Looking for some support and advice

@larlington52315

Welcome to the forum and I am sure you will get lots of useful information here.

My wife and I spend 6 months a year in LT and enjoy it very much.

What sort of information are you looking for ?

Welcome to the forums.  What is it you need to know?

We. Invite you to start reading the various threads, ask questions and we. Are happy to help

@goinforit

Well, I guess I feel clueless on how to make this a reality. I have been reading about tourist visa required. That doesn't seem difficult. We are working on our Spanish and from what I am reading it appears that using a credit card for most transactions is doable. What is the best way to obtain cash and how much should we plan to take at one time? Like previously mentioned we would like to come back down in September and explore life outside the resorts. I did spend 19 months in Jarabacoa but many years ago! Is there a checklist somewhere of things to do before we go and once we are there? We will be booking a VRBO. Thank you for responding.  I look forward to learning more!

@planner is there a checklist of sorts that would help facilitate getting this process started?

I am not sure what process you are referring to still.  Tourist visa comes with your flight. You are coming in Sept to stay off resort.  Ok

What am I missing?

In winter you come on tourist visa and you can extend up to 120 days.

@planner yes. Not worried about September trip. But from what I am reading if we stay past 30 days we need a visa to do so...this would be the jan-march adventure. Am I correct?

With your air ticket you get 30 days.

during that time , you can extend your stay 90 more days..... 120 total

The extension is easy , online...

https://migracion.gob.do/en/servicio/stay-extension/

@WillieWeb thanks so much!

Hi - I've been living in LT for three years now. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask!

I have to disagree with what you've heard about credit cards! We use ours at the bigger grocery stores, and a few other stores, but many restaurants do not accept cards. For the restaurants that do take cards, you are guaranteed to pay the 18% tax if you pay by card, whereas some small places will waive the tax if you pay cash. We also prefer to use cash for smaller transactions because of the high fees that businesses have to pay for credit card processing.

Make sure you have a credit card that doesn't have an international transaction fee! You can also check with your US bank to see if they have an agreement, or are part of an ATM network, with one of the banks here in town. Carrying large amounts of cash isn't advisable, but you also don't want to be hit with ATM surcharges constantly!

Try to get your place for the longer stay arranged when you are here in September! If possible, stay in the same place. Noise, particularly during high season, is a real concern! An apartment complex might be nice and quiet in September, but when full in high season, it might be really loud. Talk to other residents and never take the owner's or realtor's word for it! They have a vested interest in telling you how great the property is!

Thank you so very much for replying. If you don't mind sharing some of the bank names you recommend that would be great. We are also hopeful to meet up with someone in person when we visit in September and talk thru some of the process. So do you recommend I find a vrbo and secure it when we are there in September?

@larlington52315 Yes, I highly recommend seeing a property in person before committing for more than a week or two. By September, many, if not most, of the desirable properties will be booked for high season. You might do well to book a few with lenient cancellation policies until you are able to see them.

Since moving down here, we've banked with Banco Santa Cruz. So far, no complaints! Before moving down here, we always used the Banco Popular ATM when we needed cash. Our bank didn't charge us for using a foreign ATM, and they refunded the fee charged by Banco Popular. The main reason we used that one was because the ATM is enclosed and there is always an armed guard close by! Avoid the RED ATMs if at all possible! I've not used one, but I hear the fees are as high as 600 DOP per withdrawal!

My husband, Dave (RockyM on here) and I would be happy to meet with you in September to answer any questions and share our lessons learned!

Denise

@planner let me attempt to clarify my main question as I am getting conflicting information online. My husband and I are both us citizens. We plan to visit the Las Terrenas area in September and I understand that since this stay is less than 30 days we will not have any issues. We are coming for January thru March if all goes well. Will this stay require a short stay visa to be obtained prior to our arrival or can we just apply once in the DR to stay the remainder of our time there? Basically at that point we would be requesting to stay the additional 60 days. Thanks so much for your help.

@larlington52315 During your first 30 days here in January, you can apply for an extension.

@ddmcghee thank you. Are they typically always approved? Obviously we would already have the VRBO secured for the 3 months. I apologize for asking so much! My brain is on overdrive!

@ddmcghee my husband's name is Dave as well so that will be easy to remember 😉

Yes, always approved

Okay GREAT!