Visas

Any visa inquiry will be taken into account ONLY if submitted to the email concr-ke@rree.go.cr

Visa holders must comply with immigration controls at the border, port or airport when entering the country. Granting of a visa is not a guarantee of entry to the Costa Rican territory.
Upon receipt of all completed documents, it may take up to 30 working days to process visa group 3 requests (including Kenyan nationals). For other groups, please see tables below.

General Entry Requirements:

In accordance with article 42 of the General Immigration Law No. 8764 and article 30 of Immigration Control Regulations (Executive Decree No. 36769-G), foreigners who intend to enter Costa Rica must provide:

1) Valid passport or travel document. Only machine-readable passports or travel documents will be accepted, in accordance with the guidelines established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and with the validity determined by these guidelines.

2) Visa, when required as established by these guidelines.

3) Proof of financial solvency, with a minimum of USD 100 (one hundred US dollars) per month or fraction of a month of legal stay in the country.

4) Roundtrip air ticket or a ticket (air, bus, boat, etc.) for continuation of the trip.

5) Not having a legal impediment to enter Costa Rica.

First Group (Exceptions*)

The countries and territories in this group DO NOT require a Visa to enter Costa Rica

Passport: Mandatory validity of 1 month
Maximum permanence: Up to 180 calendar days

Andorra	Ireland	Puerto Rico
Argentina*	Iceland	Qatar
Australia*	Israel	Rumania
Austria	Italy	San Marino
Bahamas	Japan	Serbia
Barbados	Latvia	Singapore
Belgium	Liechtenstein	Slovakia
Brazil	Lithuania	Slovenia
Bulgaria	Luxembourg	South Africa
Canada	Malta	Republic of Korea (South Korea)
Chile	Mexico	Spain
Croatia	Monaco	Sweden
Cyprus	Montenegro	Switzerland
Czech Republic	The Netherlands	Trinidad and Tobago
Denmark*	New Zealand*	United Arab Emirates
Estonia	Norway	United Kingdom
Finland	Panama	United States of America*
France*	Paraguay	Uruguay
Germany	Peru	Vatican City
Greece	Poland	Ukraine
Hungary	Portugal

Second Group (Exceptions*)

The countries and territories in this group DO NOT require a Visa to enter Costa Rica

Passport: Mandatory validity of 3 months
Maximum permanence: Up to 30 calendar days

Antigua y Barbuda	Malaysia	Samoa
Belize	Malaysia	Sao Tomé and Príncipe
Bolivia	Maldives	Seychelles
Brunei – Darussalam	Marshall Islands	Salomon Islands
Dominica	Mauritius	Suriname
El Salvador*	Micronesia	Taiwan
Filipinas	Nauru	Tonga
Fiji	Northern Mariana Islands	Türkiye
Granada	Palau	Tuvalu
Guatemala	Russia	Vanuatu
Honduras*	Saint Kitts and Nevis
Guyana	Saint Lucia
Kiribati	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Third Group (Entry with Consular Visa) (Exceptions*)

The countries and territories in this group REQUIRE a Visa to enter Costa Rica.
Application: Group 3.
Appointment: Please send an email to: concr-ke@rree.go.cr
Cost: As established by the Consular Tariff (Arancel Consular): USD 32
Approximate duration: The Consular Officer has 30 – 60 calendar days to resolve the visa application once all the documents have received.

Maximum permanence: Up to 30 calendar days
Passport: Mandatory validity of 6 month

Applicants with valid “C” and “D” visas of Schengen Area DO NOT REQUIRE a visa to enter Costa Rica.
Applicants with valid USA/ Canadian visa categories or residence that allow multiple entries in any category, including the category of refugee and/or asylum and type D and C1/D visas, DO NOT REQUIRE a visa to enter Costa Rica. Visas C1, C2 and C3 (transit visas) are not exempted.

List of requirements to send to concr-ke@rree.go.cr

Proof of payment to consular account. (USD 32 for Visa)
Scanned PDF of ALL passport Pages
Yellow Fever Vaccine Certificate
Ink Signed Application Letter (Addressed to the Consulate of Costa Rica: full name and surname, place and date of birth, nationality, passport number, place of residence, the reason for the trip, expected time of stay in Costa Rica, place and approximate date of arrival and departure of the country, occupation, exact address of the place where they will remain in Costa Rica, email to receive notifications, date and signature)
Tentative Roundtrip ticket NOT EXCEEDING 29 Calendar days
Personal Bank statement of last three months prior to application (Legalized)
Police Clearance (Legalized)
All documents must be in English

** Bank statement and Police Clearance must be Apostilled or Legalized via third country (Not required for Kenya nationals)**

Note: All legal stay documents shall contain the security measures established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Handwritten documents, single papers, and documents indicating that the residency is being processed or altered will not be accepted. In addition, all documents need to be duly legalized/apostilled and be in Spanish or Inglish; otherwise, it will be necessary to submit a translation into one of those languages.

Albania*	Djibouti	Lebanon	Rwanda
Algeria	Dominican Republic	Lesotho	Saharawi Arab Republic
Angola	East Timor	Liberia	Saudi Arabia
Armenia	Ecuador	Libya	Senegal
Bahrain	Egypt	Madagascar	Sierra Leone
Belarus	Equatorial Guinea	Madagascar	South Sudan
Benin	Eswatini	Malawi	Sudan
Bhutan	Gabon	Mali	Tanzania
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Gambia	Moldova	Thailand
Botswana	Georgia	Mongolia	Togo
Burkina Faso	Ghana	Morocco	Tunisia
Burundi	Guinea	Mozambique	Uganda
Cambodia	Guinea Bissau	Namibia	Venezuela*
Cameroon	Honduras*	Nepal	Viet Nam
Cabo Verde	India	Nicaragua*	Yemen
Central African Republic	Indonesia	Niger	Zambia
Chad	Côte d’Ivoire	Nigeria	Zimbabwe
China	Jordan	North Macedonia Republic
Colombia*	Kenya	Oman
Comoros	Kuwait	Papua New Guinea
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Laos	Republic of the Congo

Fourth Group (Entry with restricted Visa) (Exceptions*)

The countries in this group YES require a Visa to enter Costa Rica.

