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Costa Rica Residency Renewal – Revisited
July 2nd, 2009
Last year, I blogged about the process of renewing my residency. Those interested can read the posts here and here. For no good (logical) reason that I can see, renewals are for one year only and even though I did not GET my residency card until 4 months after the process began, it is now time to again renew the *%*(&$** thing.
This year, though, things have changed! OK… I know better than to say such a thing. Let us just say that the process has changed, and we shall see if “things have changed”.
What are the big changes? Well the biggie is that this year, it seems, that I will not need to make the trek to immigration. The other stuff will be gravy. So here is the new process:
Making that trip to immigration has always been a pain. While the vast majority of dealing with any branch of the Costa Rica government is a lesson in inefficiency, any sojourn to migracion is the premier example on how NOT to deal with the public.
The changes? For starters, renewal can now be done at any of thirty-two branches of the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR). In fact, they have even devoted a web page to those who will be renewing residency at that bank. It is, of course, in Spanish as bank web sites in English are still not common. I will, however, be happy to do some translating of the more important goodies!
Before I do… one alert reader commented that there is a link ti the English version. Either I missed it or they have added it. I am getting olde… I probably missed it… Either way, you now can click the link above for GringoSpeak!
- BCR promises that the process can be finished in twenty minutes. The operative words here are “can be”. I will, of course, report on the accuracy of that semi-commitment.
- BCR offers this service for renewals and for lost residency cards (cedulas)
- They are staffed to do this at any of thirty-two offices throughout the country (see list below). I am guessing that they may add more in the future, but these seem to cover just about the whole country so nobody need travel a great distance.
- Cost is $48.00 and is paid at the BCR branch at the time of renewal (but see below!)
- They provide a number for making appointments. It is toll free, 800.227.2482. It is answered in Spanish, and when I called, the person was not multilingual. English speakers may be available though, I did not ask.
- You will not get your cedula at the time of your appointment. It is promised to be sent to you by la Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (immigration) no more than 25 calendar days after your appointment. No mention of how it is delivered.
That’s it! Seems simple enough. So here is how it worked for me.
I called the toll free number, was placed on auto-hold for maybe 3 minutes until a nice lady answered. I was given an afternoon appointment in mid August at the BCR branch in the Mall Internacional not far from the San Jose airport. I was told to bring my cedula and my passport. That’s it! Now you will all have to just wait to find out if the above promises bear any semblance to reality.
Oh… and I saved the best for last! If my Spanish did not fail me, this renewal will be for TWO YEARS!!
Here is a list of the 32 branches set up for renewing or replacing cedulas.
BCR Offices Offering Services
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8 Responses to “Costa Rica Residency Renewal – Revisited”
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Hi Tim,
I’ve just recently renewed my cedula and although I didn’t use the BCR route and ran into some weird problems (Migracion said I left the country for more then a year, which was not true, and therefore lost my right to hold a cedula) the delivery of my cedula was swift and without any pain.
In the new process you can tell them at which branch of correos de Costa Rica you would like to pick up your cedula. There is no need to hold a apdo. there. The people of EMS bring it to your selected branch and you can pick it up by flashing your ID. Your cedula is trackable through the website of correos so you know that you won’t go to the post office for nothing.
For me this worked out pretty well and I received my new cedula 8 days after my application.
Let’s hope your renewal will work out well too.
Cheers!
- Tamar
Tim, First part of process was fine, appt 3 days after call, 20 minutes for picture a few questions and index fingerprints, wasn’t asked for money changing receipts, had availiable. Cedula to be sent to my post office, Sabanilla, Due here on 26th of June, Today 3 July still checking. I’ll let you know. Bob
The web site for renewing has a conversion to English in the top right corner.
Nice! Either I missed it or they added it. Either way… thanks for the comment!
Well, maybe it worked for a while, but trust greed, bureaucracy and incompetence to break something that works. The only reason for having to renew a cédula (or birth certificate!) is as a tax. At $48 a time, it is not going to break the bank, but the inconvenience and waste of time is appalling. Why not simply have a one-time $500 charge? This “renewal” thing is just stupid (I cannot think of any other way to put it… well, I can, but it’s crude).
I don’t think you want to know all of what I have gone through; however:
The BCR web site now gives a 900 number (300 colones a minute) to call, rather than a toll-free 800 number. One has to “activate” 900 service in order to make 900 number calls. This means a visit to an ICE office.
I did this. Now the message I get on the 900 number says the call cannot be completed because the line is blocked.
By the way, one cannot make an appointment by going into a BCR branch (one of the ones that supposedly does the renewals), they require you to call immigration’s 900 number. The service person in the branch was nice (and I didn’t have to wait in line as one could have shot a cannon off in the branch without hitting anyone). She checked the 900 number and said it was correct.
900 00 34639 if anyone is interested.
I’m leaving the country in 3 weeks time, probably for more than 6 months. Of course, my cédula will expire while I’m in Canada. I wanted to try and renew it early, but they probably wouldn’t have let me anyway.
I find it particularly frustrating as it took well over a year to get my permanent residency. Now my cédula is going to expire and who knows whether I’ll be able to renew it when I come back.
Maybe I won’t come back.
New info to keep in mind:
I called 900 number for an appointment today, October 28.
Soonest available appointment is February 9 – that’s over 3 months away. New price is $58 + 2.600 colones (another $5 or so, totalling $63)
Yeah but I think that is for TWO years.
Hey Tim, thanks for the info. I haven’t gone the BCR route, but I am due to renew in 2011, so it is good to know.
I did however renew this last May via the pain in the rear immigration route. Same ol same ol, but they did give me the 2 year renewal for an extra $10. I think it ran me $58 total.