Dominican Republic Consulate

Asegúrese de llegar antes de las 2:30, aunque dice claramente qué están abiertos hasta las 3:00. La experiencia no fue muy agradable. Qué decepción. Y fui cómo un favor a un familiar. Perdí mi tiempo y más probable tendré que sufrir verle la cara dé perdidos a esas personas. No saben como dar servicio, ni están completamente educados en la información que se supone que el consulado debería de saber. Por favor contraten personas que qué les suba la reputación. Y sí usted habla inglés adecuado o es de los estados que es mi caso, lo tratarán mejor, aunque no debería de afectar el servicio qué uno reciba. De todas maneras fue una experiencia terrible.
Be sure to arrive by 2:30 even though it clearly states they’re open until 3:00. The experience wasn’t a very pleasant one. What a disappointment. And I went as a favor for a family member. I wasted my time and I’ll probably have to suffer seeing the faces of those lost people once again. They don’t know how to provide service, nor are they completely knowledgeable on the information the consulate should know. Please hire people who will bring your reputation up. Also, if you speak English well, or are from the states you will be treated better, which was my case and it shouldn’t affect service, but it was still a terrible experience.

They do not answer their phone ever! It just rings and rings — then the call drops. Have been trying them for a week. Very frustrating!

Querida compatriota Dominicana. Si usted secree que porque consiguió un trabajito de secretaria en la embajada es funcionaria baje de su nube y ubiquese en su puesto. Que ese traje sito a ustedes no le da el derecho de tratar a los clientes con prepotencia y altanería. Ustedes están para dar un servicio y proveer de información y tratar a las personas como ustedes quieran ser tratadas. Partía de ruyia vieja…

They are horrible! They don’t answer their phones and don’t have any sense of urgency. My husbands parents passed away in a sudden accident and we needed to get my husbands birth certificate apostilled. They charged us $ 150 and to date we still don’t have the document (more than 2 weeks later). We call and no one in the office answers the phone. When you call most calls just drop. The only mistake this lady did was give us her cell phone so we have gotten in touch with her through that ONLY! She promises the document is on its way and it still hasn’t shown up. They offer horrible service to say the least.

Now that I’ve had time to calm down, the Dominican Consulate gets a whopping 1 star from me. Please allow me to give you the transcript of my initial telephone conversation. The following is an attempt to write proper Spanish with a little Dominican Ebonicz
Me: Hola, mi passaporte esta vencido y tengo que…
La Estupida: ESPERESE señorita que no la oigo
{{pausa de 3 – 5 segundos}}
La Estupida: aha. OK. ahora ute puede hablar
Me: hehe, ok gracias. Salgo para un crusero el Viernes y fue ahora que note que mi passaporte esta vencido. Quiero saber si su oficina me puede ayudar?
La Estupida: Traiga $ 140, su passaporte viejo, y su cedula de identificacion.
Me: Cedula? hmmm. Yo no tengo cedula. Solamente tengo mi tarjeta de residencia y mi passaporte. Esta bien?
La Estupida: {{en voz alta}} OIGAME LO QUE LE VOY A DECIR. ESCUCHEME BIEN. PARA QUE USTED SEPA QUE ES LO QUE LE ESTOY PREGUNTANDO!
{{ya la rakiñosa de el consulado me esta callendo mal pero me quedo calla y ella sigue hablandome como si soy una niña de 5 años}}
La Estupida: Traigame SU CEDULA yyyyyyyy su passaporte
Me: Señora, yo no tengo cedula. solamente mi tarjeta de residencia. Yo saque este passporte en el 2005 en la misma oficina que estoy llamando. Ustedes nunca me preguntaron por cedula en ese tiempo tampoco.
La Estupida: No, NO, NO! Busqueme su passporte y leame el numero adonde dice numero de cedula
{{{ya quiero meterle un chancletaso por la boca a la ignorante}}
Me: No hay numero, solamente mi fecha de nacimiento.
La Estupida: Ok, entonces traiga la tarjeta de residencia.
Me: Pero, y eso no fue lo que yo le dije? Porque uste me hablo tan mal? Como si yo fuera inferior a usted y una imbecil?
La Estupida: Bueno, mija mucha gente dicen que no tienen cedula y blah blah blah blah…
If I could describe some of the employees that work at the Dominican Consulate it would presumptuously arrogant. The kind that lived in D. R they’re whole lives, finally made it to «the land of opportunity» and now look down upon other Dominicans/​Hispanics who are not on their «level».
It irks to the core when I see Hispanics be prejudice against other Hispanics or any person for that matter. But it brings me greater shame to see ‘my people’ practice class warfare on each other. My gut feeling tells me the lady who picked up the phone assumed I was another poor, ignorant, immigrant calling into her office. The end part of that conversation (which I didn’t include) was me having to speak in English and not Spanish. Why? because it let her know that I’m not some dumb immigrant and have been raised in the states my whole life. Forcing her respond in her broken English started to make her feel uncomfortable and what do you know? The witch then simmered down. If we were on the National Geographic channel I’d be the Alpha female asserting my dominance over this weaker, feeble minded Beta douche.
Seriously, it makes me want to throw up in my mouth that I had to get this PETTY with anyone but the Dominican Consulate… really?
On the upside, the office is beautiful. It is kept immaculate. They have big screen tv’s that alert you when your number is being called so you can go up to a window. The bad? There are over 8 works stations. I saw a ton of employees running around to and fro but only 2 at their actual work stations and one was eating shit. So in total we had ONE employee (station #6) who was actually helping the people waiting in the lobby. This is not an exaggeration. When I finally got called up, the station #6 employee commented to a co-​worker that she had called up 4 people in row and no one else seemed to be picking up the slack.
For their sake, I hope they get their asses in check. A friend of mine described their system as antiquated and I’d have to agree. They accept only cash, no checks, and you can’t seem to find any helpful information online — let alone any online services.
One thing I do have to be thankful for is that they did give me my passport the same day and now I’m able to travel. The amount for express service is $ 140. You have to be in by 12noon for express service and your passport will be available for pick up by 2pm. If you don’t want express service they’ll mail out your passport to you within 5 – 6 days it’s $ 80-​$ 100.
THE END