DominicanCitizenship.com ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our platform at dominicancitizenship.com (the "Platform"). Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using the Platform, you consent to the practices described herein.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Personal Information You Provide
When you create an account or use our services, we may collect:
- Identity information: full name, date of birth, nationality, email address, phone number, and mailing address.
- Family lineage information: details about your Dominican parent(s) or grandparent(s), including their names, dates of birth, and places of birth.
- Government-issued documents: birth certificates, passports, cédulas (Dominican national ID), marriage certificates, and other identity documents uploaded for your citizenship application.
- Account credentials: email address and hashed password.
1.2 Payment Information
Payment card details are collected and processed directly by our payment processor, Stripe. We do not store your full credit card number, CVV, or other sensitive payment credentials on our servers. We receive and store only a truncated card identifier, transaction amounts, and payment status from Stripe.
1.3 Usage Data
We automatically collect certain information when you visit the Platform, including:
- IP address, browser type and version, operating system, and device information.
- Pages visited, time spent on pages, referral URLs, and click-through data.
- Language preferences and locale settings.
1.4 Communications
Messages exchanged between you and your attorney through the Platform's messaging system are stored to facilitate your case and provide a record of communications.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Facilitate your citizenship-by-descent application by connecting you with a licensed attorney and managing your case.
- Process payments and maintain accurate billing records.
- Provide customer support and respond to your inquiries.
- Send transactional emails, including case status updates, document reminders, payment receipts, and attorney assignment notifications.
- Improve and optimize the Platform, including analyzing usage patterns and fixing technical issues.
- Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.
- Detect, prevent, and address fraud, security breaches, or technical issues.
3. Information Sharing and Disclosure
We do not sell your personal information. We share your information only in the following circumstances:
3.1 Licensed Attorneys
When you select an attorney and initiate a case, your personal information, documents, and case details are shared with that attorney so they can provide legal services. This sharing is essential to the service you are requesting.
3.2 Service Providers
We use third-party service providers who process information on our behalf:
- Payment processing: to securely handle transactions and billing.
- Cloud hosting and database services: to store and manage your data and documents.
- Email and messaging services: to deliver transactional notifications, case updates, and other communications.
- Application hosting: to serve and deliver the Platform to your browser.
- Error monitoring: to detect and resolve technical issues (no personal data is intentionally transmitted to these services).
These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and may only use it to perform services on our behalf. A current list of service providers is available upon request by contacting privacy@dominicancitizenship.com.
3.3 Legal Requirements
We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental regulation, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.
4. Data Security
We take the security of your information seriously and implement industry-standard measures to protect it:
- Encryption at rest: All documents are stored with encryption at rest enabled.
- Encryption in transit: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using TLS (HTTPS).
- Row-Level Security (RLS): Our database enforces row-level security policies, ensuring that users can only access data belonging to their own account and organization.
- Access controls: Role-based access ensures that attorneys can only view cases assigned to them, and administrators have audit-logged access.
- Audit logging: All sensitive operations (status changes, document access, payment events) are logged for accountability.
While we strive to protect your information, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
5. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. Specifically:
- Active cases: All case data, documents, and communications are retained for the duration of the case and for a period of seven (7) years after case completion for legal compliance.
- Account data: Retained until you request account deletion.
- Payment records: Retained for seven (7) years to comply with tax and financial reporting obligations.
- Usage data: Aggregated and anonymized usage data may be retained indefinitely for analytics.
6. Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
- Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions (such as retention required for active legal proceedings or regulatory compliance).
- Data portability: Request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Objection: Object to the processing of your personal information for certain purposes.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@dominicancitizenship.com. We will respond to your request within thirty (30) days.
7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use the following cookies and technologies:
- Essential cookies: Required for authentication, session management, and locale preferences. These cannot be disabled.
- Referral cookies: Used to track ambassador referral codes so that referrers receive proper attribution.
- Analytics: We may use Google Analytics or similar tools to understand how visitors interact with the Platform. You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
We do not use cookies for advertising or behavioral targeting.
8. Children's Privacy
The Platform is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18 without parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe we may have collected information from a child under 18, please contact us at privacy@dominicancitizenship.com.
9. International Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence, including the United States and the Dominican Republic. By using the Platform, you consent to the transfer of your information to these jurisdictions, which may have data protection laws that differ from those in your country.
10. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice on the Platform. Your continued use of the Platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.
11. Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
- Email: privacy@dominicancitizenship.com
- General support: support@dominicancitizenship.com
- Website: dominicancitizenship.com