Immigration and Other Matters in Costa Rica

Work Permits in Costa Rica

Applicants for work permits must submit the following documents:

1. Letter on certified paper to the Immigration's Temporary Permits Department outlining the reason for the request, with all necessary stamps affixed.
2. Temporary work permit application, available along with the list of requirements at the Immigration information desk in La Uruca district.
3. Four recent passport photographs.
4. A full set of fingerprints, taken at Puerta (door) 4 of the Immigration office in La Uruca.
5. Proof of guaranteed income while in the country. This could be provided via a letter from the applicant's employer here.
6. Applicants who will be working for a government or international institution in Costa Rica must provide a confirmation letter from the institution.
7. Photocopy of the photo page and last entry stamp of the applicant's passport.
8. Guarantee deposit of $100 at Immigration's temporary permit department once the permit is approved. If the applicant is also applying for a permit under a residency category, this deposit may be waived. The deposit is refunded when the applicant returns home.

Immigration will approve work permits only for Costa Rican companies authorized by Immigration's Executive Council. Businesses that have a long history of operating in the country are generally considered eligible to receive foreign workers.

Student Permits

For a student permit, an applicant must submit the following:

1. A letter, on certified paper affixed with all necessary stamps, to Immigration's temporary permit department explaining the reason for the permit request as well as the name of the local sponsor a legal resident of Costa Rica, tico or foreign, who will accept responsibility for the applicant's actions while he/she is in the country. Letter must be certified by a local attorney or Costa Rican Consul.
2. Application form available at the La Uruca Immigration office's information desk.
3. Four recent passport photographs.
4. A guarantee of $100, which must be deposited with the temporary permit department after the permit is approved. Deposit is refunded when applicant returns home.
5. Proof of the sponsor's income here  a certified letter from the sponsor's employer, financial statements, etc.
6. Photocopy of sponsor's identification card (cédula) or residency card (carnet).
7. A full set of the applicant's fingerprints, taken at the Immigration office in La Uruca, Puerta (door) 4.
8. Photocopies of the photo page and final entry of the applicant's passport.
9. Registration letter or card from the school where the applicant will study.
10. Minors must present a certified authorization from their parents.

Perpetual Tourist

If you don't want to invest the time and money to become a pensionado or resident, you can live as a perpetual tourist in Costa Rica. No paper work or lawyers need to be involved. Just leave for at least 72 hours every three months to renew your tourist visa. Bear in mind that the locals frown upon this, much as we do in our own countries, as this is being done frequently and avoids the intent of the law. The ARCR recommends you consider some form of residency once you are certain you intend to stay in the country.

You can repeat this process over-and-over again to stay in the country indefinitely. The only disadvantage is that as a tourist you may not work in Costa Rica and it is almost impossible to become a legal resident unless you marry a Costa Rican or have immediate Costa Rican relatives.

If you don't want to bother leaving the country every few months to renew your papers, you can stay in the country illegally. You no longer have to pay the $0.90 fine for each overstayed month. Perpetual tourists, foreigners who repeatedly overstay their tourist visas, now only pay the country's exit tax. We have personally met many people who have lived as tourists for years without problems; some even started businesses.

Bear in mind that it is always better to have your papers up-to-date because you may be deported almost instantly at the whim of an Immigration official or if you get into any kind of trouble and are in the country illegally. Costa Rica's Immigration Law gives airport or border officers the right to deport any illegal tourist. We know of a Canadian woman who is now fighting deportation after seven years of being here illegally.

Sometimes airlines give you a hard time if you are not a resident of Costa Rica and try to travel with a one-way ticket.

One of our readers found the solution: The last time I traveled I was unable to board the flight bound for Costa Rica without an onward ticket. It was the airline that made the fuss, probably because if they bring me to Costa Rica without the onward ticket they can be forced to take me back to where I came from by Immigration (and without pay). Since I was at the counter to collect my boarding pass and ready to come home, to Costa Rica, I bought a fully refundable ticket to Panama and got a refund in Costa Rica by showing the airline a bus ticket to Panama that I bought for $7.

