UPDATED April 9th 2020

Since the March 24th article about residencies being revoked for ex-pats leaving Costa Rica,  there still seems to be confusion and understandable anger over this temporary edict. This tough measure was primarily directed at Nicaraguans heading home to Nicaragua for their annual celebration of Semana Santa (Easter Week) – a week early. There were also a significant number of border runners attempting to get visa renewals after the rule was put in place. With so many storming the borders with a rules-are-for-other-people attitude, the Costa Rican government had to bring down the hammer to get the point across.

As confirmed by a call into the Department of Immigration yesterday from our residency expert Laura B Gutierrez any foreigner who is a LEGAL resident in the country or has an open process with immigration and wants to leave the country is advised not to do so but if the person decides to leave disregarding the measures in place by Costa Rica, he or she WILL NOT loose their residency status but will not be allowed to return into the country until the border reopens.

Those people who have LEGAL residency or have an open process with immigration to legalize their migratory status and who try to leave or enter the country through an unauthorized point (Basically illegally entering or exiting through the North or South border) WILL have their migratory status canceled/Revoked and will be deported.

The general travel restrictions originally set in place by Costa Rica to end April 12 have now been extended to April 30. Given the original calculation that the Coronavirus is not expected to peak here until mid-May, it seems likely that the travel restrictions will be extended even further out.

In another instance of logic being subordinated to emotion, this past Sunday, two private buses loaded with 67 Nicaraguans and a lot of electronics and appliances destined for the annual trek home to Nicaragua were stopped in downtown San Jose just after loading up. They were detained, told to stay in Costa Rica and released while the drivers were heavily fined and had their licenses revoked. Those passengers were very likely spared a disaster in their home country.

COVID-19 control measures in Nicaragua have been sub-par as they have snubbed WHO directives. Presidency Ortega is also M.I.A (Thats right no one has seen the president in 20 plus days). None of which bodes well for conditions there during this pandemic. With its very heavy global travel hub in Panama City, Panama is also not faring well. Borders for either country will therefore not be opening anytime soon.

Suffice to say that the practice of border running is no longer an option for a lengthy period of time and likely will be discouraged with greater force once the travel bans are lifted. People who have applied for residency will have been given an Expediente – proof of submission of residency application. Those Expedientes override the 90-day visa restrictions. Applicants can therefore remain in Costa Rica indefinitely and legally as they await approvals.

However, that Expediente override does not apply to a foreign driver’s license. The validity of any foreign driver’s license is still tied to the 90-day visa stamp. That creates a need for border runs once the travel restrictions are lifted. When applicants show those Expedientes to Costa Rica border police upon their U-turn return to Costa Rica, they will be given a new 90-day visa stamp with no problems or attitude.

Since those borders will remain closed off for quite some time, it might be that the government might amend the rules to make it possible to drive legally just with those Expedientes. But until they do, it will be illegal to drive with a foreign driver’s license past the expiry of the last 90-day visa stamp. Not to mention the current driving restrictions based on times of day and ending license plate numbers.

So, where does this leave those who have not yet applied for residency, cannot do border runs but still plan to reside permanently in Costa Rica?

1) Live stressfully under the radar illegally.

2) Start their residency process now.

That then begs the question: How do you apply for residency now when everything is shut down? A reasonable question. The first part of the residency process involves a document chase from an applicant’s country of origin. For 90% of applicants, that would be the U.S. or Canada. Applicants can still apply for many of those documents from states and provinces. Most of those government offices are still open and processing requests for documents, though processing times will likely be longer than normal. However, the option for walk-in applications is canceled for now until the lockdowns are lifted.

So if people have committed to living permanently in Costa Rica, it would be prudent to ignore all the pointless bar stool nay-sayers and start now on the residency process to avoid the very uncomfortable alternative. If you are in the U.S. or Canada, the document chase can best be done from there. But if you are here in Costa Rica, it is also possible to begin from here with a bit of extra guidance.

Based on experience, it takes the average applicant 90 – 150 days to be ready for submission of a residency application. A lot of that is determined by personal travel plans and schedules. Given that the travel restrictions in and out of Costa Rica are estimated to be lifted by mid to late May, that is well before any new applicant will have completed acquiring all the needed documents.