AKgirl

Hi -
I am confused. I have read on the boards and elsewhere that with regards to entering Costa Rica your passport has to be valid at least 6 more months but the state dept's website says that the passport needs to be valid for only a month after entry and you need a roundtrip ticket.

My husband and I have years left on ours but our 5 yr old child's expires in Aug (so about 5.5 months after our trip to CR). Should we be concerned at all?

hsmithcr

For information about Costa Rica, I would not rely on a US government website. Try googling passport requirements Costa Rica and see what comes up. As far as I know, it is 6 months. Will the 5.5 months be a problem? Probably not but it is pretty easy to renew and then you don't have to think about it.

shillmac

I agree. Would definitely renew.

qwovadis

30 days on passport

is all that is required

you will be fine.

www.travel.state.gov Costa Rica.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

It used to be six months. It is now 30 days.

AKgirl

So you can see why I was confused since there seems to be some disagreement here. I thought maybe it had changed so Jeff it sounds like my guess is right. It is easy to renew but with kids it is every five years and frankly I'd like to eek out the extra 5+ months....and when you consider our next international trip isn't until March 2011 after this I can eek out almost another year without paying the renewal fee if I don't have to for htis trip.

raquel_z

If anything, as previously suggested you should check with a proper source - not a bunch of strangers on a online forum.

In this case, the proper sources would be the Costa Rican Consulate, since it is their country you are going into AND the airline taking you to Costa Rica. The airline won't even let you on the plane if they don't like your documentation.

All research I have done indicates that for Canadian and US Passports the time is a month. I was in the situation several years back and did check it out (But rules are always subject to change) The 6 months comes from the fact that some countries do have that rule so most travel agents and travel sites will err on the side of caution. I don't ever remember it being 6 months for CR - but that is not to say it wasn't. When we started travelling to CR, Canadians and US citizens holders could get in without a passport. (Those were the days )

Although my personal feeling is that you will be fine, it really isn't going to hold much weight to some airline employee or Costa Rican official if the rules are different, when you tell him raquel_z and Jeff and Qwovadis on Fodors said it would be OK...."

raquel

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I do agree with you, raquel, that these are questions you should ask only of an official source, in other words, the embassy or consulate of a country. Anyone can post an answer to an online discussion forum and the results of following wrong advice on this one could be disastrous.

I have, however, researched the answer to this question for the Fodor's guide to Costa Rica. It is 30 days. I did it with a phone call, but the website of Costa Rica's embassy is:

www.costarica-embassy.org

Click on "Consular Services," then "tourist visa" then "nationality" then "USA."

I'm also wary of things I see on the Internet when it comes to stuff like this. There are travel websites out there that still say six months, which the requirement was for years. But then, there are travel websites out there which still say you don't need a passport to enter Costa Rica.

cgenster

AKgirl.. I had the same question two years ago. We went to Costa Rica in June and my DD's passport expired the next December, so almost six months, but not quite. I asked the same question on the forums and got Raquel's answer so I did check it out myself.

As Jeff said 30 days is all you need, but it is always better to get the info from the 'horse's mouth' so to speak.

AKgirl

Thanks Jeff.
I did look at various sites and saw the 2 different times mentioned so that is what spawned my question. I tend to trust the state dept one more than just regular travel websites. I did not have the Costa Rica consulate site Jeff provided and it is a good one, thanks.

I have traveled internationally a lot over the last 30 years so I'm not new to visa/passport requirements but this is the first time I've come across really different info. And too the first time we're traveling internationally with one of our passports due to expire within the year so I guess it caught my attention more.

Thanks again for the info and hopefully this post will help others too who may be seeing the out-of-date info.