the authentic text; where it and the Gaceta Oficial differ, the gazette is the law. Its own copy of Ley 285-04 is the gazette scan rather than a transcription and is unusable. It states no date on which any of its files was prepared, so there is nothing on their face to say what they are current to.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«ya que la recurrente señora Juliana Dequis (o Deguis) Pierre, si bien nació en el territorio nacional, es hija de ciudadanos extranjeros en tránsito, lo cual la priva del derecho al otorgamiento de la nacionalidad dominicana, de acuerdo con la norma prescrita por el artículo 11.1 de la Constitución de la República promulgada el veintinueve (29) de noviembre de mil novecientos sesenta y seis (1966), vigente a la fecha de su nacimiento.»Our translation - not official
since the appellant Mrs Juliana Dequis (or Deguis) Pierre, although born in the national territory, is the daughter of foreign citizens in transit, which deprives her of the right to the grant of Dominican nationality, in accordance with the rule prescribed by article 11.1 of the Constitution of the Republic promulgated on the twenty-ninth (29) of November nineteen sixty-six (1966), in force at the date of her birth.
The court applied the 1966 Constitution, not the 2010 one, to a birth in 1984.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The constitutional court created by article 184 of the 2010 Constitution, whose decisions are final and binding on every organ of the State. It publishes each judgment in full, including dissents, and also publishes an edition of the Constitution in force. TC/0168/13 - the judgment on birthright nationality that Ley 169-14 was passed in answer to - is published complete at 147 pages.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: It decides cases; it does not make or consolidate statute law, and its edition of the Constitution is a publication rather than the authentic text, which is the gazette. Its judgment PDFs are served from a Microsoft blob host rather than from its own domain, so a watch keyed on the origin of its site URL will not match the addresses actually cited.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Efectuar una auditoría minuciosa de los libros-registros de nacimientos del Registro Civil de la República Dominicana desde el veintiuno (21) de junio de mil novecientos veintinueve (1929) hasta la fecha»Our translation - not official
To carry out a meticulous audit of the birth registers of the Civil Registry of the Dominican Republic from the twenty-first (21st) of June nineteen twenty-nine (1929) to date
About this source
The constitutional court created by article 184 of the 2010 Constitution, whose decisions are final and binding on every organ of the State. It publishes each judgment in full, including dissents, and also publishes an edition of the Constitution in force. TC/0168/13 - the judgment on birthright nationality that Ley 169-14 was passed in answer to - is published complete at 147 pages.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: It decides cases; it does not make or consolidate statute law, and its edition of the Constitution is a publication rather than the authentic text, which is the gazette. Its judgment PDFs are served from a Microsoft blob host rather than from its own domain, so a watch keyed on the origin of its site URL will not match the addresses actually cited.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«La razón fundamental de esta decisión (ratio decidendi) de considerar que personas extranjeras que han residido en el país de manera ilegal por varios años son extranjeros en tránsito o transeúntes, constituye una interpretación errónea»Our translation - not official
The fundamental reason of this decision (ratio decidendi), that foreign persons who have resided in the country illegally for several years are foreigners in transit or transients, constitutes an erroneous interpretation
A dissenting opinion within the same judgment, quoted as a dissent and not as the court's holding.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The constitutional court created by article 184 of the 2010 Constitution, whose decisions are final and binding on every organ of the State. It publishes each judgment in full, including dissents, and also publishes an edition of the Constitution in force. TC/0168/13 - the judgment on birthright nationality that Ley 169-14 was passed in answer to - is published complete at 147 pages.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: It decides cases; it does not make or consolidate statute law, and its edition of the Constitution is a publication rather than the authentic text, which is the gazette. Its judgment PDFs are served from a Microsoft blob host rather than from its own domain, so a watch keyed on the origin of its site URL will not match the addresses actually cited.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«un régimen especial en beneficio de hijos de padres y madres extranjeros no residentes nacidos en el territorio nacional durante el período comprendido entre el 16 de junio de 1929 al 18 de abril de 2007, inscritos en los libros del Registro Civil dominicano en base a documentos no reconocidos por las normas vigentes para esos fines al momento de la inscripción»Our translation - not official
a special regime for the benefit of children of non-resident foreign fathers and mothers born in the national territory during the period from 16 June 1929 to 18 April 2007, registered in the books of the Dominican Civil Registry on the basis of documents not recognised by the rules in force for those purposes at the time of registration
About this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«La Junta Central Electoral procederá a regularizar y/o transcribir en los Libros del Registro Civil, libre de todo trámite administrativo a cargo de los beneficiarios, las actas de las personas que se encuentren en la situación establecida en el literal a) del artículo anterior.»Our translation - not official
The Central Electoral Board shall proceed to regularise and/or transcribe in the Books of the Civil Registry, free of any administrative formality on the beneficiaries' part, the records of the persons who are in the situation established in literal a) of the preceding article.
