September 8, 06

NEWS / Dominican consulate in N.Y. again hikes fees

Dominican consulate in N.Y. again hikes fees
NEW YORK. - The tariffs were again increased for services of document legalization in the Dominican Consulate here, which caused protests by Dominicans who went this week to obtain powers of attorney to send their children to the Dominican Republic.

The legal power attorney for a minor to travel to the Dominican Republic without their parents went up again from 45 to 75 dollars, whereas other notarizations were increased from 100 to 140 dollars.

Just two months ago the consul Francisco Fernandez arranged an increase of between 20 and 40% in the legalization of documents. The price to renew the passport was increased then to US$214, with a change of the document, and US$175 without.

However, the protests from the Dominican community forced Fernandez to reconsider the increases and lowered the cost of the passport by 14 dollars and a lesser reduction in the costs of other services.

When reporters from the newspaper Hoy tried to obtain a version that justified the new increases, personnel at the Consulate, located at #1501 Broadway, in Manhattan, said that Fernandez was in Dominican Republic.

Three vice-consuls, who requested anonymity, confirmed the measure arranging the increases, but clarified that the cost of the passport was not affected.



Tags: legalization, legalization of documents, document, document legalization,