Costa Rica Drivers License

Before we applied for residency we obtained a costa rican drivers license within our 90 day passport with a valid drivers license from somewhere else, the states or canada. If you are late on your passport or dont have a valid drivers license in another country you have to take the test in spanish. Maybe things have changed, You get a physical and have your blood type done for your license, they used to do it right at the office for your license. We have residency now. We shipped our car here from Arizona. No problems with the car. the residency was hard because we had an attorney that was awful and let our file sit for a year without touching it. We have a great attorney that did our residency in san jose near the united states embassy and someone that did a great job shipping boxes and the vehicle. It is not cheap to bring a vehicle in. Maybe someone can give you the website so you can get an estimate. I cant remember the site.

Now, you cannot get your CR license until you have your Temporary residency [i]cedula[/i] in hand! You are required to exit CR within the 90 days allowed by your tourist visa to ‘reset’ the legality of driving with your home license. So, be prepared to exit 2, 3 or more times.
[b]Then[/b], you can go and get your license without having to retake the road test and the written test in Spanish.

[quote=”Sailor”]costaricafinca,

Thanks for the advice. I guess I am mistaken in that, if you have a CR corporation cedula, you have no issue with obtaining a CR license.[/quote]

I’m afraid you’re out of luck on this one, Sailor. There’s no practical way to give a corporation a physical exam or type its blood.

The latest word in this regard is that you must have your residency [i]cedula[/i] in hand in order to be given a Costa Rican driver’s license [b]AND[/b] that your most recent entry into Costa Rica must have been fewer than ninety days ago when you apply [b]AND[/b] that your “home” driver’s license (from the U.S., Canada, or wherever) must be unexpired.

So even if you have your Immigration file number in hand and are no longer required to leave the country in order to qualify for a new tourist visa, it appears that you must leave and re-enter in order to renew the ninety days during which your home driver’s license qualifies you for a Costa Rican one.

You can only legally drive on your “home” license for ninety days after your most recent entry, and that license must remain unexpired.

If you already have the CR license, you [i]should[/i] be good to go….

[quote=”costaricafinca”]If you already have the CR license, you [i]should[/i] be good to go….[/quote]

I’m confident that crf is right, Bill. Once you have your Costa Rican driver’s license in hand, renewing it should not be a problem.

Note this, however . . . Your driver’s license number today (the one that was issued to you based upon your passport number) must be the same as your [i]cedula[/i] number once your cedula is issued to you. So when you go to renew your driver’s license, you’ll need to begin by having its number changed to your [i]cedula[/i] number (assuming you’ve been issued your [i]cedula[/i] by then).

I don’t think there is any compelling reason to have your driver’s license number updated until you go to renew it.

I honestly don’t consider that much of a recommendation after some things that I have seen from “la migra”

[quote=”Sailor”]Barbara Ann,

Thank you for your thoughts! Fortunately, we retained a great lawyer, she once worked for Costa Rican Immigration!!!!!!!!![/quote]