DRIVING PRIVILEGES EXTENDED FOR ALL TOURISTS UNTIL JUNE 1^st, 2021

After our request, we received confirmation today from the Ministry of Transportation (“MOPT”) that all foreign driver’s licenses have been extended until June 1^st, 2021 to match the extension of tourist visas announced on March 1^st, 2021 by Immigration Authorities. The information came from an e-mail sent to us from the Ministry of Transportation in response to our express question, the decree has not been published yet. Below you can find the copy of the e-mail, from which we have deleted confidential information.

Days ago, the Ministry of Transportation had already announced an extension of the term for citizens and residents to homologate or renew their foreign driver’s license, but the extension did not apply to tourist. Now this new extension does apply to all tourists, provided that they are staying in the Country on a valid tourist visa.

To summarize, the current extensions granted by the Ministry of Transportation work as follows:

• Foreign drivers´ licenses of tourists who entered Costa Rica after December 17, 2019 will be held valid until June 1^st, 2021.
• Foreigners who legally reside in the country and have not yet been able homologate their foreign driver´s license, or whose foreign driver´s license expired after March 2^nd,2020: they can benefit from a six (6) months grace period starting March 5^th, 2021.
• Costa Ricans whose licenses issued abroad expired after March 2^nd, 2020: they can benefit from the six (6) months grace period starting from March 5^th, 2021.
• Foreigners can homologate their license even if it is expired.

In case you are benefiting from the automatic extension and plan to stay after said date, we recommend reaching out to us as soon as possible to explore available options to obtain legal status to remain and drive in Costa Rica.

For any doubt or additional information, please feel free to reach out to us: contact@cribo.cr.

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