Residence by Investment: US$200,000 and a Certificate
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Haiti on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Haiti to Dominican Republic · Residency through investment
Two hundred thousand dollars, certified by the investment-promotion agency, buys permanent residence straight away rather than after five years of temporary cards - and that, rather than any tax break, is what the Dominican investor route is. The threshold is not in the migration law: the law says only that the minimum will be fixed by regulation, and the 2011 regulation fixes it. The investment has to take one of the forms the foreign-investment statute recognises, or be a contribution to the capital of an existing Dominican company, and it has to be registered. Designated investment projects are a separate case with a figure set by the executive instead. The application goes to the migration service's foreign-investment window, direct family may be included on the same file, and renewal after the first year runs in four-year blocks against proof that the investment is still there.
At a glance
- Minimum investment
- US$200,000
Set by article 55 of the 2011 regulation. The migration law leaves the figure to regulation and names no sum.
- Designated investment projects
- Figure set by the executive
And certified by the investment-promotion agency, or by the free-zone council for free-zone projects.
- Temporary residence stage
- Skipped
- First card valid for
- 1 year
Article 58 of the regulation renews the card at the end of the first year.
- Thereafter
- 4 years at a time
- Family
- Direct relatives on the same file
Without serving the waiting periods other residence categories require.
- Where the investment is registered
- Investment-promotion agency
The 1995 foreign-investment law says the Central Bank, within 90 days. The 2011 migration regulation asks for a certificate from the investment agency created in 2003.
- Property for foreigners
- Permitted, subject to limits in force
The foreign-investment law allows investment in Dominican real estate "with the limitations in force applicable to foreigners" and does not say what they are.
Requirements
- An investment of at least US$200,000 in the Dominican Republic, or the amount the executive sets for a designated investment project
- A certificate of registration of the foreign investment from the investment-promotion agency, or from the free-zone council where the project is in a free zone
- A residence visa issued by a Dominican consulate before travelling
- A passport with at least one year to run and a birth certificate, apostilled or legalised
- A criminal-record certificate from the country of origin, apostilled or legalised
- A medical certificate from a doctor the migration service authorises
- A guarantee policy with an insurer the migration service authorises, covering what the service would spend if the law were broken
- At renewal after four years, a certificate from the company receiving the investment confirming the contributions made
In detail
What you are buying
Not a tax regime and not a passport. The investor route buys one thing: the five years of annually renewed temporary residence that every other applicant serves are waived, and the card issued is a permanent-resident card from the start. Direct family come in on the same terms. Naturalisation is still two years away after that, under the 1948 statute, so the shortest honest description of the Dominican investor path to a passport is two hundred thousand dollars and roughly three years, not the fifteen months the marketing suggests.
Where the money has to go
The regulation accepts two shapes: a contribution in one of the forms the 1995 foreign-investment law recognises - convertible currency exchanged through an authorised bank, contributions in kind, or financial instruments the Monetary Board classifies as foreign investment - or a contribution to the capital of an existing Dominican company. Real estate is an eligible destination under the foreign-investment statute, which permits it subject to limitations it does not itemise. Where the project has been designated by the executive, the minimum is whatever the executive set for it, which may be more or less than two hundred thousand.
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.
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.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Haiti
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Inversionistas. Se consideran inversionistas aquellos extranjeros que aportan sus propios bienes para realizar actividades de interés para el país, cuyo monto mínimo será fijado por vía reglamentaria.»Our translation - not official
Investors. Investors are considered to be those foreigners who contribute their own assets to carry out activities of interest to the country, the minimum amount of which shall be fixed by regulation.
The statute sets no figure at all. Anyone quoting a dollar amount is quoting the regulation, whether or not they say so.
