Dominican Roots

Finding your Dominican family

More than two million people of Dominican descent live in the United States, concentrated in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Many are second or third generation, with grandparents from a town in the Cibao, a campo (rural village) in the east or a barrio in the capital, and family stories that stop a generation or two back.

Dominican records are better than people expect. The country has kept civil registers for nearly two centuries, Catholic parish books go back much further, and a large share of both has been filmed and put online for free. The hard part is usually the starting information: the right town, the full names with both surnames, and roughly when someone was born.

This page walks through how to build that starting point, where each type of record lives, how to get official copies, how dual citizenship works, and how to plan a visit to the family town.

Before you start: what to gather at home

The more you collect in the US first, the less you will waste on the ground. Talk to the oldest relatives while you can, and write down everything, including nicknames.

• Full names with both surnames. Dominicans use the father's surname first, then the mother's: in "María Altagracia Peña Rodríguez", Peña is the father's surname and Rodríguez the mother's. That second surname tells you the mother's family, which is gold for research.
• The town or section where each person was born, married or died, and the province. "From Santiago" often means a village in Santiago province, so ask for the name of the sección or paraje (rural section and hamlet).
• Approximate dates of birth and marriage, and the parish where they were baptized.
• Any Dominican documents in the family: old cédulas, passports, actas, baptism certificates, letters, photos with writing on the back.
• US documents: naturalization certificates, green cards, US death certificates (which often list the birthplace and parents), obituaries and funeral programs.

Civil records and the JCE

Civil registration began in some Dominican towns in the 1820s, and Law 659 of 1944 still sets its basic rules. Today the Junta Central Electoral (JCE), the body that also runs elections and issues the cédula, oversees the civil registry nationwide.

How the system works

Each municipality has one or more Oficialías del Estado Civil, local civil registry offices, each led by an oficial del estado civil. They record events in bound books. Every act is identified by the oficialía, the book (libro), the page (folio), the act number (número de acta) and the year. Once you have those details, finding and copying a record is quick. At the end of each year, a set of each office's books goes to the central civil registry office in Santo Domingo, while a duplicate stays in the town.

Types of records

You can ask for an extracto, a short summary, or an acta inextensa, a full literal copy of the entry. For genealogy, and for citizenship paperwork, always ask for the full copy.

How to get copies

1. From the US, through a consulate. Dominican consulates in New York, Miami, Boston and other US cities can request actas from the JCE for you. Call or check your consulate's site for its current process and fee.
2. Online. The JCE has been moving acta requests online. Check the JCE website for the current service, which works best when you have the record's identifying details.
3. In person in the DR. Go to the oficialía where the event was registered, or a JCE office. Bring your passport or cédula and as many details as you have. Many copies are ready the same day or within days.
4. For use in the US. If a US agency or court needs the record, ask for it to be legalized and then apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIREX), and get a certified English translation.

Records online: FamilySearch and others

FamilySearch, the free site run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the best place to start from home. Its collections include:

• Dominican Republic Civil Registration, 1801–2010: images of civil registry books from many oficialías, searchable in part by name and browsable by town and year.
• Caribbean Births and Baptisms, 1590–1928, Caribbean Marriages, 1591–1905 and Caribbean Deaths and Burials, 1790–1906: indexes that include Dominican church records.
• Catholic parish registers for many Dominican parishes, which you can browse as images by parish.

Many images are not indexed, so a name search may miss someone. Learn to browse: pick the province, the oficialía and the year range, then page through the books. Handwriting is in Spanish and older entries use formulaic language, so a short list of key words (nació, born; hijo legítimo or hijo natural, legitimate or natural child; difunto, deceased) goes a long way. Free accounts are required. FamilySearch's wiki also has province-by-province research guides, and its Dominican Republic research page is a good place to begin.

Paid sites such as MyHeritage and Findmypast carry some of the same indexes. DNA tests can connect you with cousins in the US and the DR; Dominican matches often share several lines because families intermarried within the same towns.

Church records

The Catholic Church has been in Hispaniola since the 1490s, and parish baptism, marriage and burial books predate the civil registry by centuries. For anyone born before civil registration was universal in their town, the parish is often the only record.

Records are held by the parish (parroquia) or the diocese. The country has an archdiocese in Santo Domingo and another in Santiago, plus dioceses including La Vega, San Francisco de Macorís, Higüey, Baní, Barahona, Mao-Montecristi, Puerto Plata, San Juan de la Maguana and San Pedro de Macorís. Older books from some parishes have moved to the diocesan archive.

• To get a baptism certificate (fe de bautismo), visit or call the parish office. Ask during office hours, usually weekday mornings, and bring the person's name, parents' names and an approximate date.
• A small donation is customary. Ask what is expected.
• Baptism records often name godparents (padrinos), who were frequently relatives, which can reveal more of the family.

Some Dominican families, especially in the north and in Samaná, are Protestant, including descendants of African American immigrants who settled in Samaná and Puerto Plata in the 1820s. Their records may be with Methodist, Episcopal or other churches.

The Archivo General de la Nación

The national archive in Santo Domingo holds colonial documents, government records from the 19th and 20th centuries, including the Trujillo era (1930–1961), notarial records, land and property records, immigration and newspaper collections. It is most useful for families with land, notarial or government records, immigrants to the DR (Spanish, Canary Islander, Lebanese, Italian, Chinese, Haitian, Cocolo from the English-speaking Caribbean and Jewish refugees in Sosúa), and anyone researching before 1900.