The next sentence of the article says the Board shall accredit them as Dominican nationals.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Toda persona hija de padres extranjeros en situación migratoria irregular que habiendo nacido en el territorio nacional no figure inscrito en el Registro Civil Dominicano, podrá registrarse en el libro para extranjeros contemplado en la Ley General de Migración No.285-04»Our translation - not official
Every person who is the child of foreign parents in an irregular migration situation and who, having been born in the national territory, does not appear registered in the Dominican Civil Registry, may register in the book for foreigners contemplated in General Migration Law No. 285-04
The second group is registered as foreign, not as Dominican.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Los hijos de extranjeros nacidos en la República Dominicana, regularizados de conformidad a lo dispuesto en el Plan Nacional de Regularización de Extranjeros en situación migratoria irregular, podrán optar por la naturalización ordinaria establecida en la ley que rige la materia una vez hayan transcurrido dos (2) años de la obtención de una de las categorías migratorias establecidas en la Ley General de Migración No.285-04»Our translation - not official
The children of foreigners born in the Dominican Republic, regularised in accordance with the National Plan for the Regularisation of Foreigners in an irregular migration situation, may opt for the ordinary naturalisation established by the law governing the matter once two (2) years have passed since obtaining one of the migration categories established in General Migration Law No. 285-04
About this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Lo establecido en los capítulos II y III de esta ley estará vigente mientras dure la ejecución del Plan Nacional de Regularización de extranjeros en situación migratoria irregular.»Our translation - not official
What is established in chapters II and III of this law shall be in force for as long as the execution of the National Plan for the Regularisation of foreigners in an irregular migration situation lasts.
Chapters II and III are the registration of the unregistered group and their route to naturalisation. Chapter I, the restoration of the registered group's records, has no such limit.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«El extranjero que desee acogerse al Plan, deberá hacer su solicitud dentro de un plazo de dieciocho (18) meses, contados desde la puesta en vigencia del mismo.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner who wishes to take advantage of the Plan must make his application within a period of eighteen (18) months, counted from its entry into force.
About this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This topic is contested and we have quoted rather than summarised. The judgment, the dissent inside it, the Constitution and the two statutes are all reproduced in their own words, and the order of events is given without a view on it.
We did not read the regulation of Ley 169-14, nor the Junta Central Electoral resolutions and circulars that implement the audit the Court ordered, nor any later decree extending the National Regularisation Plan. Those are the documents that would say what is happening now rather than what was enacted.
We did not read the 1966 or 2002 constitutional texts in a reliable transcription. The Constitutional Court reproduces article 11.1 of the 1966 Constitution inside its judgment, and that reproduction is what we have read.
The naturalisation decrees themselves are public: the official gazette publishes them in batches, and the registry of the Consultoría Jurídica indexes them by number and date.
