Every person entering or leaving the Dominican Republic, including tourists on an all-inclusive trip to Punta Cana or elsewhere on the coast, now needs a completed E-Ticket, filed through the government’s own official portal at eticket.migracion.gob.do. The form is free, mandatory for every traveler regardless of nationality or age, and must be completed separately for arrival and again for departure.

What actually changed: the timing requirement

The most practically relevant recent change is timing. The E-Ticket previously carried a stated requirement to be completed no earlier than 72 hours before travel; that window has since been relaxed, according to current guidance on the process. Travelers can now complete the form as soon as their flight details are finalized, well ahead of the trip if they choose, though filling it out a day or two before departure remains a sensible practical target for anyone who wants their travel details as current as possible when they file. The QR code generated on submission does not expire, provided the flight details and travel dates entered remain exactly the same as the ones actually flown.

Every traveler in the party needs one, including children

The E-Ticket requirement applies per person, not per booking or per family, which means a parent completing the form needs to file a separate entry for each child traveling as well as for themselves, using each traveler’s own passport details. Families are worth flagging specifically here because a single household form is a common and understandable assumption for a family trip, and it is not how the system is actually structured.

Who needs a visa, and who does not

Citizens of the United States, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom can enter the Dominican Republic without a visa for stays of up to 30 days, extendable to 60, which covers the overwhelming majority of travelers booking an all-inclusive trip from those countries. This visa-free allowance is separate from the E-Ticket requirement, not a substitute for it; both apply to the same trip for travelers from these countries.

Passport validity: a different rule depending on nationality

US citizens need a passport valid for at least six months beyond their travel dates to enter the Dominican Republic, consistent with the six-month buffer rule that applies to many international destinations. British and Canadian travelers currently have a more lenient requirement: through December 31, 2026, their passports only need to remain valid for the duration of the actual stay, not a six-month buffer beyond it. This distinction is worth checking against your specific nationality and against the current date, since the more lenient rule for British and Canadian travelers carries an explicit end date rather than being open-ended, and outbound travelers should confirm the applicable rule is still in effect at the time of a later trip rather than assuming it persists indefinitely.

The tourist card fee is now built into the process

A separate tourist card fee, historically a distinct charge, is now built directly into the E-Ticket process, and for most travelers flying on major airlines, the roughly 10 US dollar fee is already folded into the price of the airline ticket itself rather than requiring a separate payment on arrival. This is a meaningful simplification compared to older entry processes at many destinations that still require a separate cash or card payment for a physical tourist card at the airport itself.

What to actually do before a Dominican Republic trip

Complete the E-Ticket at eticket.migracion.gob.do once flight details are confirmed, rather than waiting until the final days before departure in case of a technical issue or a need to correct an entry. Save or screenshot the confirmation QR code somewhere accessible without relying on airport wifi to retrieve it, consistent with the same practical approach to any pre-arranged entry authorization covered in our pre-flight document checklist. Confirm your specific nationality’s current passport validity requirement directly, given the distinction between the standard six-month rule and the temporary, dated exception currently in place for British and Canadian travelers.

What this means for the wider region

An electronic pre-arrival form of this kind is now common practice across multiple Caribbean and Latin American destinations, and travelers with a multi-destination itinerary should check whether each specific country on the route has its own separate electronic entry requirement rather than assuming one country’s process applies to all of them.

Sources: Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism, official entry requirements; Dominican Republic 365.