Extending Your Stay

Every tourist with a valid passport (U.S. citizens, Canadians and most Europeans) has permission to remain in Costa Rica without a visa for up to 90 days.

U.S. and Canadian citizens may enter the country with just a 30-day tourist card or another piece of identification such as a driver's license, passport or birth certificate.

You can get tourist cards from any Costa Rican consulate or embassy prior to your trip or at the airline ticket counter on the day you leave for Costa Rica. Tourist cards can be renewed monthly by applying for an extension called a prórroga de turismo. To obtain this extension, you will need your passport, a ticket out of the country (see the section entitled Bus Travel to and from Costa Rica in Chapter 10), three passport-size photos and at least $200 in cash or traveler's checks for each additional month you're staying. Many people opt to pay the fine instead, since this process is such a hassle. It is important to be aware that once you reach the day past your approved visa, you are illegally in the country. Aside from potential deportation, some things this can affect are your right to drive with a foreign license and insurance coverage.

This process takes a couple of days and is a bureaucratic nightmare. To save yourself many headaches, long lines and time, you should go to any local travel agency. Most of the agencies in San José will help extend your tourist card or obtain an exit visa for about $5, even if you didn't purchase your ticket there. This service is worthwhile and usually takes two working days.

The Immigration offices are in the suburb of La Uruca, about a half mile west of the Irazú Hotel. Information may be found online at: http://www.migracion.go.cr. You may also find information about required passports and visas at http://www.passportsandvisas.com.

Leaving The Country

Any tourist who has stayed in Costa Rica more than 30 days with just a tourist card will need an exit visa or visa de salida to leave the country. Likewise, foreigners who entered Costa Rica using just a passport and overstayed the maximum permitted time of 90 days, will also have to get an exit visa.

To obtain this document, you first need pensión alimenticia stamps to prove you have not left dependent children behind. Go to the court buildings or Tribunales de Justicia (Calle 17, between Avenidas 6 and 8) for these stamps. Then take your passport, the stamps, and your return ticket to the Immigration office to get an exit visa. The whole process takes two working days. As we just mentioned above, most tourist agencies will do all of the running around for a small fee.

One good thing about an exit visa is that it is valid for 10 days from the date it was issued. You can stay in the country another 30 days using this extension, so you can remain in Costa Rica for a total of 100 days.

Costa Rican citizens, retirees and permanent residents must also get an exit visa and pensión alimenticia stamps. A foreigner living under any of the three residency categories will pay about $50 for an exit visa.

Everyone has to pay an immigration tax according to their status. You can avoid a lot of hassles and lines at the airport if you pay in San José before going. This tax may be paid in the rear of the basement level of the Bancrédito across from the southwest corner of the Central Park. Take your documents with you, passport or cédula, and the cashier will tell you the amount.

Children’s Exit Visas

Children under 18, including infants, who remain in Costa Rica for more than 30 days are subject to the country's child welfare laws and will not be permitted to leave the country unless both parents request permission from the National Child Welfare Agency or Patronato Nacional de Infancia (PANI) (Calle 19 and Avenida 6). This can pose a real problem for a single parent traveling with children who overstay the permitted 90 days. One parent or guardian cannot get exit papers without written permission from the non-accompanying other parent. A Costa Rican Consul in the child's home country must notarize this document.

If you don't adhere to this procedure, your child cannot leave the country. When you go to the airport you have to take your child to a special window where an official form PANI checks to see if the child can be taken out of the country. A travel agent or lawyer may be able to get permission from the PANI if given the child's passport and two extra Costa Rican-sized passport photos.

If your child was born in Costa Rica, the child is automatically a Costa Rican citizen. To exit the country, the child will need an exit permit from the Costa Rican Immigration department if he or she is a minor. The child must have the permission of both parents to leave the country. This can be annoying if the child has to travel a lot with one parent. However, the parents can fill out a special permanent permission form whereby the child can leave country with either parent as many times as necessary until the child is no longer a minor (18). My wife and I did this to make it easier for our son to travel.

Costa Rica's child protection laws can be a real pain in the neck. However, in some cases they can work to your advantage and enable you to stay in the country. All you have to do is have the cooperation of your child's mother.