Passport: Mandatory validity of 6 month
Maximum permanence: Up to 30 calendar days (Extendable up to 90 calendar days, in accordance with applicable legislation)
List of requirements to send to concr-ke@rree.go.cr

Proof of payment to consular account. (USD 52 for Visa)
Scanned PDF of ALL passport Pages
Yellow Fever Vaccine Certificate
Ink Signed Application Letter (Addressed to the Consulate of Costa Rica: full name and surname, place and date of birth, nationality, passport number, place of residence, the reason for the trip, expected time of stay in Costa Rica, place and approximate date of arrival and departure of the country, occupation, exact address of the place where they will remain in Costa Rica, email to receive notifications, date and signature)
Tentative Roundtrip ticket NOT EXCEEDING 29 Calendar days
Personal Bank statement of last three months prior to application (Legalized)
Police Clearance (Legalized)
All documents must be in English

** Bank statement and Police Clearance must be Apostilled or Legalized via third country. The final decision for Fourth Group (restricted) visa applications may take up to 90 days after receipt of documents.**

Afghanistan	Iraq	Palestine
Azerbaijan	Jamaica	Somalia
Bangladesh	Kazakhstan	Sri Lanka
Cuba	Kyrgyzstan	Syria
Eritrea	Mauritania	Tajikistan
Ethiopia	Myanmar	Turkmenistan
Haiti	Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)	Uzbekistan
Iran	Pakistan

EXCEPTIONS (Exceptions*)

Nationals of countries that require a consular or restricted Costa Rican visa that meet any of the exceptions established below do not require a visa to enter Costa Rica:

A) Entry with visas and/or residences from the United States of America or Canada with a minimum validity of 1 calendar day from the day you intend to enter Costa Rica.
Those who have a multiple entry visa or residence in any category (Except visas type C1, C2 and C3 of the United States of America), including the refugee category.

B) Entry with residences in Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the countries of the European Union.
Those who have a residence in any category that allows multiple entries or with a minimum validity of 90 calendar days – except the category of refugee and/or asylum.

C) Entry with visa categories “C” and “D” from the Schengen Area*
Those who have a category “C” visa exclusively for multiple entries (a short-term visa that allows its holder to reside in a country in the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days) or category “D” exclusively for multiple entries (visa (for study, work or residence). For both cases, the minimum validity of the visa may be 1 calendar day from the day you intend to enter Costa Rica.

* Schengen countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Sweden and Switzerland.

Note: All legal stay documents shall contain the security measures established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Handwritten documents, single papers, and documents indicating that the residency is being processed or altered will not be accepted. In addition, all documents need to be duly legalized/apostilled and be in Spanish or Inglish; otherwise, it will be necessary to submit a translation into one of those languages.

If your case is not covered by the previous information, please send your specific enquiry to: concr-ke@rree.go.cr

VISAS FOR AIRPORT TRANSIT

Any national from Fourth Group countries, as well as nationals from Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, India, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Togo, Djibouti, Yemen and Venezuela who intend to enter the country by air under the migratory category of non-resident, subcategory foreign person in transit, must submit the requirements and respect the procedures established for this purpose by the Costa Rican authorities:

1. Application addressed to the Consul of Costa Rica in which the following information of the applicant is included:

Airport

n i

of notification

2. Copy of the first page of the valid passport or travel document accepted by Costa Rica, with an expiration date of no less than six months, excluding the exceptions established in these guidelines.

3. Air ticket reservation

4. Demonstration of economic solvency

5. Apostilled or legalized criminal record certification from the country of origin and residence in the last ten years (issued in the last three months)

6. Valid visa to enter the final destination country.

7. The Consul may request, if necessary, additional documents

If the Transit Visa is granted, the applicant has a non-extendable period of three months to have it stamped. Once stamped, the visa must be issued in the next sixty calendar days.

RELIGIOUS VISAS

All foreigners (excluding those listed on the Fourth Group) wishing to enter Costa Rica for religious purposes, can apply for a Temporary Residency Provisional Visa.

The religious foreigner who intends to request a provisional visa (even if the applicant is from a country that does not require an Entry Visa) should carry out the application either personally or by a duly authorized representative before the Consulate.

The requirements are the following:

1. Proof of payment of the Consular fee

Application for a Temporary Residency Provisional Visa as a religious person, including full name, nationality, passport number, place of residence, profession or occupation, exact address in Costa Rica, date and place of birth, means of notification, date and signature.

2. Apostilled or legalized birth certificate.

3. Apostilled or legalized criminal record certification from the country of origin and residence in the last ten years (issued in the last three months).

4. Passport or travel document, valid with an expiration date not less than six months.

5. Letter from the registered religious congregation in Costa Rica, indicating the trip’s purpose and length of stay.

6. Demonstration of economic solvency.

7. Certification issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship indicating the religious congregation’s registry: https://www.rree.go.cr/?sec=servicios&cat=direccion-culto&cont=1114

8. The Consul may request, if necessary, additional documents.