By Laura Gutierrez of Immigration Help Costa Rica

While unofficial at this writing, MOPT (Costa Rica Ministry of Public Works and Transportation) has issued a recent communication. The validity of foreign drivers’ licenses for TOURISTS with valid visas has been extended to June 1, 2021. This is in keeping with the recent TOURIST visa extensions from March 2, 2021, to June 1, 2021.

The official decree will follow shortly.

In my previous article on March 11, I drew attention to an announcement on the MOPT site about a six-month extension for citizens and residents to homologate or renew their foreign driver’s licenses. (Homologate: Convert your foreign license into a Costa Rica license.)

There was nothing in that announcement about extensions for foreign license validity for TOURISTS.

This has now been updated – but with conditions.

Please read the following carefully to avoid grief from the constabulary should you get pulled over or, worse, in an accident.

1) If you entered Costa Rica after December 17, 2019, your drivers’ license validity has been extended to June 1, 2021.

2) The term “valid visa” means that you have also purchased COVID insurance to cover you up to or beyond June 1, 2021. Further, you must send proof of your COVID insurance to [email protected] to the ICT (Ministry of Tourism) to validate your visa extension. That validation will be limited to the length of days of COVID insurance coverage up to June 1, 2021.

Therefore, so will the validity of your foreign drivers’ license.

3) This insurance may be with international coverage or acquired in any of the insurers authorized by the General Superintendency of Insurance in Costa Rica and duly registered with the said authority. In all cases, the insurance must cover at least the accommodation and medical expenses resulting from contracting COVID-19. For clarity on COVID insurance, please visit: https://micrositios.ins-cr.com/seguroviajero/ – OR – https://tiendasagicor.com/en/

In addressing your frustrations of this lag time between March 2 and now in granting these extensions, I alluded that the current protocols involving several government disciplines (not just MOPT) are not designed for rapid response demanded by COVID impacted conditions that change monthly. Add ZOOM calls and ubiquitous cell phone distractions to the mix and, well… you get the picture. But remember, such systemic checks and balances undergird Costa Rica’s democracy and sets it apart from its neighboring countries. The downside is that response times are not what we would like for issues such as license validity and length of visas.

To be sure, there is much room for improvement to responsiveness within the Costa Rica bureaucracy. We remain optimistic such changes occur under the pressures being brought to bear in these times of the “new normal.” Hopefully the President and Congress will move beyond platitudes to actual implementation.

For those of you still sitting on the fence as tourists, it might be time for you to get serious about finding out how you can stay and drive legally in Costa Rica beyond June 1 through the pursuit of legal residency.

You may be pleasantly surprised.
Laura can be reached by clicking here, Toll-free at 1-833-733-6337 locally or by sending an email to [email protected].