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Does CR immigration have a problem with people flying into CR with no return flights booked?
just wondering…..I may NOT be correct – this may be out of date – but it’s my understanding that UNLESS you can show the airline at the point of departure that you are a legal resident of Costa Rica that they will NOT allow you on the plane UNLESS you have a round trip ticket …
Anyone have more up to date information on this?
Scott
Should Costa Rican Immigration deny a person entry into the country, the airline that brought him or her in is responsible for their passage out. If the airline fails in that duty, it is liable for a $10,000US fine. So it is the airline that imposes the requirement for the return ticket.
Some folks meet this requirement by buying a fully refundable one-way ticket out, entering Costa Rica carrying it, and then return it for a refund. Others talk of buying a bus ticket to Panama or Nicaragua.
As legal residents of Costa Rica, we can buy round trip tickets from San Jose to the U.S. and back because we have a legal right to enter. Those who are not residents or citizens enter at the sole discretion of Immigration. They enjoy no legal right to enter.
We just arrived in CR with one way airline tickets and bus tickets out to Nicaragua. From now on, we will do the return tickets CR – USA and back.
John from “A Safe Passage” http://www.costaricabustickets.com/ booked our 2 tickets from San Jose to Managua for $ 69 each (payable by Paypal) and sent with them a cover letter stating this:
[i]In accordance with Costa Rica’s immigration law (Ley de Migración y Extranjería – Ley 8764), a copy of your onward bus ticket along with this cover letter will give the two of you all the documented, verifiable proof you need to board your flight and enter the country. Your tickets and passport information have been entered into Costa Rica’s Immigration data base by Tica Bus, and they are accessible by your airline. [/i]My husband, flying out of Roanoke, Virginia, was asked to prove he would be leaving CR and, after a phone call to ?,this bus ticket was sufficient. I flew out of Newark, NJ and was never asked for anything.
Only knowing that we will make a trip out of CR and return before 90 days, we picked a date withing that time frame. If this date won’t work, we can change the bus ticket without charge. It is the same price no matter where you board the bus, but dates can only be changed if ticket is booked from San Jose.
Even if we choose a different way to meet the visa requirements, the $ 69 for the bus ticket was a cheaper option than being out $$$ for returnable plane tickets.
A note to the web site: I found the “Book Here” link confusing and used the “Contact us” email instead. All questions were answered and everything was taken care of quickly.
Next step: Applying for residency 🙂
Welcome! Glad you made it and glad you shared the information about the service that provides bus tickets. Just remember, when you do make that bus trip to Nicaragua, to get back into CR you will need another “onward passage ticket”, be it another bus ticket (available at the border) or a plane ticket out of CR.
I went to Nicaragua yesterday with a friend who was on his 87th day. I had been here over going on 5 months but have my Entramite document, so I wasn’t worried and didn’t really need to go but had nothing else to do…..
No problems for either one of us going out of CR, getting entry or exit stamps in Nicaragua, going to duty free or returning to CR migracion for entry (so far it had been 45 minutes since we parked my car on the CR side of the border). Only 3 people in front of us at the window, while in line my friend heard the agent direct another gringo where to go to get his bus ticket, so he left the line to get the ticket and returned a minute later with the ticket ($25.00). At the window with his ticket, no problem for him. I handed over my passport and a copy of my Entramite document, and no problem for me.
We were back in my car within an hour, each with a fresh 90-day stamp a 60-day supply of Flor de Cana (special was 4 liters for $36.00). As I was leaving the parking area, a young man ran to the car and said I needed to return to the migracion desk – “Mucho importante!”. So I walked back in expecting a problem, only to be greeted with smiles all around. They were all happy that they caught me before I drove away because the agent still had the faded, folded up copy of my Entramite paper, and he did not want me to leave without this “muy importante” document! He called me to the front of the line and handed it to me with a big smile, and I returned the favor with a sincere “Gracias, Amigo!” I started to say it was just a copy and not the official document, but thought better of it!
Back in the car, we headed back to Samara after only 1 hour and 5 minutes since our arrival at the border.
[b]ratas,[/b] if you don’t have an [i]Entramite[/i] document when exiting on a CR-US ticket, you may still be asked to purchase a ticket out of CR when you try to return. This is what happened to us.
[quote=”costaricafinca”][b]ratas,[/b] if you don’t have an [i]Entramite[/i] document when exiting on a CR-US ticket, you may still be asked to purchase a ticket out of CR when you try to return. This is what happened to us.[/quote]
Based on what I saw yesterday with my friend and the other guy ahead of us in line, I don’t think it is “you may be asked”, I almost positive it is “you will be made to”.
That is also what I said in my first paragraph.
I guess the points of my post were:
BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE YESTERDAY,
1. if you provide your entramite document to migracion at the border you will not be required to prove “onward travel”;
2. if you overstay your 90-day visa, and provide your entramite document (if asked, I wasn’t), it is not a problem;
3. as has been said on this site many times before, except for renewing your tax exoneration after 6 months, there is no requirement to stay out of CR for 72 hours.Here’s the catch – – – it is, but should not be, still up to the interpretation of the migracion agent sitting in front of you.
[b]costaricafinca wrote:[/b]
[i]Welcome! Glad you made it and glad you shared the information about the service that provides bus tickets. Just remember, when you do make that bus trip to Nicaragua, to get back into CR you will need another “onward passage ticket”, be it another bus ticket (available at the border) or a plane ticket out of CR.[/i]A couple of weeks ago, we drove to the border, walked over, shopped, walked back and of course needed to show that we would leave Costa Rica again. Since we did not use our one-way bus ticket from “A Safe Passage” to get to Nicaragua and it was still dated out in the future, we used it again and it was good enough for CR immigration.
We now have our “entramite” paper and don’t have to leave, but would actually like to visit Nicaragua, so I have just changed the date on the bus ticket till it stops raining. If we can’t go on the date I picked at random, we can change it again.
Not bad for $ 69 per person: 2 “free passes” into Costa Rica and at some point we will get on a nice bus in Liberia (but it is good from SJ)and go maybe all the way to Managua, although Grenada sounds more interesting. 🙂
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