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Is it true that you do not have to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours every 90 days and that you just cross for a few hours and get your passport stamped?
There are two issues which often get mixed up. One is the issuance and renewal of a tourism visa. For that, you need only cross the border into another country briefly and then return.
The other is the matter of the exemption from Customs duty. Every person, citizen, resident or tourist, has a right to an exemption from Customs duty once every six months on a single item the total value of which is under $1,000US. In order to qualify for renewal of this exemption, you must remain outside Costa Rica for seventy-two hours or longer.
Late in November, Costa Rican Customs began to impose the duty on packages coming into the country from sources other than gift givers. That is, if you ordered something from (say) Amazon and had it shipped in via (say) Aerocasillas, Customs was refusing to grant the duty exemption. How this’ll shake out is anyone’s guess.
The other thing you need to know is that Immigration, the governmental agency that issues tourist visas, has been granting visas for less (sometimes much less) than ninety days to folks who play the “perpetual tourist” game in which they leave the country briefly to get a new visa. Some report getting thirty day visas; others have gotten visas for as few as four days. It appears that playing the perpetual tourism game may not be good long-range planning.
Imagine the mess if you’re granted just four days — or denied re-entry altogether.
Just a few words on [i]”…duty on packages coming into the country from sources other than gift givers”.[/i]
We picked up a used tractor part last week, send by our son, and still had to pay 56% duty…. plus brokers fees of course.
Why wasn’t this considered a ‘gift’…:roll:Well, the last few times my friends and I have crossed into Nicaragua for our Visa Run, we only stayed in Nicaragua for a few hours. However, in one case, the enterprising border guard on the Nicaragua side made a few bucks off of us in bribes when they ‘questioned’ our ‘quick in/out’ timing. Not being confident if we were on the right side of the law or not, and not wanting to get stuck at the border, it was easier to pay off the dude who told us that ‘his family needed food’ than fight.
And funny enough, it should have been the CR guys who questioned our quick return and NOT the Nicaragua guys (why the he** would they care that we’re leaving their country early?!)
It’s all a big game and it’s easy for them to play in order to suck bribe money from our pockets since the law is so unclear. My guess is that the Nicaragua and Costa Rica guys are in cahoots and sharing the booty from all of this shakedown activity, but I could be wrong.
Bottom line – cross at your own risk in terms of timing and keep some extra bribery dollars in your pocket just in case you decide you don’t want to stay 72 hours – and even then, look out.
Sr. starkey, I have to take issue with a couple of things you’ve written.
First, I think the intent of the Costa Rican law which governs the long-term presence of foreigners in the country is pretty clear and unambiguous. The residency law sets out the requirements. If you don’t qualify, or elect not to, then you cannot legally be here on a long-term basis.
The fact that you have succeeded in getting serial tourist visas is an anomaly of the administration of the law which governs entry of visitors into Costa Rica by Immigration and that practice could change at any time. Unless and until you are a legal resident of Costa Rica or become a citizen, you have no legal right to enter the country or remain in the country, and your entry or re-entry could be denied at any time without notice or justification.
The second thing is this: I can imagine only one worse thing than ending up in a Costa Rican prison for having bribed a government official (a felony, you know). And what is that worse thing, you ask? It would be ending up in a Nicaraguan prison for having bribed one of their officials. It’s a felony there, too.
If it is your plan to be in Costa Rica long-term, the only surefire legal way to accomplish it is to become a legal resident. The requirements of the law are clear. And if you don’t qualify?? Well then, under the law you shouldn’t be here. It’s pretty simple.
David –
I hear you completely about the rules and my definite intention is indeed to get legal CR residency as soon as I can qualify for it. For the moment, I’m just trying to get my house built and I need (OK, WANT) to be in CR to oversee that process. I’ve left CR 5 times in 10 months (3 of those for 72+ hours) and in fact am in the States as we speak.I have no problem respecting CR’s immigration rules. This is my 6th country so I’m used to them and have always done my best to abide by them wherever I’ve lived.
To me the problematic issue about the CR Tourist Visa is the ambiguity and lack of clarity in the actual requirement (ie, how many hours out of CR are truly required) and then in its enforcement or lack thereof. Everything I had heard leading up to that particular trip to Nicaragua from those who had recently done it indicated that the so-called 72 hour rule was no longer in force, thus I went along with my friends who were planning a short turnaround vs. a 3-day stay to test this theory out (and save a few bucks on hotel bills).
Believe me, I didn’t like having to bribe my way out of Nicaragua by paying off some enterprising Nicaraguan border official and my friends and I most CERTAINLY did not solicit this payoff, indeed it was QUITE the other way around and I have no doubt this man’s pockets were bursting at the seams with dollars extracted from unsuspecting and somewhat confused (as we were) border crossers.
