If you’re planning a business trip to Dominican Republic any time soon, there are several things you may not have even thought of which will need to be taken into consideration. Here is a quick checklist just to make sure you have everything covered.
Currency
The dominant form of currency in Dominican Republic is the ‘Peso. It is best to get your money exchanged before you get to DR, although there are plenty of places to exchange your currency, especially in the bigger tourist cities, you might have problems exchanging large amounts of Canadian dollar. It is much easier to exchange dollars and euros. There are cash points in DR (Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, La Romana and Santo Domingo city), but unfortunately there are not as many as there are here, NY or in a normal city or English town. It is best to be prepared to pay for most things with cash and take advantage of cash points when you see them, especially if you’re staying in a smaller town.
Visa
There is a visa requirement between Canada and the Dominican Republic; as Canadian if you’re going to DR on business you won’t’ll need a visa. If your business trip is going to be short, or you’re just going for a meeting. If you’re trip is going to be slightly longer, if you actually intend to work in DR, then you’ll need a work permit as a business visa will not suffice. A work visa is not much more difficult to obtain and you will only need proper legal advice and the aid of a government institution to help obtain you one.
Accommodation
The North, Eastern and Coastal cities hotels will be the most comfortable for businessmen, they are safe, clean and hospitable. If you’re trip is going to be too long to justify a hotel and you decide to rent accommodation, it is advisable you have someone with you who speaks the language (Spanish) and knows the legalities of the property market to ensure you remain safe.
Legalities
Get great and basic legal advice. Suggested by the Dominican Republic law, any foreign citizen arriving into DR territory has got to register with the police if doing major business dealings as it will make it safe, if you don’t register you’ll be at your own risk and might find yourself in a lot of trouble. It’s become common practice for DR authorities to stop people on the street and check documents and passports. There are two ways to get decent and affordable legal advice and to get registering with the police, you can either register at the hotel where you’re staying and that will count as registering with the police, that’s easy. Or making the province or consulate aware you’re in the country and you’re being looked after and it’s easy to find you. If you’re renting an apartment, your landlord should be able to do this for you.
Travel
As far as traveling in Dominican Republic is concerned you won’t probably find public transport more efficient than your own car because the traffic situation is not that easy in the larger DR cities like Sto Dog and Santiago, etc. Only Sto Dgo city have an underground system or subway, this tends to be very reliable and is particularly economic too, and is very easy to navigate as all the signs and maps are translated into English too. If you need to travel across DR, the most effective way to do this would be by either bus, rent car or plane. Those, like the underground system, are rather cheap. Obviously the bus takes a little longer but it can be a nicer journey where as the plane would be much quicker even though it may cost a little more.
Spanish Dynamics 
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