• Bring your passport. You may be asked to register as a researcher.
• Check opening days and hours on the AGN website before you go.
• Know what you are looking for: a name, a place and a date range. Staff can direct you to the right series, but the archive is not indexed by person.
• Allow at least a half day. Ask about photography rules before you start.

Other useful sources include land titles registered with the Registro de Títulos, municipal cemetery books, and local historians, who exist in nearly every town and often know the family lines.

Dual citizenship for US-born children of Dominicans

The Dominican constitution (Article 18) says the sons and daughters of a Dominican mother or father are Dominican, wherever they were born. A Dominican who acquires another nationality does not lose Dominican nationality, and the US allows dual citizenship. So if one of your parents was Dominican when you were born, you are very likely already Dominican; the paperwork just records it.

Step 1: Transcribe your US birth record

The key step is a transcription (transcripción) of your US birth certificate into the Dominican civil registry. Once it is done, you have a Dominican acta de nacimiento. The usual process runs through a Dominican consulate in the US:

1. Get a certified long-form US birth certificate that names your parents.
2. Have it apostilled by the Secretary of State of the state where you were born.
3. Have it translated into Spanish if the consulate requires it.
4. Gather your Dominican parent's documents: their cédula or Dominican passport and their Dominican acta de nacimiento.
5. Submit everything at the consulate, which sends the file to the JCE in Santo Domingo for review and registration.
6. Receive your Dominican acta de nacimiento when the transcription is approved.

Some consulates, including New York's, have offices dedicated to US-born children of Dominicans and take document uploads online first. Requirements, fees and processing times change and differ a little between consulates, and transcriptions have taken several months in the past, so start well before any trip and confirm the current list with your consulate.

Step 2: The cédula

The cédula de identidad y electoral, the national ID card, is issued by the JCE to Dominicans 18 and older. With your Dominican acta you can apply at a JCE office in the DR, and the JCE has offices in some US cities with large Dominican communities. You will be photographed and fingerprinted. The cédula lets you vote, open bank accounts, buy property and sign contracts as a Dominican.

Step 3: The Dominican passport

The Dominican passport is issued by the Dirección General de Pasaportes, in the DR and through consulates. Adults usually need the cédula first. Minors apply with their acta and both parents' consent. See the Dirección General de Pasaportes for current fees and requirements.

Benefits of Dominican nationality include staying as long as you like with no tourist overstay fees, working and owning property as a citizen, and paying national rates at public universities. If you plan to travel to third countries on the Dominican passport, check their visa rules, which are often stricter than for US passport holders.

Visiting the family town

Going back to where a grandparent was born is a moving trip, and Dominicans in small towns usually welcome it warmly. Families are large, so arriving and asking a few questions often turns up cousins within an hour.

How to find people

• Start at the church, the colmado (corner store) and the town's oldest residents. Ask for the family by both surnames and by nickname; Dominicans often know people by nickname only.
• Visit the cemetery. Tomb inscriptions give dates, and caretakers know which families are buried where.
• Bring photos of the relative, at several ages if you have them. Older neighbors may recognize faces before names.
• Ask at the ayuntamiento (town hall) for a local historian or the parish priest.

Timing your visit

Every town has fiestas patronales, the festivities for its patron saint, when emigrants come home and the town fills with music, food and family. Ask relatives when yours falls. Christmas and New Year, Semana Santa and the summer holidays are the busiest times for Dominican Americans visiting family, and flight prices rise accordingly. November 2, the Day of the Dead (Día de los Fieles Difuntos), is when many families visit graves. See our festivals page and when to go.

Travel tips for visiting relatives

• Gifts. Relatives will often expect something from the US: clothes, shoes, toiletries, vitamins, phones, school supplies. Check your airline's bag limits and the Dominican customs allowance on our entry page before packing extra suitcases.
• Money. Requests for help are common and come from real need. Decide your limits before you go, and send larger amounts through a licensed remittance company rather than carrying cash. Our money page covers ATMs and exchange rates.
• Getting there. Most US flights go to Santo Domingo, Santiago, Puerto Plata or Punta Cana. For towns in the Cibao, Santiago's airport is often closest. Caribe Tours and Metro Tours buses connect the big towns; guaguas (minibuses) and carros públicos (shared taxis) reach the rest. See flights and getting around.
• Driving. If a cousin offers to drive, accept, and avoid rural roads at night. If you rent, read our driving page.
• Health. Do not drink tap water, including at relatives' homes; most households buy large jugs of purified water, called botellones. Bring repellent, as dengue is present. More on the health page.
• Power and water outages. Blackouts (apagones) still happen in some areas, and many homes rely on an inverter or generator. A power bank and a flashlight are useful.
• Phone. A local SIM or eSIM makes calling and WhatsApp cheaper; nearly every Dominican family uses WhatsApp. See staying connected.
• Language. If your Spanish is rusty, relatives will usually be delighted that you try. Our Dominican Spanish page has the local expressions you heard growing up.
• Etiquette. Greet everyone in the room, ask for a blessing from elders if your family does (bendición, answered with Dios te bendiga), and dress up for church. More on our etiquette page.

Getting help

If you get stuck, Dominican lawyers and notaries can request records and handle legal paperwork. Several genealogical societies, including the Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía, publish family histories and studies of founding families by region. Online, Dominican genealogy groups on social media are active and generous with help reading old handwriting. If you are planning a roots trip and want help with logistics, our custom trip planning service can arrange drivers and a schedule around your family visits.

Related pages: travel by interest (families and seniors), long stays for anyone thinking of spending more time in the DR, and Santiago and the Cibao, where many Dominican American families have their roots.