What the e-ticket is — and what it is not
The e-ticket replaces the old paper arrival and departure cards. It is one online form on the official Dominican government portal, covering immigration and customs for both directions of the trip. You fill it in before you fly, submit it, and get a QR code. That code is scanned at immigration when you land and again when you leave.
It is not a visa. Whether you need a visa depends on your nationality, and that answer does not come from us or from the form — it comes from your consulate or the official portal. What the e-ticket does is register the trip itself: who is coming, on which flight, staying where, and leaving when.
It is also free. Several third-party websites sit above the official portal in search results and charge $20 to $60 to file the same form. The government portal charges nothing. If a page asks for a card number, you are on the wrong page.
How to fill it out, step by step
Open the official portal within 72 hours of your flight — earlier submissions are rejected. Choose the arrival form, enter passport details exactly as printed, your flight number, the date, and your accommodation. The hotel field wants the resort name and zone, not a street address: 'Bávaro' or 'Cap Cana' is the answer it is looking for.
One form can cover a whole family travelling together on the same booking. Each traveller still appears by name and passport number inside it, but one QR code covers the group at the counter.
When it finishes you get a QR code. Screenshot it. Airport Wi-Fi works, but the queue moves faster when nobody is logging into email to find a PDF. A printed copy in the passport works just as well.
Then do the same thing again for the exit half before the flight home. Most guests fill both directions in one sitting and screenshot both codes.
At PUJ immigration — what officers actually ask
The officer scans the QR code, looks at the passport, and typically asks three things: where you are staying, how long, and when you fly back. The answers are the hotel name, the number of nights, and the return flight date. Saying 'Bávaro, seven nights, flying home Saturday' is a complete conversation.
Passport validity matters more than the form: most nationalities need a passport valid for the length of the stay. The check happens at the airline desk at home, not at PUJ — an airline that does not like the document simply does not let you board.
Queue length depends on the arrival bank, not on you. When two wide-bodies land together the line runs 30 to 45 minutes; a single flight clears in 10 to 15. This is exactly the window our drivers track — the car does not move until you walk out.
The exit half — before you fly home
The same portal, the same form, the exit direction. Fill it out the night before departure, ideally from the hotel, and screenshot the QR code. Departure immigration at PUJ scans it the same way.
Do it before checkout, not at the gate. The airport has Wi-Fi and the portal works from it, but the departure hall queue is the wrong place to discover a typo in a passport number.
Our departure pickups are timed to all of this: the lobby time we confirm already includes check-in, the exit-form scan, and security. If you have not filled in the exit half, tell us at pickup — the driver will wait two minutes, but the buffer is easier spent at the hotel.
After customs — your pickup
Once the form is behind you, the rest is the short part. Bags off the belt, one customs check, and you are in the arrivals hall. Your driver is outside those doors with a printed name sign — app pickups are not allowed inside PUJ, which is why the car is pre-booked.
We track the flight, so a late landing changes nothing: the driver adjusts, and airline delay wait is included. If the QR line or baggage takes an hour, the car still waits.
Send the flight number when you book and the meeting point stays the same every time: arrivals exit, name sign, no searching. Fixed zone price, per vehicle, nothing prepaid — you pay the driver at the end in US dollars or pesos.
Send the flight, get the price in writing
Hotel name, flight number, date and party size. We reply with the fixed rate, track the flight and meet you inside arrivals with a name sign. Pay the driver on arrival.
Book on WhatsAppQuestions we get on this
- Is the Dominican Republic e-ticket really free?
- Yes. The official government portal charges nothing. Sites that charge $20 to $60 are third-party filing services that appear above the official page in search results.
- How far in advance can I fill out the e-ticket?
- Within 72 hours of the flight. Earlier submissions are rejected by the portal. Most travellers do the arrival and exit forms in one sitting and screenshot both QR codes.
- Do children need their own e-ticket?
- Every traveller must be registered, but one form can cover the whole family on the same booking — names and passport numbers for each person, one QR code for the group.
- What happens if I forget to fill it out?
- You can complete it on your phone at the airport — PUJ has Wi-Fi — but it is 15 to 20 minutes of form-filling while the immigration queue grows. Doing it at home within 72 hours of departure is the easy version.
- Does the e-ticket replace a visa?
- No. It is an entry and exit registration, not a visa. Whether your nationality needs a visa is a question for your consulate or the official Dominican government portal — we cannot answer it at the dispatch desk.
- Where does the driver wait once I clear immigration?
- Outside the arrivals exit with a printed name sign. App pickups are not allowed inside PUJ, so the car is pre-booked and the flight is tracked — delays and long queues change nothing.