Foreign women who marry Dominicans have the option at the time of marriage to become Dominican citizens, which is granted to them by the simple fact of marrying a Dominican man. This case only applies for women since the scenario for men marrying Dominican women varies significantly. They must comply with a minimum period of six months of residence in the Dominican Republic and six months married in addition to having to deposit the required documents in order to receive the Dominican President’s approval.

The naturalization process for foreign women married to Dominicans is known as the Dominican nationality by marriage. In Article 18 of our newly revised Constitution, Dominicans are considered: "All of those who marry a Dominican, only if they choose for the spouse’s nationality and meet the requirements established by law”.

Although women are given the option to become Dominican citizens as soon as they are married, a special procedure must be complied with at the Secretary of Interior and Police of the Dominican Republic which is described herein.

The first step of the naturalization application procedure is to deposit a list of required documents at the government institution mentioned above.

Once all the documents have been filed the applicant must attend an interview a week after regarding Dominican history and culture. The interview is held in Spanish and the applicant must carry her passport. The complete application and depuration process will take between three to four months counted from the date the documents were filed. Once the Dominican Nationality has been granted, a decree will be approved by the President of the Dominican Republic. At this point, if the applicant wishes to obtain her Dominican birth certificate, Cedula (Id card) and passport, she must proceed to transcribe her birth certificate, which must be accompanied by the naturalization decree. This process is carried out at the Central Electoral Board and at the corresponding Civil Registry Office. With this Dominican certificate in hand, the applicant may request her Dominican cedula and passport and will be able to act like any other Dominican citizen.

Furthermore, the Dominican Constitution also states that any person who becomes naturalized does not lose their former nationality or other nationalities acquired from other countries, serving as a great advantage for foreigners: "The right of acquiring a foreign nationality by Dominicans is recognized. The acquisition of different nationality does not entail the loss of Dominican nationality” (Article 20).


Bibliography:
Constitution of the Dominican Republic from January 26, 2010.

Law No. 1683 about Naturalization from April 16, 1948.

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