Dominican Republic Legal Services
The
first question that you probably have is: Why
The Dominican Republic? After all, there are
many other beautiful Caribbean islands to consider as a
destination for retirement, doing business or even for a
second home in terms of residency and citizenship.
However, there are some important issues to consider that we
think set the Dominican Republic apart:
1. The Dominican Republic is located on the second
largest island in the Caribbean. In terms of size and
topography, it is about the physical size of the US state of
South Carolina. The country offers a diverse topography
including pristine Caribbean beaches, mountain regions (one in
particular is known as the Alps of the Caribbean) and valleys
or flat lands as well. With almost 11 Million people in
population and a capital city approaching about 4 million,
this is not your typical small sleepy Caribbean
destination. A wide variety of modern services including
hospitals, schools (some private schools are bi-lingual or
English only), shopping and retail stores, a national theater
offering ballet and opera, Internet, golf courses plus many
other leisure activities as well.
2. The Dominican Republic has demonstrated continued positive
GDP growth over the past 10 years and recent figures for 2015
indicate the economy is still growing at about 6 percent
annually. While some smaller islands are dependent upon
tourism only, the Dominican Republic has a more diversified
economy with banking, construction and telecommunications as
major segments aside from tourism as well. The Dominican
Republic is self sufficient in food production for it's
citizens and exports rice, chicken and other agricultural
products also. In addition, cement production and other
building materials such a PVC and metal piping are also fairly
sizable industries. The Dominican Republic is reported
to have the largest economy in the Caribbean and the ninth
largest economy in Latin America.
3. The Dominican Republic offers a very attractive residency
process for retirees and investors, one that permits such
applicants to apply for naturalized citizenship 6 months from
issuance of these special status residency cards (note that
the ordinary residency process does require a 7 year wait
before the applicant could apply for naturalized
citizenship). So, if you compare this to say some of the
economic citizenship programs being offered in other Caribbean
islands, which can require a US$250,000 payment to those
governments or a US$400,000 real estate purchase – the process
in the Dominican Republic is VERY affordable and much, much
less expensive.
4. Real Estate in the Dominican Republic is a bargain compared
to many other Caribbean destinations. In fact, homes
prices including higher end condominium apartments will cost
HALF of what a similar property would cost in Panama, Antigua,
Puerto Rico, BVI, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Trinidad &
Tobago and Curacao. And annual real estate taxes are
reasonable as well, with about the first US$100,000 exempt
from taxation and then 1 percent of the value above and beyond
that amount. But, do keep in mind that if you are
looking at a property priced in the US$300,000 range and up,
this is a high end property. One bedroom condo
apartments (new construction) in Santo Domingo are priced
about US$120,000 currently (as of August 2015) and a higher
end 3 bedroom unit anywhere from US$160,000 up to perhaps
US$225,000. A upper scale 3,000 square foot single
family home with 4 bedrooms and swimming pool will run in the
area of about US$350,000 to US$400,000.
With regards to our firm and groups of services in the
Dominican Republic, we have been assisting clients going on 17
years to date and of course we maintain offices in Santo
Domingo. Our firm assists clients with the residency
application process, the naturalized citizenship process,
company formation services and banking – investment assistance
as well. In addition, we also provide legal services as
it pertains to real estate matters (sales contract review and
or preparation, title search and title transfer plus legal
representation at closings).
Our business philosophy is to do to a few things extremely
well, rather than trying to do a large number of things
poorly. And for that reason, we only offer services
where we are located (we do not offer any services or programs
in other countries via third parties). Clients are
welcome to visit us in person, and of course we have locally
licensed attorneys on our staff who handle all legal services
for clients. Personal attention and value added
assistance is always our goal for clients. Knowing that
entering and doing business in another country, in another
language, can be daunting and as such it is our aim is to make
the transition and experience as easy as possible.
Please feel free to use
our reply form for more detailed information
about the residency application process or any other services
we provide. Also, you can follow us and read some of our
other articles on Google+ (see below).
