Santo Domingo – In a significant move to modernize governmental services, the Dominican Republic’s immigration authorities have partnered with the National Competitiveness Council to revolutionize the process for authorizing minors’ international travel. Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, Director General of Migration, convened a strategic meeting with Peter Prazmowski, head of both the National Competitiveness Council and the Zero Bureaucracy Program, to finalize the digital transformation initiative.
The collaboration has yielded substantial progress, with officials announcing the imminent launch of a Private Beta phase for the newly developed digital platform. This controlled testing environment will engage a select group of users to assess system performance, identify necessary refinements, and ensure seamless functionality before the official public deployment. The comprehensive digital transfer of the minors’ exit permit process is reportedly in its final implementation stage, leveraging interoperability between participating government institutions to optimize efficiency.
The innovative system specifically addresses the most common travel scenario—cases where one parent authorizes another to travel with a minor—which accounts for approximately 80% of all applications. The remaining cases will be systematically integrated into the platform in subsequent phases. Notably, the digital solution extends significant benefits to the Dominican diaspora, enabling citizens abroad to request, receive approval, and obtain travel permits electronically through Dominican consulates worldwide.
According to CNC Director Peter Prazmowski, the fully digitized process will dramatically reduce bureaucratic hurdles, potentially cutting authorization issuance time to under 30 minutes. This transformation represents a substantial improvement in service delivery for Dominican families, aligning with broader governmental efforts to enhance administrative efficiency and citizen experience through technological innovation.