Residency before moving?

You are asking good questions.

Yes you can start residency before you move here!  I have been meaning to start a thread on this subject for the last few weeks! I promise to get this done.  About 6 weeks before you come down you need to start getting your paperwork done there! You do not have to own property, there are other ways to get residencia.

You cannot get the tax break until your resdiencia is approved.

Vehicles must be owned free and clear, be in your possession at least 1 year and NOT be older then 5 years at the time of shipping AND does not include motorcycles. 

For the first few months you can use a good reliable taxi or two while you wait for your exemptions to come thru!

I suggest while here on your next visit you shop around for pricing on household items so you know what is worth bringing! For example an electric stove might not be a good idea. We use propane here for economic reasons. electricity is very expensive.  Lots of other things are great deals here or styled for the climate.  Bring appliances and electronics that are energy efficient!  For example get yourselves the new energy efficient air conditioners at end of season sales there,  unpack and use if appropriate and then ship down here for some decent savings. Same with TV's, stereos etc. etc. 

BUT take the time to really look around - not in Sosua - too expensive but go to Santiago and maybe Santo Domingo  (where you can visit me)  and check out all the prices and availabillity.

Sometimes the cost of shipping can be ridiculous compared to getting it here and sometimes not!  But be informed.

hope that helps you!

Planner you are so fantastic in your responces! Clear percise and to the point, (just wanted to add that)

I know a buddy (American and Dominican citizen) who is in the process of shipping a vehicle from New Jersey to DR, he claimes it is not expensive for the container, but that it is WAY WAY cheaper than buying over there, or renting for the 3 months he will be staying there while building a house.

Planner is it true that you need to be in possession of the vehicle for at least one year, in order to ship to the country? Because I dont think my buddys been in possession of the vehicle that long, I believe its a new car, that he just brought, only a few months ago.

But he is Dominican so there are different rules for him!  The cost is in the taxes on arrival - minimum 18% ITBIS which is our VAT and then DUTY!!!!!   Dominicans come under a different set of rules for some things. 

....... and thanks honey!!!!

Again not sure if he has to own it more then 1 year as a dominican.  As an expat we do.

Let me add a couple of things. 

Once your residency is in process and been approved (but still don't have the  cards) you can ship.  The law actually says it has to be "used household items".  So actually you are not supposed to ship new stuff, but almost everyone does.  They can ding you.  We had a full container shipped with lots of new stuff including stove, refrig., washer, dryer, 12 ceiling fans, 60 light fixtures, lawnmower, BBQ, TVs, projectors, stereos, speakers, sheets, mattress etc) and our shipping agent was able to bet us cleared with $200 in extra taxes for three TVs (however we only had the allowed 2 but did not argue).  Seems they needed a fork lift to move the stove (restaurant type) and could not find one so never inspected beyond the Stove.  Our total tax bill before the residency exoneration was $9,000.  After $450 ( including the extra $200).

We did not ship the car then but I decided to ship my Avalanche two years after getting here and it was expensive.  Shipping was about $2500, Tax was $7000 (value of the car on Blue Book was $17,000) and then there is a $2000 tax for your first set of plates.  So very expensive.  And yes as an expat you need to have the car titled to you for at least one year.

When we did this you could not find lots of things here.  That is different now and I am not sure we would have shipped as much or maybe even anything

There are not places even here on the north coast that has some reasonable household items including major appliances.

Hope this helps.

Do you know where in the Sosua area you are gong to be looking to rent.  You might want to rent for a very short time and then if you fine a place you might entertain buying into rent there for a few months to see if it is right.

Bob K

Thanks Bob, correct you only need residencia approved to start shipping. But again check everything out in advance, you need to go shopping.....lol.

when I mentioned renting I was referring to him renting a car for the three months that he will be there. he's not renting a habitacion he is having a home built, in his hometown of Bani.

