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COSTA RICAN CITIZEN

 

*IMPORTANTE: A PARTIR DEL 1 DE ABRIL EL COSTO DEL ENVIO DEL PASAPORTE HACIA LOS CONSULADOS DEBERA DE SER CANCELADO POR EL USUARIO, POR MEDIO DE LA PAGINA WEB DE CORREOS DE COSTA RICA: https://correos.go.cr/pasaportes-consulados/ EL COSTO PARA LA EMISION DE UN PASAPORTE SE SEGUIRA EFECTUANDO DIRECTAMENTE EN LOS CONSULADOS, POR EL MEDIO DE PAGO ESTABLECIDO EN CADA OFICINA.

 

 

1. Renewal of Identity card (cédula de identidad)

2. New Identity card (cédula de identidad)

3. New Passport

4. Permits for minors to leave Costa Rica

5. Registration of children of Costa Rican citizens born abroad

6.  Application for Certificate of Delinquency 

7. Letter of No Objection (Waiver)

8.  Power of Attorney

9.  Authentication of Diplomas and Certificates 

10. Shipment of Human Remains to Costa Rica

 

1. Renewal of Identity card (cédula de identidad)

This has to be requested in person, it has no cost and you have to make an appointment in the Consulate of your jurisdiction.  To renew your identification card you must show up on the day of your appointment with the following documents:

  1. Expired identity card (cédula de identidad) or copy of your birth certificate.
  2. Two passport size photographs with a white background.

NOTE: If your ID card  (cédula de identidad) has been expired over ten years, it is necessary to come to the Consulate with:

• Two Costa Rican witnesses with the original and photocopies of their valid identity cards (cédulas de identidad).

Processing time: Please take into consideration that the process in the Consulate can last about an hour. Once we receive your application it will be sent to the Civil Registry of Costa Rica for the appropriate action. The identity card may take up to 2 months to be sent back to the Consulate of your jurisdiction in the United States.
 

2.    New Identity Card (cédula de identidad)

This has to be requested in person, it has no cost and you have to make an appointment in the Consulate of your jurisdiction.  To apply for a new identification card you must show up on the day of your appointment with the following documents:

  1. Copy of your passport or birth certificate.
  2. Two passport size photographs with white background
  3. The applicant must be accompanied by one of its parents, grandparents or brother/sister with the original and photocopy of valid identity card (cédula).

Processing time: Please take into consideration that the process in the Consulate can last about an hour. Once we receive your application it will be sent to the Civil Registry of Costa Rica for the appropriate action. The identity card may take up to 2 months to be sent back to the Consulate of your jurisdiction in the United States of America.
 

3. New Passport

  1. Consulate of Costa Rica in Washington DC procedures.
  2. Consulate of Costa Rica in New York procedures. 
  3. Consulate of Costa Rica in Los Angeles procedures. 
  4. Consulate of Costa Rica in Miami procedures.
  5. Consulate of Costa Rica in Atlanta procedures.
  6. Consulate of Costa Rica Houston procedures.

 

4. Trip permits for Costa Rican minors to leave Costa Rica

For this procedure, which has no cost, it is necessary to request an appointment at the Consulate of your jurisdiction. Both parents must be present with original and photocopies of their valid identification cards (cédulas de identidad), and they must provide the child's birth certificate within less than two months from having being issued by the Civil Registry of Costa Rica, as well as a passport size photograph. The minor is not required to come to the Consulate.

Upon receipt of the documents at the consulate, they will be sent immediately to the Office of Minors at the Immigration Office where the information will be entered into the system. Once this is done, the child will not have any problem exiting Costa Rica.

The temporarypermit will be valid for 30 days from the time that the Immigration Office receives the documentation.

 

5. Birth registration for children of Costa Rican citizens

A Costa Rican parent whose son/daughter was born in the United States and who wish to apply for their Costa Rican citizenship have two options:

1. If the parent plans to travel to Costa Rica, he/she can make arrangements in person at the Civil Registry for the registration of his son/daughter, which will be much faster. For this, all that is required is a birth certificate authenticated by the Secretary of State, to contact an official translator from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica to translate the document, to take the original and translated copy of the birth certificate and lastly to take the documents to the Civil Registry for registration. This process has no cost.

2. The other option is to get an appointment at the Consulate of your jurisdiction and provide the following documents:

(a) Child's birth certificate, which must have been previously authenticated by the Secretary of State where the document was issued.

(b) The U.S. birth certificate must be translated into Spanish and the translation must be notarized by a notary public of the United States and then taken to theConsulate of your jurisdiction for approval.  Once the document has been authenticated by the corresponding Secretary of State and translated into Spanish, the applicant must make an appointment to the Consulate of your jurisdiction so that the document is authenticated by the Consulate. This process has no cost.

The day of the appointment, the father or mother has to show up in the Consulate with the original and photocopy of both sides of his/her valid identity card (cédula de identidad). Take into consideration that it is not necessary to take the child to the Consulate for this procedure unless the child is between 18 and 24 years of age. In this case, the child must bring a valid photo ID.  

The Costa Rican parent can verify if the registration has been made successfully in the following link: http://www.tse.go.cr/consulta_persona/consulta_nombres.aspx

The registration of birth must be done before 25 years of age. After that, you will lose the option to enroll your child as a Costa Rican citizen and must first apply for residence in order to obtain his/her naturalization.

 

6. Application for Certificate of Delinquency

If you reside outside of Costa Rica and need to get your Certificate of Delinquency, you need to make a specific request to the Consulate of your jurisdiction. 

