Costa Rica Guide
Entry requirements
Citizens of the US, Canada, the UK and most Western European countries can obtain a ninety-day entry stamp for Costa Rica without needing a visa. Citizens of Australia, New Zealand and Ireland do not need a visa either, but are only issued a thirty-day entrance stamp. Whatever your nationality, you must in theory show your passport, a valid onward (or return) air or bus ticket, a visa for your next country (if applicable) and proof of "sufficient funds" (around $400 per month), but if you arrive by air the last is rarely asked for. Most other nationalities need a visa; always check first with a Costa Rican consulate concerning current regulations. The website 
www.rree.go.cr gives up-to-date requirements. For most nationalities, a thirty-day visa will cost about $25.
Your entrance stamp is very important: no matter where you arrive, make sure you get it. You have to carry your passport (or a photocopy) with you at all times in Costa Rica. If you are asked for it and cannot produce it, you may well be detained and fined.
The easiest way to extend your entry permit is to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours – to Panamá or Nicaragua, say – and then re-enter, fulfilling the same requirements as on your original trip. You should, although it is at the discretion of the immigration officer, be given another ninety- or thirty-day stamp. If you prefer not to leave the country, you can apply for a permit or visa extension at the Departamento de Migración in San José ( 
dmigracion@ns.migracion.go.cr), a time-consuming and often costly business. You'll need to bring all relevant documents – passport and three photographs, onward air or bus ticket – as well as proof of funds (credit cards and/or traveller's cheques). If you do not have a ticket out of Costa Rica you may have to buy one in order to get your extension. Bus tickets are more easily refunded than air tickets; some airlines refuse to cash in onward tickets unless you can produce or buy another one out of the country. Note that you will pay approximately ten percent tax on all air tickets bought in Costa Rica.
If, for whatever reason, you overstay your ninety- or thirty-day limit, you must get an exit visa in order to be allowed to leave the country. This involves going to the Departamento de Migración in San José with your passport and onward ticket. The exit visa, normally granted within one to three days, gives you thirty days in which to leave the country and costs $40; you will also have to pay overstayers' fees of $1.50 per month. These fees have been subject to abrupt change (always upwards) recently, so make sure you ask exactly how much you will be required to pay and ensure that you have sufficient funds – either in colones or dollars – to fork out when you leave. Any reputable tour operator should be able to help you through the red tape, although this will cost an extra $15–20.
Costa Rica's stringent regulations governing the stay of children were put in place to counteract the number of people bringing children into the country from the US to defy custody arrangements or trials. Officially, if one parent, rather than both, is travelling with their child, that child is not permitted to remain in Costa Rica for more than thirty days unless the travelling parent asks permission, in person, supported by the other parent's request in writing, from the Costa Rican Child Protection Agency, the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia, C 19, Av 6, San José (in the Tribunales de la Justicía complex). That said, the Costa Rican authorities take a very dim view of this method, preferring that both parents are with the child when permission to stay is requested. It becomes even more tricky if a child is coming to Costa Rica without his or her parents: in this case you have to contact the Costa Rican embassy or consulate in your home country to get a notarized permit.