Dominican Republic residence permits issued to Americans reached 2,491 in 2025, and most went to one category. Temporary residence took 64% of the total, or 1,591 permits. Every other route trailed far behind. The figures, sorted by visa category and nationality, sketch how Americans actually enter the country.
The figures count Dominican Republic residence permits issued in 2025, not the total number of Americans living in the country. They sort each grant by category. So a year-over-year rise in one bucket, like investment, points to a real change in how Americans enter, not just a bigger total. The General Directorate of Migration (DGM) reports counts, not reasons.
How the permits break down
Temporary residence dominated, as it tends to. The permit runs one year and renews annually, the DGM says. It’s the standard entry point for foreigners who want to settle. Most applicants stay on it for years before moving up.
Permanent residency came next at 16%, or 408 permits. Applicants generally qualify after five years of renewed temporary status. The DGM issues a one-year card first, then renews it every four years. The status itself is indefinite.
Getting the temporary card means clearing a checklist. Applicants file at a Dominican consulate, then register with the DGM within 60 days of arrival. They submit an apostilled police certificate, a medical exam at an authorized clinic and proof of financial solvency. A bank balance of about 300,000 pesos, roughly $5,000, is the common threshold.
Investment residence is the fastest-growing slice
Investment residence made up 10% of the 2025 permits, or 248. The category has tripled since 2022. It draws foreigners who put at least $200,000 into the Dominican economy, usually through real estate. The route skips the temporary stage entirely.
That speed is the appeal. Investors can begin naturalizing after roughly six months of legal residence, against a five-year climb on the standard path. The trade-off is capital, $200,000 up front, plus apostilled paperwork and a mandatory guarantee policy.
Investment residence is the local face of a wider pattern, Americans buying residency abroad. The Dominican Republic allows dual citizenship, so they needn’t surrender their US passports. The tripling since 2022 tracks that pull.
Where Americans fit in the bigger picture
Americans are a small slice of the flow. The DGM issued tens of thousands of permits in 2025. Haitians and Venezuelans took the largest shares, with Haitian citizens alone accounting for more than a quarter of the year’s permits.
The 2024 spike skews any comparison. The DGM cleared 122,560 permits in May 2024 alone, ahead of the general election, in a one-off regularization that helped push the year to a record 148,301 permits. Strip that out and 2025 looks ordinary. The American share, by contrast, has been a slow build.
What the category split tells us
Most Dominican Republic residence permits issued to Americans in 2025 went through the slow, conventional door. The temporary-to-permanent path still carries the bulk of the traffic. That pattern holds year to year. The investment route is growing fast, but off a small base, so its 248 permits remain a minority.
The country offers no dedicated digital nomad visa. Remote workers route through the rentista category, which requires about $2,000 a month in foreign passive income. Retirees use a pension category set around $1,500 a month.
What the count doesn’t show is intent, whether these Americans plan to retire, run a business or eventually carry a Dominican passport.
