RICO’s Q — Costa Rica’s immigration service, the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME), announced last week that they are allowing tourists to stay in the country for up to 180 days, twice as long as before.
Awesome news for travelers, especially ‘perpetual tourists’ who don’t have to keep leaving and entering the country to stay legal.
More Q: Tourists to Costa Rica will now be able to stay for up to 180 days
Bad news, however, for anyone intending to drive in the country with a foreign license and passport for more than 90 days.
Transito based laws have nothing to do with immigration laws. I repeat, traffic laws have zero to do with immigration laws.
Trying to apply logic here is pointless. We know from experience that transit laws don’t keep up with the times, and are slow to change.
As such, visitors on a tourist stamp can only drive for the first three months they’re in the country until such time the traffic regulations get changed.
It’s that simple.
Don’t be fooled by posts on social networks. While there may be some overlap between these two areas (immigration and traffic rules), each has its own distinct laws and procedures.
