More than 20,000 migrants have been counseled within a year of the opening of the Information Hub on Migration in Dominican Republic

More than 20,000 migrants have been counseled from the Information Hub on Migration that operates in Santo Domingo, thanks to the coordinated work between the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Dominican Republic. Free, timely and bilingual (Spanish and Creole) orientation has been provided without interruption, even in times of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Information and follow-up on renewal procedures, profile creation, letter writing, requirement verification, and support for procedures on the DGM website, among other concerns and activities, have been answered both in person and electronically (by mail and WhatsApp) by the staff who have been in charge of the Information Hub for the past year. 

In the report of these twelve months of work, it is evident that the great majority of the migrants assisted are of Haitian nationality, for which reason priority has been given to the attention and creation of orientation materials in Creole, ensuring that the information is more accessible.  Support has also been provided to Venezuelans, Cubans, Spaniards, French, Dutch and people from other 8 nationalities. 

More than 200,000 migrants who are beneficiaries of the National Plan for the Regularization of Foreigners must renew their migratory status in the coming months and the Information Hub in Santo Domingo serves hundreds of people daily to provide them with orientation regarding requirements and procedures on the web page. 

In order to guarantee social distancing measures for the prevention of COVID-19, an appointment system has been created and the dissemination of video-instructions with step-by-step procedures has begun on the DGM website. In less than a month, the videos on the YouTube channel of the IOM mission in the Dominican Republic have received more than 2,000 visits and continue to be shared via WhatsApp. 

IOM is currently preparing to install new Information Hubs on Migration in other parts of the country: in the east and in the offices in the four authorized border crossings between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  

If you want to know more about our Information Hub, we invite you to watch this video (Spanish). These activities are possible thanks to the support of the Western Hemisphere Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.