Dominican Residency Through Real Estate
A villa at Casa de Campo® is the start of a residency plan.
For most international buyers, a villa at Casa de Campo® is a lifestyle decision first. But the same purchase that gives you the resort, the beach club, and Pete Dye’s south coast also makes you eligible — under Dominican law — for an expedited permanent residency, a long list of tax exemptions, and one of the fastest paths to a second passport anywhere in the Caribbean.
This is a buyer’s guide to that pathway: what it covers, what it doesn’t, what it takes, and what most new owners get wrong before they speak to a Dominican attorney.
Direct permanent residency
General Migration Law 285-04 (and Regulation 613-11) establishes the direct permanent residency category for qualifying foreign investors. This is the pathway itself — the legal route that lets a foreigner skip the standard multi-year ladder and apply for permanent residency from day one.
Tax benefits package
“Special Incentives for Foreign Retirees and Passive Investors” attaches the tax-benefit package to that residency. Once you qualify under 171-07 you receive transfer-tax exemptions, IPI reductions, duty-free imports, and a permanent exemption from Dominican tax on foreign-source income.
Six-month naturalization
The standard naturalization timeline is two years of permanent residence. The investor track — for “owners of real estate located in the Republic” — drops that to six months of uninterrupted residency. Application requires a Spanish-language interview and oath of allegiance.
Three ways a Casa de Campo® buyer qualifies.
The law does not require a particular asset class, but in practice real-estate buyers at Casa de Campo® qualify in one of three ways. The investment must be registered with CEI-RD (Centro de Exportación e Inversión) and funds must arrive through formal banking channels — cash purchases or undocumented wires will not produce the paper trail.
Single finished villa
A single finished villa at or above US$200,000 in registered purchase price. For Casa de Campo® buyers this is the most common route — every villa we sell is well above the threshold. The cleanest qualifying structure.
Lot + construction
A lot plus a construction contract where the combined registered value clears the floor. The construction component must be documented (contractor, scope, schedule) and funds must flow through Dominican banking channels in a way that creates an evidentiary trail.
Multiple properties
A combination of properties totaling US$200,000 or more in registered value. Multiple smaller properties can be aggregated. The CEI-RD registration is the document that links the property purchase to your residency application.
What Law 171-07 actually gives you.
For buyers focused on the financial mechanics of ownership, the Law 171-07 package is the most important part of the residency conversation. Once registered as a 171-07 beneficiary, the qualifying investor receives a combination unusual among Caribbean residency programs — direct permanent residency paired with both a foreign-income exemption and meaningful property-tax relief.
Transfer + IPI relief
Exemption from the 3% real-property transfer tax on the first property acquired. 50% reduction on the IPI annual real-estate property tax. 50% reduction on the mortgage registration tax where applicable. 50% reduction on capital gains tax on disposition, under conditions.
Foreign-source exemption
Permanent exemption from Dominican tax on foreign-source income, regardless of residency duration. Exemption from Dominican tax on dividends and interest, regardless of source. A note for US citizens: this is a Dominican benefit, not a US one — US worldwide-income obligations remain.
Duty-free import
Duty-free import of household goods and professional equipment, one-time. Duty-free import of one motor vehicle (or VAT and selective-consumption exemption if acquired locally). The household-goods exemption is meaningful for owners relocating from outside the region.
Two stages — consulate, then DGM.
The application is a two-stage process: it begins at a Dominican consulate in your home country and ends at the Dirección General de Migración in Santo Domingo. The dominant cause of delay is not Migración — it is incomplete or improperly legalized paperwork. A competent Dominican attorney pre-audits the file before it leaves your home country.
Consular — home country
Submit your application file at a Dominican consulate with jurisdiction over your home address. File includes apostilled and Spanish-translated personal documents (passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, police clearance), the CEI-RD investment registration, evidence of capital remittance, and consular fees. Consulate issues a one-year residency visa authorizing travel to the DR for Stage 2.