Thank you for all the advice. My plan, in a little less/more detail was to buy a 4x12 trailer, put the motorcycle and whatever personal items we wish to take (no appliances, very little furniture. It appears most houses sell/rent furnished) hook it to our jeep, drive it to the movers and have it meet us on the other end. I think what you are saying though planner/bob is that we can't do this? We have to have our residency approved before shipping and we can only do that in DR?
I didn't really want to have to leave our things in storage or with the movers for that length of time. I have read it can take 6 months to get the residency approved.
Last but certainly not least - Planner, when you say it does not include motorcycles, did you mean we cannot bring our motorcycle or just that the rules are different?

Bob K- wow that was a lot of stuff. We aren't entirely sure what part of Sosua we want to live in yet, which is the main reason we want to rent for a while. We simply can't afford the time or money to visit more than one or two times and we want to be sure.  I like your idea of renting the place we want to buy though, give us time to see what it is really like!  We have been looking at the houses mostly on the Century 21 site but it is tough to figure out what neighbourhoods they are in.

You cannot ship a "trailer with your stuff unless it fits into a shipping container.  Most shippers will either require that your fill a container (40 foot) or share a 1/2 container with someone else.  They won't ship an individual "trailer".

Residency currently is taking 2-3 month once the paperwork has been filed.

There is no MLS system here so many properties are listed with multiple agencies.  Not all agencies have all properties however.  They like to hide the neighborhoods from you on their listings fearing you are also going to look at other sites. You might want to look at lots of sites and do some footwork here before going out and looking.  We sold real estate here for a major agency for 6 years and "retired" 2 years ago so  know how the system works.

When are you planning on coming down?

Hope this helps

Bob K

Bob gave you good info.  And I will also add - for the most part rentals that are furnished are for shorter term  tourist type stays as a general rule. 

Bob correct me if I am wrong but most houses are sold empty!  Most are not sold furnished already.  that has been my experience. And again great advice on sales of  houses.  There is no MLS .  Agents CAN and sometimes DO work for both sides of a transaction. Be very careful.  You also need a really good real estate lawyer, I am sure Bob can recommend someone near there. In fact I think you should buy Bob lunch and a beer and squeeze him for contacts.....

Again don't  try to bring your motorcycle, it is NOT on the list of items you can bring in. 

IF you come in December you can start the residency process while you are here and it will be  approved fairly quickly.

Actually most homes here (other than new builds) are sold furnished, and sometimes very well furnished.  New builds sometimes will have "furniture Packages" that you can buy...AVOID these as they are way overpriced.  We have been furnishing homes for our former clients at about 1/2 of what the package would have cost and with much higher quality stuff.

Yes Planner you make a good point about getting a good agent as many work both side of the street and I would NEVER and NEVER allowed a client of our to purchase a property with out using a good realestate lawyer.

Remember if your are going to start the residency process while here in December you MUST start the process at the DR consulate or embassy in your HOME country and bring the paper work with you.

BObK

Thanks for that Bob.  Maybe it is more the expat market homes that do that, here in the capital you buy unfurnished.  Always good to know the market.

I WILL be writing a thread soon about residencia - how to get it started, what you need etc  and will post for everyone to see!  I have everything I need in spanish and now need to "translate" this - and then hopefully have it make sense!

Hey Bob/Planner, thanks again.  Our visit in December is during the last couple of weeks,(I'll PM Bob with details, we would love to buy him that lunch and beer!) but we are only there for a quick 2 weeks.  We may, hopefully, get one more quick trip the following Christmas but the military is fickle so we will have to see.

As far as the trailer, it was absolutely our plan to ship it in a container with the Jeep.

So I gather from everything you two are saying that we will have to leave our belongings with a moving company until we get our residencia but that it will take less time than I thought if we get all of our ducks in a row.  Looks like taxi's or maybe I will pay the fee to bring our bicycles on the plane.

Bob - Good to know about the furnishings, we were planning to bring as little as possible as the point behind this endeavor is to simplify simplify simplify! 

Again thanks again, and Planner, I look forward to reading your residencia thread.
Sheri