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Bad experience with the Dominican republic visa requirements
Hi everybody,
I'm willing to share my experience with the Dominican Republic visa regulation which has prevented my holiday to Punta Cana with a not bad loss of money. Firstly the facts : I am a Bulgarian passport holder, living in UK since 2002, with leave to remain until 11.2006 as a self-employed running own business. After 11.2006 I am allowed to apply for indefinite leave to remain in UK. April 2003 I went on holiday in Dominican Republic as I checked in many internet sites for the visa requirements. So I saw I did not need a visa as I can travel just on touristic card and passport. I went there without any troubles at all and I had a great time. Nobody asked me neither at the UK border nor at the Dominican border for visa. On the way back to the airport I met two other Bulgarians, also living in UK with the same status as mine one in UK and they told me that the consulate of Dominican republic in London made them to obtain visa for each, costing £120 per person !!! We were wondering then where the truth was. My thoughts were that should have been misunderstanding of the consulate in London. They told me they had checked in a lot of internet sites for Dominican Republic and they saw as well as myself that they do not need a visa. This year – 2004 March me and a friend of mine booked good late deal for 14 nights AI in Punta Cana. I was planning to celebrate my 30 birthday. So we bought the packet and a few days after went to Gatwick airport in London at 7.30 am. Suddenly at the check-in at Gatwick, the agent told us there is a problem and we need a visa to get on the plane. We complained about that and I told him and showed him the stamps that I was there an year ago without a visa. He spoke to his supervisor and at the end they told us, showing off an internal brochure that they cannot reach by the telex machine anyone of the Dominican immigration officer(due to the time difference which is – 5 Hours GMT) and they cannot allow us to board! Shock! Now the interesting part is coming up. We were waiting for an answer of the Dominican side, but no answer from them. The plane gone and we remained at the airport. The holiday was booked from one of the biggest UK tour operators Airtours (member of Mytravel group) by phone and the airline was Mytravel Airways. When we complained to the costumer service of the tour operator we were told it is our responsibility to check and obtain all necessary documents and visas. We were not told about that or anything related when we booked the packet. After several calls to them we found out there is still no chance to get full or even partial refund. We spoke to the Dominican Republic embassy in London after that and they confirmed we need a visa. In the most Internet sites Bulgaria is still among the countries with no need of visa for the Dominican Republic. www.dominicanrepublic.com http://www.dominicanrep.info/residency.html http://www.dominicanrepublic.com/Tou...egulations.htm http://www.domrep.org/visas.htm http://www.drembassy.org/english/ On the official sites of the Dominican embassy in New York And Canada is written "The legal residents in UK, USA,Canada …and other are also eligible for tourist card) Our status as resident in UK does not help out, as the embassy interpret "LEGAL RESIDENCY" as indefinite leave to remain, not a temporary residence. So confusing. I spoke to the embassies of the Dominican Republic in New York, Miami, Toronto and all of them were confused to declare definite whether we need a visa or not, at least nothing in written. The first answer every time was just straight " You need a visa". When I asked them for more exact attention all they got confused. Strange ! As a final we understood that probably Bulgaria was removed that list of countries eligible for tourist card but I do not trust the clerks this embassies. The travel insurance policy does not cover such cases so no money from them either. Now I'm thinking to sue the travel company but it will cost a lot of nerves. Sorry for the long story it is difficult to explain the matter just with a few sentences. Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I hope the story will be helpful for anyone who is not citizen of UK, Canada, USA or EU . |
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