禁漫天堂

You will need to get tax advice from the CRA or your tax account, as for staying past your provinces out of country guidelines, I know in my province if I was to stay longer I would have a waiting period to regain my health care.听

Welcome to the forums!听 There are a lot of Canadians here!听听

Insurance - comment above is correct!听

Working from here remotely听 currently has no consequences at this time.听听

Tourist visa is currently 30 days and can be extended to a total of 120 days.听 Staying longer you pay an overstay fine and this CAN cause issues.听

Will you apply for residency?

The 180 return comment - are you trying to preserve your Cdn residency?

If you move to here and do NOT maintain Cdn residency, you will pay no Cdn taxes.

If you leave Canada, you will need health insurance - here or听 global policy

@dinosinc听

Thank you! It is helpful!

@planner听

Hi! Yes I鈥檓 planning to ask for residency later. I plan to live there for 2 months and decide after.

Thanks听

@WillieWeb听

Hi Willie,

Yes I want to keep my Can residency. So I understand that I can鈥檛 be more than 180 days in DR? But If It鈥檚 not important to me to keep my health insurance in Canada, do you think it鈥檚 possible to stay more than 180 days?

Thank you

Technically, if you are out of country for more than 180/yr... you forfeit residency...

they have to catch you

If you want to leave Canada one day.... have your accountant file an 'Exit Return'

that formalizes your leaving.

Global insurance is available - I use IMGlobal

Do not exceed 180 days absence if you want to keep your residency

Hi @planner - Thanks for your response. What kind of issues can arise if a Canadian citizen relies solely on paying the exit fees?

The process to apply for a visa from Canada seems very sketchy (in particular, the nearest consulate has a 鈥済mail鈥� contact; and instructions seem to vary enough to be confusing and concerning). I also do not qualify for any of the 4 visa types, though my partner and I are planning to marry within the next year (he is Dominican).

I鈥檓 all eyes and ears for anyone having consistent info about how to live in the DR legally, work remotely in Canada, and be able to travel between the two countries freely.

Thank you!

@planner

1. Tourist visa is currently 30 days and can be extended to a total of 120 days.听

Question: Before the 120 days do you have to leave and if desired come back and repeat? Assume that a person is not ready to qualify for residency.

Thanks,

JLL

@saRah you can't live here legally and work.听 Most arrive and work and stay. They pay the overstay fine when they leave. At the moment there is little being done about this here.听 That could change. After you get married you will qualify for residency.听 At that time speak with a good lawyer.

@joe leaving at or before 120 days and re entering resets your tourist visa. If you are going to do this then just overstay and pay the fine when you leave.

The overstay is an administrative workaround.听 It's just pre paying the fine but with more paperwork!

Hi @planner. thanks!

I鈥檓 not planning to work there; I understand I would need a work visa and to navigate a different system. I will be working in Canada and living in the DR, not working at a job in the DR.

My concern is more about documents disappearing when submitted to the local consulate as part of the visa application (which had happened to the location I would be accessing in Canada). And I鈥檓 also concerned about what I鈥檝e read about more issues with the long stay, or overstaying and then trying to re-enter.

Thanks

@SaRahRah Even if you are working remotely for a Canadian company, you cannot legally perform that work in the DR. DR laws are territorial, so it doesn't matter where your employer is located, it's where you actually do the work!

The risk with overstaying is that you are breaking this country's immigration laws! While that hasn't caused an issue for many people over the years, we do know of some cases where people were not allowed back into the country after overstays. With the new eTicket and electronic records of entries and exits, it's now much easier to track the duration of stays. At any given time, they could start enforcing the laws and cracking down on those that abuse the tourist visa. There is currently an amnesty program for those with expired residency. That could be a precursor to a more strenuous application of the laws to all foreigners - this was my first thought when I heard of the discount for renewing expired residency, but I don't know that for a fact.

Working remotely from here means you are working!听 The听 law here is territorial.听 So to be FULLY LEGAL听 you would need a work visa or residency, That was your question. AND to听 confirm many people do that here and as of now no one really cares. That can change.

@ddmcghee

Thank you. I didn鈥檛 realize there was so much passion here!

Thank you for confirming it would be breaking the law. No one, including a lawyer, has said that phrase yet. That changes everything.听 I have no interest in breaking the law.

As for the remote/virtual work, I鈥檝e already confirmed there isn鈥檛 an issue with doing my work from my home in the DR because I am not offering services in the DR. But it sounds like I need to check in with another lawyer.

Thanks again for your reply.

@planner Thank you

I鈥檓 sorry; I seem to be causing some upset here.

Thanks for the replies. Lots to think about and apparently re-confirm with immigration lawyers.

Take care

No honey you are not causing upset.听 We are the moderators and cannot encourage anyone to "break" the law.听 The fact is听 hundreds do exactly this.听 It is illegal but it is common and the gov't is currently doing nothing about it.听 we are pointing out the law and your options. You decide what you want to do.

if you need additional confirmation, the question about working remotely here is one for a Dominican Tax or Labor attorney, not an immigration attorney. Immigration attorneys specialize in immigration issues, not labor.

Because your partner is Dominican, you should have no issue getting residency once you are married, or if you can show 2 years in a committed relationship (per my notes from a presentation by Lishali Baez in May 2021). You have to start the process in your home country, regardless of the type of residency you are applying for, so it would probably be easier to start the process before you move here.

@ddmcghee I did speak to a lawyer who practices with my general field (since licensing is involved, we often have to be aware of geographic locations and local legislation). And I also spoke with an accountant.

Like I said, I think I鈥檒l have to start getting other professional opinions. I think many are taking a relaxed approach to working remotely in countries like the DR, but don鈥檛 realize this could have serious consequences.

I was really hoping to find another way to apply because the consulate here doesn鈥檛 give me a lot of confidence, whether or not my partner and I are married (together almost 4 years).

Thanks again for your reply!

Would you recommend looking for a presentation like the one you mentioned? And how do you know what information is credible? Even the info from the DR government is confusing-I think the translations offered don鈥檛 help because they often contradict themselves, just furthering the confusion.

thanks again!

again there are not likely to be any serious consequences short term.听

The presentation I referred to is one that I organized when Lishali Baez, a very highly regarded immigration attorney in Santo Domingo, was visiting Las Terrenas. Here's a link to the notes that I created during the presentation and that Lishali reviewed for accuracy. This was as of May 2021, but I'm not aware of anything changing since then.