Nearly 200,000 foreigners legalize status, approach deadline target

Santo Domingo.- Long lines and worried faces meld in the offices where the Interior and Police Ministry conducts the National Plan to Regularize Foreigners, with 198,614 registering to legalize their status, of the around 210,000 expected to apply by the June 17 deadline.

The applicants mostly of Haitian descent prefer not to talk about the process, while others insist on asking the authorities which documents they need to expedite their case.

"I can no say nothing to you, ask other people, I not going to answer nothing," said one Haitian in Spanish with a Creole accent.

Quoted by eldia.com.do, the Haitian did reveal that he’s working in Puerto Plata and wants his papers quickly.

Peruvian

"This is a process that moves forward, workers are doing what they can and cannot demand more. So far I haven’t found any obstacle, it’s the first time I have come, they’ll give the requirements and when I collect them I will return," said Peru national Javier Pineda, a photographer who came to the country with a tourist visa six years ago.

He said he works here and it’s vital that he legalizes his situation, since he fathered a child with a Dominican.