By Laura Gutierrez of Immigration Help Costa Rica

As mentioned in my previous article, navigating through this crisis is like driving with one foot on the brake and one on the gas. The Costa Rica Department of Immigration has once again hit the brakes with Resolution N° DJUR-0105-07-2020-JM. Don’t get nauseous or someone will think you caught COVID.

Immigration was scheduled to be open to the public on July 18. That date has now been moved to September 18 due to the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases. However, the Immigration Center in Uruca (San Jose) is still fully staffed and continues to process backlogged applications.

This new delay has different implications for different situations.

1) Submitted applications still continue to work their way through the Immigration labyrinth for those of you who have pending approvals. I have received several approvals from Immigration by email since March, so I know that they are doing their work. Those approval times are also shortening, so things are improving on that score.

2) For those of you who have been prepared to have your residency applications submitted since March 17, you will have to now wait until after September 18. Logically, we cannot expect to all storm the gates at once on September 18. We will need to wait to see what strict social distancing controls will be in place to know what dates we can set for all those pending submissions. That is why Immigration has extended all documents (still valid on March 17) an extension out to November 18 to allow time for processing of all those backlogged submissions. Common sense will prevail so, please do not despair or panic.

3) For those of you who recently began your document chase in preparation for submissions in the upcoming months, you are not likely to have to change plans, since many of you had scheduled the submissions out past November anyways. Others of you who had hoped for an earlier submission date will need to adjust your plans accordingly. Plan for the unexpected and stay flexible.

4) For those of you who will receive approval Resolucións in the upcoming weeks, you will be able to complete the final steps right after. CAJA is still open for sign-ups, and then your final steps can be completed at either a participating BCR or Correo de Costa Rica (Post Office) if you are a Pensionado or Vinculo. If you are Rentista or Inversionista, you will have to wait until September 18 and beyond to complete the final post-approval requirements based on the last conversation I had with Immigration.

Renewals of existing residency cards (DIMEX) can still be done by appointment at a participating BCR and Correo de Costa Rica location if they are Pensionado. All others (Rentistas, Inversionistas, Vinculo) must be done by appointment at the Department Of Immigration after opening on September 18.

If your residency card expired after December 18 and you have not renewed yet, it will be extended until September 30, 2020. Mark the calendar for that renewal.

If you hold a Permanent Residency card with an expiry date since December 2019, it stays valid up to September 30, 2020, with no past-due fines. If you had an expiry date before December 2019, you would be fined $100/month for the months between the expiry and December 2019. From December 2019 to September 2020, you get a pass. Mark the calendar for that September 2020 date to renew.

If you entered Costa Rica after December 17 and “got stuck” here, your visa gets an automatic extension to November 18, 2020.

The north and south borders (Nicaragua and Panama) will stay closed indefinitely due to those countries’ conditions. So please forget about border-runs.

San Jose and Liberia airports are still set to open on August 1. However, as mentioned in my previous article, there will logically be a minimal number of approved countries of origin regarding flights in. It will all be determined by carefully vetted infection rate stats for each country. Canada and some EU countries are looking positive with the U.S. lagging a bit behind. That list of permitted countries should be forthcoming soon.

Until August 1, only Costa Rican citizens, Costa Rican residents who departed Costa Rica before March 24, those whose residency is in process and left Costa Rica before March 24, minor children of Costa Rican citizens, and foreign diplomats will be able to enter Costa Rica. Those who left Costa Rica AFTER March 24th, will not be allowed in until the travel restrictions are lifted.

Normally, foreign driver’s licenses were only valid for the length of the visas granted upon entry. For most, that was 90 days. If you entered Costa Rica after December 17, 2019, your foreign driver’s license validity has been extended to August 18, 2020.

This will all end at some point, so everyone go with the flow for now. If you have been considering residency, do not let any of this slow you down. You can start and or continue the process even throughout these delays. Ideally, you are best to begin in your country of origin. Be ready for when things open up. Stay resilient with a sharp focus on the end result: A residency card in hand and all the life-enhancing benefits that come with it. September 18 will be here in a blink of an eye.

Also, stay registered with your respective embassies here in Costa Rica and receive timely updates and important notifications.