If you support minor children, you cannot be deported from the country under most circumstances. If a mother wishes, she can ask for an impedimento de salida, preventing the father from leaving the country. If the impedimento is served, then the only way to leave the country is to pay the equivalent of 13 months'pensión (child support) in advance. Although we don't recommend using this method, some foreigners remain in the country indefinitely this way whether they really support their child or not. Your attorney can explain how to use this law to protract your stay in the country.

Here is one resident's experience on leaving the country with minor children: I am not sure about a non-citizen resident, but for citizens it's just a matter of going down to Immigration with both parents and child and signing a form. Probably better to do this, just in case. The child will need a photograph too, which can be taken there. There are two types of permissions, temporary and permanent. The temporary is only good for certain period of time, say one or three months. It may even only be good for one departure. A permanent one is just that, permanent. The whole idea behind it is to prevent abductions, so if you go with a permanent, it might be a good idea to keep the permission papers separate from the child's passport. When we went, the person working there said that about 75 percent go with a permanent as opposed to the temporary.

By the way, paternity laws are very strict in Costa Rica. If a mother asks for a DNA test and it is positive, the father pays for the test; if it is negative, the mother pays for it. The tests are not cheap, but there is a long waiting list of about three months for these tests.

The Patronato Nacional de Infancia handles adoptions in Costa Rica. This process can take a couple of years even for a newborn or child if you satisfy all of the requirements. It is easier and faster if you adopt a child rather than a newborn.

If you father children in Costa Rica, they will be eligible for your Social Security benefits. The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) seems to define natural children as distinguished from adoptive children. Whether they are born out of wedlock is not an issue.

According to the SSA at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10085. html, Within a family, a child may receive up to one-half of the parent's full retirement or disability benefit, or 75 percent of the deceased parent's basic Social Security benefit. However, there is a limit to the amount of money that can be paid to a family. The family maximum payment is determined as part of every Social Security benefit computation and can be from 150 to 180 percent of the parent's full benefit amount. If the total amount payable to all family members exceeds this limit, each person's benefit is reduced proportionately (except the parent's) until the total equals the maximum allowable amount.

Costa Rican Citizenship

After living in Costa Rica for a number of years many foreigners decide that they want to acquire Costa Rican citizenship (dual citizenship is permitted.) If you qualify, this is another way to stay in the country legally. As a naturalized citizen, you will have the same rights as a Costa Rican, including the privilege to vote and a Costa Rican passport.

There are some U.S. citizens who give up their citizenship voluntarily to take care of tax benefits for those living abroad. This is an extreme measure and we recommend thinking about the advantages and disadvantages. We heard of one case where the founder of Tupperware moved to Costa Rica about 20 years ago and became a Costa Rican citizen for tax reasons. In this case, millions of dollars were involved. The average person would not benefit from such a move.

There are other benefits of becoming a citizen of Costa Rica for many foreign residents: you can become a member of Costa Rica's Social Security System, the impossibility of extradition of Costa Rican citizens and the mutual visa exemption agreements between Costa Rica and all the European Union countries, Scandinavia, Canada, Japan and Russia.

Naturalization (citizenship) applications are processed and granted by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones y del Registro Civil, the Costa Rican electoral and civil records. Some consider this institution the fourth most powerful government entity.

You may apply for citizenship if:

1. Married to a Costa Rican for at least 2 years. Article 14, section 5 of the Constítución Política and Law 1155 of April 29, 1950, and its reforms, states that a foreigner married to a Costa Rican can apply for citizenship after being married and physically present in Costa Rica for at least two years. The section allows foreigners to reside in Costa Rica without the requirement to become residents under Immigration rules.
   Foreign men and women married to Costa Ricans for a minimum of two years, and who have lived in the country for at least two years may also become citizens. The Costa Rican spouse can either be through birth or naturalization. You may also be able to become a naturalized citizen if you have been divorced from a Costa Rica citizen. However, you must comply with both the minimum time requirement for marriage and residence in the country.
2. After five years of residency (accumulated in the country), if Spanish is your first language. More specifically, nationals of other countries of Central America, Spaniards and Ibero-Americans by birth who have resided officially in the country for five years and who fulfill the other requirements that the law requires. Those born in the United States who speak Spanish as a first language do not qualify.
3. After seven years of residency (accumulated in the country) if Spanish is not your first language.
4. Items 2 and 3 require an extensive exam (very difficult and in Spanish) in order to obtain citizenship. Note: Applicants will need to take a written test through the Department of Public Education in geography and the Spanish language. These exams are usually given four times a year. This exam is not easy for most English speakers unless their Spanish is fluent.

