Searching for old Dominican public records is not simple.
Prior to 1945 Dominican registry offices were not centrally managed, each registry office had its own unique way of working, and proper care to maintain the well-being of Dominican birth ledgers was not always a priority. Most small towns would only keep one original birth ledger, marriage ledger etc, and nowadays many of these ledgers no longer exist, destroyed by natural disasters, fire, flooding, carelessness and inadequate storage conditions, consequently countless old records have been lost forever.
How much will my Dominican birth certificate cost? | ||
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In most cases we charge a total of US$210* = 1) US$95* for the search, then 2) US$115 for the certificate = total of US$210) for an original legalised and apostilled long-form birth certificate including shipping by certified airmail which generally takes between 2 and 5 weeks to arrive. For details and an order form, go to our Dominican birth certificate order page. | ||
* If the birth took place before 1945, or if you do not know the date or place of birth, we charge US$195 for the search fee (instead of the US$95 quoted above) |
Many of the surviving ledgers are in such poor shape that their contents are no longer legible. Whilst efforts have often been made over the years to restore old Dominican birth ledgers etc, and the restoration department in the Central Registry Office in Santo Domingo is kept busy with the huge backlog of ledgers awaiting restoration, some registry offices which we have visited, still have files full of old loose dog-eared records or photocopies in disorganized bundles, see below:
A manual search for an old Dominican birth record |
The old Dominican public records we are most asked for are:
These original birth records are not so old - from 1965 |
In conclusion, there’s not much chance we’ll find the birth of your grandmother from 1919, even if the record exists, if you can’t tell us in which town she was born.
Click here to check out our prices and to order a Dominican Republic birth certificate.
If you have a question which is not answered on our order form, please fill out the form below: