Provisional Visas

You are required to apply for these types of residency at the Immigration Office of Costa Rica.

Requirements:

1. Request Letter stating the reasons for applying for temporary residency in Costa Rica. This letter must include:  Full name and last name of the solicitor, nationality, age, occupation, current address and place or means for notifications should be indicated. The letter should be signed either with an immigration officer or through a Public Notary.

2. Two recent passport sized photographs, front view.  

3. Payment of $50. The name of the foreigner should be indicated as the depositor. This money must be cancelled in colones in the Bank of Costa Rica’s account 242480-0.

4. Payment of $1.25 and $2.50 for each page that is presented with the residency request.  The name of the foreigner should be indicated as the depositor.

5. Form dully filled out and signed.

6. Proof of fingerprint registration, issued by the Ministry of Public Safety. This requirement is only for people that are over 12 years of age.

7. Proof of consular registration. issued by the corresponding consulate in Costa Rica.

8. Birth certificate of the foreign person; issued in the country of origin, properly legalized and authentically annotated (can not be older than 6 months).

9. A properly legalized and authentically annotated certificate of the foreign person’s past criminal record from their country of origin or the place where they have been living legally for the past three years. For that purpose you should additionally show the legality of your stay in that country through a certified copy of the migratory document obtained during the indicated term. Note: If the applicant resides in the U.S. a Federal Criminal Background Certificate duly apostilled must be presented. This certification must state that the content is according to information by the NCIC National Crime Information Center, interstate identification index or triple III. This certification can not be older than 6 months.

10. Photocopy of all passport pages. The photocopies should be certified and compared to the original by the official that receives them or through a Public Notary.

11. Lifetime pension issued by a competent authority. This certification must indicate that the person will be receiving a monthly pension of more than one thousand dollars. If the certification is issued abroad it must be duly legalized and authenticated or apostilled.

12. The foreigner may include his / her dependents, so they can reside in Costa Rica. The following are the categories: Spouses, children under the age of 25 years old or older with disabilities. For these purposes, supportive documentation must be provided such as a marriage certificate, medical certificate (in the case of children with disabilities). All documentation issued abroad must be dully legalized or apostilled.

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Important notes:

• All residency applications should take place once the foreigner becomes legal in the country; in other words that his visa has not expired.

• If the person enters Costa Rica as a tourist and wishes to change his/her status as temporary resident, a payment of $200 must be paid in the Bank of Costa Rica’s account number 242480-0. The payment is in colones.

• All documents issued outside from Costa Rica must be properly apostilled or legalized by the Costa Rican Consulate and then certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica.

• Documents issued in a language different Spanish should be translated through an official translator or through a Public Notary who masters the language.

• Foreigners whose country of origin does not have diplomatic representation in Costa Rica are exempt from the requirement of the consular registration.

• Those applicants whose country of origin doesn’t have diplomatic representation of Costa Rica and no representation of their country in Costa Rica, should present a Birth Certificate, Police Background Certificate, or Marriage Certificate, depending on the case, a sworn declaration should be properly protocolled over the information that is contained in the documents.

• In the case of foreigners that cannot present the requirements due to displacement from the country that they were citizens of, they should present the passport the identifies them as a citizen of that country, and produce a sworn declaration; also a certificate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where it is specified that the political problem took place.

• If it concerns the disappearance of the civil records in your country of origin, due to an accident, major force, due to a third party; you should present the respective certificate.

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