Applicants will need to prove they have the financial means to live in Costa Rica. They'll also need a certificate from the computer section of the Department of Immigration showing their exits and entries into Costa Rica from the time they entered Costa Rica to the day they apply for citizenship. Permanent residents and resident investors will need a certificate from the National Immigration Council showing the names of their parents, date of birth and current immigration status.

Residency under the Immigration rules is not required by a foreigner who marries a Costa Rican national and wishes to remain permanently in Costa Rica.

Here is how the process goes:

First, go to the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones y Registro Civil, to the section of Opciones y Naturalizaciones in San José.

Ask for an application with all of the instructions, a sample solicitation letter (to be copied verbatim) in Spanish and advice as to where to go for what.

An application must be submitted with:

1. A copy of your cédula de residencia (I believe they will make the copy for you at this section).
2. From the Computer Department a certification of the number of passport and list of times you have entered and returned to Costa Rica up to the day you file for Costa Rican citizenship, since your first time from your passport. This can be received from near the bank at Puerta 7 at Migración. It usually takes one week and the cost in stamps is minimal.
3. Certified copy of your birth certificate which is available at Puerta 2 the same day. Request by 10 a.m. and receive by 2 p.m. This was submitted for your residency initially. (You may use the same one you obtained for Costa Rican residency). In lieu of this last requirement, you may obtain either a certificate from the Immigration Department or from the Tourism Institute showing your date and place of birth, parents'names and a sworn statement of your birth. You will need to have your birth certificate notarized by a Costa Rican Consul.
4. Current copy of marriage documents (certificado literal de matrimonio), if using marriage or prior marriage to a tico(a). A birth certificate issued by the Civil Registry for your Costa Rican spouse is also required.
5. A few timbres fiscales (stamps) (19 colones) Archivo Nacional stamps for 5 colones.
   
   As far as we know, the United States does not favor dual nationality for its citizens but does recognize its existence. We just checked with the embassy here, and U. S. citizens may obtain Costa Rican citizenship without renouncing U.S. citizenship.

The naturalization process is slow and can take over a year. Once approved, you'll be sworn in at a special ceremony.

Check with the U.S. Embassy in San José for the latest regulations. We know of a number of North Americans who have both U.S. and Costa Rican citizenship. One expatriate friend uses his Costa Rican passport for travel because he claims there are fewer problems than with his U.S. passport.

We suggest consulting a Costa Rican attorney for all the details and specific requirements if you are really interested in this subject. Attorneys charge $700 to $1,000 for this service. However, if you speak fluent Spanish you can do it yourself. There are several people who work outside of the Immigration office who will assist you for a nominal fee.

Once you become a Costa Rican citizen you are entitled to a Costa Rican passport. To obtain a Costa Rican passport you

1. Pay $26 at either Banco de Costa Rica or Banco Nacional before you go to Immigration.
2. Present your national ID card or cédula and a photocopy of both sides of it.
3. For children you will need a photocopy of their birth certificate and photocopies of both parent's cédulas. You will also have to pay $26 for each child at either of the two banks mentioned above.
4. For children born to foreign parents in Costa Rica, you will need photocopies of their birth certificate, a photocopy of the parent's residency cédula or passport and to pay the $26 for each child as above.

"Baby boomers are redefining retirement - and leading the move to a new generation of dream countries"

AARP Magazine

Christopher Howard's The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Cost Rica, is important when doing research about moving to Costa Rica.

By Hillary Chura
New York Times
July 30, 2005