Dominican Republic to issue first electronic passports by October 2025

Santo Domingo.- President Luis Abinader announced that the Dominican Republic could issue its first electronic passports by October 2025. The new travel documents will enhance citizen identification security, streamline processes, and align the country with international travel standards.

Electronic passports include a chip storing personal information and unique biometric data, such as fingerprints, facial features, and, in some cases, iris scans. The current machine-readable passport will continue to be valid until its expiration, allowing both documents to coexist.

Director of the General Directorate of Passports (DGP), Lorenzo Ramírez, confirmed that the country will have biometric passports in 2025. Although printing was initially scheduled to start in August, a delayed move of the DGP to a tower in Ensanche Naco postponed the timeline. The initiative to introduce electronic passports dates back to 2014, when former DGP director Iris Guaba first promised a secure, internationally compliant travel document.