After an extended period of suspended on-site operations, the Dominican Republic has formally restarted activities at its Consulate General in Caracas, Venezuela, marking a key shift in its regional consular infrastructure. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commonly known by its Spanish acronym MIREX, confirmed that full service delivery resumed on Thursday, October 1, bringing accessible in-person consular support back to both Dominican residents and foreign nationals in Venezuela.
A wide range of routine and emergency services are now available directly at the Caracas location, matching the full scope of services offered before operations were paused. These include new passport applications and renewals, emergency travel document issuance, notarization of power of attorney, travel authorizations for minors, official registration of Dominican citizens living abroad, civil marriage registration procedures, and emergency protection and support for Dominican citizens facing crises in Venezuela. Crucially, MIREX has confirmed that all service fee schedules remain unchanged from prior rates, avoiding additional cost burdens for applicants.
To ensure a smooth transition, the foreign ministry has laid out clear protocols for ongoing applications. While new requests can now be submitted directly in Caracas, any procedures that were already started at the Dominican Republic’s alternate consular processing hub in Bogotá, Colombia, will remain in the Colombian capital through completion. No partially processed documents will be transferred from the Bogotá office to the newly reopened Caracas consulate, and any applicants with pre-scheduled appointments in Bogotá are required to attend their scheduled sessions as planned to avoid delays to their cases.
The reopened consulate is led by newly appointed or returning Consul General Héctor Pastor Vásquez, and operates from its long-standing regular location: Multicentro Empresarial del Este, Torre Libertador, Núcleo A, 17th Floor, Office 174, along Avenida Libertador in Caracas’ Chacao municipality. Public service hours are set from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. local time on working days, and multiple channels are available for the public to seek additional information or assistance. Inquiries can be made via phone at (0212) 263-8256 or (0212) 264-5596, through WhatsApp at +58 422-4101237, or via official email at [email protected].
The resumption of consular operations in Caracas addresses a longstanding inconvenience for Dominican citizens living in Venezuela, who previously had to coordinate with the Bogotá office for all consular needs, often incurring extra travel and logistics costs. The move also signals a potential normalization of bilateral practical engagement between the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, after years of adjusted diplomatic and consular arrangements in response to regional political shifts.