Bringing our child through Immigration

[mmessier2]

We have been to CR numerous times, but we just had our first child. We will be vacationing in CR though Liberia in February from the US. Our boy will be 5 months at the time…

Is anything else required at Immigration besides both our passports and an Official copy of his birth certificate?

Thanks

[rebaragon]

That is a wonderful time to visit CR, I hope you and your family have a wonderful stay. Make sure you make copies of your passports and his birth cert and keep the originals in a safe place–the last thing you want is to have to deal with that situation with a 5 month old baby. You might also carry a copy of the baby’s immunization records just in case. I was startled when I was leaving the country with my 4 yr old one time and people at the airport asked to see the permission papers from PANI (like child welfare services) for my daughter. Once I showed them our US passports, they realized she wasn’t Costa Rican and the issue was resolved. This permission is to protect CR children from being taken out of the country without parental permission, but it doesn’t apply to US citizens unless your baby has a CR parent. You might also check with CR Consulate in your area just to make sure you’re vacation is not burdened by any administrative matters. Have a great time…Pura Vida!

[dehaaij]

Your son needs a passport too! There are NO exceptions. I’m really surprised that no one mentioned this here before now. When you have the passport, the birth certificate is not needed. Perhaps you read some information from a few years ago when a birth certificate would suffice?

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1093.html

http://www.costarica-embassy.org/consular/travel/documents.htm

Jon

[rebaragon]

You’re right, the passports are needed for anyone traveling out of the US to CR, but the birth certificate (or a notarized copy of it) is not so much an issue of travel rather one to show proof that you’re the parents with a legal document. The passport will state the child’s name, place and date of birth, but doesn’t say who the parents are although most assume that if they all have the same last name, then they must all be related, but I was actually asked to provide proof that I was the mother when my daughter was very young and the birth certificate is the only thing that actually states this.

[dehaaij]

Good point rebaragon, it can’t hurt to also carry the birth certificate especially if traveling to CR where they require their own underage citizens to have permission granted to leave the country, because in some situations it can be unclear exactly who this applies to. There are a number of various scenarios that exist such as foreign residents, CR citizens not residing in Costa Rica, tourists, etc. I have heard similar stories of foreigners having problems leaving Costa Rica with their own kids because of this law. Some stories I heard were settled with bribes. A lot of it depends on who you happen to run into at the airports at the time.

I’m US, wife is Tica, son was born in CR and has both passports. We live in CR and we needed permission from migracion (used to get this at PANI) in order for him to leave the country. We’ve traveled to the US 3 times and never been asked to show any proof there, only when leaving Costa Rica. One time we traveled with my wife’s nephew – Costa Rican living in CR – and he also needed proof of permission from both parents in order to travel with us.

Jon

[Author]

Posts