Again, the funny thing was, the Costa Rican border guards were quite fine with our one-day turnaround. So, either we broke a CR 72-hour law or we didn’t – we honestly don’t really know if that law exists – but the CR guys didn’t indicate that we did. This tells me either we did NOT violate the current law, OR they just don’t care OR the CR border guys are sharing the shake-down bounty with the Nicaraguan guys who are doing the dirty work of intercepting tourists just steps away from the CR crossing point.
Any thoughts on what the right answer to the above is?
The 72-hour rule is a widely understood one. If one departs Costa Rica for fewer than 72 hours, there is no right to a Customs duty exemption. That, not the matter of your own physical re-entry, is and always has been the issue with the 72-hour rule. If you’re not seeking to exercise the privilege of bring in something duty-free, the 72-hour rule is irrelevant.
The law that governs tourists’ visas makes no particular mention of how long one must be outside Costa Rica before re-entering UNLESS one has overstayed one’s previous tourist visa. Then there is some waiting period. So indeed you can take the bus across the border, maybe have lunch, and come right back as long as you do so before your current visa has expired.
If an Immigration officer from either country tries to shake you down for a bribe, that’s a different matter, and I have no good advice about how to deal with it. I do know, however, that it would be ugly [i]in extremis[/i] were you to be caught in the act.
Now THAT is helpful info David, THANKS!
Yeah, I wondered what would happen if we had ended up getting busted for paying off the Nicaraguan. That said, wasn’t HE breaking the law [i]in extremis[/i]? Not that it would matter as it would have been his word against ours. In any case, I have no intention of trying that stunt again – I would rather avoid the Nica border altogether.
Now here’s a related question about the Customs exemption – maybe you have a good answer?
I went to Florida after Christmas and bought some things for CR for personal use. One was a small LCD TV for which I had the receipt. The Customs Agent in Liberia said it was a ‘dutiable item’ and I duly offered him my receipt (for $249 US) knowing that would be under the limit but he didn’t bother to take the receipt. However, he then took my passport into his little back room and put a Customs stamp in the back page BUT, he did not fill in a Dollar amount – just left that line on the stamp blank.
So, what in the the heck does this stamp now mean? Does it mean they are saying I’ve used up my limit…or does it mean I should fill it in with some $ amount on my own…or does it mean he just felt like using his official little stamp? :?::lol:
Sstarkey, you surely must realize by now that little rubber stamps are at the very core of the Costa Rican soul. Every Costa Rican functionary from La Presidenta to the kid who bags your groceries has his or her own little rubber stamp, one or more. I think the guys who clean the streets in Grecia even stamp the trash as they pick it up.
In the matter of your TV and the stamping of your passport, please understand this: each person is entitled to exempt from Customs duty one item (only one) the total cost of which is less than $1,000US every six months. That $1,000US figure includes shipping, insurance, handling (if you’ve used a transshipper) and all other costs. And the exemption is only for an item the total cost of which is less than $1,000US. It’s NOT on the FIRST $1,000 of value. So if your TV had a total cost of (say) $1,001, then you’d be liable for duty on the entire amount.
When you exercise that right, Customs stamps your passport so that you cannot exercise it again until six months have passed. That’s why no dollar figure was written in your passport. It doesn’t matter. Once the privilege is used, it cannot be used again for six months.
Please bear in mind that the exemption is for a single item. Had you brought in your $250 TV and also (say) a $200 DVD player, the DVD player could not be legally exempted from the duty. It would have been a second item.
Also, while your TV may have been exempted from Customs duty, you were still liable for the 13% sales tax whether it was collected or not.
We’ve messed with claiming the duty exemption on an item or two which we had shipped in via Aerocasillas. It’s way, way more trouble than it’s worth.
By permitting the Customs officer to apply his little stamp to your passport, you have nourished his soul.
Well now I can sleep much easier knowing I fed the nice Customs Officer’s soul, at least for a day!
But dang, sure wish I had bought a big honking $999.99 TV instead!
if you’re coming to costa rica on vacation you had better make sure your passports are in order otherwise you could wind up like this family:
http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2012/february/05/costarica12020502.htm
[quote=”maravilla”]if you’re coming to costa rica on vacation you had better make sure your passports are in order otherwise you could wind up like this family:
http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2012/february/05/costarica12020502.htm%5B/quote%5D
Yikes!!! I know a lady, a teacher that has US residancy, but still a UK citizen. Tried this last summer to travel a few weeks in Russia and could not as her passport (UK) was around 6 months left before it expired…HUsband is a US citizen and had some sort of visa trouble, not sure what….
“Most countries, including Costa Rica, require as a condition of entry at least three month’s expiry on a passport. Some even as much as six.”
they are playing the blame game now as to whose responsibility it was to advise the traveler about these rules. it’s the TRAVELER’S responsibility to know this, but also when you plug in your passport info when you make a reservation with the airlines, this should’ve kicked in some kind of alert since you have to put your passport’s expiration date in the data base. i feel sorry for the family, but not that sorry.
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