DGM — Santo Domingo
Once in the country, complete a local medical examination and submit the full file to the Foreign Investment Window at DGM in Santo Domingo. Migración reviews, photographs, and biometrically enrolls you, and — assuming a complete file — issues the permanent residency card. First renewal is one year after issuance; subsequent renewals on a four-year cadence.
Six-month residency clock
For citizenship under Law 1683, maintain continuous residency in the DR for six months after the card is issued. The clock measures uninterrupted residency, not calendar time since residency was issued. Owners who treat the villa as a part-time home will not satisfy the requirement until they complete a six-month continuous stay.
Residency by investment — candidly.
Does buying a villa automatically grant residency?
No. The purchase makes you eligible to apply. Residency is granted by the Dirección General de Migración after a separate two-stage application that includes apostilled personal documents, CEI-RD registration of the investment, capital-remittance evidence, and a medical examination in the Dominican Republic.
How long does the full process really take?
Legally, 45 working days from a complete DGM submission. In practice in 2025–2026, plan for three to four months from DGM submission. Add another two to four months for the consular stage and document legalization, depending on your home country. Most buyers should budget six to nine months from purchase to physical card in hand.
Is the US$200,000 threshold per applicant or per family?
Per principal applicant. The investment qualifies the principal, who can then include a spouse and dependent children on the same residency application. No additional investment is required for dependents.
Can I include a property still under construction?
Yes, with documentation. A lot purchase plus a construction contract whose combined registered value clears US$200,000 qualifies, provided the construction contract is formalized, the funds flow through Dominican banking channels, and CEI-RD registers the combined investment.
Will Casa de Campo® buyers get the 50% IPI reduction?
Yes, once the buyer is registered as a Law 171-07 beneficiary. The reduction applies to the annual IPI (1% on real-estate value above the statutory exemption threshold). Without 171-07 status, the buyer pays the full IPI.
Can I sell the property after receiving residency?
Yes, but the rules matter. Selling the qualifying property before the residency renewal can affect renewal eligibility. Selling it after naturalization does not affect citizenship. Sequencing the sale with respect to the residency milestones is something to plan with your attorney, not improvise.
Does naturalization require giving up my original citizenship?
The Dominican Republic does not require it. Whether your home country does is the question your home-country counsel needs to answer. The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and most EU member states permit dual nationality with the Dominican Republic; a small number of countries do not.
Not legal advice — and who to retain.
The information on this page is summary guidance compiled from publicly available Dominican law, the Dirección General de Migración, and the Centro de Exportación e Inversión (CEI-RD). It is not legal advice and should not be relied on as legal advice. Dominican immigration, tax, and real-estate law changes; individual circumstances vary materially; and the correct structure for any one buyer depends on facts a brokerage is not qualified to assess.
Two professionals you should retain before relying on this pathway:
A Dominican immigration and real-estate attorney admitted in the Dominican Republic, to handle the closing structure, the CEI-RD filing, the consular submission, and the DGM application.
A home-country tax advisor who specializes in international and cross-border taxation, to assess how Dominican residency interacts with your tax position at home. This is particularly important for U.S. citizens, for whom Dominican residency by itself does not change U.S. federal tax liability.
Talk through the pathway with us.
Whether you are evaluating Casa de Campo® primarily as a residence, as a lifestyle purchase that happens to qualify for residency, or as the start of a citizenship plan, the right place to begin is a conversation. We will walk you through the qualifying property options at Casa de Campo®, sketch the timeline, and — if useful — introduce you to one of the Dominican attorneys we work with.
An independent buyer’s guide to real estate at Casa de Campo®. Operated by Caribbean Paradise Homes — at the resort since 2003, and ready to help you find and buy your home here.
© 2003–2026 Villas in Casa by Caribbean Paradise Homes SRL
Casa de Campo® Resort & Villas is a registered trademark of Costasur Dominicana, S.A. Villas in Casa by Caribbean Paradise Homes SRL is an independent real estate agency and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Costasur Dominicana, S.A. The information on this site is based upon information which we consider reliable. We can not represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. The selling price and offerings are subject to errors, omissions, changes, including price, or withdrawal without notice.