Dominican cédula from the United States: the JCE issues it
The Dominican cédula de identidad y electoral is one of the most searched documents from the United States, and the consulate does not issue it. It comes from the Central Electoral Board, a separate body with its own offices in the country.
Who issues it
The Central Electoral Board (JCE). It is the same body that runs the Dominican civil registry, so it also issues birth, marriage and death certificates.
Consulates and the JCE are separate things even when they share a city. A consulate cannot take your fingerprints for the cédula or hand it over.
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Where its offices are
The JCE runs its own offices in several US cities. California has one with its own line, (818) 649-1344, for the cédula, civil records and naturalization. There are also offices in Tampa and in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Do not mistake them for consulates: a JCE office does not do passports or powers of attorney.
How to book
Through the JCE appointment portal, citas.jce.gob.do. It is a different system from the one each consulate uses for its own procedures.
Why it matters so much for the passport
Because without a current cédula there is no passport. It is the first thing the consulate asks for, and if you have changed your name, through marriage for instance, the change has to be on the cédula before you apply.
That order is what sinks most applications: people turning up for a passport with an out-of-date cédula.
And citizenship
If you are the child of Dominicans born in the United States, the cédula comes after citizenship: the consulate handles recognition first and the JCE issues the document afterwards.
What to bring to the JCE appointment
The Dominican birth certificate, an identity document and, for a renewal, the previous cédula. Fingerprints and photograph are taken there, so it is an in-person procedure with no exceptions.
An expired cédula
An expired cédula is no use for a passport application. And since the consulate requires a current one, renewing it is usually the real first step in a list of procedures people tend to start from the wrong end.
Name changes
Any change, marriage, divorce, correction, goes onto the cédula first and from there to everything else. Turning up for a passport with the new name and the old cédula gets you turned away.
Voting from abroad
The cédula is also the electoral document. Dominicans abroad vote in presidential elections and for overseas deputies, and for that you have to be registered in the right constituency.
That register is kept by the Central Electoral Board itself, and it is done at its offices, not at the consulate.
Without a current cédula there is no passport. That is the order.Details verified on 8 September 2026.
consuladosdominicana.us is a private guide. We do not represent the Dominican State and we take no part in any consular procedure.
The information is reviewed regularly and comes from official sources, which sometimes disagree. Confirm by phone before turning up.