QCOSTARICA – The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) announced Thursday that it will grant a grace period for six (6) more months to foreigners who legally reside in the country, as well as Costa Ricans whose foreign license has expired.
This is NOT an extension of driving privileges for tourists under the Immigration issues resolution extending “tourist” visas.
In this way, foreigners under the migratory categories of refugees, permanent residents, temporary, special category of complementary protection (free of condition) or Costa Ricans whose licenses issued abroad have expired, or who have not managed to homologate the document, will enjoy of this grace period, so that during this time they can carry out the approval process with Dirección General de Educación Vial
It is important to clarify that the grace period will be extended to people in the aforementioned conditions and whose license should have been homologated or expired as of March 20, 2020, so that they can continue driving with their foreign license and can carry out the homologation process, for the next 6 months, even if the document is expired.
As long as this grace period is in force, the Traffic Police will not sanction for these causes the people whose conditions apply, as long as the person carries their foreign license as well as their passport.
The approval process must be carried out at the Traffic Education headquarters, the service is provided through appointments, which are enabled every Thursday from 8 am. People who must apply these procedures are recommended not to leave them until the last minute, but to take into account that now they have a longer period of time to be able to schedule their appointment and complete the procedure.
Appointments for procedures related to the issuance of licenses are obtained at the following link https://servicios.educacionvial.go.cr/Formularios/SolicitarCitaTramite, those interested should not make the payment of the procedure before requesting the appointment, since this it is canceled after they are treated in Road Safety Education.