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
«el Inversionista Extranjero deberá invertir en la República Dominicana un mínimo de Doscientos Mil Dólares Norteamericanos (US$200,000.00) o su equivalente en moneda nacional o cualquier otra moneda de cambio internacional aceptada por el Banco Central de la República Dominicana.»Our translation - not official
the Foreign Investor must invest in the Dominican Republic a minimum of Two Hundred Thousand North American Dollars (US$200,000.00) or its equivalent in national currency or any other international exchange currency accepted by the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.
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
«La inversión debe ser hecha a manera de aporte en las formas previstas por la Ley Sobre Inversión Extranjera No. 16-95, o de aporte al capital de una Sociedad Comercial o Empresa Individual de Responsabilidad Limitada ya existente»Our translation - not official
The investment must be made as a contribution in the forms provided for by Foreign Investment Law No. 16-95, or as a contribution to the capital of an existing Commercial Company or Individual Limited Liability Enterprise
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
«La Residencia por Inversión constituye un privilegio legal previsto en la Ley y que exime a su beneficiario del procedimiento de obtención previa de Residencia Temporal.»Our translation - not official
Residence by Investment constitutes a legal privilege provided for in the Law which exempts its beneficiary from the procedure of first obtaining Temporary Residence.
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
«incluye también la categoría de Parientes directos para ser beneficiarios de la aplicación de este régimen preferencial, sin tener que cumplir los plazos exigibles para las otras categorías de residencia temporal contemplado por el presente Reglamento.»Our translation - not official
also includes the category of direct Relatives as beneficiaries of this preferential regime, without having to serve the periods required for the other categories of temporary residence contemplated by this Regulation.
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
«La Residencia Permanente por Inversión extranjera será renovada en el término del primer año, las demás renovaciones se harán por el término de cuatro (4) años.»Our translation - not official
Permanent Residence by foreign Investment shall be renewed at the end of the first year; the remaining renewals shall be for a term of four (4) years.
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
«Una póliza de garantía, contratada con una compañía de seguros debidamente autorizada por la D.G.M. que cubra hasta el monto de los gastos en que incurriría la D.G.M. en la eventualidad de una violación de las disposiciones de la Ley o de este Reglamento.»Our translation - not official
A guarantee policy, taken out with an insurance company duly authorised by the D.G.M., covering up to the amount of the costs the D.G.M. would incur in the event of a breach of the provisions of the Law or of this Regulation.
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
«En las inversiones en bienes inmuebles ubicados en la República Dominicana, con las limitaciones vigentes aplicables a los extranjeros»Our translation - not official
In investments in real estate located in the Dominican Republic, with the limitations in force applicable to foreigners
The statute permits property investment and then refers to limitations it does not set out. We did not find the instrument that does.
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
«Dentro de los 90 días de realizada su inversión, todo inversionista o empresa extranjera deberá registrarla ante el banco central de la República Dominicana.»Our translation - not official
Within 90 days of making the investment, every foreign investor or company must register it with the central bank of the Dominican Republic.
The 1995 statute sends the registration to the Central Bank; the 2011 migration regulation asks for a certificate from the investment-promotion agency created by Ley 98-03 in 2003. We did not read the instrument that moved it.
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
Practical notes
There is no Dominican citizenship-by-investment programme. What exists is residence by investment, and naturalisation after it follows the ordinary 1948 statute. We say this on the strength of the closed list of permanent-residence categories in article 33 of the migration law and the closed list of temporary ones in article 43 of the regulation, and of the naturalisation statute itself, which contains no investment route - its only shortened residence periods are six months for founding industry or owning property, and six months for marriage.
Ley 1683 does shorten the naturalisation residence to six months for a foreigner who has founded and sustained urban or rural industries or owns real property in the Republic. That is a naturalisation provision, not a residence one, and it is set out under citizenship.
The migration service's page for this route repeats the US$200,000 and names the investment-promotion agency and the free-zone council as the bodies that certify it.
- 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
- administersLey No. 16-95 sobre Inversión Extranjera
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
- administersResidencia permanente en calidad de inversionista
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
- 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