Dominican Republic Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

Each civil registrar (Oficial del Estado Civil) is required to keep a duplicate registry of the original records of birth, marriage, divorce, and death. At the end of each year, the original registry, together with its corresponding index book, is sent to the Central Office of the Civil State. These civil registrations allow people to be identified as citizens and therefore able to receive governmental benefits in the future.  

With the adoption of the Napoleonic civil code of 1804, the Dominican Republic began the practice of civil registration, creating the offices of the civil state (oficialías del estado civil) in charge of registering the events of birth, marriage, and death in the life of its citizens. However, only some civil registration books dating back to 1823 have been found in the Bayaguana Civil Registry (Oficialía del Estado Civil de Bayaguana). Before that time, the Dominican Republic was under Haitian dominion. It wasn’t until June of 1944 that the National Congress created civil registration law 659, which provided new regulations for the functionality of the civil registration institution. One of the regulations was the creation of the Central Office of the Civil State (Oficina Central del Estado Civil), with civil registration headquarters in the capital city and one or more offices in each municipality. The registration of civil records was to be made in duplicate, and one of the original registers was to be sent annually to the Central Office for preservation.