 

The application letter should be sent to the Consulate and must state:

  • Full name of the person requiring the certificate.
  • Number of identity card (cédula de identidad) or passport.
  • Date of birth.
  • Full names of both parents.
  • Contact information and current address.
  • Full name, identity card (cédula de identidad) number and telephone number of the person in Costa Rica who is authorized to pick up the certificate of delinquency.
  • Photocopy of both sides of your valid identity card (cédula de identidad) or photocopy of the first two pages of the passport.

 

7. Letter of No Objection (Waiver)

By provision of section 212 (e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of the United States of America, visitors in the United States of America with a J-1 visa are subject to a two years residency requirement in their country of origin for some of the following reasons:

  1. They have received funding from the U.S. Government, the Government of Costa Rica or an international organization for their academic program.
  2. The education, learning or training they have obtained is on the priority list of professions or occupations of the country of origin (in this case Costa Rica).
  3. They acquired a J-1 visa after January 10, 1977 in order to obtain education or post-graduate training in the field of medicine.

If you have not obtained financial support for the program in which you are taking part of, you can request a letter of "No Objection" to the Consulate of Costa Rica in Washington D.C.

Exceptions

Visitors who are subject to the requirement of residence in their country of origin that do not wish to return must apply to the waiver covered by one of the following five exceptions established by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of the United States of America:

  1. Letter of No Objection. The Government of Costa Rica shall indicate in a letter to the State Department that it does not object to the two-year foreign residency requirement being waived to the Costa Rican citizen or resident of Costa Rica, and to him/her remaining in the United States. This letter will be prepared by the Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC, according to the guidelines set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship.
  2. Application by a state agency of the United States that is interested in his/her services. If the visitor is working on a project for or of interest to the government of the United States, the agency concerned may request for the interested party to stay in the country for reasons of public interest.
  3. Persecution. If the visitor believes that he or she will be persecuted based on his/her race, religion, or political opinion if he/she were to return to his/her home country, he/she may apply for a persecution waiver.
  4. Exceptional hardship to a United States citizen (or legal permanent resident) spouse or child of an exchange visitor. If the visitor can demonstrate that his/her absence from the United States for a period of two years imposes exceptional hardship on his/her spouse or child, and the spouse or child is a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident, he or she may apply for an exceptional hardship waiver. Mere separation from family is not considered to be sufficient to establish exceptional hardship.
  5. Request by a designated State Department of Public Health or its equivalent. This exception only apply to foreign medical doctors who have an offer of full-time employment at a health care facility in a designated health care professional shortage area, and agrees to begin employment at that facility within 90 days of receiving such a waiver, and who signs a contract to continue to work at that health care facility for a total of 40 hours per week and for not less than three years, may apply for a waiver under this basis. 

Procedure

The request for the resignation (Waiver) of the requirement of two years of residence in the country of origin established by the foreign visitor visa J-1, should be made to the Waiver Review Office of the State Department. You can find the procedure on the website of the Department of State.

Documents to be sent to the Consulate of your Jurisdiction to request a Letter of No Objection:

  1. Letter in Spanish addressed to the Ambassador of Costa Rica in Washington D.C. indicating the reasons for wishing to remain in the United States. The letter should indicate your personal information, address, contact information and current occupation. If you have an employer please provide their name, company name and address. Do not forget to include your case number and attach the "Third Party Barcode Page". 
  2. Copy of your passport and J1 visa.
  3. Copy of  I-94.
  4. A copy of the DS-2019.
  5. If you have an employer, a letter indicating his approval.
  6. Letter issued by the sponsoring institution of exchange (which appears in this capacity in the form DS-2019) which expresses clearly that the exchange program in which the applicant participated was not funded or subsidized in any way with Government funds of the United States of America or Costa Rica.
  7. If the person has received governmental funding from the Governments of Costa Rica or the United States for his/her exchange program, a letter from the sponsoring institution must be provided. This letter must state clearly that the sponsoring institution has no inconvenience or objection for this person not returning to Costa Rica for 2 years or that it has no inconvenience that the funds provided are not reimbursed.
  8. An affidavit granted at the Consulate of Costa Rica of his/her jurisdiction must be provided. This affidavit must state clearly that the person was not beneficiated from governmental funds neither from the Government of Costa Rica not the Government of the United States.

The letter of No Objection has no cost.

 

8. Powers of Attorney

There are two different types of procedures, depending on the content of the power of attorney:authentication of an existent power of attorney or signing a new power of attorney in the Consul's log book. Please contact your attorney in Costa Rica to help you understand which is the applicable procedure in your case.

Cost

• Must ask the cost when you request for an appointment.
• Please read Payment methods in the various consulates of Costa Rica in United States

Processing time: It can take about an hour.

 

9. Authentication of Diplomas and Certificates

If you have studied in the United States of America and require that your documents be recognized by the Costa Rican academic authorities or by a university, school or other institution in Costa Rica, your diplomas and certificates of grades should be authenticated by the Secretary of State.

 

10. Shipment of Human Remains to Costa Rica

The following documents must by presented by the funeral home to the Secretary of State for authentication:

 

  • Original Death Certificate.
  • Letter of No Contagious Disease from the Health Department (no applicable to cremated remains).
  • Embalmer's Report or cremation certificate. 

Important:

- The person responsible for bringing into the country the human remains must present a copy of the decease’s passport or identity card.

- It is recommended to have a copy of the Costa Rican Id or passport from the person who is bringing the human remains, as well a letter indicating his contact information.

-It is advisable to have a letter from the funeral home letterheaded stating: that only human remains are inside the casket; the flight itinerary; consignee’s name, address, and telephone number.

- The ashes should preferably be transported in a hermetically sealed stainless-steel cup with the name of the deceased, date of birth and death. It is recommended to have a letter from the funeral home letterheaded stating that the urn/container contains only cremated remains of the individual.