Free Certificates, Priority Service and Reserved Parking in Puerto Rico

These are the small provisions of Ley 203-2007 that a veteran in Puerto Rico uses most often, and none of them requires a rating. Free certificates. Article 4C, Fifth, requires the offices and dependencies of the Government of Puerto Rico and of the municipal governments, including courts, registries and bureaux, to issue free of charge, to every veteran, their spouse or surviving spouse and their minor children, every certificate they need for official uses and for claiming any right. The exempt certifications include, without limitation, criminal record certificates, certificates of tax return filing, certificates of income and property tax debt, demographic registry certificates, and university transcripts. The transcript exemption reaches children under twenty-five where the regulation's requirements are met. Every agency, office and government dependency is ordered to post a visible sign saying these certificates are free for veterans, spouses, surviving spouses and minor children, and the Procurador del Veterano is charged with ensuring compliance. Look for that sign; its absence is a compliance point. The express queue. Article 4G(d) requires agencies, instrumentalities and public corporations, municipalities, private entities receiving public funds, and commercial businesses, financial institutions, offices and private-sector businesses regulated by Puerto Rico law that offer direct services to citizens, to design and adopt an express queue system for veterans. Duly accredited veterans who attend, alone or accompanied by family or guardians, to do administrative business exclusively on their own behalf are to be given priority turns. There is one exception: the Registro de la Propiedad, because of the priority principle that governs the order of presentation of public documents in Puerto Rican mortgage registry law. The signage obligation is specific and enforceable. Public and private entities covered by the provision must post, both in the area where turns are taken or waiting lists are signed and at the main entrance of the facility, at eye level, a sign visible and legible from ten feet, informing of the priority turn right and citing the legal provisions it comes from. The Procurador may adopt regulations on the system and on the sign, and the sign must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. VA identification cards must be accepted. Article 4G(e) obliges the same broad set of public and private entities to recognise the validity of identification cards issued by VA when they are requested and presented, unless expired, mutilated or altered. A veteran affected by non-compliance may file a complaint through the Oficina del Procurador del Veterano, which must investigate within sixty calendar days, and if the investigation favours the complainant, sanctions follow under the Procurador's powers. Reserved parking. Article 4G(f) requires government agencies, corporations, instrumentalities and municipalities to assign, so far as possible, at least one clearly identified parking space at each of their offices for the exclusive use of veterans or the people driving them, while they do business there. The spaces must be accessible and as close to the entrance as feasible. The obligation applies only to bodies that have free public parking at their facilities. The scale is published in the statute: one reserved space for a lot of 1 to 25 spaces; two for 26 to 50; three for 51 to 75; four for 76 to 100; five for 101 to 150; six for 151 to 200; seven for 201 to 300; eight for 301 to 400; nine for 401 to 500; two percent of the total for 501 to 1,000; and for more than 1,001, twenty spaces plus one for each additional 100 over 1,000. Proof for the parking space is a DD214, a driver's licence carrying the veteran designation, a Puerto Rico veteran licence plate, or a current removable placard with the disabled veteran mark. Under Article 5 a driver's licence with the veteran designation is accepted evidence of veteran status generally, which makes it the single most useful document to obtain.