- reportsConstitución de la República Dominicana, votada y proclamada el 27 de octubre de 2024, Gaceta Oficial núm. 11170
Senado de la República Dominicana, Memoria Histórica
About this source
The Senate's digital archive. It holds the Gaceta Oficial issue carrying the Constitution voted and proclaimed on 27 October 2024 - gazette number 11170 of 31 October 2024 - as a clean born-digital file, complete at all 278 articles and ending with the Consultor Jurídico's certification that the publication is official. It is the copy of the Constitution quoted here, because the Consultoría's own files 404.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is an archive, not a publisher of law: it holds what was deposited and does not maintain or update it. Its search covers parliamentary files rather than a statute book, and nothing in it should be cited as the current text of anything without checking the gazette number it carries.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- administersLey No. 1683 sobre Naturalización, consolidated text published by the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos
Dirección General de Impuestos Internos
About this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersDecreto No. 631-11, Reglamento de Aplicación de la Ley General de Migración No. 285-04
Ministerio de Interior y Policía
About this source
The ministry migration sits under, and the body that receives naturalisation applications for the executive. Its marco legal library publishes clean digital transcriptions of instruments whose gazette originals are unreadable - most importantly Decreto 631-11, the Reglamento de Aplicación of the migration law, which is complete at all 144 articles and is the source of every Dominican residence threshold and period quoted here.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It publishes transcriptions, not the authentic text; where it and the Gaceta Oficial differ, the gazette is the law. Its own copy of Ley 285-04 is the gazette scan rather than a transcription and is unusable. It states no date on which any of its files was prepared, so there is nothing on their face to say what they are current to.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- administersLey General de Migración No. 285-04, digital transcription published by the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos
Dirección General de Impuestos Internos
About this source
The tax authority, and the best-organised law library in the Dominican state: a classified collection of digital transcriptions covering the tax code and its amending statutes, incentive laws, institutional laws and others of interest. It is also the body that collects the tourist card, and its tourist-card page is the only published source for the card's price, the thirty-day stay and the list of nationalities that need a consular visa instead.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its compilation of the Código Tributario carries amendments only to Ley 253-12 of 2012, says so nowhere on its face, and has at least one numbering defect - two different articles both printed as 134. It therefore still prints the pre-2026 text of article 269, which Ley 30-26 replaced in June 2026. Some of its files are recognitions of scans rather than transcriptions - its copy of Ley 155-17 reads "finaneiamiento" for "financiamiento" - so each file has to be judged on its own before being quoted. Its tourist-card page contradicts the migration regulation on the length of a tourist stay.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- adjudicatesSentencia TC/0168/13 del Tribunal Constitucional, 23 de septiembre de 2013
Tribunal Constitucional de la República Dominicana
About this source
The constitutional court created by article 184 of the 2010 Constitution, whose decisions are final and binding on every organ of the State. It publishes each judgment in full, including dissents, and also publishes an edition of the Constitution in force. TC/0168/13 - the judgment on birthright nationality that Ley 169-14 was passed in answer to - is published complete at 147 pages.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: It decides cases; it does not make or consolidate statute law, and its edition of the Constitution is a publication rather than the authentic text, which is the gazette. Its judgment PDFs are served from a Microsoft blob host rather than from its own domain, so a watch keyed on the origin of its site URL will not match the addresses actually cited.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- issuesLey No. 169-14, Gaceta Oficial No. 10756
Consultoría Jurídica del Poder Ejecutivo
About this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- issuesDecreto No. 327-13, que instituye el Plan Nacional de Regularización de extranjeros en situación migratoria irregular, Gaceta Oficial No. 10737
Consultoría Jurídica del Poder Ejecutivo
About this source
The legal office of the Dominican presidency, and the publisher of the Gaceta Oficial - its Consultor Jurídico signs the gazette as administrative director and certifies that a publication is official, which is the clearest statement in Dominican practice of what makes a text authentic. It also maintains the public register of laws and decrees, searchable at /api/consultas/search and serving each instrument at /api/document/<DocId> as the gazette pages it appeared in. The register was current to Gaceta 11263 of September 2026 when read.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It cannot be cited for consolidated law: the gazette prints instruments as enacted and as amending, never the resulting text, and no Dominican body publishes a consolidated statute book. Worse, much of the archive is unquotable. Issues before roughly 2012 are page images whose recognition turns "año" into "aiio" and "los" into "10s"; some born-digital files from 2010 and 2011 - including Decreto 631-11 and the 2010 Constitution - carry a broken font encoding that renders "República" as "Repflblica". Anything from those years must be read from a ministry or agency transcription and declared as such. Its own collection of Dominican constitutions is linked from its consultation page and every file 404s.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- administersNaturalización ordinaria
Dirección General de Migración
About this source
The migration service. It runs residence, non-resident permits, extensions and the certificates naturalisation applicants need, and publishes a service page for each with requirements, price and turnaround. Those pages are the only published source for Dominican migration fees, because the fee decree article 140 of the migration law contemplates was not found.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its pages contradict the regulation it applies and sometimes themselves: the permanent-residence page says one year of residence in its description and five years' worth of cards in its eligibility list. It cannot be cited for the law - only for what the counter does. Its site is behind a challenge that refuses an ordinary client; the extraction service gets through and a direct request does not.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source